History of network based release of windows operating system

For example, it sometimes bungled the restoration process by restoring things like malware that had already been removed. Windows XP was released in and is widely considered to be among the great versions of Windows that Microsoft had to offer. There were two main versions of the OS: Home and Professional.

Home was for personal use, and Professional was geared toward being used in work settings. After all, something had to be pleasing about its design if it ran for 13 years until Microsoft finally ended support for it in Some of its commercial success is because it is truly designed to be consumer-friendly.

Its warm and inviting aesthetic is well-known: Bright colors, a happy green Start button, and customizable themes finally came standard with this version of Windows. It also came with new features, like native CD burning software, desktop search, remote desktop, and eventually improved security.

Vista was, unfortunately, another widely panned version of Windows. Other criticisms of Vista included slow performance, overpriced, system resource consumption was too high, and, while the User Account Control feature kept you secure, the constant dialog boxes it generated were annoying. Vista tried to accomplish too much too fast and got burned for it. Two years later, Microsoft came back with a new version of Windows, known as Windows 7.

Compared to Vista, Windows 7 is a bit more streamlined, and it actually removed many features from previous versions of Windows, including Vista. Windows 7 did, however, come with things like handwriting recognition, faster overall performance, interactive thumbnail previews for minimized app windows, a desktop slideshow feature, Internet Explorer 9, and Windows Media Player Visually-speaking, Windows 8 was radically different from its predecessors.

The Start screen featured tiles known as Live Tiles that acted as animated app shortcuts, which allowed you to open your apps and also displayed mini-updates about your apps such as the number of unread messages. The Start screen was supposed to take over the role of the Start menu. It was the first version to use bit virtual memory on bit processors and its core design would not be seen in home versions for many years. Windows 95 saw the majority of the code shift from 16 to bit, although some bit capability was kept for backwards compatibility, performance and development time.

Windows 95 also saw Microsoft starting to move away from MS-DOS for the first time, although it was still loaded briefly as part of the booting process. This led to a federal case in which Microsoft was accused of unfair practices in trying to monopolize internet access. A second edition of Windows 98 saw the introduction of Local Area Networks. Windows was not intended as a home use product.

However, it included several upgrades from previous versions. Active Directory replaced the old Windows server domain model and Terminal Services was expanded to all server versions. A revised version of DirectX also made it possible for modern games to work on the system. While it was not a fully-fledged release, Windows ME contained many significant upgrades from previous versions.

Most significant of all was the fact that it was the last DOS based operating system that Microsoft ever produced. Drawing much criticism in terms of security, Microsoft was forced to release major service packs, after which widespread homes and businesses adopted XP. Windows XP is also the longest lasting version of the operating system, staying popular for almost six years, with support only very recently being withdrawn from it in 12 years after its release.

Vista included a major design overhaul from earlier versions, such as the replacement of the Start button with the now-familiar logo button, and the general rounding off of the corners. What it is most remembered for though, is being an absolute pig on your system resources, needing 4GB of RAM to run effectively. Windows 7 improved on Vista in many ways.

Faster booting, Device Stage, Windows PowerShell, less obtrusive User Account Control, multi-touch, and improved window management all helped make Windows 7 the most popular operating system on the market today. January 16, Updated on: October 27, Jump Ahead:. Vangie Beal Vangie Beal is a freelance business and technology writer covering Internet technologies and online business since the late '90s.

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Other Facts. It can operate in a bit environment. Some of the features are :. Windows 95 is a successor of Windows 3. It was the first operating system in the 9x family and was released in August It is a 32 bit self-contained OS. Some of the important features of Windows 95 are:. Windows 98 is a successor of Windows It was the one operating system in the 9x family and was released on June 25, , on market. Blue Screen Of Death, a famous fatal error seems to be first in Windows It often led to users rebooting on their system and losing an unsaved job.

Some Improvements and Features of Windows 98 are:. The following are 4 variants of Windows NT:. Some of the renowned features of Windows NT are:. After a different version of Windows NT, Windows was released.