Microsoft:The Story of Microsoft

In 1983, Microsoft announced the development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS), which had shipped for IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981. The product line has changed from a GUI product to a modern operating system over two families of design, each with its own codebase and default file system.

The 3.x and 4.x family includes Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me. Windows for Workgroups 3.11 achieved the breakthrough from 16- to 32-bit networking and 32-bit disk access. Windows 95 completed the migration to 32-bit code and started an entirely new user interface, most of which is still used today.

Windows NT family started with NT 3.1 in 1993. Modern Windows operating system versions are based on the newer Windows NT kernel that was originally intended for OS/2. Windows runs on IA-32, x86-64, and Itanium processors. Earlier versions also ran on the i860, Alpha, MIPS, Fairchild Clipper, and PowerPC architectures. Some work was done to port it to the SPARC architecture. The NT kernel borrows many techniques from VMS. With NT4.0 in 1996 the shell changed from Program Manager to Explorer. CPU support included PowerPC, MIPS, and DEC Alpha for earlier versions of NT, but focuses on Itanium, 386, 486, and x64 today. Microsoft is also working to bring Windows NT onto ARM in the next release of Windows.

Microsoft Products:

1 Windows 1.0 and Windows 2.0
2 Success with Windows 3.0
3 A step sideways: OS/2
4 Windows 3.1 and NT 3.x
5 Windows 95
6 Windows NT 4.0
7 Windows 98
8 Windows 2000
9 Windows Millennium Edition (Me)
10 Windows XP
11 Windows Server 2003
12 Windows XP x64 and Server 2003 x64 Editions
13 Windows Server 2003 R2
14 Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs
15 Windows Home Server
16 Windows Vista
17 Windows Server 2008
18 Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
19 Windows Home Server 2011
20 Windows Thin PC
21 Windows 8 and Windows Server 8
22 Product progression
22.1 Original line
22.2 Windows 9x
22.3 Windows NT