Comments on: The Amazing World of Version Numbers

By: chris

chris — Tue, 10 May 2011 21:16:53 +0000

Very good article, interesting read! AutoCAD first started in '82, they're now at version 26, even though they've swapped to year numbers as from 2000. However, they're pretty conservative in their numbering, having not omitted version 13 and not even been using in-between versions! http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/autoc...

By: Tom Sonson

Tom Sonson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:12:49 +0000

Thank you for this informative article. Good post!

By: Windows 7 « Wisnuardhie's

Windows 7 « Wisnuardhie's — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:54:58 +0000

[...] “Version numbers of Windows.”. technologizer.com. [...]

By: The Top 15 Technologizer Stories of 2009 | Technologizer

The Top 15 Technologizer Stories of 2009 | Technologizer — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:19:18 +0000

[...] The Amazing World of Version Numbers: I ruminate on such essential questions as “What’s the highest version number [...]

By: My Bookmarks For July 13th – July 15th | Cristiano on Tech/Life

My Bookmarks For July 13th – July 15th | Cristiano on Tech/Life — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:57:37 +0000

[...] The Amazing World of Version Numbers | Technologizer – Some fun anecdotes regarding version numbers. [...]

By: Linkorama – Issue 5 - Anand Balaji’s adventures in _technicolour

Linkorama – Issue 5 - Anand Balaji’s adventures in _technicolour — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:02:36 +0000

[...] The amazing world of version numbers http://technologizer.com/2009/07/14/version-numbers/ [...]

By: Eddy Carroll

Eddy Carroll — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:02:48 +0000

The largest “real” version number I’ve come across was on our office Nortel Meridian PBX, a few years ago, which was running Version 29. of the PBX OS. The documentation had an original copyright date of 1973, with the current version copyrighted around 2001.

This was entirely reflected in the command line interface, which was definitely the most archaic I’ve ever seen on a commercial product!

By: DailyCosas 2.0 » Blog Archive » Potpurri de enlaces: Lost in Madrid, version numbers & flashdata.

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:27:28 +0000

[...] The Amazing World of Version Numbers Un divertido repaso a los números de versión de los programas informáticos. Since version 3, TeX has used an idiosyncratic version numbering system, where updates have been indicated by adding an extra digit at the end of the decimal, so that the version number asymptotically approaches π. This is a reflection of the fact that TeX is now very stable, and only minor updates are anticipated. [...]

By: Richie

Richie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:25:08 +0000

Per DoctorFortran: “…starting with Fortran 90.”

There was a Fortran 77 as well.

Per jim collins, David, and j:

Kindly do not give all credit for VMS to Mr. Cutler. While he was one of the main developers from (before) the start, he was involved with other pursuits somewhere in the V2 to V3 timeframe before leaving DEC. And there is more than just legend to support the notion that VMS + 1 = WNT.

Perhaps the most stable versioning system has been VMS, running with some logic from release 1.0 in 1977 to 8.3 (correct me if I’m out of date) today. Now there were some marketing intrusions (such as the ill starred decision to change the name from VMS to OpenVMS) and glitches (multiple attempts at V6.0), but all in all, major releases indicated significant rewrites or new classes of features (Vn.0), minor releases were other important changes (Vn.m), bug fix releases really did so (Vn.m-a), and hardware releases (-aHb) were specific to new CPU types.

As for one comment regarding stability, software released with a new version most likely won’t run on a previous release, but *all user applications* from *all* previous releases will run on the current release on all hardware (your performance will vary).

For those who remember the Y2K frenzy, might two-digit year versioning lead to issues in another 90 years? :^P

By: Version numbers 2.0 — Bad Language

Version numbers 2.0 — Bad Language — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:41:49 +0000

[...] in product names. Ever wondered why Windows 7 is so called? What is the best version number ever? Read and find out. (More posts soon – I just have to finish my [...]