GirlHacker's Random Log

almost daily since 1999

 

Before “dot com” was part of our vernacular, how did we refer to release numbers? Was it “Windows three dot one” or “Windows three point one”? I remember using “dot” for filename extensions: “dot exe file” and it’s very common in Unix to have “dots”. But when I heard someone today say “three dot one” to refer to a release, I wondered if we used to say “point”. Or were they just used interchangeably? I have a bet with myself that I used to say “point” and didn’t use “dot” until domain names infiltrated our language. But I think the real answer is that we most often dropped the period and just said “three one”.

Written by ltao

May 10th, 2001 at 2:26 am

Posted in Uncategorized