From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

I wonder whether there’s a name for this: I know of one or two
open-source projects which started out with a series of version
numbers of the form ‘1.x”, only to decide to drop the “1.” at some point (before getting to version “2.x”) and just use the “x” part as the version number.

I first came across this with Java, where the version numbers got up
to 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, and then these were renumbered 8, 9, 10, and the
next one was version 11.

This also happened with the Asterisk PBX software, where the stable
releases have even version numbers: these got up to 1.6 and then 1.8,
then the next one after that was version 10, and we are now up to
version 22.

I believe this also happened earlier with Emacs, but the only official information I can find indicates that the first public release was
numbered 13, from 1985.

Can anyone shed any further light on this? Do you know of any other
examples?
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From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

On 2026-01-16, Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

I wonder whether there’s a name for this: I know of one or two
open-source projects which started out with a series of version
numbers of the form ‘1.x”, only to decide to drop the “1.” at some point (before getting to version “2.x”) and just use the “x” part as the version number.

I first came across this with Java, where the version numbers got up
to 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, and then these were renumbered 8, 9, 10, and the
next one was version 11.

This also happened with the Asterisk PBX software, where the stable
releases have even version numbers: these got up to 1.6 and then 1.8,
then the next one after that was version 10, and we are now up to
version 22.

I believe this also happened earlier with Emacs, but the only official information I can find indicates that the first public release was
numbered 13, from 1985.

Can anyone shed any further light on this? Do you know of any other
examples?

Not open source at the time, but Solaris 2.6 (July 1997) was followed by Solaris 7 (November 1998).

Niklas
--
Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives at passport control in Poland:
"Nationality?" asks the immigration officer. "German" she replies. "Occupation?" "No, just here for a few days."
-- Via John Forster
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From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

On 1/16/26 12:55 AM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Do you know of any other
examples?

The Macintosh operating system, which was stuck at 10 for over a decade
until they went to yearly releases and dropped the X


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From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:55:35 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Can anyone shed any further light on this? Do you know of any other
examples?

Not quite the same but OpenSUSE Leap 42.x followed OpenSUSE 13.2. They
messed around with 42 for a couple of years before going back to 15.x,
They were being cute with 42.

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From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

On 16/01/2026 16:05, Al Kossow wrote:

On 1/16/26 12:55 AM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Do you know of any other
examples?

The Macintosh operating system, which was stuck at 10 for over a decade
until they went to yearly releases and dropped the X

Well Honeywell's GCOS3 never got to a Release 5.x. I understand they
promised certain features in R 5.x so it stuck at 4.x then 4.xy...
.. then they renamed it to GCOS8

Dave
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From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

In article <10ke97q$1m259$2@dont-email.me>,
David Wade <g4ugm@dave.invalid> wrote:

On 16/01/2026 16:05, Al Kossow wrote:

On 1/16/26 12:55 AM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Do you know of any other
examples?

The Macintosh operating system, which was stuck at 10 for over a decade
until they went to yearly releases and dropped the X

Well Honeywell's GCOS3 never got to a Release 5.x. I understand they >promised certain features in R 5.x so it stuck at 4.x then 4.xy...
.. then they renamed it to GCOS8

Dave

TeX is famously converging on pi...
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..
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From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

On 2026-01-16, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

In article <10ke97q$1m259$2@dont-email.me>,
David Wade <g4ugm@dave.invalid> wrote:

On 16/01/2026 16:05, Al Kossow wrote:

On 1/16/26 12:55 AM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Do you know of any other
examples?

The Macintosh operating system, which was stuck at 10 for over a decade
until they went to yearly releases and dropped the X

Well Honeywell's GCOS3 never got to a Release 5.x. I understand they >>promised certain features in R 5.x so it stuck at 4.x then 4.xy...
.. then they renamed it to GCOS8

Dave

TeX is famously converging on pi...

And Metafont towards e :-)
--
Nuno Silva
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From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

On 2026-01-16, Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org> wrote:

On 1/16/26 12:55 AM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Do you know of any other examples?

The Macintosh operating system, which was stuck at 10 for over
a decade until they went to yearly releases and dropped the X

Windows 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, XP, 7...
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
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