The Evolution of Windows OS
By: Bimali Wickramasinghe
Tags: Windows Versions, Windows 7, Windows 10, Operating Systems, Windows

Microsoft Windows was found by Bill Gates on 10th of November 1983. Windows was introduced as a graphical user interface for MS-DOS. Windows versions began with Windows 1.0 and the current version of Windows is Windows 10 and it was marked as the last version of Windows to be traditionally released. Here are the most highlighted versions of windows.

Windows 1.x

Windows 1.0

The first windows version, Windows 1.0 was released on 20th of November 1985. It was not a complete operating system but was an operating environment. It had a 16-bit graphical user interface and relied heavily on use of a mouse even the use of mouse was not much popular in that time.

The OS included some graphical programs like Windows Paint, a simple word processor, a notepad, an appointment calendar, a control panel, a computer terminal, chipboard, a card filer, a clock a RAM driver, the MS-DOS Executive and a game called Reversi.

Windows 2.x

Windows 2.0

Windows 2.0 was released on 9th of December 1987. It was a 16-bit GUI based operating environment and included 16- color VGA graphics. It used the real-mode memory model of 1MB.

The main feature was the windows were able to overlap each other. It introduced more sophisticated keyboard shortcuts and also new graphical applications, Excel and Word were introduced. It introduced the terminology of “Minimize” and “Maximize”, as opposed to “Iconize” and “Zoom”. It was licensed as a commercial software.

Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0 was launched in 22nd of May 1990 as an operating environment.

It introduced a new GUI feature, clickable icons. The icons can be moved and arranged in any order, and the icons title can be renamed. Most of the simple programs were retained but improved. the game Reversi was complimented by a card game “Microsoft Solitare”.the application “Help” and the ability to run MS-DOS programs were introduced. Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extension 1.0 was released in October 1991 with higher system requirements and comprising a CD-ROM drive and a sound card. This was licensed as a commercial software.

Windows 3.1x

Windows 3.11

Windows 3.1x was introduced as a 16-bit operating environment for personal computers on 6th of April 1992.

TrueType fonts making windows was introduced and Internet Explorer 5 was introduced for Windows 3.1. It allowed supported MS-DOS programs to be controlled with a mouse for the first time. Windows 3.1 required a 1MB to run. It was licensed as a commercial software.

Windows NT 3.x

Windows NT 3.1

Windows NT 3.1 Workstation arrived on 27th of July 1992. It was the first Windows operating system based on hybrid kernel. It was processor-independent, multiprocessing and multi user operating system. It was written in C, C++ and Assembly language. NT was shortened for “New Technology”.

The main feature here was hardware and software portability. It used a 32-bit flat virtual memory addressing on 32-bit processors for the first time. Windows NT 3.x went through three versions as 3.1, 3.5 and 3.5. it was licensed as trailware, commercial software, volume licensing, OEM-only and S+S.

Windows 95

Windows 95

Windows 95 was released on 15th of August 1995, it used AI-32 platform and Monolithic kernel type.

It was a 16/32 bit hybrid operating system. It introduced the concept of plug and play. It introduced the start button and the start menu for the first time. It was licensed as a proprietary and commercial software.

Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a part of Microsoft Windows NT operating systems and was released on 31st July 1996.

It used IA-32, Alpha, MIPS and PowerPC platforms. It came in four versions as Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows NT 4.0 Server, Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition and Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server. Windows NT 4.0 introduced the system policies and the system policy editor. It was licensed as a commercial proprietary software.

Windows 98

Windows 98

Windows 98 was initially released on 25th of July 1998. It was a 16/32 bit hybrid monolithic product with the boot stage based on MS-DOS.

It introduced the back and forward navigation buttons and the address bar in Windows Explorer but the main feature was the Windows Driver Model which was a single driver that support all future versions of Windows. Windows 98 included improved USB support for hardware advancements. It was licensed as a commercial software. It was licensed as a commercial software.

Windows 2000

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 was released on 17th February 2000 as a part of Windows NT family.

It was available in four editions as Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. It was the first Windows operating system to support hibernation. It had an automatic updating feature. It used AI-32 platform and a hybrid kernel. It was licensed as a commercial proprietary software.

Windows Me

Windows Me

Windows Me was initially released on 19th of June 2000 (Me is shortened for Millennium Edition). It was a part of Windows 9x family of operating systems and the last Windows to be based on MS-DOS and Windows 9x family.

It introduced some automatic system recovery tools. It included Internet Explorer 5.5, Windows Media Player 7 and a new Windows Movie-Maker software for the first time. And several Windows Explorer commands were removed with some other features in other software. Windows Me was entirely aimed at home users. It was licensed as a Commercial Software.

Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP was released on 25th of October 2001. It was a combination of Windows 2000, Windows Me and Windows NT.

It used IA-32, x86–64 and Itanium platforms and Hybrid kernel. It used Windows XP’s interface with new visual appearance. “visual styles”, drop shadows and alpha composting effects were used. The most popular Windows’s default wallpaper, “Bliss” took its first appearance in the operating system. The start menu was switched to two column layouts with the ability to list, pin and display frequently opened documents and the traditional cascading “All Programs” menu.

Windows XP existed for 13 years, the longest running operating system. It used “prefetching” to improve startup and application launch times. Windows Product Activation was introduced (a copy protection system). Internet Connection Firewall was added to existing network features with more others. It was licensed as a proprietary commercial software.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista

Windows Vista was released on 30th of November 2006.

The main difference of Windows Vista from the others was the original start button was replaced with the Windows icon in a circle (Start Orb). A chess, Mahjong and Purble gaming software, Windows Calendar and Windows DVD Maker were introduced. it included speech recognition and was the first Windows to be distributed on DVD. It used IA-32 and x86–64 platforms and a Hybrid kernel. It had few bugs and was slow on older computers.

Windows Visa shipped in six different editions as Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate for consumers and business. It used four distinct visual styles, Windows Aero, Windows Vista Standard, Windows Vista Basic and Windows Standard. It was licensed as a proprietary commercial software.

Windows 7

Windows 7

Windows 7 was released on 22nd of July 2009 as part of Windows NT family.

It was fast in booting than previous. It shipped in six editions as Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate. Widows 7 used IA-32 and x86–64 platforms and a hybrid kernel. It was advanced in touch and handwriting recognition. Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Calendar and Windows mail were removed among some features in other programs. It supported virtual hard disks. It was licensed as a proprietary commercial software.

Windows Home

Windows Home

Windows Home Server 2011 was released on 6th of April 2011 and was designed for small office/home offices and homes with multiple connected PCs.

It used x86–64 platforms and a hybrid kernel. It included more entertainment capabilities and an add in feature with an app store. It required at least 2GB RAM to operate. It was licensed as a proprietary commercial software.

Windows 8

Windows 8

Windows 8 was released on 26th of October 2012.

There was a major changes with the user interface and the operating system’s platform and became more touch friendly. It was introduced to smartphones. It used IA-32, x64 platforms and a hybrid kernel. It was able to update using many ways as Windows Update, Windows Store and Windows Server Update Services. It was faster than previous versions and supported USB 3,0 devices.

The start screen was designed as tiles that display programs and updated content. But the new user interface was difficult to learn. Later Windows 8.1 released on 14th of May 2013, re-introducing the Start button. The start button brought the start Screen from the desktop view and users were directly boot into the desktop view. So, it was more user friendly for the users with the mouse and keyboard.

It was licensed as a Trialware, Microsoft Software Assurance, MSDN subscription and DreamSpark.

Windows 10

Windows 10

Windows 10 was released on 29th of July 2015 as a part of Windows NT family of operating systems and still use today. It was announced as the last version of Windows to be traditionally released. Instead of releasing new version Windows 10 keeps updating twice a year as “Creators Update” and “Fall Creators Update”.

It is written in C, C++, C# languages. It uses IA-32, x86–64, ARMv7 and ARM64 platforms and a Hybrid kernel. It targets the personal computing market. It continues with the traditional Start menu. It was available in 110 languages. Windows 10 is able to switch between keyboard and mouse mode and a tablet mode. Windows Update in Windows 10 download all updates and install automatically, it does not allow selective installation.

It was licensed as trialware, Microsoft software assurance, MSDN subscription and Microsoft Imagine.

References — https://en.wikipedia.org