"Threshold" to be Called Windows 9, Ship in April 2015

You must be looking back with those rose tinted glasses on.....Windows 98 was utter junk, 98se was a little better but not much.

So another Windows is coming again from MS? It seems to me that they're just releasing new windows versions just for the hell of it and not putting much thought in it. The moment a new windows is released there already are rumors about the next version. Is it just me or are windows releases becoming more frequent? It used to come out at a slower pace before with service packs and all, now it seems that they're gone too. It requires a full new OS nowadays to update a few features here and there. Seems stupid to me.

Is it just me or are windows releases becoming more frequent?

It is just you.

In the NT platform first released in 1993 there have been some 7 major releases. About 1 release every 3 years. The consumer line starting with Windows 1 in 1985 follows a similar pattern. And that doesn't consider minor releases or service packs. NT 4 had no less than 6 major service packs from 1996 to 1999. Unlike the current trend service packs for older operating system often added significant functionality. Windows 8 was released in 2012. While referred to as Windows 8.1 Microsoft could have called it Windows 8, SP1. Although there has been much speculation of Windows 9 remember that the best guess for it's release is still more than a year away.

Since the beginning of Windows in 1985 the pattern has been about 1 major release every 3 years. That doesn't appear to have changed much. For those of us who are older it just seems faster.

Edit: New versions of most Linux distributions come out much more frequently than one every 3 years.