There isn't yet a discussion thread for the BUILD conference in September, so I might as well start it. What do you hope Microsoft will reveal at the BUILD conference?
That will mean that Microsoft will reveal Windows 8's real name if the beta will launch in September.
I guess it will be as well. So the beta in September will be the first public beta or a private beta?
I'm not really going nuts for a Beta in September, I just hope they can meet all of the developer expectations. Really hoping to see a Visual Studio 2012 and hear more about their HTML5/JS platform and the future for WPF/SL. I really want to know the specifics of developing for Win8, and not seeing any leaks or official comments makes me worried. Either they're working hard at getting things working by September, or else they're preparing a giant apocalypse/cataclysm of new information, websites, MSDN documentations, sessions, APIs, books and resources. At any rate, heck, I haven't been so excited since the Longhorn days!
I think they will show 8100-8200 build at BUILD, along with more details on the other UI (not immersive), and some other goodies...BUILD is definitely all about Windows 8...Apparently they will announce a new motto for Windows...'life without walls' is getting old...
So: 6.0 --> Windows Vista 6.1 --> Windows 7 6.2 --> Windows 8 7.0 --> Windows 9 (Will probably start off a new code series, like Vista did after 2000, XP. and Server 2003/XP x64 with 5.0, 5.1, and 5.2 respectively) (Vista, 7, and 8 all shared the same codepath, despite what Microsoft wants you to think after Vista!) Windows 8 is currently 6.2, although I suspect it will eventually be labelled 6.5 or maybe even 6.8 to make it look better. Afterall, 6.2 is too close to 6.1 so it must be really similar and not worth upgrading, right?! So will Windows 9 be version 7.0, or will they skip version 7 and 8 in the build numbers?! I doubt that Windows 9 will be based off the same codepath as Vista, but in any case this knowledge is already knwon by some since work on Windows '9' would have already started. Early alpha build anyone?! Microsoft have a few things to announce. Office 2012, Windows 8, Visual Studio 2012...
You're so mistaken it's not even funny. Windows has used the same code base since Windows NT 3.1 (Windows 95 etc. excluded), with every upgrade there's been new things added and some things have been re-engineered, and a few features have been dropped. Vista was indeed a very big upgrade, but not a rewrite like some people believe. A lot of subsystems were rewritten, but it's still largely the same as XP and earlier versions. The internal version numbers only have relevance in terms of application and driver compatibility. There hasn't been any major driver or API changes since Vista, that's why the version number is still in the 6.X range. Windows 7 actually had some big kernel improvements, but they did not affect the drivers or API, hence the 6.1 version number.