Microsoft operating systems

  • 1. MS-DOS
  • 2. Windows

Windows 1.0(1985)

Windows 2.0(1987)

Windows 3.x(1990, 1992)

Windows 95(1995)

Windows 98(1998)

Windows 2000(2000)

Windows ME(2000)

Windows XP(2001)

Windows Vista(2006)

Windows 7(2009)

Windows 8(2012)

Windows 8.1(2013)

Windows 10(2015)

Windows 10 (Anniversary Update)(2016)

  • 3. Windows NT
  • 4. Windows CE
  • 5. Windows Phone

Windows Phone 7(2010)

Windows Phone 8(2012)

Windows Phone 8.1(2014)

Windows Mobile 10(2015)

  • 6. Xbox gaming
  • 7. OS/2
  • 8. Other operating systems
  1. Microsoft Linux distributions
  2. MIDAS
  3. Singularity
  4. Xenix
  5. Zune

1. MS-DOS

(/ˌɛmɛsˈdɒs/em-es-doss; acronym forMicrosoftDiskOperatingSystem) is a discontinuedoperating systemforx86-basedpersonal computersmostly developed byMicrosoft. It was the most commonly used member of theDOSfamily of operating systems, and was the main operating system forIBM PC compatiblepersonal computers during the 1980s and the early 1990s, when it was gradually superseded by operating systems offering agraphical user interface(GUI), in various generations of the graphicalMicrosoft Windowsoperating system by Microsoft Corporation.

MS-DOS resulted from a request in 1981 by IBM for an operating system to use in itsIBM PCrange of personal computers.Microsoft quickly bought the rights to86-DOSfromSeattle Computer Products,and began work on modifying it to meet IBM's specification. IBM licensed and released it in August 1981 asPC DOS1.0 for use in their PCs. Although MS-DOS and PC DOS were initially developed in parallel by Microsoft and IBM, in subsequent years the two products diverged, with recognizable differences in compatibility, syntax, and capabilities.

During its life,several competing productswere released for the x86 platform,and MS-DOS went through eight versions, until development ceased in 2000.

DOS/dɒs/, short fordisk operating system,is anacronymfor several computeroperating systemsthat are operated by using thecommand line.

MS-DOSdominated theIBM PC compatible(PC and PC Compatible) market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2001 including the partially MS-DOS-basedMicrosoft Windows(95,98, andMillennium Edition). "DOS" is used to describe the family of several very similar command-line systems.

When IBM introduced theIBM PC, built with theIntel 8088microprocessor, they needed an operating system.

IBM again approached Bill Gates. Gates in turn approachedSeattle Computer Products. There, programmerTim Patersonhad developed a variant ofCP/M-80, intended as an internal product for testing SCP's new16-bitIntel 8086CPUcard for theS-100 bus. The system was initially named QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System), before being made commercially available as86-DOS. Microsoft purchased 86-DOS, allegedly for $50,000. This became Microsoft Disk Operating System, MS-DOS, introduced in 1981.

Within a year Microsoft licensed MS-DOS to over 70 other companies,which supplied the operating system for their own hardware, sometimes under their own names. Microsoft later required the use of the MS-DOS name, with the exception of the IBM variant. IBM continued to develop their version,PC DOS, for the IBM PC.Digital Research became aware that an operating system similar to CP/M was being sold by IBM (under the same name that IBM insisted upon for CP/M), and threatened legal action. IBM responded by offering an agreement: they would give PC consumers a choice of PC DOS orCP/M-86, Kildall's 8086 version. Side-by-side, CP/M cost almost $200 more than PC DOS, and sales were low. CP/M faded, with MS-DOS and PC DOS becoming the marketed operating system for PCs and PC compatibles.

Microsoft originally sold MS-DOS only tooriginal equipment manufacturers(OEMs). One major reason for this was that not all early PCs were 100%IBM PC compatible.

TheFreeDOSproject began 26 June 1994, when Microsoft announced it would no longer sell or support MS-DOS.Jim Hallthen posted a manifesto proposing the development of an open-source replacement. Within a few weeks, other programmers includingPat Villaniand Tim Norman joined the project. A kernel, the COMMAND.COM command line interpreter (shell) and core utilities were created by pooling code they had written or found available. There were several official pre-release distributions of FreeDOS before the FreeDOS 1.0 distribution was released on 3 September 2006. Made available under theGNU General Public License(GPL), FreeDOS does not require license fees or royalties.

2. Windows

Microsoft introduced anoperating environmentnamedWindowson November 20, 1985, as a graphicaloperating system shellforMS-DOSin response to the growing interest ingraphical user interfaces(GUIs).Microsoft Windows came todominatethe world'spersonal computer(PC) market withover 90% market share, overtakingMac OS, which had been introduced in 1984.Applecame to see Windows as an unfair encroachment on their innovation in GUI development as implemented on products such as theLisaandMacintosh(eventually settled in court in Microsoft's favour in 1993). On PCs, Windows is still the most popular operating system. However, in 2014, Microsoft admitted losing the majority of the overall operating system market toAndroid,because of the massive growth in sales of Androidsmartphones. In 2014, the number of Windows devices sold were less than 25% of Android devices sold. This comparison, however, may not be fully relevant as the two operating systems traditionally targeted different platforms.

As of September 2016, the most recent version of Windows for PCs,tablets,smartphonesandembedded devicesisWindows 10. The most recent version forserver computersisWindows Server 2016. A specialized version of Windows runs on theXbox Onegame console.

Windows Server 2016is a serveroperating systemdeveloped byMicrosoftas part of theWindows NTfamily of operating systems, developed concurrently withWindows 10. The first early preview version (Technical Preview) became available on October 1, 2014 together with the first technical preview ofSystem Center.Unlike previous Windows Server versions, which were released simultaneously with the client operating system, Windows Server 2016 was released on September 26, 2016 at Microsoft's Ignite conferenceand became generally available on October 12, 2016.

3. Windows NT

Started as a family of operating system withWindows NT 3.1, an operating system forserver computersandworkstations. It now consists of three operating system subfamilies that are released almost at the same time and share the same kernel. It is almost impossible for someone unfamiliar with the subject to identify the members of this family by name because they do not adhere to any specific rule; e.g.Windows Vista,Windows 7,Windows 8/8.1andWindows RTare members of this family butWindows 3.1is not.

4. Windows CE

Windows Embedded Compact was formerly known as Windows CE. According to Microsoft, "CE" is not an explicit acronym for anything, although it implies a number of notions that Windows developers had in mind, such as "compact", "connectable", "compatible", "companion" and "efficient".The name changed once in 2006, with the release ofWindows Embedded CE 6.0, and again in 2011, with the release ofWindows Embedded Compact 7.

It is optimized for devices that have minimal memory; a Windows CE kernel may run with one megabyte ofmemory.Devices are often configured withoutdisk storage, and may be configured as a "closed" system that does not allow for end-user extension (for instance, it can be burned intoROM). Windows CE conforms to the definition of areal-time operating system, with a deterministic interrupt latency. From Version3 and onward, the system supports 256priority levelsand usespriority inheritancefor dealing withpriority inversion. The fundamental unit of execution is thethread. This helps to simplify the interface and improve execution time.

The first version– known during development under thecode name"Pegasus"– featured a Windows-likeGUIand a number of Microsoft's popular applications, all trimmed down for smaller storage, memory, and speed of the palmtops of the day. Since then, Windows CE has evolved into a component-based, embedded, real-time operating system. It is no longer targeted solely at hand-held computers.

5. Windows Phone(WP)

It is a family ofmobile operating systemsdeveloped byMicrosoftforsmartphonesas the replacement successor toWindows MobileandZune.Windows Phone features a new user interface derived fromMetro design language. Unlike Windows Mobile, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than theenterprisemarket.It was first launched in October 2010 withWindows Phone 7.Windows Phone 8 has been succeeded byWindows 10 Mobile, with the Windows Phone name being phased out in favour of branding the platform as aneditionofWindows 10.

Microsoft's promotion of the Metro design language

7. OS/2

is a series of computeroperating systems, initially created byMicrosoftandIBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2", because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2(PS/2)" line of second-generationpersonal computers. The first version of OS/2 was released in December 1987 and newer versions were released until December 2001.

OS/2 was intended as aprotected modesuccessor ofPCDOS. Notably, basicsystem callswere modelled afterMS-DOScalls; their names even started with "Dos" and it was possible to create "Family Mode" applications:text modeapplications that could work on both systems.Because of this heritage, OS/2 shares similarities withUnix,Xenix, andWindows NTin many ways.

IBM discontinued its support for OS/2 on 31 December 2006.Since then, it has been updated, maintained and marketed under the nameeComStation. In 2015 it was announcedthat a new OEM distribution of OS/2 would be released that was to be called ArcaOS.

8.a. Microsoft Linux distributions

Linux distributionsfromMicrosoftinclude a project known asAzure Cloud Switch(ACS)releasedin 2015. The software was built in response to address customers who often need a Linux system running alongsideWindows-based servers.With the support forMicrosoft SQL Serverfor Linux, Microsoft itself required internal Linux support, which uses its own distributions for this purpose.

In the past, Microsoft has strategically excluded any support for Linux due to it being a competitor operating system. However, as its partners have gradually embraced multiple technologies, the partnership became inevitable.

8.e. Zunewas a brand ofdigital mediaproducts and services marketed byMicrosoft. Zune included a line ofportable media players, digital media player software forWindowsPCs, a music subscription service known as a "Zune Music Pass", music and video streaming services for theXbox 360game console via theZune Software, music, TV and movie sales, and desktop sync software forWindows Phone. Zune also provided music streaming forUnited Airlinesinflight after a partnership in 2010.

The Zune hardware players were discontinued in October 2011. In June 2012, Microsoft announced plans to discontinue all "Zune" services; insteadMicrosoftwould distribute its digital media content and services under theXbox MusicandXbox Videobrands available on its line of products includingWindows 8PCs andtablets,Xbox 360game console, andWindows Phonesmart phones.

= Apple Macintosh computers x a PC running Microsoft Windows