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Revision as of 16:16, 7 February 2017
Microsoft Windows is a family of Operating Systems developed by Microsoft. It currently uses the Windows Explorer shell.
The first versions of Windows were an operating environment for DOS. Later versions (9x) used DOS as a bootstrapper. Any version of Windows that uses the NT Kernel does not rely on MS-DOS.
Windows for DOS
During this time, Windows was a desktop environment for DOS, an OS inspired by CP/M. There is a dispute whether it can be considered an operating system. One side points on the fact that it did include it's own graphics drivers and program API, which OS's do aswell, however on the other side the argument is that it extensively used the MS-DOS API. Last version of this series is Windows for Workgroups 3.11.
Windows 9x
In 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95, which utilised MS-DOS 7 at it's core. It was a hybrid 16/32bit operating system, which enabled compatibility with almost all existing Win32 applications. Windows 95 used MS-DOS for certain low-level operations, particularly the boot process, however many DOS apps were either entirely replaced with a Windows version (MS-DOS Shell could be considered one of these) or extended with Win32 code (Scandisk). DOS was primarily used as a bootstrapper in Windows 9x-based OS's. Windows ME was the last release belonging to this family.
Windows NT
Windows NT (New Technology) is the current iteration of Windows. It is built on the NT microkernel (hence the name), which was originally intended for use in OS/2 3.0 but was rewritten after the Microsoft - IBM split. The first release based on the new kernel was Windows NT 3.1, the version number of which was chosen so that eventual customers wouldn't consider it inferior to Windows 3.1, its DOS-based counterpart. All NT-based releases up until Windows 2000 were intended primarily for business use. With Windows XP, the NT series merged with Windows 9x, creating a single operating system for consumers and businesses. Windows Phone 8 is the first Windows Phone release to be based on the NT kernel. The most recent version of Windows based on the NT kernel is Windows 10. Following the release of Windows 10, Microsoft have switched to a periodical release system.
Timeline
| Windows for DOS family | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Version | Codename | Notes | |||
| Windows 1.0 | 1.0x | Interface Manager | First version of Windows, Released in 1985 | |||
| Windows 2.0 | 2.x | None | Released in 1987 | |||
| Windows 3.0 | 3.0 | None | Introduced Program Manager; released in 1990 | |||
| Windows 3.1x | 3.1x | Janus, Sparta, Snowball | Released in 1991 | |||
| Windows 9x family | ||||||
| Name | Version | Codename | Notes | |||
| Windows 95 | 4.0 | Chicago | Introduced Start Menu and Taskbar; released in 1995 | |||
| Windows 'Nashville' | 4.1 | Nashville | Never released | |||
| Windows 98 | 4.1 | Memphis | Released in 1998 | |||
| Windows Me | 4.9 | Millennium | Released in 2000 | |||
| Windows NT family | ||||||
| Name | Version | Codename | Notes | |||
| Windows NT 3.1 | NT 3.1 | NT OS/2 | Released in 1993 | |||
| Windows NT 3.5x | NT 3.5x | Daytona | Released in 1994 | |||
| Windows NT 4 | NT 4.0 | Cairo, Hydra | Released in 1996 | |||
| Windows 2000 | NT 5.0 | Memphis NT, NT 5 | Released in 2000, Also known as Memphis NT. | |||
| Windows Neptune | NT 5.5 | Neptune | 1 build leaked, Never released; merged to form Whistler. | |||
| Windows XP | NT 5.1 | Whistler | First NT for home users; released in 2001 | |||
| Windows Embedded 2009 | Quebec | Released in 2008 | ||||
| Windows Server 2003 | NT 5.2 | Whistler Server, .NET Server | Released in 2003, Previous Codenames : "Whistler Server" | |||
| Windows Small Business Server 2003 | Bobcat | Released in 2003 | ||||
| Windows Home Server | Quattro | Released in 2007 | ||||
| Windows FLP | NT 5.1 | Eiger, Monch | Released in 2006 | |||
| Windows Longhorn | NT 6.0 | Longhorn | Reset as Vista | |||
| Windows Vista | Longhorn Omega-13 | Code Reset, .NET Server RC1 > 2003 SP1 RC, Released in 2006 | ||||
| Windows Server 2008 | Longhorn Server | Released in 2008 | ||||
| Windows 7 | NT 6.1 | Blackcomb, Vienna, '7' | Released in 2009 | |||
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | Server '7' | Released in 2009 | ||||
| Windows Home Server 2011 | Vail | Released in 2011 | ||||
| Windows Thin PC | Thin PC | Released in 2011 | ||||
| Windows Multipoint Server 2010 | Solution Server | Released in 2010 | ||||
| Windows 8 | NT 6.2 | '8' | Released in 2012, Start menu removed, replaced with start screen | |||
| Windows Server 2012 | Server '8' | Released in 2012 | ||||
| Windows 8.1 | NT 6.3 | Blue | Released in 2013 | |||
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | Server Blue | Released in 2013 | ||||
| Windows 10 | NT 6.4/10.0 | Threshold | Released in 2015 | |||
| Windows Server 2016 | Redstone Server | Released in 2016, Previous Codenames: Threshold Server, vNext Server. | Windows TH2 | NT 10.0 | Threshold 2, Windows 15/11 | Released in 2015 |
| Windows 10 RS1 | Redstone 1, Windows 16/07 | Released in 2016 | ||||
| Windows 10 RS2 | Redstone 2 | To be released in 2017 | ||||