Windows
Windows is a graphical operating system developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is the most popular operating system, preinstalled on most manufactured desktop PCs and laptops and having around 70% market share.
There are a few families of the OS, which cater to specific sectors of the market such as Windows for personal computers, Windows Server for servers and Windows IoT for embedded systems. Windows itself is grouped into families that cater to different users: Home for home users, Professional for advanced users and Enterprise for business and corporations.
List of Windows versions
Windows 1.0
Windows 1.0 was the first major version of the Microsoft Windows series of Operating Systems, released on November 20, 1985 for US and to European nations in May of 1986. It marked a significant step in the evolution of Personal Computers (PCs). It was not a full-fledged operating system but rather a graphical shell that ran on top of MS-DOS (mentioned in Other Notable Versions of Windows, check it out after reading this). This approach introduced a user-friendly interface with icons and windows, compared to the command-line DOS-interface, which made computers more accessible to a wider audience.
Windows 2.0
Windows 2.0 is the second major release of the Microsoft Windows series of Operating Systems. It was released to manufaturing on December 9, 1987. It refined the user interface of Windows 1.0 and introduced multiple improvments. It came in two different variants with varying underlying hardware features. It also introduced things like dialogue boxes, drop-down menus and overlapping windows.
Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0 is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, launched on May 22, 1990. It introduces a new graphical user interface (GUI) that represents applications as clickable icons, instead of the list of file names in its predecessors. Later updates expand capabilities, such as multimedia support for sound recording and playback, and support for CD-ROMs. It was the first version of Windows to perform well both critically and commercially, and was seen as a major improvement over its previous offering of Windows 2.0. Its GUI was considered a challenger to those used and popularized by the Apple Macintosh and Commodore Amiga. Other praised features include improved multitasking, customizability, and especially the utilitarian memory management that troubled the users of Windows 3.0's predecessors. The software was a major success, achieving 10 million sales.
Windows 3.1
Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series run as a shell on top of MS-DOS. It was the last Windows 16-bit operating environment as all future versions of Windows had moved to 32-bit. The series is considered to be an improvement on its predecessors. It was praised for its reinvigoration of the user interface and technical design. Windows 3.1 sold over three million copies during the first three months of its release, although its counterpart Windows for Workgroups was noted as a "business disappointment" due to its small amount of sold copies. It was succeeded by Windows 95, and Microsoft ended the support for Windows 3.1 series on December 31, 2001, except for the embedded version, which was retired in 2008.
Windows 95
Windows 95 is the first OS in the Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows products, and featured significant improvements over its predecessor, most notably in the graphical user interface (GUI) and in its simplified "plug-and-play" features. There were also major changes made to the core components of the operating system, such as moving from a mainly cooperatively multitasked 16-bit architecture of its predecessor Windows 3.1 to a 32-bit preemptive multitasking architecture.
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 3.51, and was released to manufacturing on July 31, 1996, and then to retail in August 24, 1996, with the Server versions released to retail in September 1996. Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptively multitasked, 32-bit operating system that is designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor PCs. It was Microsoft's primary business-oriented operating system until the release of Windows 2000. Three editions were sold - Workstation, Server and Embedded editions, and each edition featured a Graphical User Interface UI similar to that of Windows 95. Windows NT 4.0 was the last public release of Microsoft Windows for the Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC architectures.
Windows 98
Windows 98 was the second operating system in the 9x line, as the successor to Windows 95. It was released to manufacturing on May 15, 1998, and to retail on June 25, 1998. Like its predecessor, it was a hybrid 16-bit and 32-bit monolithic product with the boot stage based on MS-DOS. Windows 98 is web-integrated and bears many similarities to its predecessor, Windows 95. Most of its improvements were either cosmetic or designed to improve the user experience, but there were also a handful of features introduced to enhance the system functionality and capabilities, which included improved USB support, accessibility, and support for hardware advancements such as DVD players. Windows 98 was the first edition of Windows to adopt the Windows Driver Model, and introduced features that would become standard in future generations of Windows, such as Disk Cleanup, Windows Update, multi-monitor support, and Internet Connection Sharing.
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was released to manufacturing on December 15, 1999, officially released to retail on February 17, 2000 for all versions, and on September 26, 2000 for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. It was Microsoft's primary business-oriented operating system until the introduction of Windows XP Professional in 2001.
Windows ME
Windows Me (Millennium Edition) is an operating system developed by Microsoft as the last operating system in the Windows 9x series of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was the successor to Windows 98, and was released to manufacturing on June 19, 2000, and to retail on September 14, 2000. It was Microsoft's main operating system for home users and quickly replaced by its successor Windows XP on October 25, 2001.
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users and Windows Me for home users. Development began under the codename "Neptune", a version built on the NT kernel and targeted towards consumers. An updated version of Windows 2000, "Odyssey", was also planned for the business sector. However, in January 2000, both Windows Odyssey and Neptune were scrapped and replaced by a single unified operating system codenamed "Whistler" based on the Windows NT kernel, which would serve both home consumers and business markets. This occured as they realized that both were going to based on the same Windows 2000 codebase. Therefore, Windows XP is the first consumer edition of Windows which is not based on the Windows 95 kernel or MS-DOS. Windows XP removed support for PC-98, i486, and SGI Visual Workstation 320 and 540 architecture, and only runs on 32-bit x86 CPUs and devices that use BIOS firmware.
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT series of operating systems developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years earlier. This was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on November 8, 2006, and over the following two months, it was released in stages to business customers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released internationally and was made available for purchase and download from the Windows Marketplace; it is the first release of Windows to be made available through a digital distribution platform.
Windows 7
Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly three years earlier. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, was released at the same time. It was succeeded by Windows 8 in October 2012. Extended support ended on January 14, 2020, over ten years after the release of Windows 7, after which the operating system ceased receiving further updates. A paid support program was available for enterprises, providing security updates for Windows 7 for up to three years after the official end of life. Windows 7 was intended to be an incremental upgrade to Microsoft Windows, addressing Windows Vista's poor critical reception while maintaining hardware and software compatibility. Windows 7 continued improvements on the Windows Aero user interface with the addition of a redesigned taskbar that allows pinned applications, and new window management features. Other new features were added to the operating system which included libraries, the new file-sharing system HomeGroup, and support for multitouch input. A new "Action Center" was added to provide an overview of system security and maintenance information, and the User Account Control system was slightly modified to make it less intrusive. Windows 7 also shipped with updated versions of several stock applications, including Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player, and Windows Media Center.
Windows 8
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and generally released for retail on October 26, 2012. Windows 8 introduced major changes to the operating system's platform and user interface with the intention to improve its user experience on tablets, where Windows was competing with mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS. These changes included a Windows shell and GUI optimised for touchscreeen devices, along with a start screen based on Microsoft's new Metro design language, integration with online services, the Windows Store, and a new keyboard shortcut for screenshots. Many of these features were adapted from Windows Phone. Windows 8 also added support for USB 3.0, Advanced Format, near-field communication, and cloud computing, as well as a new lock screen with clock and notifications. Additional security features—including built-in antivirus software, integration with Microsoft SmartScreen phishing filtering, and support for Secure Boot on supported devices—were introduced. It was the first Windows version to support ARM architecture under the Windows RT branding. CPUs without PAE, SSE2 and NX are unsupported in this version.
Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 is a release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17, 2013, about a year after the retail release of its predecessor, and succeeded by Windows 10 on July 29, 2015. Windows 8.1 was made available for download via MSDN and Technet and available as a free upgrade for retail copies of Windows 8 and Windows RT users via the Windows Store. A server version, Windows Server 2012 R2, was released on October 18, 2013. Windows 8.1 aimed to address complaints of Windows 8 users and reviewers on launch. Enhancements include an improved Start screen, additional snap views, additional bundled apps, tighter OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) integration, Internet Explorer 11 (IE11), a Bing-powered unified search system, restoration of a visible Start button on the taskbar, and the ability to restore the previous behavior of opening the user's desktop on login instead of the Start screen. Windows 8.1 also added support for then emerging technologies like high-resolution displays, 3D printing, Wi-Fi Direct, and Miracast streaming, as well as the ReFS file system.
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system as the successor to Windows 8.1. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 29, 2015. Windows 10 was made available for download via MSDN and TechNet, as a free upgrade for retail copies of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 users via the Microsoft Store, and to Windows 7 users via Windows Update. Unlike previous Windows NT releases, Windows 10 receives new builds on an ongoing basis, which are available at no additional cost to users; devices in enterprise environments can alternatively use long-term support milestones that only receive critical updates, such as security patches. Windows 10 is the last version of Microsoft Windows that supports 32-bit processors (IA-32 and ARMv7-based), the last non-IoT edition to officially lack a CPU whitelist and support BIOS firmware, and the last version to officially support systems with TPM 1.2 or without any TPM at all. Support for Windows 10 editions which are not in the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) is set to end on October 14, 2025.
Windows 11
Windows 11 is the latest major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released on October 5, 2021. It succeeded Windows 10 (2015), and is available for free for any Windows 10 devices that meet the new Windows 11 system requirements. Windows 11 features major changes to the Windows shell influenced by the canceled Windows 10X, including a redesigned Start menu, the replacement of its "live tiles" with a separate "Widgets" panel on the taskbar, the ability to create tiled sets of windows that can be minimized and restored from the taskbar as a group, and new gaming technologies inherited from Xbox Series X and Series S such as Auto HDR and DirectStorage on compatible hardware. Internet Explorer (IE) has been replaced by the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge as the default web browser, like its predecessor, Windows 10, and Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows shell. Microsoft also announced plans to allow more flexibility in software that can be distributed via the Microsoft Store and to support Android apps on Windows 11.
Other versions of Windows
This page lists some other notable versions of Windows such as Windows 10X, Windows CE, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile and MS-DOS. Visit the page to learn more about these systems.