In the ensuing decade, every major release of desktop Windows has come in a wide -- -- variety of flavors.

By one count, Windows XP and , if you include two Windows Media Player-free versions for anti-monopoly reasons.

Even Windows 2000, often , came in four versions.

This increase in Windows edition has bewildered many consumers, and led even ardent Windows fans to make dark jokes.

"I wonder whether will have 700 SKUs or if [Microsoft] will streamline that," Andrew Brust, a technology consultant and MVP, has said on his Twitter page.