Microsoft takes us to 2004 with new Windows 10 so you don't mistake it for Server 2003 (WTF)

The Register ^ | Nov 27, 2019 | Richard Speed

[dayglored]

Spices up your life with change to naming conventions

Microsoft crossed the streams last night as both the Fast and Slow Rings of the Windows Insider Program synchronised ahead of the final fit and finish of next year's Windows 10.

While build 19033 was light on features, as is depressingly the norm with 20H1 these days, that watermark remained absent and, more importantly, the release hit the cautious Slow Ringers as well as the brave folk on the bleeding edge of Fast.

And because it wouldn't be Windows without a good few ways of referring to it, 20H1 will also now be known as "2004" rather than "2003" as one might have expected, based on the previous numbering convention (1909, 1903, 1809 etc).

The reason, according to the gang, was to "eliminate confusion with any past product names" such as Windows Server 2003. Presumably Microsoft Money 2004 was not deemed risky enough.

The synchronisation also opens a brief window for Fast Ring Insiders to take a breath and spend some quality time on the Slow Ring instead of being flung further into the future by the Insider team. Teasingly, Microsoft would only say that Fast Ring fans would soon be getting builds from the RS_PRERELEASE branch of Windows 10 rather than using terms such as "20H2" or even "21H1" to give people a clue with regard to when the code would show up in the Windows Update of the general public.

As a reminder, the next version of Windows 10 is known as "20H1". Or "2004". Or "that thing Santa left on the lounge carpet". We made that last one up, but you get the idea.

As has been the norm of late, the release was light on features to enliven a keynote, but heavy on fixes. We've been told by more than one MVP (on condition of anonymity, in order to avoid a short, sharp, defrocking) that the bulk of the changes have been "under the hood" ahead of what should be an interesting 2020 for Windows fans.

The fixes themselves included dealing with the Start Code 38 issue that had cropped up with some USB 3.0 devices, although the Start Code 10 problem still remains, as well as the Start Menu crashing if a Windows Update was pending.

Those pesky compatibility problems with anti-cheat software continue to linger, as well as the Update process occasionally hanging and optional printer drivers reappearing in Windows Update after an install.

And, of course, while it looks like Microsoft is almost finished with this release, this does remain very much preview code and should be treated with caution lest something explode messily in your face. ®

[Tellurian]

Thanks for the education. XP-SP3 is what I’ve got now, luckily. Moving (a different laptop) from Win8 to Win7, if I can pull it off, will also be educational - and entertaining.

[Carriage Hill]

It’s not that I hate it, it’s just that I’ve been using Win-7 Pro x64 since 2009, and I’m used to it. My sister’s Win8/8.1 lapper was a mess, and I had problems at Staples’ lappers running Win-10.

[rockrr]

You’ll be disappointed in VM gaming performance - especially video (I know, I’ve tried).

[Svartalfiar]

[Svartalfiar]

My initial lighthearted snark was because, being an old fart ("Ok, boomer") I still think everybody knows what a write-protect tab is.

Write-protection tabs aren't obsolete at all. SD cards still have them, as well as some (though rarely) USB sticks.

[dayglored]

Interesting chart, but I daresay it's missing a few entries:

In the Microsoft column, "4" belongs between "3" and "95" (that's NT4; NT5 got renamed "2000"), and "ME" belongs between "98" and "2000".

In the Apple column, "9" belongs between "8" and "X".

Curious omissions. I can sort of understand forgetting "NT4", since that was mainly a server OS and didn't get much attention in the mainstream. And I grant that Windows "ME" is best forgotten. But MacOS 9 was the pinnacle of the original Mac series; my late-90's iMacs ran it for many years.

Ah, well, it's an internet meme, not a Wikipedia page :-) Thanks for posting it!

[dayglored]

> Write-protection tabs aren't obsolete at all. SD cards still have them, as well as some (though rarely) USB sticks.

Good points.

[daniel1212]

For under $500. you could build your own PC with the most recent AMD CPU, AMD Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor (OC to 4.0) with good onboard GPU, and 16 Gb RAM, and a full ATX MSI B450-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard, and it should run the latest W/10 64 build with not problem, as mine has and does (though with the Ryzen 3 3200G and tweaked). https://pcpartpicker.com/user/PBJ/saved/#view=4BsGcf

Praise the Lord. See thread Custom build you own modern computer (new Ryzen CPU) for under 400.00, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3773784/posts

[Bob434]

Huh? I can view videos online on youtube fine- do you mean some other type video?

[rockrr]

I was referring to online gaming over a virtual PC - I guess I should have tempered my remark with a YMMV (your mileage may vary). If it works for you then fantastic!

[Bob434]

[[I was referring to online gaming over a virtual PC]]

Oh i see, thanks- yeah i thought probably it wouldn’t work well- but didn’t know for sure-

[minnesota_bound]

All you need is to keep up to date with the web browser, anti virus, anti spyware / anti ransomeware.

[Svartalfiar]

Interesting chart, but I daresay it's missing a few entries:

As you finished with, it is just a random funny picture I found on the interwebs.

But ME was just a home version of 2000, I didn't think it was really a separate version number of OS?

And Apple's numbers are just the phones, not the OS's. But if we included MacOS 9, technically it would go in front of the 3/3G, since it came out eight years earlier!

[dayglored]

> But ME was just a home version of 2000, I didn't think it was really a separate version number of OS?

ME was unrelated to 2000. WinME was the last release of the MS-DOS-based Windows familiy -- from 1.0 through "ME", Windows was not an operating system, it was just a GUI application that ran on top of MS-DOS. Useful as they were, even for business use, those MS-DOS-based releases were glorified toys. WinME was intentionally broken and unstable, because Microsoft knew it was the end of that line, and it needed users to quit that family and migrate to the new family...

The non-MS-DOS NT ("New Technology") family was started in the early 1990's as a "serious" operating system. Those releases started at NT3.1, then NT3.5, and NT4. NT5 was scheduled for release around Y2K, so the MS marketing department christened it "Windows 2000", but I still have the earlier documentation where it was still named "NT5". A year or so later, NT5.1 was released and named "Windows XP".

NT6 became "Vista"; NT6.1 became "Windows 7"; NT6.2 was "Windows 8"; NT6.3 was "Windows 8.1". Then they skipped a few numbers for the heck of it, and made "NT10" which was named "Windows 10", and here we are.

> And Apple's numbers are just the phones, not the OS's.

Oh, geez, color me embarrassed, I didn't see that. I was thinking MacOS releases. D-uh! and thanks for the correction! :-)