History of Windows operating system

In November 1983, Microsoft announced that its new product Windows would be priced at US$100. This announcement by Microsoft represented the gradual end of the MS-DOS era. The reason why Microsoft favors GUI systems is precisely because Apple's first GUI operating system, Apple Lisa, was born that year. Although the GUI system at that time was quite imperfect, Microsoft, with its keen business acumen, accurately foresaw that GUI would become The trend of future operating systems, so they began to turn their attention from the then-popular MS-DOS system to the Windows system, and the Windows dynasty officially kicked off.

In November 1985, Microsoft Windows 1.0 was released, initially priced at US$100. The favored GUI computer platforms at that time were GEM and Desqview/X, so users did not think highly of Windows 1.0. .

On December 9, 1987, Windows 2.0 was released, initially priced at US$100; this version of the Windows graphical interface borrowed many design concepts from the Mac OS of the same period, but this The version still has not gained user approval. Later, Windows 386 and Windows 286 versions were launched, which were improved and laid the technical foundation for the success of Windows 3.0.

On May 22, 1990, Windows 3.0 was officially released. Due to the huge improvements in interface/humanization/memory management, it finally gained the recognition of users. Afterwards, Microsoft struck while the iron was hot and released the multilingual version of Windows 3.0 in October 1991, which played a major role in the promotion of Windows in non-English-speaking countries. In April 1992, Windows 3.1 was released. Within 2 months of its initial release, sales exceeded one million copies. At this point, Microsoft's capital accumulation/research and development entered a virtuous cycle.

In October 1992, Windows for Workgroups 3.1 was released. It seemed that Microsoft, unwilling to be left alone, sounded the clarion call to enter the enterprise server market.

Windows NT 3.1 was released in 1993. This product was based on OS/2 NT and was jointly developed by Microsoft and IBM. The collaboration later broke up, and Microsoft changed the name of the software to their version, MS Windows NT, and changed the main API to a 32-bit version. Microsoft hired a group of people from Digital Equipment Corporation to develop the new system. Many elements of this system reflect early DEC concepts with VMS and RSX-11. Because it is the first product that truly targets the server market, its stability is better than that of desktop operating systems.

In 1994, the Chinese version of Windows 3.2 was released. I believe that many pioneer Windows users in China started to come into contact with the Windows system from this version; because the language barrier was eliminated and the learning threshold was lowered, it quickly It became popular in the country.

The most sensational event in 1995 was the release of Windows 95 in August. At that time, Microsoft Windows 95 was released with a powerful offensive, including the commercial Rolling Stones' song "Start Me Up". Many customers without computers were influenced by the publicity and lined up to buy the software, but they didn't even know what Windows 95 was. Thanks to a strong publicity campaign and the good reputation of Windows 3.2, Windows 95 sold more than one million copies in just 4 days. Excellent multimedia features, user-friendly operation, and beautiful interface made Windows 95 an unprecedented success.

The industry also regards the launch of Windows 95 as an important milestone in Microsoft's development.

In August 1996, Windows NT 4.0 was released, which added many management-related features and was very stable. This version of Windows software is still used by many companies today. In November, Windows CE 1.0 was released; this version is a compressed, efficient, and scalable operating system (OS) designed for various embedded systems and products. Its multi-linear, multi-tasking, full-priority operating system environment is specifically designed for limited resources. This modular design enables embedded system developers and application developers to customize a wide range of products, such as home appliances, specialized industrial controllers and embedded communications equipment. Microsoft's battlefront has moved from desktop systems to the server market, and then to the embedded industry. At this point, the prototype of the Microsoft empire has basically been formed.

There were not many exciting things about the Windows operating system in 1997. We will not list the Office series of office software, another flagship product developed by Microsoft during this year. In November, Windows CE 2.0 was released. Under the still water, there are strong currents and undercurrents. The industry has speculated what the next move of this enterprising company will be?

On June 25, 1998, Windows 98 was released; this new system was written based on Windows 95, and it improved the support of hardware standards, such as MMX and AGP. Other features include support for the FAT32 file system, multiple monitors, Web TV support and integration of Internet Explorer into the Windows graphical user interface, called Active Desktop. On June 10, 1999, Windows 98 SE was released, providing Internet Explorer 5, Windows Netmeeting 3, Internet Connection Sharing, support for DVD-ROM and USB. Microsoft keenly grasped the coming Internet trend. The bundled Internet Explorer browser eventually sounded the death knell of Netscape a few years later. During the same period, it also faced constant lawsuits because it touched on sensitive areas such as monopoly and illegal competition. win98 is so good that even today, 6 years later, many users still love it.

After the bell of the millennium, Windows NT 5.0 ushered in. To commemorate the special new millennium, this operating system was also named Windows 2000. Windows 2000 includes new features such as the new NTFS file system, EFS file encryption, and enhanced hardware support, launching a strong impact on the server market that has been monopolized by Unix systems. In the end, it grabbed a large piece of territory from IBM, HP, and Sun companies.

In contrast, some radical improvements in Windows me in the same year failed to gain recognition from the majority of users. The important modification is that DOS is removed from the system and replaced by System Restore. Conceptually, this is a big improvement: users no longer need to have knowledge of arcane DOS line commands to maintain and repair the system. But in fact, the removal of the DOS function is an obstacle to maintenance, and the system restore function also brings some troubles: significant performance reduction, large consumption of hard disk space, and some common error restoration is not necessarily effective.

On October 25, 2001, Windows XP was released. Windows XP is Microsoft's attempt to combine all user requirements into one operating system. Compared with previous Windows desktop systems, the stability has been improved, but the price paid for this is the loss of support for DOS-based programs. XP has been heavily criticized for integrating many software previously provided by third parties into the operating system.

These software include firewalls, media players (Windows Media Player), instant messaging software (Windows Messenger), and its close integration with Microsoft Pasport network services, which are considered by many computer experts to be security risks and potential threats to personal privacy. . The addition of these features is seen as a continuation of Microsoft's traditional monopolistic behavior.

In November 2002, Windows XP Media Center Edition (Media Center Edition) for dedicated personal computers was released, designed for notebooks/laptops with support for touch-screen handwriting features. The Tablet PC version was released at the same time.

In April 2003, Windows Server 2003 was released; major improvements were made to server-oriented functions such as Active Directory, Group Policy operation and management, and disk management, and the comprehensive support for .net technology was further expanded. Server application scope.

Looking back at the history of Windows development, it is not difficult to see. The reason why Microsoft is so big is that it can always maintain a cautious attitude of "being prepared for danger in times of peace"; it is optimistic about X86 PC when it is the leader in small computers, it is optimistic about GUI platform in the command line era, it discovers the prospects of multimedia outside the field of scientific research, and it is optimistic about stand-alone computers. As we peer into the Internet craze, we have to marvel at Microsoft's unique business vision; desktop systems, server systems, embedded systems, notebook computers, Tablet PCs - I think of the old joke: Someone asked: "What areas will Microsoft never get involved in?" "The answer is: "No!" No one knows which area Microsoft, which will never rest on its laurels, will target next; if it doesn't do well with the first version, it will do the second version, and if it doesn't do the second version, it will do the third version. , until it is done well - Windows was not accepted by the world until 3.0, the flower of IE only bloomed in 4.0, and the media player was not familiar until 7. Keep investing time when you know the goal. The energy is the most respectable or terrifying until it is recognized by the users.

The legend of the Microsoft empire continues, and no one knows where this behemoth will enter next time. But it is foreseeable that no matter what Microsoft does, its opponents will have a headache when facing this powerful enemy.