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According to the BBC News site, Bill Gates got up this morning, went to the toilet and had a cup of coffee. He then had several brilliant world-changing ideas for which we should all be grateful and the BBC love him. Just an average day’s publicity for Microsoft from the Beeb. Then he said some words of wisdom about the next version of Windows… Windows 7.  Bill said it could be released “sometime in the next year or so” although a spokeswoman (who is presumably more in tune with Microsoft’s success rate on delivery dates) later said the new version was scheduled for 2010.

Hang on a minute… Windows 7? Okay, we had Windows 3.0 and 3.1 - straightforward version numbering. Then we had ‘95, ‘98, 2000, XP and finally (eventually) Vista (or ‘Vaster’ as Pete Hampton calls it). If each of those is a new version, that means that Vista was version 8, and therefore the next version should be 9.

It’s possible that Microsoft regarded ‘98 as a sort-of half-release update to ‘95, but that still means the next version would be 8. How do they explain ‘7′?

There can be few IBM offices in the world with a view as incredible as the Cape Town office. Just beyond the hot-desk area is a set of windows and double doors which lead to a patio area and provide a full view of Table Mountain. It would be even better if there wasn’t a bloody great crane and a half-finished building in the foreground. I’d post a picture but I left the camera’s USB cable at home. So go and do a Google image search for Table Mountain, and then add a big yellow crane. It pains me to say it but (even with the crane) it’s more impressive than the view from any window in the Staines office.