# Windows Blue - cynical naming reason? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 25, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890 "2013-03-25T05:38:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/1 "2013-03-25T05:38:26Z")
Call me a cynic, but I just realized that once Microsoft’s next OS “Blue” comes out, anyone searching for “Windows Blue Screen (etc)” is likely to end up with stuff related to the new OS, rather than error message information. Does anyone else think that Microsoft did that on purpose? I don’t normally entertain (or come up with!) conspiracy-type ideas, but this doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility to me. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/2 "2013-03-25T05:54:03Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > I don’t normally entertain (or come up with!) conspiracy-type ideas, but this doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility to me. It’s possible. That’s not much of a “conspiracy theory” given that marketing departments do that kind of manipulative stuff all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/3 "2013-03-25T06:00:18Z")
Um… the name is officially “Windows Blue Screen of Death.” I’ll bet this ends up as a marketing problem… it is way to easy to go from the “Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)” to the “Blue OS of Death (BOSD)” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/4 "2013-03-25T06:06:21Z")
What happened to their policy of just numbering them? Make up your mind and stick with it, Microsoft! ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/5 "2013-03-25T06:09:48Z")
I’m not sure it’s officially called anything - and the actual action is to blue screen. I guess if they rename “Media Center” or something to “Screen” I’ll have something. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/6 "2013-03-25T07:03:46Z")
Official Wikipedia page for Blue Screen of Death > **[Blue screen of death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death)** > > The Blue Screen of Death (BSoD), Blue screen error, Blue Screen, fatal error, or bugcheck, and officially known as a Stop error, is a critical error screen displayed by the Microsoft Windows or ReactOS operating systems in the event of a fatal system error. > The Blue Screen of Death indicates a system crash, in which the operating system has reached a critical condition where it can no longer operate safely. Possible issues include hardware failure, an issue with or without a device driver, or... While Microsoft stole if from OS/2 (But, hey, MS has stolen most of what they call Windows from somewhere else)… it took Windows to make it truly infamous because it was nearly a daily occurrence for anything that tried to run more than a couple programs or devices at the same time… those were the early days of multi-tasking 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/7 "2013-03-25T14:56:02Z")
As a programmer, I have to be precise (even if I’m wrong, which I’ll admit I could be)… but that might be what Wikipedia officially calls it, (and what everyone says it is), but it doesn’t say that’s what MS calls it. And if it happens, you say “My PC blue-screened”, which IMHO is most likely what’s going to get typed. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/8 "2013-03-25T15:09:18Z")
Microsoft just blue itself. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/9 "2013-03-25T15:55:13Z")
Does it have a start button??? ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/10 "2013-03-25T16:39:03Z")
Likely a play on the Azure name for their cloud computing OS/offerings/what have you. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/11 "2013-03-25T16:52:56Z")
They did it to imply the new OS will be smoother and milder, with 50% less tar. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/12 "2013-03-25T17:57:40Z")
I assumed the question was going to be “is this a frank admission that previous versions of Windows really sucked (i.e. blue)?” In a “our pizzas did suck, now they’re much better” dominos-like way. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/13 "2013-03-25T18:06:43Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > What happened to their policy of just numbering them? Make up your mind and stick with it, Microsoft! Pre-release versions of Windows have always had code names. No, I can’t give examples. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/14 "2013-03-25T21:32:50Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > As a programmer, I have to be precise (even if I’m wrong, which I’ll admit I could be)… but that might be what Wikipedia officially calls it, (and what everyone says it is), but it doesn’t say that’s what MS calls it. We must be talking about two different things. The Windows BSOD is (if you want to “be precise”) a kernel panic error state that usually(_) causes a core dump for analysis. (_)To save the core dump, the drive system needs to still be in a working state 🙂 Wikipedia on Kernel Panic: [Kernel panic - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic) > [@](#): > > for Microsoft Windows operating systems the equivalent term is “Bug check” (or, colloquially, “Blue Screen of Death”). I’d find it really odd if MS employees of associated people have never used or heard of the term… but, it is making fun of how bad the MS platform is, so it isn’t surprising that Microsoft don’t actually include BSOD it in official documentation. > [@](#): > > And if it happens, you say “My PC blue-screened”, which IMHO is most likely what’s going to get typed. Maybe this is a regional thing? I have never heard the phrase until you posted it in this thread. I’ve worked with the MS platform for decades (since the mid-1980s). If someone today said “My PC Blue Screened” I’d think an LCD monitor (screen) was disconnected from a desktop PC -OR- the LCD on a notebook had gone out --OR– maybe your overhead projector was configured wrong. What languages do you code in? ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/15 "2013-03-25T21:39:42Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I assumed the question was going to be “is this a frank admission that previous versions of Windows really sucked (i.e. blue)?” In a “our pizzas did suck, now they’re much better” dominos-like way. UGH… I was on long term travel, stuck in hotel… weeks and weeks of their ads on TV, ads about how they were now so much better. The hotel room was filled with their flyers. Some weeks, my room key was printed with their ad… Finally, I broke down and ordered a pizza from them. How bad could it be? They lied. It was not better, it sucked and was late and had a bunch of added ‘hidden’ charges because it was delivered to a hotel room… I was so mad… I felt like I’d been duped into ordering from one of those late night infomercials… Never again. Dominoes Pizza is forever dead to me. They can promise real gold coins on top of their pizza and I still would never order from them again. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/16 "2013-03-25T21:47:43Z")
I’ve definitely heard people saying their computer “blue screened” upon getting a BSOD. Frankly, I find it weird someone would be unfamiliar with the phrase yet know what a BSOD is. > [@Claverhouse](#): > > Microsoft just blue itself. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/17 "2013-03-26T03:22:09Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > While Microsoft stole if from OS/2 (But, hey, MS has stolen most of what they call Windows from somewhere else)… it took Windows to make it truly infamous because it was nearly a daily occurrence for anything that tried to run more than a couple programs or devices at the same time… those were the early days of multi-tasking 🙂 They “stole” from the OS… they helped develop? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/18 "2013-03-26T06:39:00Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Pre-release versions of Windows have always had code names. > > No, I can’t give examples. I can. Windows 95 was Chicago. Windows XP was Whistler. Windows Vista was Longhorn (which was mocked as “shorthorn” when they had problems during development and pulled a lot of features from it). Windows 7 and 8 though were referred to as Windows 7 and Windows 8. “Blue” is currently a code name but it could end up being the name of the final product. It also appears that it is going to be more of a user interface update to Windows 8 rather than a new OS. It seems to be completely aimed at mobile stuff too which means microsoft is pretty much abandoning us desktop and laptop users. I guess we’re expected to switch to Linux. I’ve heard some strange things and I don’t know how many of them are true. One is that Microsoft is apparently going to start doing the release after release after release stupidity. Windows version 28 coming next month! Windows 29 the month after that! Well, not quite that bad, but what I heard was at least one release per year. ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/19 "2013-03-26T19:39:39Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > What happened to their policy of just numbering them? Make up your mind and stick with it, Microsoft! What # policy?? It was Windows, then 3, 95, 98 and 2000. Then it was XP, ME and Vista. Now back to 7 and 8. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890/20 "2013-03-26T20:30:46Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > “Blue” is currently a code name but it could end up being the name of the final product. It also appears that it is going to be more of a user interface update to Windows 8 rather than a new OS. It seems to be completely aimed at mobile stuff too which means microsoft is pretty much abandoning us desktop and laptop users. I guess we’re expected to switch to Linux. Windows RT seems to be the essence of their game plan, as far as I can tell. They want a completely closed ecosystem, with all applications purchased through their store. In other words, they want what Apple has, more or less, and since Apple did it with phones and tablets, that’s what Microsoft is trying to do. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-blue-cynical-naming-reason/653890.md?page=2)