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[[Image:MSWindowsLogo.jpg|right|300px]]
[[Image:MSWindowsLogo.jpg|right|300px]]
An operating system from [[Microsoft]] Corporation that controls PC compatibles, mobile phones, tablets and increasingly embedded computers. It is by far the most common operating system being used in the world and dominates the desktop and laptop markets with over 96% share of the market and is also the biggest player in server operating systems by number of systems installed, although in that sector their market share is nowhere near the number that they enjoy in the PC sector. Also the second most shipped operating system on tablets and the third most popular mobile phone OS in the world leaving the embedded market as the only platform where they are not a major player, but even there there are specific market segments like [[POS]] systems and [[ATM]]'s (hole in the wall machines) where the Windows OS has a clear market lead or even near monopoly.
An operating system from [[Microsoft]] Corporation that controls PC compatibles, mobile phones, tablets and increasingly embedded computers. It is by far the most common operating system being used in the world and dominates the desktop and laptop markets with over 96% share of the market and is also the biggest player in server operating systems by number of systems installed, although in that sector their market share is nowhere near the number that they enjoy in the PC sector. Also, the second most shipped operating system on tablets and the third most popular mobile phone OS in the world leaving the embedded market as the only platform where they are not a major player, but even there are specific market segments like POS and ATM (hole in the wall machines) where the Windows OS has a clear market lead or even near monopoly.


====History====
==History==
Originally announced in 1983 as to be available later that year under the name '''Interface Manager''', it was a panicky response by Microsoft co-founder William Gates to a private conversation he had with [[Digital Research]] owner Gary Kildall about the plans that DR had of introducing a graphical shell for [[DOS]] and [[CP/M]] under the name of [[GEM]]. The first edition however did not hit the market until 1985 and then under the name of Microsoft Windows and was one of the projects that caused the creation of the term [[vapourware]]. The original release of Windows was a marketing disaster that caused the company a lot of grief, it was kept alive in the OEM sector by European companies [[ACT Computers]] and [[Tulip]] but had almost no sales in the retail channel.
Originally announced in 1983 as to be available later that year under the name '''Interface Manager''', it was a panicky response by Microsoft co-founder William Gates to a private conversation he had with [[Digital Research]] owner Gary Kildall about the plans that DR had of introducing a graphical shell for [[DOS]] and [[CP/M]] under the name of [[GEM]]. The first edition however did not hit the market until 1985 and then under the name of Microsoft Windows. The original release of Windows was a marketing disaster that caused the company a lot of grief, it was kept alive in the OEM sector by European companies ACT Computers and Tulip but had almost no sales in the retail channel.


==Porting issues==
==Porting issues==
As MS Windows and OS/2 have similar origins there is still a bit of compatibility between the systems, naming conventions, folder structures and handling of codepages for instance are either similar or identical. And while the systems have diverged greatly in the last few years, some developments have been in parallel, such as both systems having base support for 16 bit [[Unicode]] unlike the 8 bit Unicode offered by most Unix like systems.
As MS Windows and OS/2 have similar origins there is still a bit of compatibility between the systems, naming conventions, folder structures and handling of code pages for instance are either similar or identical. And while the systems have diverged greatly in the last few years, some developments have been in parallel, such as both systems having base support for 16 bit [[Unicode]] unlike the 8 bit Unicode offered by most Unix like systems.


The main problem remains that much of the current base of programming tools comes for OS/2 from the UNIX world with only [[Open Watcom]] being a current major cross-platform tool that offers Windows and OS/2 compatibility.
The main problem remains that much of the current base of programming tools comes for OS/2 from the UNIX world, with only [[Open Watcom]] being a current major cross-platform tool that offers Windows and OS/2 compatibility.


See also: [[Migrating Windows Applications to OS/2: Making it Work]] (old, but useful tips)
See also: [[Migrating Windows Applications to OS/2: Making it Work]] (old, but useful tips)


==Known versions==
==Versions==
This lists major versions of Windows, minor versions or minor bug fix releases are not listed unless they have some specific significance. Note that Windows XP and later in addition to Windows Server 2003 are delivered in both 32 and 64 bit versions, Windows server 2008 R2 and later plus Windows Home Server 2011 are only delivered in 64 bit versions while consumer MS Windows version 8 and later are usually delivered in a dual 32 and 64 bit media configuration and thus not listed separately.
<div style="column-count:3;-moz-column-count:3;-webkit-column-count:3">
<div style="column-count:3;-moz-column-count:3;-webkit-column-count:3">
;Original code base
;Original code base
* MS Windows 1.0
* Nov 1985: Windows 1.01
* MS Windows 2.0
* 1986: Windows 1.02
* MS Windows 2.1/286
* 1986: Windows 1.03
* MS Windows 2.1/386
* 1987: Windows 1.04
* MS Windows 3.0
* 1987: Windows 2.03
* MS Windows 3.1
* 1988: Windows/286 2.1
* MS Windows 3.11 (Windows for Workgroups)
* 1989: Windows/286 2.11
;Hybrid 16/32 bit versions
;386 support
* MS Windows 3.1/3.11 with [[Win32s]]
* 1987: Windows/386
* MS Windows 95
* 1988: Windows/386 2.1
* MS Windows 95 OEM (FSR2/3/4)
* 1989: Windows/386 2.11
* MS Windows 98
* May 1990: Windows 3.0
* MS Windows 98SE
* Oct 1991: Windows 3.0a
* MS Windows ME
* Apr 1992: Windows 3.1
;Windows NT
* 1993: Windows 3.11
* MS Windows NT 3.0
* 1993: Windows 3.2
* MS Windows NT 3.5
;Windows for Workgroups
* MS Windows NT 4
* Oct 1992: Windows for Workgroups 3.1
* MS Windows 2000
* Dec 1993: Windows for Workgroups 3.11
* MS Windows XP
;32-bit versions
* MS Windows XP Professional 64
* [[Windows 95]]
* MS Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
* Windows 98
* MS Windows XP Media Center Edition
* Windows 98SE
* MS Windows XP Embedded Edition (aka XP POS)
* Windows ME
* MS Windows Vista
* MS Windows Vista 64
* MS Windows 7
* MS Windows 7 64
* MS Windows 8
* MS Windows 8.1
* MS Windows 10
;Server versions
* MS Windows NT Server 3.1
* MS Windows NT Server 3.5
* MS Windows NT Server 4
* MS Windows 2000 Server
* MS Windows 2003 Server
* MS Windows 2003 Server R2
* MS Windows 2008 Server
* MS Windows 2008 Server R2
* MS Windows 2012 Server
* MS Windows 2012 Server R2
* MS Windows 2016 Server
* Windows Home Server
* Windows Home Server 2011
</div>
</div>


====Starter editions====
==Publications==
Microsoft has from time to time come out with "lower cost versions" of its [[OEM]] OS software intended to be sold with very low cost hardware such as [[Netbooks]]. In the case of an un-named XP variant it was crippled with both software and licensing restrictions, you could only sell it with hardware that had 1Gb of memory or less, with the "Starter editions" of Windows Vista and 7 you could only run three applications concurrently. More recent cut down versions of Windows 8.x and 10 are free, have fewer tools than the full versions and display adverts, but otherwise appear un-crippled.
* [[Kris A. Jamsa]]: ''Windows Programming Secrets''– Osborne/McGraw-Hill 1987, ISBN 0-07-881262-3
* Kris A. Jamsa: ''Rescued by Windows'' - Boyd & Fraser 1995, ISBN 0-789-50089-2


==Links & publications==
[[Category:MS Windows]][[Category:WinOS/2]][[Category:DOS Shells]]
* [[Kris A. Jamsa]]: ''Windows Programming Secrets''– August 1, 1987 - Osborne/McGraw-Hill - Paperback, 690 pages - ISBN 0078812623 - ISBN 978-0078812620 - Out of print
* [[Kris A. Jamsa]]: ''Rescued by Windows'' - 1995 - Boyd & Fraser Publishing Company - Paperback, 300 pages - ISBN 0789500892 - ISBN 978-0789500892 - Out of print
* [[Haluk Polat]]: ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070824132439/http://www.halukpolat.com/tr/kitaplar/wxpbek/index.htm Windows XP Buyrukları Elkitabı]'' - Published as [[HTML]] pages via [[Archive.org]] - 2005 - ISBN 975-96618-6-1
: Short introduction to Windows XP programming in Turkish
 
==Authors==
* VisiCorp
* [[Microsoft]]
* [[IBM]]
 
[[Category:Operating Systems]]
[[Category:MS Windows]]
[[Category:WinOS/2]]
[[Category:DOS Shells]]

Latest revision as of 00:57, 30 July 2022

An operating system from Microsoft Corporation that controls PC compatibles, mobile phones, tablets and increasingly embedded computers. It is by far the most common operating system being used in the world and dominates the desktop and laptop markets with over 96% share of the market and is also the biggest player in server operating systems by number of systems installed, although in that sector their market share is nowhere near the number that they enjoy in the PC sector. Also, the second most shipped operating system on tablets and the third most popular mobile phone OS in the world leaving the embedded market as the only platform where they are not a major player, but even there are specific market segments like POS and ATM (hole in the wall machines) where the Windows OS has a clear market lead or even near monopoly.

History

Originally announced in 1983 as to be available later that year under the name Interface Manager, it was a panicky response by Microsoft co-founder William Gates to a private conversation he had with Digital Research owner Gary Kildall about the plans that DR had of introducing a graphical shell for DOS and CP/M under the name of GEM. The first edition however did not hit the market until 1985 and then under the name of Microsoft Windows. The original release of Windows was a marketing disaster that caused the company a lot of grief, it was kept alive in the OEM sector by European companies ACT Computers and Tulip but had almost no sales in the retail channel.

Porting issues

As MS Windows and OS/2 have similar origins there is still a bit of compatibility between the systems, naming conventions, folder structures and handling of code pages for instance are either similar or identical. And while the systems have diverged greatly in the last few years, some developments have been in parallel, such as both systems having base support for 16 bit Unicode unlike the 8 bit Unicode offered by most Unix like systems.

The main problem remains that much of the current base of programming tools comes for OS/2 from the UNIX world, with only Open Watcom being a current major cross-platform tool that offers Windows and OS/2 compatibility.

See also: Migrating Windows Applications to OS/2: Making it Work (old, but useful tips)

Versions

Original code base
  • Nov 1985: Windows 1.01
  • 1986: Windows 1.02
  • 1986: Windows 1.03
  • 1987: Windows 1.04
  • 1987: Windows 2.03
  • 1988: Windows/286 2.1
  • 1989: Windows/286 2.11
386 support
  • 1987: Windows/386
  • 1988: Windows/386 2.1
  • 1989: Windows/386 2.11
  • May 1990: Windows 3.0
  • Oct 1991: Windows 3.0a
  • Apr 1992: Windows 3.1
  • 1993: Windows 3.11
  • 1993: Windows 3.2
Windows for Workgroups
  • Oct 1992: Windows for Workgroups 3.1
  • Dec 1993: Windows for Workgroups 3.11
32-bit versions

Publications

  • Kris A. Jamsa: Windows Programming Secrets– Osborne/McGraw-Hill 1987, ISBN 0-07-881262-3
  • Kris A. Jamsa: Rescued by Windows - Boyd & Fraser 1995, ISBN 0-789-50089-2