ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

History of the Windows

operating system
Introduction to Communication Engineering

Vanja Nikolic Digital Media Technology 2020 9200281007

11/5/2023
 Table of Content

I. What is an operating system?

II. Windows operating system

i. Windows XP
ii. Windows 95
iii. Windows 7
iv. Windows 10
v. Windows 8

III. Latest version of Windows and future plans

IV. Conclusion
I. What is operating system?

An operating system, or OS for short, is software that makes your computer run. It
is an interface between a user and computer hardware. The operating system controls all
the hardware and software of the computer. It can process basic tasks related to files,
memory, input and output, and similar.

On different kinds of devices, we can find separate operating systems (for example,
mobile phones and computers have distinct OS). But even the same device can have a
different OS. Some computers even find it possible to run two OS simultaneously. The
three most popular desktop operating systems are:

 Microsoft Windows
 Mac OS
 Linux

These systems are all quite different regarding their functions and user interfaces.
For example, Linux is way more customizable than Windows and Mac OS. All of them also
have their default browsers. Windows has Internet Explorer, Mac OS uses Safari, and
Linux relies on Firefox.

Depending on what you want to achieve, you may prefer one of the OS mentioned.
While all three systems are popular today, most businesses, companies, and people use
Microsoft apps, specifically Microsoft Office; this is one of the reasons most people choose
Microsoft Windows, which makes it the most used operating system in the world.

Usage of OS over the last four years

2019

Windows
2020
Mac OS
2021 Linux
Other
2022

0 20 40 60 80 100
II. Introduction to Microsoft Windows operating system

Microsoft Windows is a name for several operating system families developed by

Microsoft. Windows is currently the most popular desktop OS in the world; however, if we
count mobile OS as well, Android takes the title due to its rapid growth.

The first version of Windows came out in

November 1985. It is meant to be a graphical
operating system shell because of the growing
interest in graphical user interfaces, or GUIs for
short. The most recent Windows version is
Windows 11, which came out in October 2021. All
the operating systems that we use on our personal
computers belong to the Windows NT family.

Windows has made a lot of operating systems over the years. Although they have
stopped, they used to have Windows for mobile devices as well. Out of all the Windows
systems, these are arguably the most important ones:

 Windows XP
 Windows 95
 Windows 7
 Windows 10
 Windows 8

We will go through these versions of Windows in detail, mentioning the latest

version as well. Of course, other versions might be important as well, like Windows 1 (the
first Windows OS), but there are a lot of versions and we can mention only some.
 i. Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system made by Microsoft for personal computers. It

was a major release of Windows NT operating systems. While it was released on 24 th of
August in 2001, it was available for public use on 25 th of October the same year.

Windows XP was being developed as two

different projects with two separate code names. The
project named “Odyssey” was supposed to be a
successor to Windows 2000, while the project “Neptune”
a customer-oriented operating system which was using
Windows NT architecture and succeeding Windows 98.
However, since these projects were marked as “too
ambitious” they were made into one complete project
codenamed “Whistler”. The XP in Windows XP stands for eXPerience.

While Windows XP did keep

some of the looks of his older versions,
the new features of user interface made
it look like a completely different
operating system. New icons were
introduced as well, but one distinctive
look is what comes to mind when we
hear “Windows XP”. That is the default
wallpaper called “Bliss”, which features
landscape in the Napa Valley in
California. The start menu also changed
look in this system, now having a two-column layout with the ability to list, pin, and display
frequently used applications, recently opened documents, and the traditional cascading
"All Programs" menu.

Windows XP had two editions: Home Edition and Professional Edition. Home
edition was made for customer use, so it removed some of the advanced functions and
features which are present on Professional Edition.
 ii. Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft. It is

a part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. It was released on July 14th in 1995,
but open for public use on August 24 th that year. It is special because that was the first
Windows operating system to include the start button. Besides that, Windows 95 included
a lot of features which are used in Windows OS today, such as taskbar, notification area
and start button.

Windows 95 was made to be compatible with the existing MS-DOS and 16-bit
Windows programs, but was also moving from a mainly cooperatively multitasked 16-bit
architecture to a 32-bit preemptive multitasking architecture.

Regarding the user interface, file shortcuts were introduced. Besides that we could
see a taskbar across the bottom of the screen containing apps, date and clock. Start menu
was made, and previous File Manager was replaced by Windows Explorer and the
Explore-based Control Panel. The user interface looked dramatically different from prior
versions of Windows. Windows six-second start-up sound also came with this version.
 iii. Windows 7

Windows 7 was released on July 22 nd in 2009, and was generally available on 22nd
of October same year. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly three years
earlier. It was only replaced by Windows 8 in November 2012, three years later. Only in
year 2020 did the Windows 7 finally stop receiving updates, running for whole 10 years.

Windows 7 was created with

intent to fix issues with Windows
Vista, along with improving quality
and performance. The software
introduced a number of new features
which included advances in touch
and handwriting recognition, support
for virtual hard disks, improved
performance on multi-core
processors, improved boot
performance, and so on. Biggest
visual changes happened on taskbar,
which now had an option to pin applications. Besides that, reordering taskbar buttons was
made possible. One feature that is used on Windows 10 as well is the “Show Desktop”
button. Hovering over this button makes all the windows transparent while showing the
desktop page. The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) of Windows 7 is also enhanced and it
can support more complicated functions which included video playbacks and 3D video
games. The three application limit which was set on Windows Vista has been removed on
Windows 7. Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Calendar and
Windows Mail were also removed.
 iv. Windows 10

Windows 10 was released to manufacturing on July 15th in 2015, and made

available on July 29th that year. While Windows 11 is the newest version in Windows NT
family, eight years after its release Windows 10 is still the most used operating system in
the world. It came out 2 years after Windows 8. While Windows 8 had more of a tablet-
approach interface, Windows 10 was highly oriented for desktop use and has received
very positive critiques upon its release. Software functions and capabilities were also
praised. Windows had a goal to reach: having Windows 10 installed on over 1 billion
devices within 3 years of release, but eventually they reached the goal in 2020 (five years
later). Windows 10 is the final version of Windows that supports 32-bit processors as
Windows 11 requires a 64-bit processor in any supported architecture.

Windows 10 made user interface and functions accessible over different platforms,
like PC, tablet and mobile phones, and it supports universal apps (apps which can run
across multiple Microsoft product families with nearly identical code). Windows 10 mostly
kept the user interface design, except for some visual changes. It also adapts user
interface based on what mode you are using at the time. There are two modes: mouse and
keyboard more, and “Tablet mode” made for touchscreens. While Internet Explorer 11 is
still maintained on Windows 10, Microsoft Edge is set as its new default web browser.
From the gaming aspect, Windows 10 provides more compatibility with Xbox ecosystem. It
also allows users to control and play games from an Xbox One console over a local
network.
 v. Windows 8

Windows 8 was released to manufacturing on August 1st in 2012, and set for sale
on October 26th that year. This version of Windows has seen a lot of changes in user
interface. As Windows was trying to compete with mobile phone operating systems
(Android and Apple), they were trying to make a user interface more compatible for tablets.
They also included some additional security features, like built-in antivirus software. While
some of the new features were welcomed, the operating system overall received a lot of
critiques. Most of them being that the user interface are too confusing, especially when
using a keyboard and mouse instead of touchscreen. All of the supporting and updates for
Windows 8 stopped in August this year, and now less than 1 percent of computers use
Windows 8 operating system.

Regarding user interface and looks, Windows Explorer (which was renamed to File
Explorer) included a ribbon in place of command bar. Task manager has been redesigned
as well. New security and safety measures included a touchscreen oriented design of PIN
code and picture passwords. It also offered parent controls, which was a feature that helps
parents monitor their children activities. Integrated system recovery was also provided
through new “Reset” and “Refresh” functions.

More optimization for touchscreen came with a new way to download applications,
through the Windows Store. The apps in Windows Store were better meant for
touchscreen, but they could also be spread on full screen to be used as desktop apps. The
apps were running with Windows Runtime which was compatible with languages such s
C#, C++, HTML5, and JavaScript.

After Windows 8 faced so many

critiques by the public, Microsoft decided to
release Windows 8.1 in June next year. They
addressed many problems which had negative
comments on the previous version. This new
version tried to improve user interface for
desktop devices. It had additional
customization options for the Start screen, and
restored visual Start button on the desktop. Windows 8.1 also added support for 3D
printers, NFC printing, and Wi-Fi Direct.
III. Latest version of Windows and future plans

Microsoft has released a lot of Windows versions over the years, with the latest one
being Windows 11. Windows 11 was released on 11 th of October in 2021. It is available for
free as an update of Windows 10, if the device meets the system requirements. From a
personal perspective, Windows 11 has a nicer and more professional looking interface.
This mostly comes with new design of Start menu and taskbar. While the system
requirements are higher than Windows 10, besides that and the new design, Windows 11
and Windows 10 are really close in
both function and performance. One
of the bigger differences is that
Windows 11 supports only 64-bit
systems such as those using an
x86-64 or ARM64 processor. From
October this year, Windows 11 has
a market share of a bit over 24
percent, while Windows 10 has
three times the market share.

While we don’t know anything for sure, it is suggested that Microsoft will release the
next major of version of Windows in 2024, which would be Windows 12. It is expected that
Windows 11 will not be the last version of Windows and that Microsoft might go for a 3
year cycle on releasing new versions of their operating system. It is estimated that
Windows 12 would be free for a while after it comes out, and it would probably have
different hardware requirements.

IV. Conclusion

Microsoft has developed its operating systems over the years, and now Windows is
the most used OS in the world. From the first version until now, they improved the OS
performance, interface, function. They were adding new features, developing system for
different devices, experimenting with different modes and so on. With a good reason,
Windows is like by diverse users in all over the world.