Secret T-shirt message explains why Microsoft skipped Windows 9

belfiore build

(Microsoft) Microsoft's Joe Belfiore wearing the shirt with the hidden code.

We may finally have an answer to a question that's bugged us since Microsoft first announced Windows 10: What the heck happened to Windows 9?

Last week at the Microsoft Build conference, Microsoft staffers and other insiders were wearing a blue shirt with the Windows logo that was actually made up of the 1's and 0's of binary code.

The mystery was irresistible.

Developer Kévin Gosse took a screenshot of Microsoft Windows chief Joe Belfiore's shirt during the Build keynote session and used it to crack the code.

Here's what the shirt says, with one message in each of the four segments of the Windows logo:

• "There are 10 types of people in the world." (This is an old programmer joke referring to the fact that "10" is binary for "2.")
  

• "Windows 10, because 7 8 9." (Say it out loud.)

• Congrats on being one of the first.

• "Windows Insiders help us develop the future. Talk to us @ Windows."

So there you have it.

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