A family of Windows operating systems. Windows operating systems

20.06.2019 Interesting

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows (/ ˈwɪndoʊz /) is a family of proprietary operating systems from Microsoft. Windows operating systems run on x86, x86-64, IA-64, ARM platforms. There were also versions for DEC Alpha, MIPS and PowerPC.

Microsoft Windows versions

The following versions of Microsoft Windows exist:

1. Windows 1.0 (1985)

2. Windows 2.0 (1987)

3. Windows 3.0 (1990)

4. Windows 3.1 (1992)

5. Windows For Workgroups 3.1 (1992)

6. Windows NT 3.1 (1993)

7. Windows NT 3.5 (1994)

8. Windows NT 3.51 (1995)

9.Windows 95 (1995)

10. Windows NT 4.0 (1996)

11. Windows 98 (1998)

12. Windows 98 SE (1999)

13. Windows 2000 (2000)

14. Windows Me (2000)

15. Windows XP (2001)

16. Windows XP 64-bit Edition (2003)

17. Windows Server 2003 (2003)

18. Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (2006)

19. Windows Vista (2007)

20. Windows Home Server (2007)

21. Windows Server 2008 (2008)

23. Windows Server 2008 R2 (formerly known as Windows Server 7) (target date for late 2009 early 2010)

24. Windows 8 (scheduled for release in 2012)

Let's take a closer look at each of the listed operating systems.

Windows 1.x

Windows 1.01, released on November 20, 1985, was Microsoft's first attempt at implementing a multi-tasking operating environment for the IBM PC with a graphical interface.

Unlike later versions, Windows 1.0 provided only limited multitasking support for existing MS-DOS programs, concentrating primarily on creating an environment paradigm for application execution and interoperability, and a stable API for future Windows programs. Today, twenty-three years after the release of Windows 1.0, you can not only run many of the programs built for that version on modern Windows XP, but you can also compile their source code into fully functional “modern” applications (with minor changes).

Windows 1.0 is often considered a "shell" for the MS-DOS operating system (this definition is often applied to later versions of Windows as well). In fact, Windows 1.0 ran from MS-DOS, its programs could call MS-DOS functions, and its GUI programs ran from the same executable EXE files as regular MS-DOS programs. However, Windows executable files had a different format (NE - eng. New executable), which could only be processed by Windows and which, for example, allowed loading code and data on demand. Applications had to manage memory only with Windows' own memory management system, which allowed for virtual memory.

The definition of Windows 1.0 as a "shell for DOS" is based on the fact that it was created only as a graphical environment for running applications, and not as a fully functional operating system. However, Windows 1.0 included native drivers for video cards, mice, keyboards, printers, and serial ports. Applications were expected to only call APIs built on top of these drivers. With MS-DOS limited graphics and peripheral support, applications had to go directly to the hardware (or, in some cases, the BIOS) to take action. Thus, Windows 1.0 was not just a shell for MS-DOS, but supplemented and partially replaced features not present in MS-DOS. The MS-DOS substitution level has been increased in subsequent versions of Windows.

The first version of Windows released was 1.01. Version 1.0 was not released due to a major bug that prevented this version from being released.

Version 1.02, released in May 1986, was international and had localizations for various European languages.

Version 1.03, released in August 1986, was for the US only and contained improvements that made it more like an international release. It included drivers for European keyboards and additional drivers for display and printers.

Version 1.04, released in April 1987, added support for the VGA graphics adapters introduced in the new PS / 2 series computers from IBM. At the same time, Microsoft and IBM announced the OS / 2 operating system with a graphical interface - Presentation Manager, which, according to the plan of the companies, was supposed to eventually replace both MS-DOS and Windows.

Windows 1.0 was superseded by Windows 2.0, released in November 1987.

Windows 2.x

Instead of tiling windows, which was in Windows 1.x, Windows 2.x implements an overlapping window system. In addition, it takes advantage of the protected mode of the 80286 and better processors, which allows programs to go beyond the 640KB of DOS main memory. In June 1988, version 2.1 was released, renamed Windows 286. Also on December 9, 1987, Windows 386 was released, a revision of Windows 2.0 optimized for the latest Intel CPU. It has some impact on the market, but mainly due to the ability to run multiple DOS programs in<виртуальных машинах>CPU 386; it lays the foundation for most of the future features of Windows 3.0.

Windows 3.x

Windows 3.x is the common name for a family of Microsoft operating systems released from 1990 to 1994. The first widespread version of Microsoft Windows was 3.0, allowing Microsoft to compete with the Macintosh and Commodore Amiga for graphical operating systems.

Windows 3.0 was released on May 22, 1990 and had a significant user interface and technical enhancements to take advantage of the memory management capabilities of the Intel 80286 and 80386 processors. Text programs written for MS-DOS could be run in a window (this feature was previously available in a more limited form in Windows / 386 2.1). This made the system usable as a simple multitasking base for old programs; however, for home computers, this function was of little value, as most games and entertainment applications still required direct access to DOS.

The MS-DOS Executive tool, previously used to launch programs and manage files, has been replaced by the Program Manager and File Manager tools, which simplify these steps. However, MS-DOS Executive still came with the system as an alternative user interface. The Control Panel, which used to be an ordinary applet, has been redesigned to look more like its counterpart in the Mac OS operating system. It centralized system settings, including limited control of the interface color scheme. Several simple applications were included, such as the Notepad text editor and the Write word processor (both inherited from previous versions of Windows), a macro writer (new in Windows 3.0; subsequently removed), and a calculator (also from previous versions) ... The older Reversi game was supplemented by the Klondike solitaire card game.

Windows 3.0 was the last version of Windows that Microsoft said had full compatibility with older Windows applications.

Multimedia extensions were released in the fall of 1991 to support CD drives and sound cards as they became more common. These extensions have been released to OEMs, mainly CD drive and sound card manufacturers. They added simple audio I / O and an audio CD player to Windows 3.0. The new media extensions capabilities were not available in live mode. Subsequently, many of the features of these extensions were included in Windows 3.1.

Windows 3.1 (originally codenamed Janus), released on March 18, 1992, was an extension of Windows 3.0. It included a TrueType font system (and a pre-installed set of fairly good quality fonts), making Windows a serious platform for desktop publishing for the first time. Similar capabilities were available in Windows 3.0 using the Adobe Type Manager application. This version of Windows also included the simple anti-virus program Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows, which later became known for identifying Windows 95 Setup as containing a computer virus. Starting with this version, Windows systems support 32-bit access to the hard disk.

Windows 3.1 was designed to have the highest level of backward compatibility with older Windows platforms. Like version 3.0, Windows 3.1 had a File Manager and a Program Manager.

A special version called Windows 3.1 for Central and Eastern Europe was also released, which supported Cyrillic and had accented fonts.

Native networking support was introduced in Windows for Workgroups 3.1, an enhanced version of Windows 3.1. It included SMB support for file sharing over NetBEUI and / or IPX protocols, as well as the computer game Hearts and VSHARE.386, a virtual device driver for the SHARE.EXE program. Windows for Workgroups 3.11 supported 32-bit file access, full 32-bit network redirectors, and the VCACHE.386 file cache. In addition, in version 3.11, support for the standard mode and the game "Reversi" were removed. Windows 3.x TCP / IP support relied on separate packages from third parties (eg Winsock). An add-on from Microsoft (codenamed Snowball) also provided TCP / IP support in Windows for workgroups, but this package was not widely available.

Limited compatibility with the new 32-bit Win32 API that was used in Windows NT was provided by the Win32s add-on package.

Windows 3.2 was a Chinese language-only version.

Over time, Windows 3.x was superseded by Windows 95, Windows 98 and later, which integrated MS-DOS and Windows components into a single product.

Later Windows 3.x found application in embedded systems. On November 1, 2008 Microsoft stopped issuing licenses for its use.

Windows NT

Windows NT (in common parlance simply NT) is a line of operating systems (OS) produced by Microsoft and the name of the first OS versions.

Development of Windows NT, tentatively titled NT OS / 2, was started in November 1988 by a team led by David Cutler who moved to Microsoft from DEC, where they developed VAX and VMS. The work proceeded in parallel with the development by IBM of its own operating system, OS / 2 2.0, which was finally released only in April 1992. At the same time, Microsoft continued to develop its own operating systems of the DOS and Windows families, which are less demanding on computer resources than IBM OS / 2. After Windows 3.0 was released in May 1990, Microsoft decided to add a Windows API-compatible programming interface (API) to NT OS / 2. This decision caused serious tensions between Microsoft and IBM, which ended in a breakdown in collaboration. IBM continued to develop OS / 2 on its own, and Microsoft began working on a system that was eventually released under the name Windows NT. Although this system did not bring immediate popularity like DOS or Windows, Windows NT proved to be significantly more successful than OS / 2.

It should be noted that OS / 2 and then POSIX APIs were originally planned as NT APIs; Windows API support was added last. In addition, Intel i860 and then MIPS were originally planned as the hardware platform for NT, support for Intel x86 was also added later. Then, in the process of evolution of this OS, support for both originally planned APIs and both originally planned hardware platforms disappeared. There was not even a single release version of this OS for the i860, although the name of the NT OS itself originates from the code name of this processor, N10. Microsoft now stands for NT as New Technology. And as an alternative to the POSIX subsystem, Microsoft began to offer the Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX package.

NT portability was one of its top priorities. That is why the development of this OS was initially carried out for the i860 processor, although binary compatibility with OS / 2, which was one of the conditions of the NT OS / 2 project, in any case would require creating a version of NT for x86, or including emulation of this platform in it. The number of platforms for which there were release versions of the Windows NT family of operating systems is impressive: in addition to the named MIPS and Intel x86, this includes PowerPC, DEC Alpha, Itanium and AMD x86-64. ISVs have also developed versions of Windows NT for the Clipper and SPARC architectures; however, these versions were not released as standalone software products. As an OS of high portability, NT was developed using Unix and Mach OS as an example.

To develop the NT operating system, Microsoft brought in a DEC team led by David Cutler with experience building multitasking operating systems such as VAX / VMS and RSX-11. Some similarities noted between the internal architectures of Windows NT and the VMS family of operating systems gave reason to accuse the newly hired Microsoft employees of stealing DEC intellectual property. The resulting conflict was resolved peacefully: DEC recognized Microsoft's ownership of the technologies underlying Windows NT, and Microsoft created and maintained a version of Windows NT for the DEC Alpha architecture.

Despite the common roots, the compatibility between Windows NT and OS / 2 has diminished with each new release of the OS. OS / 2 API 2.0 support, although planned for NT, was never completed; Windows NT 4.0 removed support for the HPFS file system, and Windows XP removed the software support subsystem for OS / 2 1.x.

The user interface subsystem in Windows NT implements a windowed interface similar to that of previous versions of Windows. Two types of objects in this subsystem that were not present in 16-bit versions of Windows and in Windows 9x are window stations and desktops. A Window Station corresponds to a single Windows NT user session — for example, a new Window Station is created when connecting through the Remote Desktop Service. Each running process belongs to one of the window stations; services, other than those marked as capable of interacting with the desktop, run in separate, invisible window stations.

Each window station has its own clipboard, a set of global atoms (used for DDE operations), and a set of desktops. The desktop is the context for all global user interface subsystem operations such as setting hooks and broadcasting messages. Each running thread belongs to one of the desktops - the one where the windows it serves are located; in particular, a single thread cannot create multiple windows belonging to different desktops. One of the desktops can be active (visible to the user and able to respond to his actions), the rest of the desktops are hidden. The ability to create multiple desktops for a single session and switch between them has not yet been provided by standard Windows user interface tools, although there are third-party programs that provide access to this functionality.

Window stations and desktops exhaust the Windows NT user interface subsystem objects that can be assigned access rights. The remaining types of objects - windows and menus - provide full access to any process that is with them in the same window station. Therefore, Windows NT services run in separate window stations by default: they run with elevated privileges, and the ability of user processes to manipulate service windows indefinitely could lead to crashes and / or security problems.

For applications, Windows NT provides several sets of APIs. The most basic of them is the so-called "native" API (NT Native API), implemented in the dynamic link library ntdll and consisting of two parts: system calls to the NT kernel (functions with the prefixes Nt and Zw, transferring execution to the kernel functions ntoskrnl with the same names ) and functions implemented in user mode (prefixed with Rtl). Some of the functions of the second group use system calls internally; the rest consists entirely of unprivileged code, and can be called not only from user-mode code, but also from drivers. In addition to the Native API functions, ntdll also includes the functions of the C Standard Library.

The official documentation for the Native API is sparse, but the community of enthusiasts managed to collect a lot of information about this interface through trial and error. In particular, in February 2000, Gary Nebbet's book "A Reference to the Basic Functions of the Windows NT / 2000 API" () was published; in 2002 it was translated into Russian (). A source of information about the Native API can be the Windows DDK, which describes some of the kernel functions available through the Native API, as well as examining the Windows code (reverse engineering) - by disassembling, either using the Windows 2000 source code that became available as a result of a leak, or using the source Windows 2003 texts available through the Windows Research Kernel.

Programs that run before the subsystems that run other Windows NT APIs are loaded are limited to using the Native API. For example, the autochk program, which checks disks when the OS boots after an abnormal shutdown, uses only the Native API.

The most common application for Windows NT uses the Win32 API, an interface based on the Windows 3.1 API that allows you to recompile existing programs for 16-bit versions of Windows with minimal changes to the source code. The compatibility of Win32 API and 16-bit Windows API is so great that 32-bit and 16-bit applications can freely exchange messages, work with each other's windows, etc. In addition to supporting the functions of the existing Windows API, a number of new features, including support for console programs, multithreading, and synchronization objects such as mutexes and semaphores. Win32 API documentation is included with the Microsoft Platform SDK and is available on the website.

The Win32 API support libraries are mostly named the same as the Windows 3.x system libraries, with the addition of the 32 suffix: these are the kernel32, advapi32, gdi32, user32, comctl32, comdlg32, shell32, and a number of others. Win32 API functions can either independently implement the required functionality in user mode, or call the Native API functions described above, or access the csrss subsystem via the LPC mechanism, or make a system call to the win32k library, which implements the support required for the Win32 API in the kernels. The four listed options can also be combined in any combination: for example, the Win32 API WriteFile function calls the Native API NtWriteFile function to write to a disk file, and calls the corresponding csrss function to output to the console.

Win32 API support is included in the Windows 9x family; it can also be added to Windows 3.1x by installing the Win32s package. To ease the portability of existing Windows applications that use MBCS strings to represent strings, all Win32 API functions that accept strings as parameters have been created in two versions: functions with the A suffix (ANSI) accept MBCS strings, and functions with the W suffix (wide ) accept Unicode strings. In Win32s and Windows 9x, only A-functions are supported, whereas in Windows NT, where all strings inside the OS are stored exclusively in Unicode, each A-function simply converts its string parameters to Unicode and calls the W-version of the same function. When a function name is specified in the source code of a program without a suffix, the use of the A- or W-version of this function is determined by the compilation options. It is important to note that most of the new features that have appeared in Windows 2000 or later Windows NT operating systems exist only in the Unicode version, because the task of ensuring compatibility with old programs and with Windows 9x is no longer as pressing as it used to be.

Unlike most "free" Unix-like operating systems, Windows NT is NIST certified for POSIX.1, and even the stricter FIPS 151-2 standard. The psxdll library exports standard POSIX functions, as well as some Native API functions that have no analogues in POSIX - for example, for working with heap, with structural exceptions, with Unicode encoding. These functions use both the Native API and LPC calls to the psxss subsystem, which is a normal Win32 process. The posix shell is used to load this subsystem and execute the POSIX program. The POSIX support included in Windows NT does not include extensions for graphics or multithreading applications.

To run 16-bit programs written for OS / 2 1.x, Windows NT includes two OS / 2 system libraries (doscalls and netapi) and a console emulator program os2, which loads and uses the os2srv subsystem via LPC calls and os2ss. The rest of the OS / 2 system libraries, except for the two named ones (kbdcalls, mailslot, moncalls, nampipes, quecalls, viocalls and a dozen more), are not stored as separate files, but are emulated. Programs written for OS / 2 2.0 and higher, as well as window programs and programs that directly work with computer devices, including drivers, are not supported by Windows NT.

Both of these subsystems, which are optional for most applications, have been removed in Windows XP and later releases of Windows. By manipulating the registry, they could be disabled in previous versions of Windows NT, as recommended by computer security experts in order to reduce the attack surface of a computer system.

To provide binary compatibility with existing programs for previous OS families from Microsoft, the ntvdm emulator program was added to Windows NT, which implements a VDM (virtual DOS machine) within which a DOS program can run. For each executable DOS program, its own VDM is created, while several 16-bit Windows programs can be executed in separate threads within one VDM, which in this case acts as a subsystem. In order to run Windows programs inside the VDM, the wowexec program must first be loaded into it, which establishes the connection between the VDM and the WOW platform ("Windows on Win32"), which allows 16-bit Windows applications to be used on a par with 32-bit ones. The ntvdm emulator itself runs inside the Win32 subsystem, which allows Win32 programs to access DOS program windows as ordinary console windows, and Win16 program windows as ordinary graphical windows.

Another binary compatibility technology implemented in Windows NT is thunks, which allow 32-bit programs to use 16-bit DLLs (for Windows or OS / 2), and vice versa. Thunks for Win16 are implemented in the wow32 (32-bit entry points) and krnl386 (16-bit entry points) libraries; thunks for OS / 2 - in the doscalls library (16-bit entry points). The 16-bit system libraries included with Windows NT for use by WOW technology include krnl386, gdi, user, commctrl, commdlg, shell, and others. DOS program support by a Windows NT virtual DOS machine is not limited to emulating the real mode of the x86 processor : Supports DPMI, allowing DOS programs to access extended memory. However, support for DOS and Win16 programs in Windows NT is limited by security requirements: programs that directly work with computer devices, including drivers, are not supported.

Due to hardware limitations of 64-bit platforms, support for VDM and WOW was excluded from 64-bit versions of Windows, and it is impossible to run 16-bit programs on them. The main API of these Windows NT versions is the 64-bit Win32 API; WOW64 technology is used to run 32-bit programs, which is similar to traditional WOW.

As noted, creating an x86 version of NT was required to ensure compatibility with OS / 2 - however, in order to ensure portability of the generated code, development of NT began with versions for RISC architectures, and only then was support for x86 added. The x86 version of Windows NT was originally designed to target the 80486 processor, but 80386 support was also added by the time Windows NT 3.1 was released. The last version to support i386 was Windows NT 3.51, and starting with Windows 2000, support for i486 was also dropped.

The i860 processor, which was initially developed for the NT operating system, did not receive the support from the computer manufacturers that Intel and Microsoft had hoped for by the time Windows NT was completed. As a result, x86, Alpha, and MIPS were the three platforms that Windows NT 3.1 included. The Windows NT 3.x releases continued to support these platforms, with the addition of the PowerPC-based PReP architecture in Windows NT 3.51. However, Windows NT 3.51 was not compatible with Macintosh computers with the same processor; in fact, only clones of IBM PCs with PowerPC processor instead of x86 were supported. These computers were produced mainly by the PowerPC makers - IBM and Motorola.

The first release of Windows NT 4 supported four platforms (x86, Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC), but support for less common platforms declined as service packs were released: MIPS support was removed from SP1, and PowerPC support was removed from SP3. Recent releases of Windows NT 4 only supported x86 and Alpha; although support for Alpha was planned for Windows 2000, it was dropped from RC2.

Windows 95

Windows 95 (codenamed Chicago) is a hybrid 16- and 32-bit graphics operating system released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft Corporation. The Russian version went on sale on November 10, 1995.

It was the first system in the Windows family to have an interface used in all subsequent versions of Windows: it was in it that such elements of the graphical interface as the desktop with icons, the taskbar and the "Start" menu appeared.

Windows 95 is the result of a merger between MS-DOS and Windows products that were previously distributed separately. Windows 95 is the third (after Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Windows NT) Windows system that lacks support for standard and real operating modes of x86 processors and requires a processor level Intel 80386 or higher in protected mode. Windows 95 contains significant improvements to the graphical interface and the internal structure of the system, including the desktop and start menu, support for long (up to 256 characters) file names and plug and play.

The main innovation in Windows 95 is the ability to run 32-bit applications based on the Win32 API. This feature first appeared in Windows NT, but the systems in this family had higher hardware requirements and therefore could not match the popularity of the "regular" Windows series (which was represented by the Windows 3.x family before Windows 95).

Windows 95 implemented only a subset of the Win32 features available in Windows NT. However, this was enough for many applications developed on the basis of the Win32 API to work both in the Windows NT environment (which was positioned as a system for business use) and in the Windows 95 environment (oriented to the consumer market). This contributed to the popularity of Windows 95.

The advent of 32-bit file access in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 meant that MS-DOS 16-bit real mode was no longer used for file access while Windows was running, and the introduction of 32-bit disk access in Windows 3.1 avoided the use of BIOS for managing hard drives. As a result, the role of MS-DOS was essentially reduced to loading the Windows kernel in protected mode. DOS could still be used to run old device drivers for compatibility reasons, but Microsoft recommended against using them as it interfered with proper multitasking and reduced system stability. Using the Control Panel, the user could determine which MS-DOS components were still in use on his system; optimal performance was achieved if none were available. The Windows kernel still used the old "MS-DOS style" calls in the so-called crash mode, but this mode was only used to fix problems loading native protected mode drivers.

32-bit file access was required for long filenames, a feature available in Windows 95 through the use of the VFAT file system (a variant of FAT16). This feature was available to both Windows programs and MS-DOS programs launched from Windows (they needed to be slightly tweaked, since access to files by long names required a larger buffer for the path and, as a result, other system calls). Other DOS-compatible operating systems required an upgrade in order to use long filenames. Using older versions of DOS file management utilities could corrupt long file names when copying and moving them. During the automatic upgrade from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, DOS and third-party utilities that could corrupt long filenames were detected and disabled. For those cases when it became necessary to use old disk utilities that did not accept long file names (for example, the defrag program from the MS-DOS 6.22 package), the LFNBACK program was provided to save and restore long names. The program is located in the \ ADMIN \ APPTOOLS \ LFNBACK directory on the Windows 95 CD.

The Windows 95 graphical interface was significantly more powerful and easier to use, resulting in a rivalry in the desktop operating system market that ended in victory for Microsoft. Windows 95 was an undeniable success in the marketplace, and within a year or two after its release, it became the most successful operating system ever created. Windows 95 made GUI features such as the Start button and taskbar available to the general public (although similar features have been implemented in the past - in the Arthur and RISC OS - the market for these systems was extremely limited). These functions became an invariable attribute of all subsequent versions of Windows, and were subsequently copied in other graphical interfaces.

Windows 95's plug and play (literally plug and play) system automatically installs device drivers, assigns interrupt numbers to them, and more — previously you had to do this manually. In turn, the advent of Windows 95 led to devices specifically designed for "plug and play" - for example, they are inactive until the system assigns them addresses and interrupts. In the early stages of implementation, there were numerous hardware recognition errors, so "plug and play" was often jokingly called "plug and pray" - literally "plug and pray."

The release of Windows 95 was accompanied by a massive advertising campaign (by many estimates the largest in software history), including an ad featuring the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" (a nod to the "Start" button). The campaign also included stories from people queuing at stores to purchase a copy of the system; there were even tales of how people without computers bought Windows 95 just because of all the hype, without even knowing what Windows was.

Initially, Windows 95 was sold on 13 floppy disks in a special format DMF (Distribution Media Format, capacity 1.68 MB) or on CDs (the CD version included many useful additional files). Some developments that could not be completed by the time Windows 95 was officially released were later included in Microsoft Plus! (e.g. Internet Explorer).

The first versions of Windows 95 did not have built-in support for working with the Internet, but there was a "Microsoft Network" icon on the desktop - it was subsequently removed.

Windows 95 has been superseded by other Windows 9x operating systems — Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows ME. The Windows NT kernel used in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista is much more robust and functional than its predecessors in the Windows 9x line, but does not support older MS-DOS games and applications. By now, all operating systems in the Windows 9x line, especially Windows 95, are almost out of use. Microsoft ended support for Windows 95 on December 31, 2002.

Windows 98

Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis) is a graphical operating system released by Microsoft on June 25, 1998.

In fact, this operating system is an updated version of Windows 95, which is still a hybrid 16/32-bit product based on MS-DOS. Improvements have been made to AGP support, improved USB drivers, added support for working with multiple monitors and support for WebTV. As in Windows 95 OSR 2.5, Internet Explorer 4 (Active Desktop function) is integrated into the system interface.

The internal number of the "first edition" of Windows 98 is 4.10.1998, SE is 4.10.2222.

System requirements for Windows 98: 486DX / 66 MHz processor or better, 16 MB of RAM and at least 195 MB of free disk space with standard installation.

Windows 98 Second Edition (Windows 98 SE) was released on May 5, 1999. The updated version includes many fixes, Internet Explorer 4 has been replaced by the much faster and lighter Internet Explorer 5, and the Internet Connection Sharing function has appeared. Also added MS NetMeeting 3 and DVD playback support.

System requirements for RAM for Windows 98 SE have increased to 24 MB.

Microsoft planned to end support for Windows 98 on July 16, 2004. However, due to the incredible popularity of this operating system, support was extended until July 30, 2006.

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 (also called Win2k, W2k, or Windows NT 5.0, codenamed Cairo) is Microsoft's Windows NT operating system designed to run on computers with 32-bit processors (Intel IA-32 compatible architecture).

The first beta version of the system was released on September 27, 1997. The system was originally called Windows NT 5.0 because it was the next major version of Windows NT after Windows NT 4.0. However, on October 27, 1998, it received its own name Windows 2000. The final version of the system was released to the general public on February 17, 2000.

Some of the most significant improvements in Windows 2000 over Windows NT 4.0 are: Active Directory support. The server side of Active Directory ships with Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server editions, while the Professional edition provides full client-side service support. Internet Information Services 5.0. Compared to IIS 4.0, this version includes, among other things, version 3.0 of the ASP web programming system. File system NTFS version 3.0 (also called NTFS 5.0 by the internal version of Windows 2000 - NT 5.0). In this version of NTFS, for the first time there was support for quotas, that is, restrictions on the maximum amount of stored files for each user. Updated user interface, including Active Desktop based on Internet Explorer version 5 and thus similar to Windows 98. Language integration: previous versions of Windows were released in three versions - for European languages (single-byte characters, letters only from left to right), for Far Eastern languages (multibyte characters) and for Middle Eastern languages (writing from right to left with contextual letter variants). Windows 2000 combines these capabilities; all its localized versions are made on the same basis.

Subsequently, Windows 2000 was superseded by Windows XP (client-side) and Windows Server 2003 (server-side) operating systems. However, Windows 2000 continues to be popular, especially in large companies where updating operating systems on a large number of computers is fraught with technical and financial difficulties. According to a study by Assetmetrix, in early 2005, Windows 2000 accounted for more than 50% of Windows workstation operating systems in companies with more than 250 computers. At the same time, in companies with fewer than 250 computers, Windows XP is more popular. Microsoft ended basic support for the Windows 2000 operating system on June 30, 2005. Extended support will continue until June 30, 2010.

Windows ME

Windows Millennium Edition (Windows ME; also abbreviated as Windows Me) is a 16/32-bit mixed operating system released by Microsoft on September 14, 2000. It was named so in honor of the new III millennium (lat. Millennium - millennium).

It differs from its predecessors - Windows 95 and Windows 98 - with relatively minor updates, such as the new Internet Explorer 5.5 and Windows Media Player 7. Windows Movie Maker also appeared with basic digital video editing functions. The system interface has changed - features that first appeared in Windows 2000 have been added to it.

One of the most noticeable changes in Windows ME is that MS-DOS real mode is disabled in the standard system configuration, which makes it impossible to use programs that require this mode. However, using special utilities, this function can be unlocked. Booting Windows ME is the same as Windows 95 and 98.

Windows XP

Windows XP (codename at development - Whistler; internal version - Windows NT 5.1) is an operating system of the Windows NT family from Microsoft. It was released on October 25, 2001 and is an evolution of Windows 2000 Professional. The name XP comes from the English. experience The name came into practice as a professional version.

Since April 14, 2009, Microsoft has stopped free support for the Windows XP operating system (OS), now Windows XP users will not be able to contact Microsoft for free technical support in case of incidents, for design changes and other situations. Now they will have to use “extended support” services for this, which means that all calls will be paid. Extended support will continue until April 8, 2014.

In addition, free support for Office 2003 and Windows Server 2003 has been discontinued.

Windows XP analyzes the performance of the system with certain visual effects and, depending on this, activates them or not, taking into account a possible drop or increase in performance. Users can also change these parameters using the settings dialog boxes, while they can either flexibly choose the activity of certain visual effects, or leave it to the system's control, or choose the maximum performance or the best kind of graphical interface. Some effects, such as alpha blending, etc., require a powerful graphics subsystem; on older video cards, performance can drop dramatically, and Microsoft recommends disabling these features in this case.

In Windows XP, it became possible to use "Visual Styles" to change the graphical user interface. Luna is a new style of GUI that comes with XP and is the default interface for PCs with more than 64 megabytes of RAM. It is possible to use other "Visual Styles", but they must be digitally signed by Microsoft (since they are essential for the functioning of the system).

To work around this limitation, some users use special software, such as TGTSoft's StyleXP, and sometimes a modified version of the uxtheme.dll library.

There is also a "classic" style that mimics the Windows 2000 interface style (which uses 4MB less memory than Luna), as well as numerous third-party styles. For the version of Media Center, Microsoft has developed a "visual style" called "Royale", which is included in this version of Windows XP and is available for installation in other versions of XP.

More than 100 icons have been created for Windows XP by The Iconfactory, known for their collection of free icons for the Mac OS X operating system.

Windows XP also has a command line interface (CLI, "console"), cmd.exe, for controlling the system with commands from the console or running scripts called "batch files" (with cmd extensions) based on MS "batch" files -DOS. The Windows XP CLI syntax is not well documented in the built-in help system. More general information can be obtained by typing "help" at the command line for general information about the available commands and "command name /?". The command line interface is available both in the form of a window and in full-screen form (switching between them is carried out by pressing Alt + Enter), the preferred view can be specified in the corresponding settings dialog, along with parameters such as size and type of fonts, etc. When working in this mode, the user can call previous commands (for example, the "up" key returns the previous command), use auto-completion of file and directory names, as well as commands.

Microsoft periodically releases service packs for its operating systems to address identified issues and add new features. At the moment there are three of them.

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows XP was released on September 9, 2002. The most important innovations are USB 2.0 support, a utility that allows you to select default programs for web browsing, mail, instant messaging, and various implementations of the Java virtual machine. Starting with SP1, the EFS encryption file system has the ability to use the AES encryption algorithm with a 256-bit key.

Starting with SP1, LBA-48 is supported, which allows the operating system to work with HDDs with a capacity of more than 137 GB, activated by default.

Service Pack 2 (SP2) (codenamed "Springboard") was released on August 6, 2004. SP2 added new features to Windows XP, including an improved firewall; Wi-Fi wizard and Bluetooth support; and IE6 improvements such as the ability to block pop-ups. This service pack has made significant changes to the security of Windows XP. So, the built-in firewall has undergone significant changes, which has been renamed to Windows Firewall and is now activated for all created connections by default. Enhanced memory protection has appeared, in particular, against buffer overflow attacks using the "NX-bit" technology and a number of other techniques. The changes also affected services - such services as telnet and messaging service are disabled by default, a number of services are started with downgraded rights, etc. Changes in the security area affected both the Outlook Express mail program and the IE browser. Windows XP Service Pack 2 includes Windows Security Center, which makes it easier to monitor the security of the system, monitoring and reminding the user to install or update the antivirus and its databases, activate the built-in or third-party firewall, update the operating system or change the settings of the web browser ... Third-party antiviruses and firewalls have the ability to interact with it using the API. Also, the autorun functions have been improved when loading a CD or connecting flash drives and similar devices.

In early August 2007, Microsoft began beta testing SP3 among a limited group of beta testers. Despite the fact that the beta version was only released to a select few, its distribution has appeared on peer-to-peer networks. Since December 12, 2007 version RC1 SP3 is available for download and testing for everyone.

The final version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 was released on April 21, 2008, but only for business customers such as OEMs and MSDN and TechNet subscribers. The rest of the users were able to get the third service pack from the online Windows Update service or through the Microsoft Download Center on May 6, as well as using the automatic update service in early summer. The original RTM version of Windows XP SP3 was released in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish [unspecified 72 days] It was only on May 5 that the remaining 18 localizations were released.

This package includes all updates released since the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 in 2004, as well as a number of other new items. These include Network Access Protection and a new activation model borrowed from Windows Vista, plus improved detection of so-called black hole routers and more.

On July 1, 2008, Microsoft stopped selling Windows XP SP2 to its vendors. Currently, Windows XP SP3 is supplied in OEM and BOX deliveries, it is possible to downgrade in the framework of volume licensing. And also on sale is Get Genuine Kit Windows XP SP3 intended for licensing the installed pirated software, within the framework of volume licensing the package Get Genuine Solution Windows XP.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 will also be distributed as part of the Windows 7 "Windows XP Mode" component

Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003 (codename at development - Whistler Server, internal version - Windows NT 5.2) is an operating system of the Windows NT family from Microsoft, designed to run on servers. It was released on April 24, 2003.

Windows Server 2003 is an evolution of Windows 2000 Server and the server version of the Windows XP operating system. Microsoft originally planned to name this product "Windows .NET Server" in order to promote its new Microsoft .NET platform. However, this name was later dropped to avoid misleading the software market for .NET.

Windows Server 2008 is the next server version of Windows NT to replace Windows Server 2003.

Windows Server 2003 mainly builds on features found in the previous version of the system, Windows 2000 Server. This was also indicated by the NT 5.2 kernel version (NT 5.0 for Windows 2000). Below are some of the more notable changes since Windows 2000 Server.

Windows Server 2003 is the first Microsoft operating system to ship with the .NET Framework preinstalled. This allows this system to act as an application server for the Microsoft .NET platform without installing any additional software.

Windows Server 2003 includes version 6.0 of Internet Information Services, whose architecture is significantly different from the architecture of Internet Information Services 5.0 that is available in Windows 2000. In particular, to improve stability, it is possible to isolate applications from each other in separate processes without affecting performance. A new HTTP.sys driver has also been created to handle HTTP requests. This driver operates in kernel mode, which results in faster processing of requests.

Microsoft says Windows Server 2003 has a strong focus on system security. In particular, the system is now installed as limited as possible, without any additional services, which reduces the attack surface. Windows Server 2003 also includes the Internet Connection Firewall. Subsequently, a service pack was released to the system, which is fully focused on improving the security of the system and includes several additional features to protect against attacks. Windows Server 2003 is classified as C2 - Controlled Access Protection, according to the American Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC)

Windows Server 2003 first introduced the Volume Shadow Copy Service, which automatically saves old versions of user files, allowing you to revert to a previous version of a document if necessary. Working with shadow copies is possible only if the "shadow copy client" is installed on the PC of the user whose documents need to be restored.

Also in this version of the system, the set of administration utilities called from the command line has been expanded, which simplifies the automation of system management.

Introduced a new concept - "roles", on which the server management is based. Simply put, to get a file server, you need to add a role - "file server".

Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs

Windows FLP or Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (Code Name: Eiger) is a version of Microsoft Windows released on July 8, 2006. - Compact OS from Microsoft for outdated PCs, based on Microsoft Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2. Supports use with terminal servers (Microsoft, Citrix). It is also possible to run a small number of local applications.

Windows Vista

In the Windows NT product line, Windows Vista is version 6.0 (Windows 2000 - 5.0, Windows XP - 5.1, Windows Server 2003 - 5.2). The abbreviation "WinVI" is sometimes used to refer to "Windows Vista", which combines the name "Vista" with the version number written in Roman numerals.

Windows Vista, like Windows XP, is a purely client system. Microsoft also released a server version of Windows Vista - Windows Server 2008.

On November 30, 2006, Microsoft officially released Windows Vista and Office 2007 for corporate customers. On January 30, 2007, sales of the system to regular users began.

Early in development, the system was codenamed Longhorn (named after the Longhorn Saloon bar near Whistler ski resort in British Columbia). The name "Vista" was announced on July 22, 2005. A few months later, Microsoft also renamed Windows Longhorn Server to Windows Server 2008. As of November 8, 2006, a full version of Windows Vista is available to OEMs. The public release for end users took place on January 30, 2007.

It is worth noting that many of the features planned for Windows Vista have been dropped by Microsoft due to public outcry. For example, it was assumed that OpenGL would be implemented as an add-on over Direct3D. This would lead to a serious drop in OpenGL performance over Direct3D and to fix the OpenGL version. Fears did not materialize, OpenGL support in Windows Vista remained. The WinFS file system was not included in Windows Vista either - this time due to performance issues.

Among the features of Windows Wista should be highlighted:

1. According to Microsoft itself, the system boot time is less than in Windows XP and on most computers is less than a minute. Reduced the time to enter and exit sleep mode to 6 seconds. But with the advent of the user interface, you have to wait much longer to start fully functional, while background processes that greatly impede the work of third-party programs pass. It is believed that Windows Vista is the worst operating system Microsoft has released. Windows Vista also won first place in the 2007 Pwnie award's Failure of the Year competition. Moreover, according to The Inquirer.net, a number of unprecedented promotions related to the promotion of WV on the market suggest that Microsoft has recognized Windows Vista as a failure.

2. Thanks to the "Windows ReadyBoost" technology, it became possible to use the capacity of external USB flash drives as RAM, which in some cases increases performance by 40%.

3. The logical model of interaction with graphic devices has been completely redesigned.

4. User Account Control (UAC) is a user account control system that requires explicit permission from the user when performing any action that requires administrative authority, regardless of the rights of the current user account. If the user is not an administrator, a request will be displayed in which you can select an administrative account and perform an operation with its rights by entering a password - this allows you to configure the system and install applications from a limited user account without explicitly using the runas mechanism and without the need to switch to another account (which was required in XP, for example, if the TCP / IP parameters were changed). If the user is a member of the "Administrators" group, then he will need (with the default settings) to confirm the use of rights by responding to the system request. UAC requests data in Secure Desktop mode, which protects against data interception and control over the input window by third-party programs (approximately the same mode was used when entering the NT domain with the requirement to press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice). UAC can be disabled for certain categories of accounts and reconfigured using a local (or group, if used in a domain) security policy: for example, you can set a mandatory password entry for all users (including administrators) to use administrative rights, prohibit these actions for users of restricted accounts, and etc.

5. Bitlocker Drive Encryption - Provides the ability to encrypt the system drive using the command line interface and other sections. This uses a USB key or Trusted Platform Module to store encryption keys. To encrypt partitions, by default, the AES algorithm is used with a key length of 128 bits in CBC encryption mode. This feature is present in Vista Enterprise or Ultimate versions.

6. EFS file encryption system. This system, first introduced in Windows 2000, runs in Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate and offers the ability to transparently encrypt files at the file system level using AES (256-bit key) or 3-DES algorithms. For each file, an encryption key is randomly generated, which in turn is encrypted with the public key to the users (2048 bits by default). In Vista, with the help of policies, it became possible to set different lengths of the user's public key (1024, 2048, 4096, ...), save the key on smart cards (by default, the key is stored locally, protected by the user's password) and encrypt the paging file, as well as require a mandatory encryption of the user's document folder.

7. Prevention of virus infection from removable media. By default, Windows Vista disabled autorun programs from flash cards and USB devices. This prevents viruses from infecting your computer that spread through flash cards. There are also policies that control access to external media (including USB), which also helps to protect confidential data.

8. Lock direct write to disk. Windows Vista prohibits direct writes to a disk (\\. \ PhysicalDriveX) when a file system is mounted from the disk.

It is believed that Windows Vista is the worst operating system Microsoft has ever released. Windows Vista also won first place in the 2007 Pwnie award's Failure of the Year competition. Moreover, according to the assumption of the site The Inquirer.net, on a number of unprecedented promotions related to the promotion of WV on the market, it can be concluded that the leadership of Microsoft recognized Windows Vista as a failure.

Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server is a server operating system from Microsoft, which is built on the basis of Windows Server 2003 SP2 and is aimed at home users (as the name implies - home - home) for use in home networks.

Windows Server 2008

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (codenamed "Longhorn Server") is the new version of the server operating system from Microsoft. This version is intended to replace Windows Server 2003 as a representative of Vista generation operating systems (NT 6.x).

Windows Server 2008 includes an installation option called Server Core. Server Core is a lightweight installation of Windows Server 2008 that does not include the Windows Explorer shell. All configuration and maintenance is performed using the Windows command line interface, or by connecting to the server remotely through the Management Console. At the same time, Notepad and some elements of the control panel are available, for example, Regional Settings.

Windows Server 2008 has seen a significant update to Terminal Services. Terminal Services now supports Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0. The most notable enhancement, called Terminal Services RemoteApp, allows you to publish one specific application instead of the entire desktop.

Another important feature added to Terminal Services is Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services Web Access (now completely web-based). Terminal Services Gateway allows authorized computers to securely connect to Terminal Services or Remote Desktop from the Internet using RDP over HTTPS without using a VPN. This does not require opening an additional port on the firewall; RDP traffic is tunneled over HTTPS. Terminal Services Web Access allows administrators to provide access to Terminal Services through a Web interface. When using TS Gateway and TS RemoteApp, data transfer occurs over HTTP (S) and remote applications appear to the user as if they were running locally. Several applications are launched in a single session to ensure that no additional user licenses are required.

With Terminal Services Easy Print, administrators no longer need to install any printer drivers on the server. In doing so, the Easy Print Driver redirects the user interface and all the capabilities of the original printer. In addition, it improves the productivity of submitting print jobs by converting jobs to XPS format before sending them to the client.

Windows Server 2008 is the first Windows operating system released with built-in Windows PowerShell, an extensible command-line shell, and a companion scripting language developed by Microsoft. The PowerShell scripting language was designed specifically for administrative tasks, and may replace the need for cmd.exe and Windows Script Host.

Self-healing NTFS

If in previous versions of Windows the operating system detected errors in the file system of an NTFS volume, it marked the volume as dirty; correction of errors on the volume could not be performed immediately. With self-healing NTFS, instead of locking the entire volume, only damaged files / folders that remain inaccessible for the duration of the repair are locked. This eliminates the need to reboot the server to fix file system errors.

Also, the operating system now displays S.M.A.R.T. information. hard drives to help identify possible hard drive failures. This feature first appeared in Windows Vista.

Server Manager is a new role-based management tool for Windows Server 2008. It is a combination of Manage This Server and the Security Configuration Wizard from Windows Server 2003. Server Manager is an improved Server Configuration Wizard dialog that was launched by default in Windows Server 2003 at logon. Now it allows you not only to add new roles, but also combines all the operations that users can perform on the server, and also provides a consolidated, made in the form of a single portal display of the current state of each role.

Server Manager cannot be used remotely at this time, but a client version is planned.

Windows 7

Microsoft announced that the operating system will go on sale on October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of the previous operating system, Windows Vista. Volume Licensing partners and customers were granted access to RTM on July 24, 2009.

Windows 7 includes some developments that are excluded from Windows Vista, as well as innovations in the interface and built-in programs.

Windows 7 will have a feature to disable or enable Internet Explorer.

Windows 7 will have support for multitouch monitors. This capability was demonstrated by Microsoft at the annual TechEd'08 conference in Orlando. This demo used build 6.1.6856 and a prototype laptop with a multitouch screen. According to some reports, Windows 7 will partially implement the functionality planned for Windows Vista (codenamed "Longhorn"), as well as closer integration with Windows Live programs and services.

In Windows 7, a more flexible User Account Control (UAC) setting is implemented, which, unlike Windows Vista, has two more intermediate states between the "Enable" and "Disable" modes.

Changes have been made to the BitLocker encryption technology, and added the BitLocker to go encryption function for removable media, which allows you to encrypt removable media, even if there is no TPM module.

Improvements have also been made to the Windows firewall - the function of notifying the user about the blocking of a program trying to access the network has returned.

Windows 7 will not be able to play licensed Blu-ray discs with video, but it will be able to read and write information on them.

Using Group Policy and AppLocker, you can prevent certain applications from running.

The Branch Cache feature will help reduce latency for users who work with a computer remotely. For example, a file accessible over the network is cached locally, so it is no longer downloaded from a remote server, but from a local computer. This feature can work in two modes - Hosted Cache and Distributed Cache. In the first case, the file is stored on a dedicated local server running Windows Server 2008 R2, in the second, on the client's computer.

DirectAccess allows a secure connection to the server in the background, unlike VPN, which requires user interaction. DirectAccess can also enforce Group Policy prior to user logon.

Remote Desktop Host allows a user to connect to a remote computer with administrator rights.

Microsoft is also considering the possibility of releasing Windows 7 not only on optical discs, but also on flash media, which should simplify the process of installing the platform on netbooks that do not have a built-in optical drive.

Windows 7 will also use sandbox mode, the implementation of which was discussed during the alpha and beta testing (in the Longhorn development phase). All unmanaged code will run in an environment (sandbox) in which the operating system will restrict the program's access to the computer hardware and network. Access to low-level sockets, as well as direct access to the file system, hardware abstraction layer (HAL), full access to the memory address, will be denied. All access to external applications, files and protocols will be regulated by the operating system and immediately suppressed (in theory). If successful, this approach promises almost complete security, since with this approach it is theoretically impossible for a malicious program to cause any damage to the system if it is locked inside a metaphorical "glass box". This approach is associated with Virtual PC. If everything is correct, this environment will be able to adapt to the code base that was written in its language. This will remove most of the problems that arise as a result of backward compatibility when moving to a new operating system.

When using apps in Beta 1, memory leaks were found in some apps that caused them to freeze completely despite being in sandbox mode. In theory, if the regime does not become more effective, it could cause a surge in the development of programs deliberately exploiting these vulnerabilities for their own purposes.

Bill Gates mentioned the ubiquitous instant search string (analogous to Spotlight). Content Indexing Service has evolved since Windows XP, and a similar search string was included in Windows Vista. Also Windows 7 uses DirectX 11.

Will Windows 7 get a new kernel?

No. Although I must say that similar developments were carried out. At least that's what one Microsoft engineer said back in October last year. According to him, 200 programmers of the company worked on shrinking the kernel for Windows 7. The kernel even received its own name MinWin and was supposed to take up six times less memory than the Vista kernel.

However, Flores and Sinofsky said that Windows 7 will not receive a new kernel. “Contrary to some speculation, Microsoft is not creating a new kernel for Windows 7,” Flores said. However, Sinofsky said somewhat differently, “... the kernel in Windows Server 2008 is an evolution of the Windows Vista kernel, and the Windows 7 kernel will be a further evolution of that kernel.”

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 — The server version of Windows 7 in development. Will be released October 22, 2009. Like Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 will use the Windows NT 6.1 kernel. New features include improved virtualization, a new version of Active Directory, Internet Information Services 7.5, and support for up to 256 processors. The system will be released only in 64-bit version. Also removed support for booting Windows from partitions containing MBR.

Microsoft announced Windows Server 2008 R2 at the Professional Developers Conference as a Windows 7 server edition. On January 7, 2009, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 beta became available to Microsoft TechNet and MSDN subscribers who participated in the Windows 7 Preview Program. January 9 Beta version is made publicly available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. April 30, 2009 - A Release Candidate (RC) is now available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. May 5, 2009 - Windows Server 2008 R2 RC is available at Microsoft Download Center June 2, 2009 - Microsoft announced that the RTM version will be available to Microsoft partners in the second half of July 2009. The release will take place on October 22, 2009.

Currently, Microsoft Windows is installed on about 88% of personal computers and workstations. In addition, its competitor - Mac OS X is gaining turnover (about 10%). Despite the competition, Microsoft and Apple cooperate, constantly increasing the compatibility of the two systems.

Among many users of Windows operating systems, questions arise, what are the versions and editions, and how many are there in general? Even on many large and small sites, they mistakenly confuse versions with editors and vice versa. So let's fill that gap. It would seem that it makes no difference what to call it, but there is still a difference. We will also find out when the main and extended support for different Windows operating systems will end.

Let's start our review with the Windows 7 operating system.

Windows 7

Windows 7- a user operating system of the Windows NT family, following the release of Windows Vista and the predecessor of Windows 8.

The kernel version is 6.1.
Core type: Hybrid core.
Release date: July 22, 2009.
Latest version release date: February 22, 2011. (version 6.1.7601.23403).
Primary Support: Discontinued on January 13, 2015.
Extended Support: Valid until January 14, 2020.

Recall that the kernel version for Windows 2000 is 5.0, for Windows XP - 5.1, Windows Server 2003 - 5.2, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 - 6.0.

Subsequent updates and additions to the operating system are called Windows versions. In this case, the latest version for Windows 7, released on February 22, 2011, is called version 6.1.7601.23403, or, more simply, Build. So here is the latest version of Windows 7, written as -. Recall that this is the latest version for Windows 7, Microsoft did not release more than seven versions.

Windows 7 versions:

At the end of December 2008, another test version, numbered build 7000, "leaked" to the Network. It was this assembly that became the first official beta version of the new system, Windows 7 Beta.
Windows 7 build 7057 was leaked on March 14th.On March 25, a limited group of Microsoft TechNet partners received Windows 7 build 7068 (6.1.7068.0.winmain.090321-1322). On March 26th, this build was successfully leaked to the Web.
On April 7, another build of 7077 (6.1.7077.0.winmain_win7rc.090404-1255), dated April 4, was leaked. On April 8th TechNet confirmed that this build is RC Escrow. This meant that the public RC1 did not have long to wait.
Build 7100.0.winmain_win7rc.090421-1700 became the official candidate version of Windows 7 Release Candidate, it was signed (engineering sign-off).
On July 21, 2009, the final RTM version of Windows 7 (the so-called "Gold Code") was leaked, and its signing took place on July 18, 2009.
Windows 7 SP1 (build 7601) (February 22, 2011). The assembly received the number: 7601.17514.101119-1850.

Windows 7 edition:

Windows 7 Starter(Starter, usually preinstalled on netbooks)
Windows 7 Home Basic(Home Basic)
Windows 7 Home Premium(Home Premium)
Windows 7 Professional(Professional)
Windows 7 Enterprise(Enterprise, for sale to large corporate clients)
Windows 7 Ultimate(Ultimate)

Interesting facts about Windows 7
In Windows 7, as in previous OS from Microsoft, license key activation is used. Hackers disabled it in several ways, but even before the release, which took place on October 22, a method was found to completely bypass this mechanism by flashing the computer's BIOS. The activation of Windows Vista was done in the same way, so in fact the activation of Windows 7 was hacked even before its appearance, since it was obvious that its mechanism would not undergo significant changes. A few months after the release of the OS, update KB971033 was released, during the installation of which the unlicensed version of Windows 7 was blocked, but after a while a method was developed for this workaround.

Windows 8

Windows 8- an operating system belonging to the Windows NT family, in the lineup following Windows 7 and before Windows 8.1. Developed by Microsoft Corporation. The first information about Windows 8 began to appear even before the release of Windows 7 - in April 2009, when Microsoft posted in the vacancy department an offer for developers and testers to participate in the development of Windows 8.

The kernel version is 6.2.
Core type: Hybrid core.
Supported platforms: x86, x86-64, ARM.
Interface: Metro UI.
Release date: October 26, 2012.
End date for mainstream and extended support: Discontinued January 12, 2016.

Windows 8 version history:

The Windows 8 Developer Preview was released on September 13, 2011.
The first beta version of Windows 8 Consumer Preview became available on February 29, 2012, announced at Mobile World Congress.
On May 31, 2012, the last public preview version of Windows 8 Release Preview became available.
The RTM version was released on August 1, 2012.
On August 15, 2012, the download of the RTM version became available to MSDN subscribers.
The latest version, 6.2.9200, went on sale on October 26, 2012.

Windows 8 edition:

Windows 8 Single Language- completely similar to Windows 8 (Core), but the ability to change the language is disabled. Supplied with laptops and netbooks.
Windows 8 "With Bing"- a version of Windows 8, in which the default search engine in Internet Explorer is Bing, and it cannot be changed. Supplied with select laptops.
Windows 8 (Core)
Windows 8 Pro
Windows 8 "Professional with Windows Media Center"- differs from "professional" by the presence of Windows Media Center
Windows 8 "Enterprise"
Windows RT
In addition, Windows 8: Windows 8 N, Windows 8 Pro N and Windows 8 Pro Pack N. These versions do not include Windows Media Player, Camera, Music, Video applications.

Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 is an operating system of the Windows NT family made by Microsoft, next in time to Windows 8 and before Windows 10. Compared to Windows 8, it has a number of updates and changes in the work with the graphical interface. Windows 8.1, like Windows 8, is focused on touch PCs, but does not exclude the possibility of using it on classic PCs.

Back on March 26, 2013, Microsoft officially confirmed that it was working on an update codenamed “ Windows Blue". On May 14th, this update was officially named Windows 8.1. Let's say right away that Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system turned out to be generally not very successful, something went wrong, so the updated Windows 8.1 is followed. Microsoft itself admitted that Windows 8 turned out to be a failing system, as well as failed transitional operating systems such as Windows Millennium Edition and Windows Vista.

Also, you should not confuse Windows 8 with 8.1, these are different operating systems, they are a little similar only in appearance. Windows 8.1 turned out really well. The installation itself is fast, and its work is simply delightful. Compared to Windows 7, of course, the new Windows 8.1 is many times ahead in all respects. Let's be honest, even the new Windows 10 is inferior. Today, those users who worked on 8.1 and Top Ten, of course, return to Windows 8.1. At the moment, the fastest, most reliable and easy system in terms of settings and interface.

Kernel version - 6.3.
Core type: Hybrid core.
Supported platforms: x86, x86-64.
Interface: Windows API, .NET Framework, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, DirectX, and Media Foundation.
First issue release date: October 17, 2013.
Latest release date: November 2014. (6.3.9600.17031)
Primary Support: Discontinued January 9, 2018.
Extended Support: Valid until January 10, 2023.

Version history Windows 8.1:

The first release of Windows 8.1 was released on October 17, 2013.
Windows 8.1 Update it was expected to be released in August 2014, but Microsoft decided not to release it, making only an update with some new features, relying on more frequent updates. On August 12, the first update package was released, which was called August Update... Further, Microsoft re-released security bulletin MS14-045 for all supported versions of Windows. The previous version of the patch was withdrawn at the beginning of August due to problems with the installation of the so-called "August update".
Later, WinBeta found plans for Update 3, which was tentatively set to be released in November. In the end, Microsoft did indeed release an update that falls under Windows 8.1 Update 3.
Since October 2016, Microsoft has moved Windows 8.1 to a cumulative update model. Each monthly update released later builds on the previous ones and is released in one generic package. Previously released updates are still available in separate patches.
Date of last issue Windows 8.1 with Update 3 (build 9600)- November 2014

Windows 8.1 edition:

Windows 8.1 Single Language- completely similar to Windows 8.1 (Core), but the ability to change the language is disabled. Supplied with laptops and netbooks.
Windows 8.1 "With Bing"- Windows 8.1 version, in which the default search engine in Internet Explorer is Bing, and it cannot be changed. Supplied with select laptops.
Windows 8.1 (Core)- basic version for PC, laptop and tablet users. Supplied with laptops and netbooks.
Windows 8.1 Pro- version for PCs, laptops and tablets with features for small businesses.
Windows 8.1 "Professional with Windows Media Center"- differs from "professional" by the presence of Windows Media Center.
Windows 8.1 "Enterprise"- version for enterprises with advanced functions of corporate resource management, security, etc.
Windows RT 8.1- version for tablets on ARM architecture, runs applications only from the Windows Store.

Windows 10

Windows 10 is an operating system for personal computers and workstations developed by Microsoft within the Windows NT family. After Windows 8.1, the system got the number 10, bypassing 9.

Among the significant innovations - the voice assistant Cortana, the ability to create and switch multiple desktops, etc. Windows 10 is the last "boxed" version of Windows, all subsequent versions will be distributed exclusively in digital form.

Windows 10 is the first Microsoft operating system that is officially distributed not only from the vendor's servers, but also from the computers of its users, according to the principle of the BitTorrent protocol. Windows 10 updates are distributed according to the same principle, and this setting is enabled by default, that is, if the user has limited traffic, a tariff with payment for the volume of traffic or the speed of connection to the network does not allow unnecessarily loading the communication line, then this option should be disabled. It is also possible to leave the exchange of updates only between computers on the local network.

During the first year after the system was released, users could upgrade to Windows 10 for free on any device running official versions of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 that meet certain requirements.

Kernel version - 6.3.
Kernel type: Hybrid core.
Supported platforms: ARM, IA-32 and x86-64
Interface: Metro.
First issue release date: July 29, 2015.
Latest version release date: 10.0.17134.81 "April 2018 Update" (23 May 2018).

Your device may automatically install new versions before the end of service for the current version.

Windows 10 versions:

Windows 10, Version 1803 - Redstone 4 (Apr 2018, build 17134.1) - ()
Windows 10, Version 1709 - Redstone 3 (Sep 2017, build 16299.15)
Windows 10, Version 1703 - Redstone 2 (March 2017, build 15063.0)
Windows 10, Version 1607 - Redstone 1 (Jul 2016, build 14393.0)
Windows 10, Version 1511 - Threshold 2 (Nov 2015, build 10586.0)
Windows 10, Version 1511 - Threshold 2 (Feb 2016, build 10586.104)
Windows 10, Version 1511 - Threshold 2 (Apr 2016, build 10586.164)
Windows 10, Version 1511 - Threshold 1 (Jul 2015, build 10240.16384)

Windows 10 edition (For PCs, laptops and workstations)

Basic:

1. Windows 10 Home(eng. Home) - basic version for users of PCs, laptops and tablet computers. Supplied with laptops and netbooks.
2. Windows 10 Pro- version for PCs, laptops and tablets with functions for small businesses like CYOD (choose your device).
3. Windows 10 Enterprise() - a version for a larger business with advanced corporate resource management, security, etc.

Derivatives:

Windows 10 Home Single Language(Home Single Language, Home SL) is completely similar to the Home edition without the ability to change the language. Supplied with laptops and netbooks.
Windows 10 Home with Bing(Home With Bing) is a version of Windows 10 that uses Bing as the default search engine in Edge and Internet Explorer and cannot be changed. Supplied with select laptops.
Windows 10 S- special configuration Windows 10 "Pro", runs applications only from the Microsoft Store. The edition appeared with the release of version 1703.
Windows 10 Pro Education(Pro Education) - Pro version for educational institutions, appeared with the release of version 1607.
Windows 10 "Pro for Workstations"(Pro for Workstations) - A special edition of Windows 10 Pro with enhanced hardware support (at the server level) and designed to meet the complex needs in mission-critical environments with high computing load, has support for creating storage with the ReFS file system (starting from version 1709 to all editions except Pro for Workstation and "Enterprise", support has been removed, provides the most demanding applications and data with the required performance using non-volatile memory modules (NVDIMM-N). Supports up to 4 CPUs and up to 6 TB of RAM (in " Pro "- up to 2 TB). The edition appeared with the release of version 1709.
Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB(Enterprise LTSC, earlier - Enterprise LTSB) - a special version of the "Enterprise", differs from other editions by long-term support for one version and the absence of the Store and UWP applications (except for the "Settings" application).
Windows 10 Education(Education) - "Corporate" option for educational institutions, versions below 1703 lack cortana.
Windows 10 Team- edition for Surface Hub tablets.

For EU countries (Windows Media Player, Groove music, "Movies and TV" are absent, but it is possible to add them manually).

Over the 30-year history of the OS, nine major versions of the system have been released: from Windows 1.0 developed by Bill Gates to the latest release under the leadership of the new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Windows is the most widely used operating system, and it is installed on more than 88% of personal computers in the world.

The very first Windows 1.0 came out in November 1985. In truth, the first version released was Window 1.01, as 1.0 had a major bug. This was Microsoft's first real attempt at creating a graphical user interface in a 16-bit architecture.

However, Windows 1.0, unlike Mac OS, was not an independent operating system and was only a graphical superstructure over DOS. Because of this, many users by inertia continued to use the "Command Line" to control the system, although there was mouse support in the system.

To get users accustomed to the new input system, Microsoft came up with the game Reversi, which had to be played with the mouse. In this way, users learned to move the mouse by clicking with it on various objects on the screen. The Minesweeper pursued the same goal.

The second and third versions of Windows were also a "shell" for MS-DOS, but had a number of innovations. In 2.0, released on December 9, 1987, it became possible to arrange windows one above the other in an arbitrary order, for the first time appeared the "Control Panel" (which is still used today), as well as program description files (PIF files). It also became the first Windows platform to include Microsoft Word and Excel.

The third version, which appeared on May 22, 1990, received the Program Manager and File Manager, as well as an updated version of the Control Panel and Solitaire, which is still an integral part of Windows. In addition, the new operating system looks much better thanks to support for 256 colors in the VGA video adapter and changes in the graphical interface.

However, the company is no stranger to experimentation. So, at the CES in 1995, a software product for Windows 3.0 Microsoft Bob was presented, which was developed without the participation of Bill Gates. The idea was to create a "social interface" by replacing the "Program Manager" with a cartoon house where the corresponding applications were stored in the "rooms" and the dog named Rover was the default guide around the house.

Photo Story: Bill Gates is 60

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Then it was updated, in Microsoft Office there was such a character as Paperclip. We can say that Bob anticipated the emergence of modern virtual personal assistants like Cortana and Siri. In July 2013, Bill Gates commented on the legacy of Windows Bob: "We were just ahead of our time, as with most of our mistakes."

A full-fledged Microsoft operating system appeared only in August 1995. Windows 95 was a significant milestone in the evolution of Windows. Compared to 3.0, it has a huge number of innovations.

The "Start" menu, already familiar to all users, and icons for quick access to files and applications on the desktop have appeared. Windows 95 pioneered a 32-bit environment, the Taskbar, and was focused on multitasking. MS-DOS still played an important role in Windows 95 and was required to run a number of programs and items. Interaction with files and folders was done through icons.

Also in Windows 95, the Internet Explorer browser appeared, but it was not installed by default - it required the Windows 95 Plus package. In later versions, Internet Explorer was originally installed because the Netscape Navigator and NCSA Mosaic browsers were popular at the time.

Windows 98, which was released on June 25, 1998, was even more consumer-oriented than its predecessor Windows 95. It introduced a number of user interface improvements through Windows Desktop Update in Internet Explorer 4, including the Quick Launch Bar. , active desktop, the ability to minimize the window by clicking on the title of the window, as well as the "Back" and "Forward" buttons and the address bar in Windows Explorer.

In 2000, the company introduced two completely different operating systems at once - Windows 2000 and Windows ME. The first belonged to the NT family of operating systems (new technologies), while the second was built on the Windows 9x platform. Windows Millennium is the next step in the evolution of Windows 98, adding some of the Windows 2000 interface and making it as simple as possible for modern home use.

Windows ME has been heavily criticized by users for its instability and unreliability, frequent freezes and crashes. Some users have decoded ME as Mistake Edition (erroneous edition). This version is still considered one of the worst products from Microsoft.

Windows 2000 was targeted at business customers and later became the foundation for Windows XP.

In Windows 2000, automatic updates played an important role. It also introduces hibernation for the first time. Windows 2000 Professional introduced numerous enhancements, such as the plug-and-play concept: when a new peripheral was plugged in, the operating system found the correct drivers for it and it started working.

The triumphant Windows XP was released in October 2001. The new system was a kind of symbiosis of Windows 2000 and Windows ME. Like Windows 2000, it was based on Windows NT, but added client-side elements from Windows ME.

In the new OS, a new design of the graphical interface, anti-aliasing of text on LCD monitors, the ability to quickly switch between users, and many other pleasant features were implemented. Windows XP is a long-lived operating system: three major updates were released for it, and support for the OS ended only in 2014, that is, 13 years after release - this support period is the longest among all Windows operating systems.

The system also had drawbacks. For example, when installing the OS, the user is prompted to create an account with administrator rights, which leads to a potential vulnerability of the system to viruses. Also, the disadvantages include quite high system requirements at that time: a processor of at least 500 MHz and more than 128 MB of RAM.

Following the tremendous success of Windows XP, Microsoft released Windows Vista. The system was released in 2007. The new OS was a kind of attempt to revolutionize the design of the graphical interface. Microsoft also tried to fix the security flaws that plagued XP users.

However, the new system came out extremely mediocre. This is evidenced at least by the fact that OS won first place in the 2007 Failure of the Year competition.

Users were also disappointed with the new product from Microsoft. They especially highlight problems with performance, incompatibility with many old programs, as well as overestimated system requirements that exceed the stated ones. The new Aero interface also didn't appeal to users. After the release of Windows 7 in 2009, Vista, and so not popular, almost completely "died out". For 2015, the market share of Windows Vista is less than 2%.

The next operating system from Microsoft - Windows 7 - was introduced on October 22, 2009. It had to fix all of Vista's bugs. The design of Aero has been greatly improved, support for old programs that are not available for running on Windows Vista has been implemented. Also in Windows 7, the Windows XP mode appeared, which allows you to run old applications in a Windows XP virtual machine, which provides almost complete support for old applications.

An important feature of the new system is closer integration with driver manufacturers: most are detected automatically. As a result, Microsoft produced an operating system that appealed to a large number of users: in the first eight hours, the number of pre-orders exceeded the demand that Windows Vista had in the first 17 weeks.

But even here it was not without a fly in the ointment. The main disadvantage of the system is, again, high system requirements, due to which the autonomy of laptops in some cases decreased to 30%. Despite this, the system remains popular to this day: as of September 2015, Windows 7 occupies more than 55% of the market.

In October 2012, Microsoft presents another product - Windows 8. The new system has received a radically new interface, more "sharpened" for use on tablets. So, in Windows 8, the "Start" button disappeared, in its place there was an access to the Metro interface.

The interface was a tiled area. Also, the new system has a Windows Store app store, similar to the Play Store and App Store. The main innovations in Windows 8, in addition to the new interface, include native support for USB 3.0, improved search and a new task manager.

However, most of the users did not appreciate the system: Microsoft made too much bias towards touch control. This affected the convenience of managing the system on desktops.

The new version of Windows 8.1 was an attempt to fix bugs. The "Start" button returned to its rightful place and it became possible to set the launch of the standard desktop by default. Despite an attempt to fix bugs made in Windows 8, the update was also received with little enthusiasm.

Microsoft's latest operating system is Windows 10, introduced in July 2015. Windows 10 should bring all devices together, including embedded systems, smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, and game consoles. The Windows 10 upgrade is available for Windows 7, 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 device users for free for a year.

The main innovations of the system are the revised Start menu, voice assistant Cortana, as well as the ability to interact simultaneously with the touch interface and with the traditional interface on hybrid devices.

In Windows 10, Microsoft collects a lot of data about computer usage. Examples of such data are name, email address, and others. Because of this, a flurry of criticism fell on Microsoft. Some of the criticism also relates to the fact that Windows shares Wi-Fi passwords with other users. In any case, data collection can be turned off at any time; all instructions are searched on the Internet.

Windows can rightfully be called an integral part of a whole generation of PC users. Thanks to Microsoft's OS, millions of people have discovered information technology and access to the global network. And no matter how badly it is, it will in any case remain relevant for more than one year.

Windows NT (in common parlance simply NT) is a line of operating systems (OS) produced by Microsoft and the name of the first OS versions.

Windows NT was developed from scratch, developed separately from other Windows operating systems (Windows 3.x and Windows 9x) and, unlike them, was positioned as a reliable solution for workstations (Windows NT Workstation) and servers (Windows NT Server ). Windows NT gave rise to a family of operating systems, which includes Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7. Only this family contains operating systems for servers. Prior to and including Windows 2000, they were released under the same name as their counterpart for workstations, but with the addition of a suffix such as "Windows NT 4.0 Server" and "Windows 2000 Datacenter Server". Beginning with Windows Server 2003, server operating systems are named differently. The Windows NT family is based on the separation of address spaces between processes. Each process has the ability to work with the memory allocated to it. However, it does not have permission to write to the memory of other processes, drivers, and system code. The Windows NT family is a preemptive multitasking operating system. The division of processor time between threads is carried out according to the "carousel" principle. The operating system kernel allocates a time slice (in Windows 2000, the slice is approximately 20 ms) to each of the threads in turn, provided that all threads have the same priority. A thread can give up its allocated time slice. In this case, the system takes control from him (even if the allocated time slice is not over) and transfers control to another thread. When transferring control to another thread, the system saves the state of all processor registers in a special structure in RAM. This structure is called the thread context.

Windows NT 4.0 is the latest version of the Microsoft Windows NT family of network operating systems released under this name. The next network operating system from Microsoft came out under the name Windows 2000. It had a user interface in the style of Windows 95. Windows NT 4.0 had modifications for use as a workstation operating system (Windows NT Workstation) and a server (Windows NT Server) and was intended to run on computers with Alpha, MIPS, x86, and PowerPC architectures. Windows 2000 (also called Win2k, W2k, or Windows NT 5.0, codenamed Cairo) is Microsoft's Windows NT operating system designed to run on computers with 32-bit processors (architecture Intel IA-32 compatible). The first beta version of the system was released on September 27, 1997. The system was originally called Windows NT 5.0 because it was the next major version of Windows NT after Windows NT 4.0.

Windows 2000 is available in four editions: Professional (for workstations and power users), Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server (for use on servers). In addition, there is a "limited edition" of Windows 2000 Advanced Server Limited Edition and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Limited Edition, designed to run on 64-bit Intel Itanium processors. Windows 2000 was subsequently superseded by Windows XP (client-side) and Windows Server 2003 (server side). However, Windows 2000 continues to be popular, especially in large companies where updating operating systems on a large number of computers is fraught with technical and financial difficulties. According to a study by Assetmetrix, in early 2005, Windows 2000 accounted for more than 50% of Windows workstation operating systems in companies with more than 250 computers. At the same time, in companies with fewer than 250 computers, Windows XP is more popular. Microsoft ended basic support for the Windows 2000 operating system on June 30, 2005. Extended support will continue until June 30, 2010.

Windows XP (codename at development - Whistler; internal version - Windows NT 5.1) is an operating system of the Windows NT family of Microsoft corporation. It was released on October 25, 2001 and is an evolution of Windows 2000 Professional. The name XP comes from the English. experience The name came into practice as a professional version.

Unlike the previous Windows 2000, which came in both server and client versions, Windows XP is purely a client system. Its server version is the later released Windows Server 2003. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are built on the basis of the same operating system kernel, as a result of which they are developed and updated more or less in parallel. Since April 14, 2009, Microsoft has stopped free support for the Windows XP operating system (OS), now Windows XP users will not be able to contact Microsoft for free technical support in case of incidents, for design changes and other situations. Now they will have to use “extended support” services for this, which means that all calls will be paid. Extended support will continue until April 8, 2014. Microsoft periodically releases service packs for its operating systems to address identified issues and add new features.

Windows Vista is an operating system of the Microsoft Windows NT family, a line of operating systems used on user's personal computers. During the development stage, this operating system was codenamed "Longhorn". In the Windows NT product line, Windows Vista is version 6.0 (Windows 2000 - 5.0, Windows XP - 5.1, Windows Server 2003 - 5.2). The abbreviation "WinVI" is sometimes used to refer to "Windows Vista", which combines the name "Vista" with the version number written in Roman numerals.

Windows Vista, like Windows XP, is a purely client system. Microsoft also released a server version of Windows Vista - Windows Server 2008. On November 30, 2006, Microsoft officially released Windows Vista and Office 2007 to corporate customers. On January 30, 2007, sales of the system to regular users began.

Windows 7 (formerly known under the codenames Blackcomb and Vienna) is the Windows NT version of the computer operating system that follows Windows Vista. In the Windows NT line, the system is version 6.1 (Windows 2000 - 5.0, Windows XP - 5.1, Windows Server 2003 - 5.2, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 - 6.0). The server version is Windows Server 2008 R2. The operating system went on sale on October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of the previous operating system, Windows Vista. Volume Licensing partners and customers were granted access to RTM on July 24, 2009. The original installation images of the final version of the system have been available on the Internet since July 21, 2009. Windows 7 includes both some developments excluded from Windows Vista, as well as innovations in the interface and built-in programs. Inkball, Ultimate Extras were excluded from Windows 7; applications that have analogues in Windows Live (Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, etc.), Microsoft Agent technology, Windows Meeting Space; the ability to return to the classic menu and automatic docking of the browser and e-mail client disappeared from the Start menu.

The operating system platforms Windows NT and Windows 2000 are operating systems for use on a wide variety of computers.

The Windows NT platform includes the following operating systems:

Windows NT Workstation

Windows NT for Workgroups

Windows NT Server.

The Windows 2000 platform includes the following operating systems:

Windows 2000 Professional

Windows 2000 Server

Windows 2000 Advansed Server

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server.

	Windows Professional	Windows Server	Windows Advanced Server	Windows Datacenter Server
Application area	Desktop computers, laptop computers	File server, print server, local network, network support	Business applications, e-commerce	Large Mission Critical Applications: OLTP, Data Warehousing, ASP and ISP
Number of processors supported by the system

Windows NT Workstation and Windows 2000 Professional are client operating systems. The rest of the operating systems on these platforms are server operating systems. This overview covers only client operating systems.

The operating systems Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP are 32-bit in architecture. Windows 95, Windows 98 are single-user, uniprocessor systems. Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP are multi-user operating systems that support more than one processor.

All Windows operating systems are graphical multi-tasking systems.

WindowsNT is a 32-bit operating system that supports a fairly high degree of security. This means that it is very difficult to mess up data or files, programs do not interfere with each other's work, because each 32-bit application operates in its own Virtual Memory space (4 Gb). Security is also ensured by the fact that each user can have their own name and password to enter the system. In addition, security is provided at the level of the NTFS file system (for each file, you can specify the access rights to this file).

Windows NT supports the FAT file structure and the new technology file system (NTFS).

Windows NT supports both RISC and CISC processor architectures.

Unlike earlier versions of Windows (such as Windows for Workgroups and Windows 95), NT is a complete operating system, not an add-on to the DOS operating system.

Microsoft Windows 98 is an updated Windows 95 operating system that enhances the functionality of your computer. The advantages of this OS :

Windows 98's Web-based user interface makes search easier by unifying the presentation of information across your computer, local area network, and the Web. (See chapters on the Internet).

Faster application startup times, new disk cleaners and more efficient disk performance.

Supports next-generation hardware such as USB and DVDs, and expands your workspace on multiple monitors with the ability to connect multiple monitors and multiple graphics adapters to a single computer.

An improved version of the File System Allocation Table (FAT32) allows you to increase the amount of free space on large hard drives by using it more efficiently. Converting the drive to FAT32 is done by a GUI program.

OS appeared in 2000 Windows Millennium, which became the development of the direction of OS Windows 95/98. Almost at the same time, the OS appeared Windows 2000, which was based on NT technology, while retaining all the useful features of Windows 98.

Windows 2000 was planned as an operating system to support the entire spectrum of computing technology - from laptops and desktops to cluster systems on high-end servers.

Although home users were encouraged to upgrade to Windows Me and corporate users to Windows 2000, some users were faced with a choice between the more reliable and productive Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me, more adapted for the home user, in particular for gaming products. Essentially, Microsoft developed two families of operating systems in parallel - for home computers and for corporate networks, which were later found to be expensive and ineffective.

System Windows XP was created on the basis of Windows 2000, and various versions were developed for home and business users: Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional.

Keeping the core of Windows 2000, the Windows XP operating system has acquired a new appearance. Common tasks have been consolidated and simplified, and new visual cues have been added to assist the user in working with the computer.

In Windows XP, it became possible for multiple users working on the same computer to use the fast user switching function. This feature has been designed for home use. It allows each family member to work with the computer as if this computer was only at his disposal. Switching does not require the user who was previously working on the computer to log off and save the files they have opened.

The Windows XP family also includes a 64-bit operating system. Windows XP 64-Bit Edition designed for specialized technical workstations, whose users require the highest level of performance. This OS is designed for a 64-bit Intel processor.

Windows operating system advantages.

One of the advantages of the Windows family of operating systems is the support of the technology Plug & Play- a standard for hardware and software architecture that makes it possible to recognize devices. This technology makes it easier for the user to connect various external devices (scanners, printers, etc.)

Another advantage of these operating systems is their portability: due to special modules, the OS communicates with different hardware.

Windows operating systems implement preemptive multitasking method. This method allows the OS to "seize" the processor at any time, regardless of the running application. This allows you to kill the application if it hangs.

OS of the Windows family support the technology OLE(Object Linking and Embedding -connection and introduction objects). OLE- a standard that allows you to create various compound documents: in a document created by one application, you can embed or reference objects created by other applications. For example, in a document created using the Word text editor, you can insert a table created in Excel.

The interface of the Windows family OS implements object model... Formally, an object is a collection of data and methods of working with them. Each object has its own properties. It is this model that allows the user to double-click on the icon of the desired file to open it, etc.

Windows family operating systems support PC online... This support is implemented in the following situations:

The OS supports client machine action for the most common server operating systems (Novell, etc.). This means that a computer with Windows OS installed on it can be connected as a workstation on a local network.

The OS can support different types of client machines at the same time, i.e. the computer can simultaneously support work in local and global networks.

The OS makes it possible to create peer-to-peer local networks. A peer-to-peer network is a network in which all computers are equal in their rights and users can access information stored on other machines, while there is no main machine on the network - the server.

A family of Windows operating systems. Windows operating systems

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows versions

Windows 1.x

Windows 2.x

Windows 3.x

Windows NT

Windows 95

Windows 98

Windows 2000

Windows ME

Windows XP

Windows Server 2003

Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs

Windows Vista

Windows Home Server

Windows Server 2008

Windows 7

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows 7

Windows 8

Windows 8.1

Windows 10

Photo Story: Bill Gates is 60

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