Microsoft obstinately referred to Windows 7’s successor as the next major iteration of Windows for the first half of 2011, and before that, even though the use of the Windows 8 moniker has already widespread, including in Redmond.
It was Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows and Windows Live Division, who first confirmed that
Windows 8 was the official codename of Windows vNext, although at the point of the confirmation, this detail was somewhat common knowledge.
It appears that a number of people indicated to
Mary-Jo Foley that Windows 8 could be a codename and nothing more beyond that.
Sinofsky himself stressed the fact that Windows 8 might never end up as the commercial brand for the next version of Windows.
There’s no telling what path the software giant will take when it comes down to the branding strategy for the next generation of Windows, but apparently it’s indicating that Windows 8 is actually “Windows 8.”
The inverted commas, used in the title of the latest post on the official ‘Building Windows 8’ blog and spotted by
Paul Thurrott, seem to infer that Windows 8 is more of a codename and less of a brand.
Branding-wise, Windows 8 is too similar to Windows 7. As I’ve said before, Microsoft has great expectations from Windows 8, nothing short of revolutionizing PCs, existing devices and next-generation form factors.
With a goal set so high, the company needs a new brand to emphasize this major leap in evolution, as opposite to focusing on continuity, as Windows 8 would be interpreted in comparison to Windows 7.
I wonder whether Microsoft’s tendency to compare Windows 8 to Windows 95 means that there’s a chance that the company might be considering a branding strategy that will produce a moniker such as Windows 12.
Time will certainly tell, but I for one am not expecting the software giant to announce the official brand for Windows 8 until very late in the development process, when the operating system is nearly complete.
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