Microsoft Windows
Developer | Microsoft |
---|---|
Source model | |
Initial release | November 20, 1985 |
Latest release | 23H2 (10.0.22631.4169) (September 10, 2024[1]) [±] |
Latest preview |
24H2 (10.0.26100.1742) (September 10, 2024[2][3]) [±]
23H2 (10.0.22635.4145) (August 30, 2024[4]) [±]
24H2 (10.0.26120.1542) (August 19, 2024[5]) [±]
ARM64 Previously: 16-bit x86, DEC Alpha, MIPS, PowerPC, Itanium |
Kernel type |
|
Default user interface | Windows shell |
License | Proprietary commercial software |
Official website | windows |
Microsoft Windows is a product line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and sub-families that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry – Windows (unqualified) for a consumer or corporate workstation, Windows Server for a server and Windows IoT for an embedded system. Defunct families include Windows 9x, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, and Windows Embedded Compact.
The first version of Windows was released on November 20, 1985, as a graphical
Windows is the most popular desktop operating system in the world, with a 70% market share as of March 2023[update], according to StatCounter.[13] However, Windows is not the most used operating system when including both mobile and desktop OSes, due to Android's massive growth globally since the early 2010s.[14]
As of today, the most recent version of Windows is
Product line
As of today, the only active top-level family is
- Windows (unqualified): For a consumer or corporate workstation or tablet. The latest version is Windows 11. Its main competitors are macOS by Apple and Linux for personal computers and iPadOS and Android for tablets (c.f. Usage share of operating systems § Market share by category).
- Of note: 'Windows' refers to both the overall product line and to this sub-family of it.
- Windows Server 2025. Unlike its client sibling, it has adopted a strong naming scheme. The main competitor of this family is Linux. (c.f. Usage share of operating systems § Market share by category)
- live operating system, used for installing Windows on bare-metal computers (especially on many computers at once), recovery, or troubleshooting purposes. The latest version is Windows PE 10.
- IoT and embedded computers. The latest version is Windows 11 IoT Enterprise.[15] Like Windows Server, the main competitor of this family is Linux. (c.f. Usage share of operating systems § Market share by category)
These top-level Windows families are no longer actively developed:
- Windows 9x: Intended for the consumer market only. The first version of this family was Windows 95, which was followed by Windows 98. The last version of the Windows 9x family was Windows Me, which was widely regarded as one of the worst operating systems of all time, with PC World labeling it as "Mistake Edition" and placing it 4th in their list of Worst Tech Products in 2006.[16] All versions of this family have a monolithic kernel that uses MS-DOS as a foundation along with the kernel first used with Windows 95. This line has since been defunct, with Microsoft now catering to the consumer market with Windows NT starting with Windows XP.
- Windows Mobile: The predecessor to Windows Phone, a mobile phone and PDA operating system. The first version was called Pocket PC 2000. The third version, Windows Mobile 2003, was the first version to adopt the Windows Mobile trademark. The last version was Windows Mobile 6.5.
- Windows Phone: Sold only to smartphone manufacturers. The first version was Windows Phone 7, followed by Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8.1. It was succeeded by Windows 10 Mobile, which is also defunct.
- OEMs able to modify the UIto suit their needs. The final version was Windows Embedded Compact 2013, and it is succeeded by Windows IoT.
Version history
The term Windows collectively describes any or all of several generations of Microsoft operating system products. These products are generally categorized as follows:
Early versions
The history of Windows dates back to 1981 when Microsoft started work on a program called "Interface Manager". The name "Windows" comes from the fact that the system was one of the first to use graphical boxes to represent programs; in the industry, at the time, these were called "windows" and the underlying software was called "windowing software."
Windows 2.0 was released in December 1987, and was more popular than its predecessor. It features several improvements to the user interface and memory management.[20] Windows 2.03 changed the OS from tiled windows to overlapping windows. The result of this change led to Apple Computer filing a suit against Microsoft alleging infringement on Apple's copyrights (eventually settled in court in Microsoft's favor in 1993).[21][22] Windows 2.0 also introduced more sophisticated keyboard shortcuts and could make use of expanded memory.
Windows 2.1 was released in two different versions:
In addition to full Windows packages, there were runtime-only versions that shipped with early Windows software from third parties and made it possible to run their Windows software on MS-DOS and without the full Windows feature set.
The early versions of Windows are often thought of as graphical shells, mostly because they ran on top of MS-DOS and used it for
Windows 3.x
Windows 3.0, released in 1990, improved the design, mostly because of virtual memory and loadable virtual device drivers (VxDs) that allow Windows to share arbitrary devices between multi-tasked DOS applications.[citation needed] Windows 3.0 applications can run in protected mode, which gives them access to several megabytes of memory without the obligation to participate in the software virtual memory scheme. They run inside the same address space, where the segmented memory provides a degree of protection. Windows 3.0 also featured improvements to the user interface. Microsoft rewrote critical operations from C into assembly. Windows 3.0 was the first version of Windows to achieve broad commercial success, selling 2 million copies in the first six months.[25][26]
Windows 3.1, made
Windows 3.2, released in 1994, is an updated version of the Chinese version of Windows 3.1.[28] The update was limited to this language version, as it fixed only issues related to the complex writing system of the Chinese language.[29] Windows 3.2 was generally sold by computer manufacturers with a ten-disk version of MS-DOS that also had Simplified Chinese characters in basic output and some translated utilities.
Windows 9x
The next major consumer-oriented release of Windows,
Windows 95 was followed up with the release of
On September 14, 2000, Microsoft released
Windows NT
Version history
Early versions (Windows NT 3.1/3.5/3.51/4.0/2000)
In November 1988, a new development team within Microsoft (which included former
Windows NT was the first Windows operating system based on a hybrid kernel. The hybrid kernel was designed as a modified microkernel, influenced by the Mach microkernel developed by Richard Rashid at Carnegie Mellon University, but without meeting all of the criteria of a pure microkernel.
The first release of the resulting operating system, Windows NT 3.1 (named to associate it with Windows 3.1) was released in July 1993, with versions for desktop workstations and servers. Windows NT 3.5 was released in September 1994, focusing on performance improvements and support for Novell's NetWare, and was followed up by Windows NT 3.51 in May 1995, which included additional improvements and support for the PowerPC architecture. Windows NT 4.0 was released in June 1996, introducing the redesigned interface of Windows 95 to the NT series. On February 17, 2000, Microsoft released Windows 2000, a successor to NT 4.0. The Windows NT name was dropped at this point in order to put a greater focus on the Windows brand.[37]
Windows XP
The next major version of Windows NT,
At retail, Windows XP was marketed in two main editions: the "Home" edition was targeted towards consumers, while the "Professional" edition was targeted towards business environments and power users, and included additional security and networking features. Home and Professional were later accompanied by the "Media Center" edition (designed for home theater PCs, with an emphasis on support for DVD playback, TV tuner cards, DVR functionality, and remote controls), and the "Tablet PC" edition (designed for mobile devices meeting its specifications for a tablet computer, with support for stylus pen input and additional pen-enabled applications).[40][41][42] Mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009. Extended support ended on April 8, 2014.[43]
After Windows 2000, Microsoft also changed its release schedules for server operating systems; the server counterpart of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, was released in April 2003.[37] It was followed in December 2005, by Windows Server 2003 R2.
Windows Vista
After a lengthy development process, Windows Vista was released on November 30, 2006, for volume licensing and January 30, 2007, for consumers. It contained a number of new features, from a redesigned shell and user interface to significant technical changes, with a particular focus on security features. It was available in a number of different editions, and has been subject to some criticism, such as drop of performance, longer boot time, criticism of new UAC, and stricter license agreement. Vista's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 was released in early 2008.
Windows 7
On July 22, 2009, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 were released to manufacturing (RTM) and released to the public three months later on October 22, 2009. Unlike its predecessor, Windows Vista, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 was intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista was already compatible.[44] Windows 7 has multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell with an updated taskbar with revealable jump lists that contain shortcuts to files frequently used with specific applications and shortcuts to tasks within the application,[45] a home networking system called HomeGroup,[46] and performance improvements.
Windows 8 and 8.1
Windows 8, the successor to Windows 7, was released generally on October 26, 2012. A number of significant changes were made on Windows 8, including the introduction of a user interface based around Microsoft's Metro design language with optimizations for touch-based devices such as tablets and all-in-one PCs. These changes include the Start screen, which uses large tiles that are more convenient for touch interactions and allow for the display of continually updated information, and a new class of apps which are designed primarily for use on touch-based devices. The new Windows version required a minimum resolution of 1024×768 pixels,[47] effectively making it unfit for netbooks with 800×600-pixel screens.
Other changes include increased integration with
Windows 10
On September 30, 2014, Microsoft announced Windows 10 as the successor to Windows 8.1. It was released on July 29, 2015, and addresses shortcomings in the user interface first introduced with Windows 8. Changes on PC include the return of the Start Menu, a virtual desktop system, and the ability to run Windows Store apps within windows on the desktop rather than in full-screen mode. Windows 10 is said to be available to update from qualified Windows 7 with SP1, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices from the Get Windows 10 Application (for Windows 7, Windows 8.1) or Windows Update (Windows 7).[56]
In February 2017, Microsoft announced the migration of its Windows source code repository from Perforce to Git. This migration involved 3.5 million separate files in a 300-gigabyte repository.[57] By May 2017, 90 percent of its engineering team was using Git, in about 8500 commits and 1760 Windows builds per day.[57]
In June 2021, shortly before Microsoft's announcement of Windows 11, Microsoft updated their lifecycle policy pages for Windows 10, revealing that support for their last release of Windows 10 will end on October 14, 2025.[58][59] On April 27, 2023, Microsoft announced that version 22H2 would be the last of Windows 10.[60][61]
Windows 11
On June 24, 2021, Windows 11 was announced as the successor to Windows 10 during a livestream. The new operating system was designed to be more user-friendly and understandable. It was released on October 5, 2021.[62][63] As of May 2022,[update] Windows 11 is a free upgrade to Windows 10 users who meet the system requirements.[64]
Windows 365
In July 2021, Microsoft announced it will start selling subscriptions to virtualized Windows desktops as part of a new Windows 365 service in the following month. The new service will allow for
Microsoft announced Windows 365 availability to business and enterprise customers on August 2, 2021.[71]
Multilingual support
Multilingual support has been built into Windows since Windows 3.0. The language for both the keyboard and the interface can be changed through the Region and Language Control Panel. Components for all supported input languages, such as
Interface languages for the operating system are free for download, but some languages are limited to certain editions of Windows. Language Interface Packs (LIPs) are redistributable and may be downloaded from Microsoft's Download Center and installed for any edition of Windows (XP or later) – they translate most, but not all, of the Windows interface, and require a certain base language (the language which Windows originally shipped with). This is used for most languages in emerging markets. Full Language Packs, which translate the complete operating system, are only available for specific editions of Windows (Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista and 7, and all editions of Windows 8, 8.1 and RT except Single Language). They do not require a specific base language and are commonly used for more popular languages such as French or Chinese. These languages cannot be downloaded through the Download Center, but are available as optional updates through the Windows Update service (except Windows 8).
The interface language of installed applications is not affected by changes in the Windows interface language. The availability of languages depends on the application developers themselves.
Platform support
Windows NT included support for several platforms before the x86-based personal computer became dominant in the professional world. Windows NT 4.0 and its predecessors supported PowerPC, DEC Alpha and MIPS R4000 (although some of the platforms implement 64-bit computing, the OS treated them as 32-bit). Windows 2000 dropped support for all platforms, except the third generation x86 (known as IA-32) or newer in 32-bit mode. The client line of the Windows NT family still ran on IA-32 up to Windows 10[64] (the server line of the Windows NT family still ran on IA-32 up to Windows Server 2008).
With the introduction of the Intel Itanium architecture (IA-64), Microsoft released new versions of Windows to support it. Itanium versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were released at the same time as their mainstream x86 counterparts. Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2003), released in 2003, is the last Windows client operating system to support Itanium. Windows Server line continues to support this platform until Windows Server 2012; Windows Server 2008 R2 is the last Windows operating system to support Itanium architecture.
On April 25, 2005, Microsoft released Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 editions to support x86-64 (or simply x64), the 64-bit version of x86 architecture. Windows Vista was the first client version of Windows NT to be released simultaneously in IA-32 and x64 editions. As of 2024, x64 is still supported.
An edition of Windows 8 known as
Windows CE
Windows CE (officially known as Windows Embedded Compact), is an edition of Windows that runs on
Windows CE was used in the Dreamcast along with Sega's own proprietary OS for the console. Windows CE was the core from which Windows Mobile was derived. Its successor, Windows Phone 7, was based on components from both Windows CE 6.0 R3 and Windows CE 7.0. Windows Phone 8 however, is based on the same NT-kernel as Windows 8.
Windows Embedded Compact is not to be confused with
Xbox OS
Xbox OS is an unofficial name given to the version of Windows that runs on Xbox consoles.[73] From Xbox One onwards it is an implementation with an emphasis on virtualization (using Hyper-V) as it is three operating systems running at once, consisting of the core operating system, a second implemented for games and a more Windows-like environment for applications.[74] Microsoft updates Xbox One's OS every month, and these updates can be downloaded from the Xbox Live service to the Xbox and subsequently installed, or by using offline recovery images downloaded via a PC.[75] It was originally based on NT 6.2 (Windows 8) kernel, and the latest version runs on an NT 10.0 base. This system is sometimes referred to as "Windows 10 on Xbox One".[76][77] Xbox One and Xbox Series operating systems also allow limited (due to licensing restrictions and testing resources) backward compatibility with previous generation hardware,[78] and the Xbox 360's system is backwards compatible with the original Xbox.[79]
Version control system
Up to and including every version before
In 2017 Microsoft announced that it would start using Git, an open source version control system created by Linus Torvalds and in May 2017 they reported that the migration into a new Git repository was complete.[83][84][57]
VFSForGit
Because of its large, decades-long history, however, the Windows codebase is not especially well suited to the decentralized nature of Linux development that Git was originally created to manage.[citation needed] Each Git repository contains a complete history of all the files,[85] which proved unworkable for Windows developers because cloning the whole repository takes several hours.[citation needed] Microsoft has been working on a new project called the Virtual File System for Git (VFSForGit) to address these challenges.[84]
In 2021 the VFS for Git was superseded by Scalar.[86]
Timeline of releases
Table of Windows versions | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Product name | Latest version | Release date
|
Codename | Support until[87] | Latest version of | |||
IE | DirectX | Edge | ||||||
Windows 1.0 | 1.04 | November 20, 1985 | Interface Manager | December 31, 2001 | — | — | — | |
Windows 2.0 | 2.03 | December 9, 1987 | — | |||||
Windows 2.1 | 2.11 | May 27, 1988 | — | |||||
Windows 3.0 | 3.00a | May 22, 1990 | — | |||||
Windows 3.1 | 3.11.050 | April 6, 1992 | — | 5.01 SP2 | ||||
Windows NT 3.1 | NT 3.1.528 | July 27, 1993 | — | December 31, 2000 | 2.01 | |||
Windows NT 3.5 | NT 3.5.807 | September 21, 1994 | Daytona | December 31, 2001 | 3.03 SP1 | |||
Windows NT 3.51 | NT 3.51.1057 | May 30, 1995 | — | 5.01 SP2 | ||||
Windows 95 | 4.03.1216 | July 14, 1995 | Chicago, 4.0 | 5.5 SP2 | 8.0a | |||
Windows NT 4.0 | NT 4.0.1381 | July 31, 1996 | Cairo | June 30, 2004 | 6 SP1 | 3.0a | ||
Windows 98 | 4.10.2222 | May 15, 1998 | Memphis, 97, 4.1 | July 11, 2006 | 9.0c | |||
Windows 2000 | NT 5.0.2195 | December 15, 1999 | — | July 13, 2010 | ||||
Windows Me | 4.90.3000 | June 19, 2000 | Millennium, 4.9 | July 11, 2006 | ||||
Windows XP | NT 5.1.2600 | August 24, 2001 | Whistler | April 8, 2014 | 8 | |||
Windows XP 64-bit Edition
|
NT 5.2.3790 | March 28, 2003 | — | |||||
Windows Server 2003 | Whistler Server | July 14, 2015 | ||||||
Windows XP x64 Edition | April 25, 2005 | — | April 8, 2014 | |||||
Windows Vista | NT 6.0.6003 | November 8, 2006 | Longhorn | April 11, 2017 | 9 | 11 | ||
Windows Server 2008 | February 4, 2008 | Longhorn Server | January 14, 2020 | |||||
Windows 7 | NT 6.1.7601 | July 22, 2009 | Windows 7[88] | 11 | 109 | |||
Windows Server 2008 R2 | Windows Server 7 | |||||||
Windows 8 | NT 6.2.9200 | August 1, 2012 | — | January 12, 2016 | 10 | 11.1 | ||
Windows Server 2012 | Server 8 | October 10, 2023 | 11 | |||||
Windows 8.1 | NT 6.3.9600 | August 27, 2013 | Blue | January 10, 2023 | 11.2 | |||
Windows Server 2012 R2 | Server Blue | October 10, 2023 | ||||||
Windows 10 | NT 10.0.19045 | July 15, 2015 | Various[58][59] | October 14, 2025 | 12 | 128 | ||
Windows Server 2016 | NT 10.0.14393 | September 26, 2016 | — | January 12, 2027 | ||||
Windows Server 2019 | NT 10.0.17763 | October 2, 2018 | — | January 9, 2029 | ||||
Windows Server 2022 | NT 10.0.20348 | August 18, 2021 | — | October 14, 2031 | ||||
Windows 11 | NT 10.0.26100 | October 5, 2021 | Various[89] | November 10, 2026 | — | |||
Windows Server 2025
|
NT 10.0.26100 | Fall 2024 | — | — | — |
Timeline of Windows versions |
---|
Usage share and device sales
Version market share
As a percentage of desktop and laptop systems using Microsoft Windows,[90] according to StatCounter data as of August 2024[91]:
Desktop OS | StatCounter |
---|---|
Other versions | 0.09% |
Windows XP | 0.4% |
Windows 7 | 3.05% |
Windows 8 | 0.28% |
Windows 8.1 | 0.41% |
Windows 10 | 64.14% |
Windows 11 | 31.63% |
Use of Windows 10 has exceeded Windows 7 globally since early 2018.[92]
For desktop and laptop computers, according to Net Applications and StatCounter (which track the use of operating systems in devices that are active on the Web), Windows was the most used operating-system family in August 2021, with around 91% usage share according to Net Applications[93] and around 76% usage share according to StatCounter.[94]
Including personal computers of all kinds (e.g., desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and game consoles), Windows OSes accounted for 32.67% of usage share in August 2021, compared to Android (highest, at 46.03%), iOS's 13.76%, iPadOS's 2.81%, and macOS's 2.51%, according to Net Applications[95] and 30.73% of usage share in August 2021, compared to Android (highest, at 42.56%), iOS/iPadOS's 16.53%, and macOS's 6.51%, according to StatCounter.[96]
Those statistics do not include servers (including cloud computing, where Linux has significantly more market share than Windows) as Net Applications and StatCounter use web browsing as a proxy for all use.
Security
This section needs to be updated.(May 2020) |
Early versions of Windows were designed at a time where malware and networking were less common, and had few built-in security features; they did not provide access privileges to allow a user to prevent other users from accessing their files, and they did not provide memory protection to prevent one process from reading or writing another process's address space or to prevent a process from code or data used by privileged-mode code.
While the
Furthermore, although Windows NT and its successors are designed for security (including on a network) and multi-user PCs, they were not initially designed with Internet security in mind as much, since, when it was first developed in the early 1990s, Internet use was less prevalent.[102]
In a 2002 strategy memo entitled "Trustworthy computing" sent to every Microsoft employee, Bill Gates declared that security should become Microsoft's highest priority.[103][104]
Leaked documents from 2013 to 2016 codenamed Vault 7 detail the capabilities of the CIA to perform electronic surveillance and cyber warfare,[107] such as the ability to compromise operating systems such as Windows.[108]
In August 2019, computer experts reported that the
Microsoft releases security patches through its Windows Update service approximately once a month (usually the second Tuesday of the month), although critical updates are made available at shorter intervals when necessary.[111] Versions subsequent to Windows 2000 SP3 and Windows XP implemented automatic download and installation of updates, substantially increasing the number of users installing security updates.[112]
Windows integrates the Windows Defender antivirus, which is seen as one of the best available.
In July 2024, Microsoft signalled an intention to limit kernel access and improve overall security, following a highly publicised CrowdStrike update that caused 8.5 million Windows PCs to crash.[114]
File permissions
All Windows versions from Windows NT 3 have been based on a file system permission system referred to as AGDLP (Accounts, Global, Domain Local, Permissions) in which file permissions are applied to the file/folder in the form of a 'local group' which then has other 'global groups' as members. These global groups then hold other groups or users depending on different Windows versions used. This system varies from other vendor products such as Linux and NetWare due to the 'static' allocation of permission being applied directly to the file or folder. However using this process of AGLP/AGDLP/AGUDLP allows a small number of static permissions to be applied and allows for easy changes to the account groups without reapplying the file permissions on the files and folders.
Alternative implementations
Owing to the operating system's popularity, a number of applications have been released that aim to provide compatibility with Windows applications, either as a compatibility layer for another operating system, or as a standalone system that can run software written for Windows out of the box. These include:
- and use Windows-style APIs to emulate Windows environment.
- development stagesince 1996.
See also
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External links
- Official website
- Official Windows Blog Archived January 15, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- Microsoft Developer Network Archived January 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- Windows Developer Center Archived December 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- Microsoft Windows History Timeline
- Pearson Education, InformIT Archived June 28, 2021, at the Wayback Machine – History of Microsoft Windows
- Microsoft Business Software Solutions Archived December 5, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- Windows 10 release Information Archived May 7, 2019, at the Wayback Machine