Microsoft is expected to be handing out pre-betas of Windows 7 to devs at WinHEC and PDC soon, and it looks like it's settled on an official name for its next-gen OS -- ahem, Windows 7. Yep, the code name is the real name, which is a first for Windows. According to Mike Nash on the Vista blog, the company went with Windows 7 because it "just makes sense" as the seventh release of Windows, and MS doesn't want to come up with a new "aspirational" name like Vista -- it "doesn't do justice" to the goal of staying "firmly rooted" in the ideas of Vista. Which probably explains why it looks so much the same. Sure, call it whatever you like, just get it out the door on time, okay?

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/13/w...med-windows-7/