Thursday Special: Taking a glimpse of the Windows history

With the arrival of the Windows 7 many would probably ask themselves how many versions did the Windows platform go through until this day. Let’s take a look a bit on Windows’s history and heritage.

The very first versions were Windows 1.0 (1985), Windows 2.0 (1987) and Windows 3.0 (1990). With Windows 3.0 design saw an improvement, but it was still far from what it is today.

Windows 95 (1995) had a new interface and featured the plug and play capability. Running 32-bit applications, was more stable than it’s predecessors, though not as stable as Windows NT was.
With time, several Service packs were releassed for it to support USB.

Windows 98 with it’s two follow-ups was an improvement, but not by much. It was the first to use the Windows Driver Model. Unfortunately, it was quite prone to system errors, the most common and most frustrating being the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).

Windows Me (2000) was a hybrid between Windows 98 and Windows 2000. The System Restore feature was first introduced in it. Graphically it looks almost like Windows 98 though. This version has a short lifespan because it was soon replaced by it’s bigger brother.

Windows XP (2001) is the most well-known operating system. It offered a new, improved user interface and was hugely more stable than it’s predecessors (no more BSOD) thanks to new kernel. Product activation was introduced in order to fight piracy. A number of security exploits and weaknesses were found in the XP, a number of whom were corrected with the Service Packs that followed the release.
A number of new features found in XP include:
- Fast user switching
- Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop
- Power management with Hibernate and Standby modes
- Desktop Cleanup Wizzard
- ClearType fonts

Windows Vista (2006) had a new user interface and new graphical effects and animations although the eye-candy can be rather intense, especially for laptop users. One of the most notable additions is the Sidebar where different gadgets can be inserted for easy access.
Other features include:
- A new Windows Shell
- Windows Mail
- Windows Calendar
- Shadow Copy for backup
- Windows Mobility Center
- Windows Photo Gallery

Unfortunately, even though the new version added many new and interesting features, because of the higher computing power required to run it with full effects and the price, many people still chose Windows XP over it, Windows Vista being regarded more like an XP with a bit of new bling to make it shinier.

Windows 7 is the latest version of the Windows platform and promises to bring a new multimedia experience to the user. It also features multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell, new taskbar and performance improvements. But only time will tell if it will be as popular as the XP once was.