If you have ever experimented with the System dialogue screen on your Windows 7 PC, you might have noticed that the Operating system is referred to as Windows 6.1… If you have not heard this before you will wondering if it is Windows 7 or something else. Well, Why is this? Are they the same thing or not? Lets see that in detail in this article.
Microsoft Windows evolution went successively from Windows 2000 on to Windows XP then to Windows Vista and then straight to Windows 7. Where did a version "6.1" ever come in?
Why because, the names for the Windows are called 'friendly names'. And in technical terms all software's are called only by addressing its version No. That is, Windows 5.0, 6.0. 6.7 and so on. Thus, all software will have a numeric Version and Build Number.
if you want to know what is there for your version of Windows, (if you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7) Go to Start and type winver and press Enter. If you are using Windows XP, you need to type that in run prompt and hit enter.
In the window that pops up, you will see some version number like Version 6.1 (Build 7600) if you have the Windows 7 Service 1 installed, it will show (Build 7601, Service Pack 1).
For more information, Type MsInfo32 in the Start RUN box and look at your System Summary. You should see entries similar to these.
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
Each Windows has it's friendly or public name, like Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and may be the next version of Windows like Windows 8, etc., Most likely so consumers don't get confused, and then they have their version numbers just like any software does.
Windows XP is technically Windows 5.0, And Windows Vista is 6.0, and Windows 7 is 6.1. The 7 in Windows 7 is just the name of it, since vista was 6.0 they named it 7 (at least I think that's why it's Windows 7)
So both Windows 7 and Windows 6.1 are the same product, it's just 2 ways of referring to it.