Windows 8 review

Typical of Microsoft, it has not given the name of the next OS. But gone are the days when the development team used something like “Longhorn” only to have the final OS release called something else.

So what is going on? The fact is that there’s already information pointing to the fact that ‘8’ will end up replacing ‘7’, not just for the client but also for the vast majority of upcoming OS’s, if not for all of them.

Some rumored calls insist that the successor of Windows 7 client will be Windows vNext; yet company employees are using the Windows 8 moniker to refer to the next generation of the Windows client.

While Windows 7 and Windows Server 7 were developed in parallel (Server 7 became Server 2008), the future versions of the Windows client and server are also in parallel development.

The final label may not be known, and it could change, but Microsoft’s own have been using the Windows 8 client and Windows Server 8 brands. It may be convenience, since using an alias for an OS name becomes silly since it is just that, an alias.  But Microsoft could use an alternate name, like the year the produce is released. Think Windows 95, Windows 98, Server 2000, Server 2003, Server 2008; well you get the picture.

Windows Server 8 could follow the model of previous server platform releases from Microsoft, and end up being called Windows Server 2012, provided the successors of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be delivered in 2012.

However, other products are using the Windows 8 moniker. For instance, Windows 8 Embedded was mentioned earlier this year, much like the Windows 7 and Windows Embedded Standard 7 model.

Then more recently, Windows Phone 8 also recently mentioned by the company, could become the successor of Windows Phone 7, which was just launched.

And although they are not connected with Windows 7, Windows Embedded Compact 7 and Embedded Automotive 7 also share the number 7. These could be upgraded to the “8” version themselves.