Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 – the soon-to-be-released latest version – will be the last to have a number associated with it. In future, updates will happen on an on-going basis.
Over the years, we’ve had about ten versions of Windows for PCs, with a further half dozen or so for business-oriented systems. I started out at home with Windows 3.1 (it originally came on a handful of floppy disks), then moved to Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and I currently have Windows 7 on my PC and Windows 8 on my notebook.
It’s sad when I look back, but I actually queued on the day of release to get Windows 98! However, as technology has improved – and not just on the PC – it is now possible to get the latest version delivered to your door within hours of its release, so you don’t need to be such an anorak any more.
Technology on the PC, though, has made getting hold of OSes extremely simple. My internet connection with Virgin is currently knocking on 200Mbps and I have easily downloaded the disk image for the Windows 10 beta versions several times from Microsoft (the same goes for Linux and other large non-OS files). It takes just a few minutes each time. I’ve been trying it out on a virtual machine using Oracle’s VirtualBox for a few months, and I like it.
The other thing to be aware of is that if you are already using Windows 7 or 8 (there is no Windows 9), Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for one year once it is released during the summer.