Why did Microsoft skip directly from Windows 8 (or more precisely, Windows 8.1) directly to Windows 10 instead of going to Windows 9? Mostly we think it’s that the company wanted to take a big symbolic step away from Windows 8, which has acquired a Vista-like taint since its release two years ago. And now a new report from Business Insider seemingly confirms our suspicions as it quotes Microsoft’s Windows marketing boss Tony Prophet discussing exactly why Microsoft decided to leap ahead numerically.
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“It came and it went,” Prophet said of Windows 9. “Windows 10 is not going to be an incremental step from Window 8.1. Windows 10 is going to be a material step. We’re trying to create one platform, one eco-system that unites as many of the devices from the small embedded Internet of Things, through tablets, through phones, through PCs and, ultimately, into the Xbox.”
So there you have it: Windows 10 is such a big leap forward for the platform that just increasing its number by one numeral wouldn’t have cut it. That said, we feel that if Microsoft really wanted to make a statement that its new Windows was a major leap forward, it still should have taken a page from Spinal Tap’s playbook and gone all the way up to Windows 11.
