People look at Microsoft stock and think, "hey this is cheap." Yet it turns into a value trap. Want to know why? I think I can sum it with one blog entry.

There’s been a lot of lively discussion since I confirmed yesterday that the official name for the next version of the Window client operating system will be "Windows 7" about how we got to the number "7."

Yes I am interested as well.

Anyway, the numbering we used is quite simple.

So why 7?

That brings us to Windows Vista, which is 6.0.  So we see Windows 7 as our next logical significant release and 7th in the family of Windows releases.

Ah very good, yes that makes sense.

So we decided to ship the Windows 7 code as Windows 6.1 – which is what you will see in the actual version of the product in cmd.exe or computer properties.

Huh? WTF! You are saying Windows 7 is the seventh release of the Windows family, but due to one reason or another you are going to call it Windows 6.1? Oh now that MAKES SENSE! NOT!

Folks this is why Microsoft is a value trap. Instead of building software and helping their customers, people within Microsoft are wasting brain cycles on explaining why Windows is 7.0 even though it is Windows 6.1.

I know I am picking a single point, but Microsoft just can’t seem to get out of its own way. Microsoft is a great company, but they just can’t seem to get out of their own way.