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122-557: 1.5.1 (February 26, 2020 ; 4 years ago  ( 2020-02-26 ) ) GOM Player is a media player for Microsoft Windows , developed by GOM & Company. With more than 100 million downloads, it is also known as the most used player in South Korea . Its main features include the ability to play some broken media files and find missing codecs using a codec finder service. The word gom (곰) means "bear" in Korean, and as such

244-496: A Unicode typeface called Lucida Sans Unicode is shipped with Windows NT 3.1 even though it is not installed by default. The previous code pages are still supported for compatibility purposes. The Windows registry , introduced with Windows 3.1, is a central, hierarchical configuration database designed to allow configuration of computers over the network and to replace the commonly-used text-based configuration files, like INI files , AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS . Using

366-665: A desktop environment familiar to Windows 3.1 users. Windows NT began as a rewrite of the OS/2 operating system, which Microsoft had co-developed with IBM in the 1980s. For several reasons, including the market success of Windows 3.0 in 1990, Microsoft decided to advance Windows rather than OS/2 and relinquished their OS/2 development responsibilities. By extending the Windows brand and beginning NT at version 3.1, like Windows 3.1 which had established brand recognition and market share , Microsoft implied that consumers should expect

488-689: A system design that was more portable than that of OS/2. To this end, Microsoft began by developing and testing their new operating system for a non- x86 processor: an emulated version of the Intel i860 . Alluding to the chip's codename, "N10", Microsoft codenamed their operating system NT OS/2 . DEC preemptively sued Microsoft, alleging that they stole code from MICA for use in the new operating system. In an out-of-court settlement, Microsoft agreed to make NT OS/2 compatible with DEC's Alpha processor . The development team originally estimated that development would be complete within 18 months. By April 1989,

610-741: A web browser . The new service is an attempt at capitalizing on the growing trend, fostered during the COVID-19 pandemic , for businesses to adopt a hybrid remote work environment, in which "employees split their time between the office and home". As the service will be accessible through web browsers, Microsoft will be able to bypass the need to publish the service through Google Play or the Apple App Store . Microsoft announced Windows 365 availability to business and enterprise customers on August 2, 2021. Multilingual support has been built into Windows since Windows 3.0. The language for both

732-474: A 32-bit software development kit to selected developers in attendance. The demonstration was positively received; PC Magazine called Windows NT "the modern reinvention of the operating system", but at the same time claimed that it was unlikely that the promised backward compatibility would be kept for the final release. In March 1992, Microsoft also released Win32s , which would allow Windows 3.1 to have partial compatibility with Windows NT programs for

854-531: A CD-ROM drive. The Advanced Server edition requires an 80386 processor with 16 megabytes of memory and 90 megabytes of hard drive space. On RISC systems, 110 megabytes of hard drive space is needed. Windows NT 3.1 supports dual processor systems, while the Advanced Server edition supports up to four processors. Due to an error in the processor detection routine, Windows NT 3.1 cannot be installed on Pentium II or newer processors. Microsoft never fixed

976-593: A Unix vendor. Manufacturers of microprocessors hoped to use the portability of the new operating system to increase their own sales, and thus ports of Windows NT were announced for various platforms, like the Sun SPARC architecture and the Clipper architecture . It was recognized that Windows NT would dominate the desktop market as soon as the hardware became powerful enough to run the operating system at an acceptable speed. Eight years later, Microsoft would unify

1098-550: A change which Microsoft promised would provide better performance over its DOS-based predecessors. Windows XP would also introduce a redesigned user interface (including an updated Start menu and a "task-oriented" Windows Explorer ), streamlined multimedia and networking features, Internet Explorer 6 , integration with Microsoft's .NET Passport services, a " compatibility mode " to help provide backwards compatibility with software designed for previous versions of Windows, and Remote Assistance functionality. At retail, Windows XP

1220-415: A familiar user experience . The name Windows NT ("New Technology") advertised that this was a re-engineered version of Windows. First publicly demonstrated at Comdex 1991, NT 3.1 was finally released in 1993, available in two editions: Windows NT 3.1 for workstations , and Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server for servers . When Windows NT premiered, their sales were limited by high system requirements , and

1342-478: A general lack of 32-bit applications to take advantage of the OS's data processing capabilities. It sold about 300,000 copies before it was succeeded by Windows NT 3.5 in 1994. On December 31, 2000, Microsoft declared Windows NT 3.1 obsolete and stopped providing support and updates for the system. The origins of Windows NT date back to 1988, where Microsoft had a major foothold on the personal computer market due to

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1464-434: A lack of competition, and Microsoft failed to develop a product which could challenge NetWare's lead. Cutler hoped to gain additional customers with a reliable networking operating system. Bill Gates already dominated the market of desktop operating systems with MS-DOS and Windows and hoped to do the same in the networking market with Windows NT. He especially hoped to find a market in the emerging number of servers, while at

1586-458: A large number of new features, Windows 7 was intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista was already compatible. Windows 7 has multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell with an updated taskbar with revealable jump lists that contain shortcuts to files frequently used with specific applications and shortcuts to tasks within

1708-427: A market share of 10% in the high end market, which amounted to one million copies. While Windows NT 3.1 uses the same graphical user interface as Windows 3.1, it was developed anew. The operating system is not DOS-based, but an independent 32-bit operating system; many concepts were taken from Cutler's previous operating system, VMS . The architecture of Windows NT takes some ideas of the client–server model , like

1830-610: A modular, portable kernel with preemptive multitasking and support for multiple processor architectures. However, following the successful release of Windows 3.0 , the NT development team decided to rework the project to use an extended 32-bit port of the Windows API known as Win32 instead of those of OS/2. Win32 maintained a similar structure to the Windows APIs (allowing existing Windows applications to easily be ported to

1952-470: A month later at COMDEX, a presentation focusing on third-party software for Windows NT was held. The final pre-release version of NT was released in March 1993, alongside the unveiling of the server version, LAN Manager for Windows NT . Although its stability and performance had improved, there were still fears that the OS could be released in an unfinished state or delayed further into 1993. By extending

2074-400: A new Windows 365 service in the following month. The new service will allow for cross-platform usage , aiming to make the operating system available for both Apple and Android users. It is a separate service and offers several variations including Windows 365 Frontline, Windows 365 Boot, and the Windows 365 app. The subscription service will be accessible through any operating system with

2196-579: A program called "Interface Manager". The name "Windows" comes from the fact that the system was one of the first to use graphical boxes to represent programs; in the industry, at the time, these were called "windows" and the underlying software was called "windowing software." It was announced in November 1983 (after the Apple Lisa , but before the Macintosh ) under the name "Windows", but Windows 1.0

2318-510: A redesigned, object oriented user interface, replacing the previous Program Manager with the Start menu , taskbar , and Windows Explorer shell . Windows 95 was a major commercial success for Microsoft; Ina Fried of CNET remarked that "by the time Windows 95 was finally ushered off the market in 2001, it had become a fixture on computer desktops around the world." Microsoft published four OEM Service Releases (OSR) of Windows 95, each of which

2440-465: A special version with integrated peer-to-peer networking features and a version number of 3.11, was released. It was sold along with Windows 3.1. Support for Windows 3.1 ended on December 31, 2001. Windows 3.2, released in 1994, is an updated version of the Chinese version of Windows 3.1. The update was limited to this language version, as it fixed only issues related to the complex writing system of

2562-543: A specific base language and are commonly used for more popular languages such as French or Chinese. These languages cannot be downloaded through the Download Center, but are available as optional updates through the Windows Update service (except Windows 8). The interface language of installed applications is not affected by changes in the Windows interface language. The availability of languages depends on

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2684-416: A successor to NT 4.0. The Windows NT name was dropped at this point in order to put a greater focus on the Windows brand. The next major version of Windows NT, Windows XP , was released to manufacturing (RTM) on August 24, 2001, and to the general public on October 25, 2001. The introduction of Windows XP aimed to unify the consumer-oriented Windows 9x series with the architecture introduced by Windows NT,

2806-484: A year before in January 2018. Microsoft Windows 24H2 (10.0.26100.2454) (November 21, 2024 ; 5 days ago  ( 2024-11-21 ) ) [±] 23H2 (10.0.22635.4515) (November 22, 2024 ; 4 days ago  ( 2024-11-22 ) ) [±] 24H2 (10.0.26120.2415) (November 22, 2024 ; 4 days ago  ( 2024-11-22 ) ) [±] Microsoft Windows

2928-549: Is a product line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft . It is grouped into families and sub-families that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry – Windows (unqualified) for a consumer or corporate workstation , Windows Server for a server and Windows IoT for an embedded system . Windows is sold as either a consumer retail product or licensed to third-party hardware manufacturers who sell products bundled with Windows. The first version of Windows, Windows 1.0 ,

3050-435: Is an edition of Windows that runs on minimalistic computers , like satellite navigation systems and some mobile phones. Windows Embedded Compact is based on its own dedicated kernel, dubbed Windows CE kernel. Microsoft licenses Windows CE to OEMs and device makers. The OEMs and device makers can modify and create their own user interfaces and experiences, while Windows CE provides the technical foundation to do so. Windows CE

3172-450: Is an unofficial name given to the version of Windows that runs on Xbox consoles. From Xbox One onwards it is an implementation with an emphasis on virtualization (using Hyper-V ) as it is three operating systems running at once, consisting of the core operating system , a second implemented for games and a more Windows-like environment for applications. Microsoft updates Xbox One's OS every month, and these updates can be downloaded from

3294-478: Is designed to combine certain elements of a monolithic kernel and a microkernel; nowadays this is most often referred to as a hybrid kernel . The hardware abstraction layer represents the lowermost layer and isolates the operating system from the underlying hardware to make it easy to port the operating system to other platforms. The kernel running atop only has very basic functions like interrupt management and processor synchronization. All other functions of

3416-416: Is done due to compatibility reasons with applications which depend on this ability, like Schedule+ and Microsoft Mail , it also means that 16-bit Windows applications only run in cooperative multitasking . A faulty 16-bit Windows application is in this way able to cause all other 16-bit Windows applications (but not Windows NT itself) to crash. Windows NT 3.1 provides a boot manager called NTLDR which

3538-541: Is expressly not supported. Windows NT 3.1 supports an uninterruptible power supply . Windows NT 3.1 could be installed either by using the CD-ROM and a provided boot disk , or by utilizing a set of twenty-two 3.5" floppies (twenty-three floppies for Advanced Server ). Windows NT 3.1 could also be installed over the network. A coupon was included that made it possible to order a set of twenty-seven 5.25" floppies (or twenty-eight floppies for Advanced Server ). Compared to

3660-424: Is installed, the required drivers are automatically transferred over the network, removing the need to manually install the drivers for every computer. The Remote Access Service (RAS) allows a client from outside the network to connect to the network using a modem , ISDN or X.25 and access its resources. While the workstation allows one RAS connection at a time, the server supports 64. Windows NT 3.1 supports

3782-485: Is loaded during the startup process of the operating system on x86-based computers. It allows a multiboot setup of multiple instances of Windows NT 3.1, as well as MS-DOS and OS/2 1.x. NTLDR is not used for the RISC versions because the RISC computers' firmware provides their own boot manager. Every user has to log on to the computer after Windows NT 3.1 is booted up by pressing the key combination Ctrl+Alt+Del and entering

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3904-529: Is said to be available to update from qualified Windows 7 with SP1, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices from the Get Windows 10 Application (for Windows 7 , Windows 8.1 ) or Windows Update ( Windows 7 ). In February 2017, Microsoft announced the migration of its Windows source code repository from Perforce to Git . This migration involved 3.5 million separate files in a 300-gigabyte repository. By May 2017, 90 percent of its engineering team

4026-463: Is sometimes also viewed as a subsystem, but is, strictly speaking, a normal 32-bit Windows application. It manages applications originally built for DOS. Built on top is Windows on Windows (WoW), which allows applications built for 16-bit Windows operating systems like Windows 3.1 to run. On x86 computers, the virtual DOS machine uses the virtual 8086 mode to run DOS applications directly, on RISC computers, an emulator licensed from Insignia Solutions

4148-573: Is the most popular desktop operating system in the world, with a 70% market share as of March 2023 , according to StatCounter ; however when including mobile OS es, it is not the most used, in favor of Android . As of today, the most recent version of Windows is Windows 11 for consumer PCs and tablets , Windows 11 Enterprise for corporations, and Windows Server 2025 for servers. Still supported are some editions of Windows 10 , Windows Server 2016 or later (and exceptionally with paid support down to Windows Server 2008 ). As of today,

4270-447: Is the last Windows client operating system to support Itanium. Windows Server line continues to support this platform until Windows Server 2012 ; Windows Server 2008 R2 is the last Windows operating system to support Itanium architecture. On April 25, 2005, Microsoft released Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 editions to support x86-64 (or simply x64), the 64-bit version of x86 architecture. Windows Vista

4392-460: Is used which emulates a 80286 processor. However, not all DOS and 16-bit Windows applications can be run on Windows NT 3.1 due to various limitations, one of them being the inability of applications to directly access the hardware. As well, VxD files sometimes needed by applications cannot be used with Windows NT 3.1. While pure DOS applications are run in separate memory spaces, 16-bit Windows applications have to share one memory space. While this

4514-662: The Graphics Device Interface (GDI), so all other subsystems have to call the 32-bit subsystem to be able to output text or graphics. Other subsystems contained in Windows NT 3.1 are the POSIX subsystem, which supports POSIX-compatible applications built for Windows NT, and, in the x86 version only, the OS/2 subsystem, which allows command-line based OS/2 1.x applications to run. The Virtual DOS Machine (VDM)

4636-454: The Internet . Microsoft terminated support for the operating system on December 31, 2000. Support for Windows NT 3.1 RTM (without a service pack) ended on January 8, 1994. Service Pack 1 support ended on April 24, 1994, and finally, Service Pack 2 support ended on January 29, 1995, only 1 year after general availability. Windows NT 3.1 was localized into various languages. Besides English, it

4758-585: The Start screen , which uses large tiles that are more convenient for touch interactions and allow for the display of continually updated information, and a new class of apps which are designed primarily for use on touch-based devices. The new Windows version required a minimum resolution of 1024×768 pixels, effectively making it unfit for netbooks with 800×600-pixel screens. Other changes include increased integration with cloud services and other online platforms (such as social networks and Microsoft's own OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) and Xbox Live services),

4880-974: The Windows Driver Model , support for USB composite devices , support for ACPI , hibernation , and support for multi-monitor configurations. Windows 98 also included integration with Internet Explorer 4 through Active Desktop and other aspects of the Windows Desktop Update (a series of enhancements to the Explorer shell which was also made available for Windows 95). In May 1999, Microsoft released Windows 98 Second Edition , an updated version of Windows 98. Windows 98 SE added Internet Explorer 5.0 and Windows Media Player 6.2 amongst other upgrades. Mainstream support for Windows 98 ended on June 30, 2002, and extended support for Windows 98 ended on July 11, 2006. On September 14, 2000, Microsoft released Windows Me (Millennium Edition),

5002-505: The Windows Image Acquisition framework for retrieving images from scanners and digital cameras), additional system utilities such as System File Protection and System Restore , and updated home networking tools. However, Windows Me was faced with criticism for its speed and instability, along with hardware compatibility issues and its removal of real mode DOS support. PC World considered Windows Me to be one of

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5124-578: The Windows Store service for software distribution, and a new variant known as Windows RT for use on devices that utilize the ARM architecture , and a new keyboard shortcut for screenshots . An update to Windows 8, called Windows 8.1 , was released on October 17, 2013, and includes features such as new live tile sizes, deeper OneDrive integration, and many other revisions. Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have been subject to some criticism, such as

5246-465: The replication service, files like logon scripts can be synchronized across all computers on the network. The Advanced Server supports the AppleTalk protocol to allow connections to Macintosh computers. Hard drives can be combined to RAIDs in Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server, the supported configurations are RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 5. Windows NT 3.1, for the most part, comes with 32-bit versions of

5368-403: The x86 -based personal computer became dominant in the professional world. Windows NT 4.0 and its predecessors supported PowerPC , DEC Alpha and MIPS R4000 (although some of the platforms implement 64-bit computing , the OS treated them as 32-bit). Windows 2000 dropped support for all platforms, except the third generation x86 (known as IA-32 ) or newer in 32-bit mode. The client line of

5490-446: The "Tablet PC" edition (designed for mobile devices meeting its specifications for a tablet computer , with support for stylus pen input and additional pen-enabled applications). Mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009. Extended support ended on April 8, 2014. After Windows 2000, Microsoft also changed its release schedules for server operating systems; the server counterpart of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 ,

5612-443: The 1992 pre-release version of Windows NT 3.1 could not be run on the final version. This affected software such as Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 and Microsoft Fortran PowerStation. RISC systems with Windows NT 3.1 had an even bigger disadvantage: even though they were more powerful than x86 systems, almost no 32-bit applications or drivers were ported to these platforms. 16-bit applications ran much slower under RISC systems because of

5734-476: The 80286 emulation compared to x86 systems which could run 16-bit applications natively, and DOS and 16-bit applications which depended on 386 calls could not be run at all on RISC systems. However, not all reception was negative; the multitasking capabilities of the operating system were rated positively, especially compared to Windows 3.1. Compared to the size of the operating system, the installation turned out to be very easy, even though installing from floppies

5856-736: The C development environment, which included numerous windows samples. Windows 2.0 was released in December 1987, and was more popular than its predecessor. It features several improvements to the user interface and memory management. Windows 2.03 changed the OS from tiled windows to overlapping windows. The result of this change led to Apple Computer filing a suit against Microsoft alleging infringement on Apple's copyrights (eventually settled in court in Microsoft's favor in 1993). Windows 2.0 also introduced more sophisticated keyboard shortcuts and could make use of expanded memory . Windows 2.1

5978-589: The Chinese language. Windows 3.2 was generally sold by computer manufacturers with a ten-disk version of MS-DOS that also had Simplified Chinese characters in basic output and some translated utilities. The next major consumer-oriented release of Windows, Windows 95 , was released on August 24, 1995. While still remaining MS-DOS-based, Windows 95 introduced support for native 32-bit applications , plug and play hardware, preemptive multitasking , long file names of up to 255 characters, and provided increased stability over its predecessors. Windows 95 also introduced

6100-531: The DEC Alpha version followed in September. Microsoft sold the workstation version for $ 495 , and the server version for $ 1,495 . Ostensibly, the server price was meant to be a promotional discount offered only during the first six months of sale, but they never raised the retail price to the listed one— $ 2,995 . 250 programmers wrote 5.6 million lines of code ; the development cost $ 150 million . In

6222-520: The NT OS/2 kernel could run inside the i860 emulator. However, the development team later determined that the i860 was unsuitable for the project. By December they had begun porting NT OS/2 to the MIPS R3000 processor instead, and completed the task in three months. Senior Microsoft executive Paul Maritz was targeting a release date in 1992, but the development schedule was uncertain. The company

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6344-654: The OS was also to support networking, the POSIX standard, and a security platform compliant with the " Orange Book " standards; which would require the OS to be a multi-user system with a permission framework and the ability to audit security-related events. Both Microsoft and IBM wanted to market an operating system that appealed to corporate " enterprise software " customers. That meant greater security , reliability , processing power, and computer networking features. However, since Microsoft also wanted to capture market share from Unix on other computing platforms , they needed

6466-403: The OS/2 partnership. IBM would solely develop OS/2 2.0 (as was planned under the amended version) and all future versions, without any further involvement from Microsoft. In October 1991, Windows NT received its first public demonstration at COMDEX. In an effort to ensure software taking advantage of Windows NT was available upon its release (scheduled for late-1992), Microsoft also distributed

6588-529: The Windows NT family still ran on IA-32 up to Windows 10 (the server line of the Windows NT family still ran on IA-32 up to Windows Server 2008 ). With the introduction of the Intel Itanium architecture ( IA-64 ), Microsoft released new versions of Windows to support it. Itanium versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were released at the same time as their mainstream x86 counterparts. Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2003), released in 2003,

6710-415: The Windows brand and beginning NT at version 3.1, like Windows 3.1 which had established brand recognition and market share , Microsoft implied that consumers should expect a familiar user experience yet re-engineered. Windows NT 3.1 and Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server (so numbered to associate them with Windows 3.1 ) were released on July 26, 1993. At first, only the x86 and MIPS versions shipped;

6832-430: The Windows interface, and require a certain base language (the language which Windows originally shipped with). This is used for most languages in emerging markets. Full Language Packs, which translate the complete operating system, are only available for specific editions of Windows (Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista and 7, and all editions of Windows 8, 8.1 and RT except Single Language). They do not require

6954-620: The Xbox 360's system is backwards compatible with the original Xbox. Up to and including every version before Windows 2000 , Microsoft used an in-house version control system named Source Library Manager (SLM). Shortly after Windows 2000 was released, Microsoft switched to a fork of Perforce named Source Depot. This system was used up until 2017 once the system could not keep up with the size of Windows. Microsoft had begun to integrate Git into Team Foundation Server in 2013, but Windows (and Office) continued to rely on Source Depot. The Windows code

7076-527: The Xbox Live service to the Xbox and subsequently installed, or by using offline recovery images downloaded via a PC. It was originally based on NT 6.2 (Windows 8) kernel, and the latest version runs on an NT 10.0 base. This system is sometimes referred to as "Windows 10 on Xbox One". Xbox One and Xbox Series operating systems also allow limited (due to licensing restrictions and testing resources) backward compatibility with previous generation hardware, and

7198-457: The application developers themselves. Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 introduce a new Language Control Panel where both the interface and input languages can be simultaneously changed, and language packs, regardless of type, can be downloaded from a central location. The PC Settings app in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 also includes a counterpart settings page for this. Changing

7320-437: The application, a home networking system called HomeGroup , and performance improvements. Windows 8 , the successor to Windows 7, was released generally on October 26, 2012. A number of significant changes were made on Windows 8, including the introduction of a user interface based around Microsoft's Metro design language with optimizations for touch-based devices such as tablets and all-in-one PCs. These changes include

7442-463: The capabilities of Windows NT 3.1 were scarce, so users had to resort to the old 16-bit applications; however, these ran slower than on Windows 3.1. Estimates in November 1993 counted only 150 Windows NT applications. Common types of software, like office suites , were not available for Windows NT 3.1. During the development of the operating system, the API calls were changed so 32-bit applications built on

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7564-760: The components featured in Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups. However, it also included applications specifically aimed at the needs of Windows NT, like the User Manager, the Performance Monitor , the Disk Administrator, the Event Viewer and the Backup application. The Advanced Server contained further, server-specific administration tools. Because Windows NT 3.1 is not DOS-based, a new 32-bit command-line processor, called CMD.EXE

7686-409: The design, mostly because of virtual memory and loadable virtual device drivers ( VxDs ) that allow Windows to share arbitrary devices between multi-tasked DOS applications. Windows 3.0 applications can run in protected mode , which gives them access to several megabytes of memory without the obligation to participate in the software virtual memory scheme. They run inside the same address space, where

7808-464: The fact that the operating systems were incompatible with each other at the API level), while Microsoft's resources were also being drained by the simultaneous development of multiple operating systems. In August 1990, as a response to the popularity of Windows 3.0, the NT OS/2 team decided to re-work the operating system to use an extended 32-bit port of the Windows API known as Win32. Win32 maintained

7930-411: The familiar structure of the 16-bit APIs used by Windows, which would allow developers to easily adapt their software for the new platform while maintaining a level of compatibility with existing software for Windows. With the shift to a Windows-like architecture, the operating system's shell was also changed from OS/2's Presentation Manager to Windows' Program Manager . Due to these changes, NT

8052-496: The floppies, the CD-ROM contained additional drivers and applications. Windows NT 3.1 supports multiple platforms: Aside from the x86 architecture, it runs on computers with DEC Alpha or MIPS ( R4000 and R4400 ) processors. Minimum system requirements on x86 systems include a 25 MHz 80386 processor, at least 12 megabytes of memory, 75 megabytes of hard drive space, and a VGA graphics card. RISC systems require 16 megabytes of memory, 92 megabytes of hard drive space, and

8174-516: The full Windows feature set. The early versions of Windows are often thought of as graphical shells, mostly because they ran on top of MS-DOS and used it for file system services. However, even the earliest Windows versions already assumed many typical operating system functions; notably, having their own executable file format and providing their own device drivers (timer, graphics, printer, mouse, keyboard and sound). Unlike MS-DOS, Windows allowed users to execute multiple graphical applications at

8296-405: The icon of GOM Player looks like a bear's paw. GOM Player has a free version and a paid version. The paid version name is GOM Player Plus, and it allows video playback without advertisements and includes convenient features such as simple configuration. GOM Player can play following multimedia formats: In January 2019, it was reported to install third-party malware. Users also reported the issue

8418-436: The interface language also changes the language of preinstalled Windows Store apps (such as Mail, Maps and News) and certain other Microsoft-developed apps (such as Remote Desktop). The above limitations for language packs are however still in effect, except that full language packs can be installed for any edition except Single Language, which caters to emerging markets. Windows NT included support for several platforms before

8540-515: The keyboard and the interface can be changed through the Region and Language Control Panel. Components for all supported input languages, such as Input Method Editors , are automatically installed during Windows installation (in Windows XP and earlier, files for East Asian languages, such as Chinese, and files for right-to-left scripts, such as Arabic, may need to be installed separately, also from

8662-433: The last DOS-based version of Windows. Windows Me incorporated visual interface enhancements from its Windows NT-based counterpart Windows 2000 , had faster boot times than previous versions (which however, required the removal of the ability to access a real mode DOS environment, removing compatibility with some older programs), expanded multimedia functionality (including Windows Media Player 7, Windows Movie Maker , and

8784-418: The last year of development, the team fixed more than 30,000 bugs. During the product's lifecycle, Microsoft published three service packs : Service Pack 1 was released on October 8, 1993; Service Pack 2 followed on January 24, 1994; and Service Pack 3's release date was October 29, 1994. The service packs were distributed on CD-ROM and floppy disk, and also through bulletin board systems , CompuServe , and

8906-487: The logon process and monitors the security of the system. The other type of subsystem is the environment subsystem , which exposes the operating system functions to applications via application programming interfaces . The base subsystem is the 32-bit subsystem which runs 32-bit applications written for Windows NT. Windows NT applications can only run on one platform, and must be recompiled for every platform. The 32-bit subsystem also contains all output functions, including

9028-497: The modular structure and the communication between the modules. System resources like memory, files or devices are viewed as objects by the operating system, which are all accessed in the same way through handles and which can in this way be secured against unauthorized access. The operating system was designed for multiprocessor systems; it supports preemptive multitasking and can make use of threads to run multiple processes in parallel. Using symmetric multiprocessing ,

9150-461: The new NTFS file system. This new file system is more robust against hardware failures and allows assignment of read and write rights to users or groups on the file system level. NTFS supports long file names and has features to accommodate POSIX applications like hard links . For compatibility reasons, Windows NT 3.1 also supports FAT16 as well as OS/2's file system HPFS , but does not support long file names on FAT file system ( VFAT ). This

9272-507: The new operating system; Cutler left DEC after the cancellation of the PRISM architecture and its MICA operating system, and agreed to join Microsoft on the condition that he be able to bring a number of staff members from his team at DEC with him. Cutler arrived at Microsoft in October 1988, and began working on the development of the operating system in November. The operating system

9394-622: The only active top-level family is Windows NT . The first version, Windows NT 3.1 , was intended for server computing and corporate workstations . It grew into a product line of its own and now consists of four sub-families that tend to be released almost simultaneously and share the same kernel. These top-level Windows families are no longer actively developed: The term Windows collectively describes any or all of several generations of Microsoft operating system products. These products are generally categorized as follows: The history of Windows dates back to 1981 when Microsoft started work on

9516-415: The operating system core are handled by modules which operate independently from one another and can be swapped without affecting the rest of the operating system. Positioned above the operating system core are the subsystems. There are two types of subsystems: one are the integral subsystems , which perform important operating system functions. One such subsystem is the security subsystem, which handles

9638-422: The operating system to a new architecture. The second goal was reliability : The system should no longer crash due to a faulty application or faulty hardware. This way, the operating system should be made attractive for critical applications. To meet this goal, the architecture of Windows NT was designed so that the operating system core was isolated and applications could not access it directly. The kernel

9760-619: The operating systems, including the operating system core, had to be written in the C programming language . During the planning phase it was clear that this would cause Windows NT to have higher memory consumption than all previous operating systems. Besides the graphics system and parts of the networking system, which were written in C++ , only parts of the operating systems which required direct hardware access and performance critical functions were written in assembly language . These parts were isolated so that they could easily be rewritten when porting

9882-403: The platform), but also supported the capabilities of the existing NT kernel . Following its approval by Microsoft's staff, development continued on what was now Windows NT, the first 32-bit version of Windows. However, IBM objected to the changes, and ultimately continued OS/2 development on its own. Windows NT was the first Windows operating system based on a hybrid kernel . The hybrid kernel

10004-424: The problem, but unofficial patches are available. Windows NT 3.1 sold about 300,000 copies in its first year. The hardware requirements were deemed to be very high at that time; the recommended system requirements of a 486 processor with 16 megabytes of memory were well above the average computer's configuration, and the operating system turned out to be too slow to use. 32-bit applications which could have used

10126-416: The processing usage is evenly distributed among all available processors. The inter-process communication in Windows NT 3.1 is designed around networks; two newly introduced functions, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Network DDE , an extension of Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), facilitate the access and data exchange between processes running on different computers inside a network. The operating system

10248-463: The purposes of developing software optimized for the platform. At Microsoft's Win32 Professional Developers Conference in June 1992, Windows NT was demonstrated running on x86 and MIPS processors, while a beta version of Windows NT and an updated development kit were also made available. Concurrently, Microsoft announced a new version of its SQL Server product for Windows NT; Unix vendors feared that

10370-495: The removal of the Start menu . On September 30, 2014, Microsoft announced Windows 10 as the successor to Windows 8.1. It was released on July 29, 2015, and addresses shortcomings in the user interface first introduced with Windows 8. Changes on PC include the return of the Start Menu, a virtual desktop system, and the ability to run Windows Store apps within windows on the desktop rather than in full-screen mode. Windows 10

10492-754: The said Control Panel). Third-party IMEs may also be installed if a user feels that the provided one is insufficient for their needs. Since Windows 2000, English editions of Windows NT have East Asian IMEs (such as Microsoft Pinyin IME and Microsoft Japanese IME) bundled, but files for East Asian languages may be manually installed on Control Panel. Interface languages for the operating system are free for download, but some languages are limited to certain editions of Windows. Language Interface Packs (LIPs) are redistributable and may be downloaded from Microsoft's Download Center and installed for any edition of Windows (XP or later) – they translate most, but not all, of

10614-432: The same time he did not expect a success in the desktop market until 1995. Therefore, Windows NT was positioned as a high-end operating system in an interview with the product manager David Thacher. It was not designed to replace Windows 3.1 completely, but it should rather supplement Microsoft's product palette with an operating system for critical applications. The expectations were 10% to 20% among all Windows sales and

10736-420: The same time, through cooperative multitasking . Windows implemented an elaborate, segment-based, software virtual memory scheme, which allows it to run applications larger than available memory: code segments and resources are swapped in and thrown away when memory became scarce; data segments moved in memory when a given application had relinquished processor control. Windows 3.0 , released in 1990, improved

10858-439: The segmented memory provides a degree of protection. Windows 3.0 also featured improvements to the user interface. Microsoft rewrote critical operations from C into assembly . Windows 3.0 was the first version of Windows to achieve broad commercial success, selling 2 million copies in the first six months. Windows 3.1, made generally available on March 1, 1992, featured a facelift. In August 1993, Windows for Workgroups,

10980-534: The software could be a killer app that would affect the market share of Unix systems. Concerns were also raised over NT's memory usage; while most computers of the era shipped with 4 megabytes of RAM , 16 MB was recommended for NTs. Due to the high cost of RAM at the time, critics thought that its high system requirements could affect the sales and adoption of Windows NT. Steps were taken to reduce its memory usage through methods such as paging . Microsoft began releasing public beta builds of NT in October 1992, and

11102-523: The then-new Unicode standard, a character set which allows multiple languages to be displayed. This facilitates localization of the operating system. All strings, as well as file and folder names, are internally processed in Unicode, but the included programs, like the File Manager , are not Unicode aware, so folders containing Unicode characters cannot be accessed. For demonstration purposes,

11224-483: The undocumented registry editor, the Windows registry can be viewed and edited by the user. The Advanced Server is designed to manage the workstation computers. It can function as a Domain controller , where all users and groups as well as their rights are stored. This way, a user can log on from any computer in the network, and users can be managed centrally on the server. Trust relationships can be built to other domains to be able to exchange data cross-domain. Using

11346-471: The use of its MS-DOS as the operating system of IBM PC compatibles . Nathan Myhrvold , who had joined Microsoft after its acquisition of Dynamical Systems Research, identified two major threats to Microsoft's monopoly— RISC architectures, which proved to be more powerful than the equivalent Intel processors that MS-DOS ran on, and Unix , a family of cross-platform multitasking operating systems with support for multiprocessing and networking . While

11468-513: The user name and password. All users have their own user account , and user-specific settings like the Program Manager groups are stored separately for every user. Users can be assigned specific rights, like the right to change the system time or the right to shut down the computer. To facilitate management of user accounts, it is also possible to group multiple user accounts and assign rights to groups of users. Windows NT 3.1 introduced

11590-550: The widespread use of Unix was hindered by the need to adapt programs for each individual variant, Bill Gates believed that the combination of a Unix-like operating system with RISC processors could be a market threat, prompting the need for Microsoft to develop a "Unix killer" that could run on multiple architectures. Myhrvold wanted to develop a new system that would run on RISC workstations and Intel chips and multiprocessing computers. Gates had also hired Dave Cutler from Digital Equipment Corporation to assist in developing

11712-465: The worst operating systems Microsoft had ever released, and the fourth worst tech product of all time. In November 1988, a new development team within Microsoft (which included former Digital Equipment Corporation developers Dave Cutler and Mark Lucovsky ) began work on a revamped version of IBM and Microsoft's OS/2 operating system known as "NT OS/2". NT OS/2 was intended to be a secure, multi-user operating system with POSIX compatibility and

11834-423: Was a very time-consuming task. The Advanced Server , intended to be the successor to the unsuccessful LAN Manager product, was technically much superior to its predecessor, and only failed to gain success because it shared the same problems with its workstation pendant, such as the low performance running 16-bit applications. The Advanced Server provided a financial advantage for large networks because its price

11956-521: Was added in Windows NT 3.5. Designed as a networking operating system, Windows NT 3.1 supports multiple network protocols . Besides IPX/SPX and NetBEUI , the TCP/IP protocol is supported allowing access to the Internet. Similar to Windows for Workgroups , files and printers can be shared and the access rights and configuration of these resources can be edited over the network. When a network printer

12078-407: Was announced as the successor to Windows 10 during a livestream. The new operating system was designed to be more user-friendly and understandable. It was released on October 5, 2021. As of May 2022, Windows 11 is a free upgrade to Windows 10 users who meet the system requirements. In July 2021, Microsoft announced it will start selling subscriptions to virtualized Windows desktops as part of

12200-449: Was applied to Windows NT. Despite all these goals, the performance of the operating system was optimized where possible, by adapting critical sections of the code to fast execution speed. To improve networking performance, large parts of the networking system were moved to the operating system core. Windows NT was designed as a networking operating system. In this branch, Novell had a lead with its product NetWare , mostly because of

12322-579: Was available in Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish. The version for workstations, but not Windows NT 3.1 Server, was additionally available in Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian and Portuguese. Cutler set three main goals for Windows NT. The first goal was portability: in contrast to previous operating systems, which were strongly tied to one architecture, Windows NT should be able to operate on multiple architectures. To meet this goal, most of

12444-492: Was available in a number of different editions , and has been subject to some criticism , such as drop of performance, longer boot time, criticism of new UAC, and stricter license agreement. Vista's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 was released in early 2008. On July 22, 2009, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 were released to manufacturing (RTM) and released to the public three months later on October 22, 2009. Unlike its predecessor, Windows Vista, which introduced

12566-464: Was available. For the Advanced Server , only their own client, the Macintosh and, if only limited, OS/2 were able to connect to the server. Even though the operating system's actual success was only moderate, it had a huge lasting impact. Developers of Unix derivations for the first time strived to standardize their operating systems, and Novell was so concerned about its market share that it bought

12688-502: Was designed as a microkernel and components of the core were to run atop the kernel in a modular fashion; Cutler knew this principle from his work at Digital. Reliability also includes security, and the operating system should be able to resist external attacks. Mainframes already had a system where every user had their own account which was assigned specific rights by the administrator , this way, users could be prevented access to confidential documents. A virtual memory management

12810-517: Was designed as a modified microkernel , influenced by the Mach microkernel developed by Richard Rashid at Carnegie Mellon University, but without meeting all of the criteria of a pure microkernel. The first release of the resulting operating system, Windows NT 3.1 (named to associate it with Windows 3.1 ) was released in July 1993, with versions for desktop workstations and servers . Windows NT 3.5

12932-534: Was designed to thwart attacks by malware and prevent users from accessing foreign areas of memory. The third goal was called personality : The operating system should be able to run applications designed for various operating systems, such as Windows , MS-DOS and OS/2 applications. The Mach kernel followed a similar concept by moving the APIs to components which operated in user mode as applications, these could be changed and new ones could be added. This principle

13054-534: Was divided among 65 different repositories with a kind of virtualization layer to produce unified view of all of the code. Windows NT 3.1 Windows NT 3.1 is the first major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft , released on July 27, 1993. It was the company's first 32-bit operating system, providing advantages over the constrictive 16-bit architecture of previous versions of Windows that relied on DOS , but retaining

13176-654: Was eager to silence naysayers who speculated that NT wouldn't be on the market until 1994, and had planned to present the new OS at COMDEX in 1990. In May 1990, Microsoft released Windows 3.0 , a new version of its MS-DOS-based Windows desktop environment . Windows 3.0 sold well, and the resulting shift in Microsoft's marketing strategy eroded their partnership with IBM—who wanted Microsoft to concentrate solely on developing OS/2 as its primary platform as opposed to building their future business around Windows. Users and developers were unsure of whether to adopt Windows or OS/2 due to these uncertainties (a situation magnified by

13298-417: Was first developed as a revised version of OS/2 , an operating system Microsoft had jointly developed with IBM . While OS/2 was originally intended to succeed MS-DOS, it had yet to be commercially successful. The OS was to be designed so it could be ported to different processor platforms, and support multiprocessor systems, which few operating systems did at that time. To target the enterprise market,

13420-550: Was included which was compatible with MS-DOS 5.0. For compatibility reasons, Windows NT 3.1 shipped with a few 16-bit applications, like Microsoft Write or EDLIN . Windows NT 3.1, being an all-new operating system for which no previous drivers could be used, includes a wealth of drivers for various common components and peripherals. This includes common SCSI devices like hard drives, CD-ROM drives, tape drives and image scanners , as well as ISA devices like graphics cards, sound cards and network cards. The PCI bus , however,

13542-462: Was marketed in two main editions : the "Home" edition was targeted towards consumers, while the "Professional" edition was targeted towards business environments and power users , and included additional security and networking features. Home and Professional were later accompanied by the "Media Center" edition (designed for home theater PCs , with an emphasis on support for DVD playback, TV tuner cards , DVR functionality, and remote controls), and

13664-640: Was not dependent on the number of clients, unlike its competitor Novell NetWare. With Windows NT, Microsoft entered a market it could not previously address and which was mostly dominated by Unix, Novell NetWare and OS/2. A test performed by the InfoWorld magazine in November 1993, where the networking capabilities of several operating systems were tested, showed that Windows NT 3.1 was seriously lacking in inter-client communication: it could only connect to its own server via NetBEUI ; attempts to connect to Unix, NetWare and OS/2 all failed because no client software

13786-494: Was not presented at COMDEX 1990 as was originally planned. Neither the general public nor IBM knew about the transformation of NT OS/2 into Windows NT at the time. Although the companies did agree to a revised partnership where IBM and Microsoft would alternate developing major versions of OS/2 instead of collaborating on each version, IBM eventually learned of Microsoft's Windows NT plans in January 1991, and immediately ended

13908-698: Was not released until November 1985. Windows 1.0 was to compete with Apple 's operating system, but achieved little popularity. Windows 1.0 is not a complete operating system; rather, it extends MS-DOS . The shell of Windows 1.0 is a program known as the MS-DOS Executive . Components included Calculator , Calendar, Cardfile , Clipboard Viewer , Clock, Control Panel , Notepad , Paint , Reversi , Terminal and Write . Windows 1.0 does not allow overlapping windows. Instead, all windows are tiled . Only modal dialog boxes may appear over other windows. Microsoft sold as included Windows Development libraries with

14030-462: Was released in April 2003. It was followed in December 2005, by Windows Server 2003 R2. After a lengthy development process , Windows Vista was released on November 30, 2006, for volume licensing and January 30, 2007, for consumers. It contained a number of new features , from a redesigned shell and user interface to significant technical changes , with a particular focus on security features . It

14152-518: Was released in September 1994, focusing on performance improvements and support for Novell 's NetWare , and was followed up by Windows NT 3.51 in May 1995, which included additional improvements and support for the PowerPC architecture. Windows NT 4.0 was released in June 1996, introducing the redesigned interface of Windows 95 to the NT series. On February 17, 2000, Microsoft released Windows 2000 ,

14274-624: Was released in two different versions: Windows/286 and Windows/386 . Windows/386 uses the virtual 8086 mode of the Intel 80386 to multitask several DOS programs and the paged memory model to emulate expanded memory using available extended memory . Windows/286, in spite of its name, runs on both Intel 8086 and Intel 80286 processors. It runs in real mode but can make use of the high memory area . In addition to full Windows packages, there were runtime-only versions that shipped with early Windows software from third parties and made it possible to run their Windows software on MS-DOS and without

14396-509: Was released on November 20, 1985, as a graphical operating system shell for MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The name "Windows" is a reference to the windowing system in GUIs. The 1990 release of Windows 3.0 catapulted its market success and led to various other product families, including the now-defunct Windows 9x , Windows Mobile , Windows Phone , and Windows CE/Embedded Compact . Windows

14518-401: Was roughly equivalent to a service pack . The first OSR of Windows 95 was also the first version of Windows to be bundled with Microsoft's web browser , Internet Explorer . Mainstream support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2000, and extended support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2001. Windows 95 was followed up with the release of Windows 98 on June 25, 1998, which introduced

14640-586: Was the first client version of Windows NT to be released simultaneously in IA-32 and x64 editions. As of 2024, x64 is still supported. An edition of Windows 8 known as Windows RT was specifically created for computers with ARM architecture , and while ARM is still used for Windows smartphones with Windows 10, tablets with Windows RT will not be updated. Starting from Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709) and later includes support for ARM-based PCs. Windows CE (officially known as Windows Embedded Compact ),

14762-556: Was used in the Dreamcast along with Sega's own proprietary OS for the console. Windows CE was the core from which Windows Mobile was derived. Its successor, Windows Phone 7 , was based on components from both Windows CE 6.0 R3 and Windows CE 7.0 . Windows Phone 8 however, is based on the same NT-kernel as Windows 8. Windows Embedded Compact is not to be confused with Windows XP Embedded or Windows NT 4.0 Embedded , modular editions of Windows based on Windows NT kernel. Xbox OS

14884-420: Was using Git, in about 8500 commits and 1760 Windows builds per day. In June 2021, shortly before Microsoft's announcement of Windows 11, Microsoft updated their lifecycle policy pages for Windows 10, revealing that support for their last release of Windows 10 will end on October 14, 2025. On April 27, 2023, Microsoft announced that version 22H2 would be the last of Windows 10. On June 24, 2021, Windows 11

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