A release of a piece of software which is not merely a revisionOR a bug fix release but which contains substantial changes (e.g., an overhaul of the interface, change in compatibility). Traditionally, majOR releases are numbered as X.0 fOR example, WORdPerfect 6.0 is a majOR release, significantly different from any previous version whereas WORdPerfect 6.1 has only minOR changes, and is, thus, only a revision. See also majOR delivery. (1996-08-04)