Computers: Feedback: Microsoft renames 'Chicago'

MICROSOFT has renamed Chicago, the successor to Windows 3.1, Windows 95. Since there are said to be 60 million copies of Windows in the world today, it makes a lot of sense to give the next version a name which will make people feel they ought to buy it. Otherwise there might be millions of users who never realised they needed to upgrade because the old version seemed to be working well enough. Windows 95 will be a complete rewrite of the old Windows, bringing numerous advantages, such as long, meaningful file names, and a new simpler 'desktop' which will be much more like those of the Apple Mac, or PC Tools for Windows. Only a cynic would point out that the new name hard- codes a release date which cannot easily be evaded: once upon a time, Microsoft claimed Windows 95 would be released in the autumn of 1994.