EVOLUTION OF WINDOWS

OPERATING SYSTEM

INDEX
INTORDUCTION PART ONE: MS-DOS BASED AND 9X WINDOWS VERSIONS
WINDOWS 1.0 WINDOWS 2.0 WINDOWS 3.0 WINDOWS 95 WINDOWS 98 WINDOWS ME

PART 2: WINDOWS SERVER OPERATING SYSTEMS

WINDOWS HOME SERVER WINDOWS SERVER 2003 WINDOWS SERVER 2008

PART3: NT KERNEL BASED OPERATING SYSTEM

WINDOWS NT WINDOWS 2000 WINDOWS XP WINDOWS VISTA WINDOWS 7 FUTURE OF WINDOWS:WINDOWS 8

CASE STUDY:EVOLUTION OF WINDOWS

INTRODUCTION: A world popular operating system WINDOWS have a lot of books out there which talk about it. Few of these are on the Internet though but many of the windows user doesnt know about how it was developed. My attempt here is to help or understand generations or steps of Windows improvement while getting started with the basics. Its the 1970s. At work, we rely on typewriters. If we need to copy a document, we likely use a mimeograph or carbon paper. Few have heard of microcomputers, but two young computer enthusiasts, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, see that personal computing is a path to the future. In 1975, Gates and Allen form a partnership called Microsoft. Like most startups, Microsoft begins small, but has a huge visiona computer on every desktop and in every home. During the next years, Microsoftbegins to change the ways we work.

1.MS-DOS: 1.MS-DOS The main root or backbone of windows family on which the windows get popularity over market uptill yet is DOS which was known as Microsoft Disk Operating System. It was the Microsoft-marketed version of the first widely-installed operating system in personal computers. It was essentially the same operating system that Bill Gates's young company developed for IBM as Personal Computer. It was a command-line interface, meaning the user had to type in commands to use it, unlike Windows which is a Graphical User Interface. MS DOS was released on IBM PCs when they came out in the 1980s and continued in popular use until the mid 1990s, by which time the first of the Windows operating systems, Windows 95, began to take over. MS DOS commands were either stored as individual programs, known as external commands, or in a file called Command.com, which stored more commonly used commands. These were called internal commands. Included in these would have been commands like COPY, DEL, DIR, CD and RD. COPY enabled the copying of files. DEL deleted files. DIR gave a listing of files in a directory (now called a folder). CD changed from one directory to another. RD removed a directory.

FIELD OF APPLICATION: - booting system for storage media - File management - For single user systems only - Network client (NetBEUI, IPX/SPX, TCP/IP) - batch processing

STRUCTURE INFORMATION - 16-bit operating system, (formerly 8-bit) - Single tasking - command interpreter for internal and external commands - external driver software imbedding for periphery devices possible SYSTEM ENVIOREMENT - minimum: 512 kbytes RAM, 5 mbyte harddisk storage (depends on version for full installation) - FAT file system - executable with every x86 compatible CPU - low RAM and fixed storage disk needs Today, MS-DOS is rarely used for desktop computing. Since the release of Windows 95, it was integrated as a full product used for bootstrapping and troubleshooting, and no longer released as a standalone product. Windows XP contains a copy of the Windows Me boot disk, stripped down to bootstrap only. This is accessible only by formatting a floppy as an "MS-DOS startup disk". Files like the driver for the CD-ROM support were deleted from the Windows ME bootdisk and the startup files (AUTOEXEC.BAT andCONFIG.SYS) no longer had content. This modified disk was the base for creating the MS-DOS image for Windows XP. Some of the deleted files can be recovered with an undelete tool. With Windows Vista the files on the startup disk are dated 18 April 2005 but are otherwise unchanged, including the string "MS-DOS Version 8 Copyright 1981-1999 Microsoft Corp" inside COMMAND.COM. However the only versions of DOS currently recognized as stand-alone OSs, and supported as such by the Microsoft Corporation are DOS 6.0 and 6.22, both of which remain available for download via their MSDN, volume license, and OEM license partner websites, for customers with valid login credentials.

MS-DOS is still used in embedded x86 systems due to its simple architecture, and minimal memory and processor requirements. The command line interpreter of NT-based versions of Windows, cmd.exe, maintains most of the same commands and some compatibility with DOS batch files. MS-DOS is effective, but also proves difficult to understand for many people. There has to be a better way to build an operating system.

SO LETS START WITH MS-DOS BASED AND 9X WINDOWS VERSIONS

WINDOWS 1.0: Windows 1.0 is a 16-bit graphical operating environment, developed by Microsoft and released on 20 November 1985.It was Microsoft's first attempt to implement a multitasking graphical user interface-based operating environment on the PC platform. Windows 1.0 was the first version of Windows launched. The history of Windows dates back to September 1981, when Chase Bishop, a computer scientist, designed the first model of an electronic device and project "Interface Manager" was started. It was announced in November 1983 (after the Apple Lisa, but before the Macintosh) under the name "Windows", but Windows 1.0 was not released until November 1985.The shell of Windows 1.0 was a program known as the MS-DOS Executive. Other supplied

programs were Calculator, Calendar, Card file, Clipboard viewer, Clock, Control Panel, Notepad, Paint,Reversi, Terminal, and Write. Windows 1.0 did not allow overlapping windows. Instead all windows were tiled. Only dialog boxes could appear over other windows. FEATURES: Windows 1.0 offers limited multitasking of existing MS-DOS programs and concentrates on creating an interaction paradigm (cf. message loop), an execution model and a stable API for native programs for the future. Due to Microsoft's extensive support for backward compatibility, it is not only possible to execute Windows 1.0 binary programs on current versions of Windows to a large extent, but also to recompile their source code into an equally functional "modern" application with just limited modifications. Windows 1.0 is often regarded as a "front-end to the MS-DOS operating system", a description which has also been applied to subsequent versions of Windows. Windows 1.0 is an MS-DOS program. Windows 1.0 programs can call MS-DOS functions, and GUI programs are run from .exe files just like MS-DOS programs. However, Windows .exe files had their own "new executable" (NE) file format, which only Windows could process and which, for example, allowed demand-loading of code and data. Applications were supposed to handle memory only through Windows' own memory management system, which implemented a softwarebased virtual memory scheme allowing for applications larger than available RAM. Because graphics support in MS-DOS is extremely limited, MS-DOS applications have to go to the bare hardware (or sometimes just to the BIOS) to get work done. Therefore, Windows 1.0 included original device drivers for video cards, a mouse, keyboards, printers and serial communications, and applications were supposed to only invoke APIs built upon these drivers. However, this extended to other APIs such as file system management functions. In this sense, Windows 1.0 was designed to be extended into a full-fledged operating system, rather than being just a graphics environment used by applications. Indeed, Windows 1.0 is a "DOS front-end" and cannot operate without a DOS environment (it uses, for example, the filehandling functions provided by DOS.) The level of replacement increases in subsequent versions. The system requirements for Windows 1.01 constituted CGA/HGC/EGA (listed as "Monochrome or color monitor"), MS-DOS 2.0, 256 kB of memory or greater, and two doublesided disk drives or a hard drive. Windows 1.0 runs a shell program known as MS-DOS Executive. Other supplied programs are Calculator, Calendar, Cardfile, Clipboard viewer, Clock, Notepad, Paint, Reversi, Terminal, and Write. Windows 1.0 does not allow overlapping windows. Instead all windows are tiled. Only dialog boxes can appear over other windows.

Windows 1.0 executables, while having the same .exe extension and initial file header as MS-DOS programs, do not contain the so-called MS-DOS stub which prints the "This program requires Microsoft Windows" message and exits when the program is run outside of Windows. Instead, the file header was formatted in such a way as to make DOS reject the executable with a "program too large to fit in memory" error message. From the beginning, Windows was intended to multitask programs (although this originally only applied to native applications and for many versions the multitasking was co-operative, rather than preemptive.

WINDOWS 2.0, 2.1X, 2.11 WINDOWS 2.0, 2.1X,2.11 Windows 2.0 is a 16-bit Microsoft Windows GUI-based operating environment that was released on December 9; 1987and featured several improvements to the user interface and memory management. Windows 2.0 allowed application windows to overlap each other and also introduced more sophisticated keyboard-shortcuts. It could also make use of expanded memory. Taking advantage of the speed of Intel 286/386 processor at that time, Windows 2.03 is a replacement for Windows 1.x. APPLICATION SUPPORT The first Windows versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel ran on Windows 2.0. Third-party developer support for Windows increased substantially with this version (some shipped the Windows Runtime software with their applications, for customers who had not purchased the full version of Windows). However, most developers still maintained DOS versions of their applications, as Windows users were still a distinct minority of their market. There were some applications that shipped with Windows 2.0. They are:

CALC.EXE CALENDAR.EXE CARDFILE.EXE CLIPBRD.EXE CLOCK.EXE CONTROL.EXE CVTPAINT.EXE MSDOS.EXE NOTEPAD.EXE

PAINT.EXE SPOOLER.EXE TERMINAL.EXE WRITE.EXE

FEATURES: Windows 2.0 allowed application windows to overlap each other unlike its predecessor Windows 1.0, which could display only tiled windows. Windows 2.0 also introduced more sophisticated keyboard-shortcuts and the terminology of "Minimize" and "Maximize", as opposed to "Iconize" and "Zoom" in Windows 1.0. Two editions of Windows 2.1x were released, both of which could take advantage of the Intel processor for which they were designed. Windows 2.1 was released in two different versions: Windows/386 employed the 386 virtual 8086 mode to multitask several DOS programs, and the paged memory model to emulate expanded memory using available extended memory. Windows/286 (which, despite its name, would run on the 8086) still ran in real mode, but could make use of the high memory area. On March 13, 1989, Windows 2.11 was released in Windows/286 and Windows/386 editions, with some minor changes in memory management, AppleTalk support and faster printing and updated printer drivers. Windows 2.11 was superseded by Windows 3.0 in May 1990, but supported by Microsoft for twelve years, until December 31, 2001.
WINDOWS 3.0,3.1X,3.11

Windows 3.0, a graphical environment, is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, and was released on 22 May 1990. It became the first widely This is the third major released of Microsoft Windows with a improved set of Windows icons and applications like File Manager, Program Manager that is still being used in todays Window successful version of Windows and a rival to Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga on the GUI front.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The official system requirements for Windows 3.0:

8086/8088 processor or better 384K of free conventional memory (real mode, protected modes require more)

Hard disk with 6-7MB of free space CGA/EGA/VGA/Hercules/8514/A graphics and an appropriate and compatible monitor MS-DOS version 3.1 or higher

Also, a Microsoft-compatible mouse is recommended.

FEATURES: Text-mode programs written for MS-DOS could be run within a window (a feature previously available in a more limited form with Windows/386 2.1), making the system usable as a crude multitasking base for legacy programs. The MS-DOS Executive file manager/program launcher was replaced with the iconbased Program Manager and the list-based File Manager, thereby simplifying the launching of applications. A number of simple applications were included, such as the text editor Notepad and the word processor, a macro recorder, the paint program Paintbrush , and a calculator Also, the earlier Reversi game was complemented with the card game Solitaire. The Windows icons and graphics were redesigned to take advantage of VGA's 16-color mode. Earlier versions only supported eight colors though could run on monochrome video adapters. Windows 3.0 also allowed the user to use a 256 color video adapter, whereas previous versions only supported 16 colors. Windows 3.0 tries to auto detect which mode to run in, although it can be forced to run in a specific mode using the switches: /r (real mode), /s ("standard" 286 protected mode) and /3 (386 enhanced protected mode) respectively. Due to this backward compatibility of the whole system, Windows 3.0 applications also must be compiled for 16-bit mode, without ever using the full 32-bit capabilities of the 386 CPU. This version was the precursor to the multimedia features available in Windows 3.1 and later, and was part of Microsoft's specification for the Multimedia PC. Windows 3.0 was the last version of Windows to advertise 100% compatibility with older Windows applications. Windows 3.1 was designed to have backward compatibility with older Windows platforms. Windows 3.1 (originally codenamed Janus of which two betas were published), released on April 6, 1992, includes a TrueType font system (and a set of highly legible fonts), which effectively made Windows a viable desktop publishing platform for the first time Windows 3.1 and later support 32-bit disk access, cannot run in real mode, and included Minesweeper instead of Reversi. Windows 3.1 Multimedia PC Version (Beta only, released Nov 1992 codenamed Bombay) Included a media viewer, and the ability to play

video files. It was targeted to the new multi-media PC and included sound and video integration with CD-ROM support. Windows 3.11 On December 31, 1993, Microsoft released an update for Windows 3.1 known as Windows 3.11. Thus, Windows 3.11 is not a standalone version of Windows, but rather a software update from Windows 3.1, much like modern Windows service packs. Windows for Workgroups 3.11 added peer-to-peer workgroup and domain networking support. For the first time, Windowsbased PCs were network-aware and became an integral part of the emerging client/server computing evolution. APPLICATIONS Windows 3.1x introduced new possibilities for applications, especially multimedia applications. During this era, Microsoft developed a new range of software that was implemented on this operating environment, called Microsoft Home, Microsoft Bob being one of the programs. PROGRAM MANAGER Program Manager was included in all versions of Windows from version 3.0 until Windows XP Service Pack 1. A non-operable icon library named progman.exe is included in Windows XP Service Pack 2, and the file was removed entirely from Windows Vista. If Program Manager is started under Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later, it does not appear to run, but when a .grp file created for Windows 3.1 is processed, it converts the .grp file contents to a Start Menu folder. INTERNET EXPLORER Microsoft released versions of Internet Explorer from 2.0 up to the first release of version 5.0 for Windows 3.1. The year of Windows 3.1's release was successful for Microsoft, which was named the "Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S." by Forbes Magazine, while Windows became the most widely-used GUI-based operating environment. Windows 3.x was superseded by the release of Windows 95 in August 1995.

WINDOWS 95:
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products. During development it was referred to as Windows 4.0 or by the internal codename Chicago. Windows 95 integrated Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows products. It featured significant improvements over its predecessor, Windows, most notably in the graphical user interface (GUI) and in its relatively simplified "plug-n-play" features. There were also major changes made at lower levels of the operating system, such as moving from a mainly 16-bit architecture to a pre-emptively multitasked 32-bit architecture. In the marketplace, Windows 95 was a major success, and within a year or two of its release had become the most successful operating system ever produced. It also had the effect of driving other major players (including OS/2) out of business, something which would later be used in courtagainst Microsoft. Windows 95 was released with great fanfare, including a commercial featuring the Rolling Stones' 1981 single "Start Me Up" (a reference to the Start button) the new Windows operating system with the internal version 4.0 is the successor of Windows 3.11 and brings a completely new design of the interface and of the kernel with it. 32bit applications are supported fully, DOS applications can also virtually be used now in a DOS box, furthermore 16-bits of programs are supported. Windows 95 to ME still needs DOS for the loading up program and for the DOS box. New hardware is comfortably recognized by plug and play, the memory management was developed further considerably. Important part of Windows 95 is the Registry now, which is responsible for the system behaviour like file assoziation, program parameter, driver software, system configuration and others. The Registry consists of the files system.dat and user.dat, these are located in the Windows directory. The files system.ini and win.ini are less important but are necessary for the system start furthermore. For user profiles one user.dat is placed in each user directory and loaded upon login of the user for the individual user settings. DOS driver software are no longer necessary in compare to Windows 3.x by now, the driver software model was changed and the hardware is used through virtual device drivers (*.VxD) directly under Windows. AREA OF APPLICATIONS - private users - PC Games - Office application - network client

STRUCTURE INFORMATION - 32-bit operating system, with 16-bit code - up to 512 mbyte RAM addressable - file size up to 4 gbyte

SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT - Shell is "Explorer.exe", optional is the Program Manager "Progman.exe" from Windows 3.1 included - Minimal hardware requirements: 4 mbyte RAM, 50 mbyte hard disk storage - Integration of the Internet Explorer 3.0 - supports now FAT32 (since Version B), FAT16, VFAT - preemptive multitasking for 32-bit programs - cooperative multitasking for 16-bit programs - ACPI Power save mode partly supported (except suspend to disk) - x86 and compatible processors FEATURES - plug and play, high number of device drivers - high compatibility to DOS, Windows 3.x - high number of software - no multiprocessing - low local/network security - old system architecture (16-bit software compatibility) - badly scalable Many features that became key components of the Microsoft Windows series, such as the start menu and the taskbar, originated in Windows 95. Neil MacDonald, a Gartner analyst, said "If you look at Windows 95, it was a quantum leap in difference in technological capability and stability." Windows 95 was the first version of Windows to be a standard factory install on the average PC. Ina Fried ofCNET said "By the time Windows 95 was finally ushered off the market in 2001, it had become a fixture on computer desktops around the world.

WINDOWS 98 Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis) is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit monolithic product with an MSDOS based boot loader Windows 98 was the upgrade from Windows 95. Described as an operating system that "Works Better, Plays Better," Windows 98 was the first version of Windows designed specifically for consumers. ADDITIONS Windows 98 includes Internet Explorer 4.01. Besides Internet Explorer, many other internet companion applications are included such as Outlook Express, Windows Address Book, FrontPage Express, Microsoft Chat, Personal Web Server and a Web Publishing Wizard. provides improvedand a broader range ofsupport for IDE and SCSI drives and drive controllers, floppy drive controllers and all other classes of hardware than Windows 95 Windows 98 supports USB hubs, USB scanners and imaging class devices. Windows 98 also introduces built-in support for some USB Human Interface Device class (USB HID) and PID class devices such as USB mice, keyboards, force feedback joysticks etc. including additional keyboard functions Windows 98 introduced ACPI 1.0 support which enabled Standby (ACPI S3) and Hibernate (ACPI S4) states. However, hibernation support was extremely limited, and vendor-specific. Hibernation was only available if compatible (PnP) hardware and BIOS are present, and the hardware manufacturer or OEM supplied compatible WDM drivers, nonVxD drivers Windows 98 supports IrDA 3.0 that specifies both Serial Infrared Devices (SIR) and Fast Infrared (FIR) devices, which are capable of sending and receiving data at 4 Mbit/s. Infrared Recipient, a new application for transferring files through an infrared connection is included Disk Cleanup, a new tool, enables users to clear their disks of unnecessary files. Cleanup locations are extensible through Disk Cleanup handlers. Disk Cleanup can be automated for regular silent cleanups. Scanreg (DOS) and ScanRegW are Registry Checker tools used to back up, restore or optimize the Windows registry. ScanRegW tests the registry's integrity and saves a backup copy each time Windows successfully boots. The maximum amount of copies could be customized by the user through "scanreg.ini" file. The restoration of a registry that causes Windows to fail to boot can only be done from DOS mode using ScanReg. System Configuration Utility (also known as Msconfig) is a new system utility used to disable programs and services that are not required to run the computer. Windows Script Host, with VBScript and JScript engines is built-in and upgradeable to version 5.6 Windows 98 has new system event sounds for low battery alarm and critical battery alarm. The Windows 98 startup sound was composed by Ken Kato. Windows 98 shipped with Flash Player and Shockwave Player preinstalled.

Windows 98 Second Edition (often shortened to SE) is an updated release of Windows 98, released on 5 May 1999.It includes fixes for many minor issues, improved USB support, and the replacement of Internet Explorer 4.0 with the significantly faster and lighter Internet Explorer 5.0. update include DirectX 6.1 which introduced DirectMusic, Windows Media Player 6.2 replacing the older Media Player, Microsoft NetMeeting 3.0, MDAC 2.1 and WMI. A memory overflow issue was resolved which in the older version of Windows 98 would crash most systems if left running for 49.7 days (equal to 2 milliseconds). Windows 98 SE could be obtained as retail upgrade and full version packages, as well as OEM and a Second Edition Updates Disc for existing Windows 98 users. STRUCTURE INFORMATION - 32-bit operating system, with 16 Bit Code - up to 512 mbyte RAM adressable - File size up to 4 gbyte SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT - Minimum Hardware Requirements: 16 mbyte RAM, 300 mbyte harddisk storage - Active Desktop for the Web integration in Windows - New driver model WDM (Win32 Driver Model), developed for the same driver base for Windows NT and 98 in 1996 - Task planer, time controlled start from programs - Maintenance assistant, harddisk maintains - game interface DirectX 5.0 - multi monitoring Support (up to 4) - File system FAT16, better use FAT32, access to NTFS and Linux ext2 file system with 3rd party tools - preemptive multitasking for 32-bit applications - cooperative multitasking for 16-bit programs - ACPI Power save mode partly supported (except of Suspend to Disk) - x86 CPUs and compatible AREA OF APPLICATION - home user - PC Games - Office use - network client

WINDOWS ME

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me (pronounced as an abbreviation, "M-E"), is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006. The most evident change seen in Windows Millennium Edition is the GUI and style changes. These aren't major changes as was Windows 95 from Windows 3.x, but rather these changes deal with colors, Win2000 style icons, and a entirely new "feel" to it. Now instead of having the gray bland look to it, Win ME has a more softer and family oriented feel which should make everyone adapt quicker to it.

NEW AND UPDATED FEATURES USER INTERFACE Windows Me featured the shell enhancements inherited from Windows 2000 such as personalized menus, customizable Windows Explorer toolbars, auto-complete in Windows Explorer address bar and Run box, Windows 2000 advanced file type association features, displaying comments in shortcuts as tooltips, extensible columns in Details view (IColumnProvider interface), icon overlays, integrated search pane in Windows Explorer, sort by name function for menus, Places bar in common dialogs for Open and Save, cascading Start menu special folders, some Plus! 95 and Plus! 98 themes, and updated graphics. The notification area in Windows Me and later supports 16-bit high color icons. The Multimedia control panel has also been updated from Windows 98.Taskbar and Start Menu options allow disabling drag and drop and can prevent moving or resizing the taskbar System utilities

SYSTEM RESTORE: Windows Me introduced the "System Restore" logging and reversion system, which was meant to simplify troubleshooting and solve problems. It was intended to work as a rollback and recovery feature so that if the installation of an application or a driver adversely affected the system, the user could undo the installation and return the system to a previously working state. Sometimes it restores the malwares also so Microsoft then update it.

SYSTEM FILE PROTECTION: First introduced with Windows 2000 (as Windows File Protection), and expanding on the capabilities introduced with System File Checker in Windows 98, System File Protection aimed to protect system files from modification and corruption silently and automatically. When the file protection is in effect, replacing or

deleting a system file causes Windows Me immediately and silently to restore the original copy.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION UTILITY allows users to manually extract and restore individual system files from the Windows Me setup files. It has also been updated with three new tabs called "Static VxDs", "Environment" and "International

SYSTEM MONITOR has been updated with a Dial-Up Adapter section. Users can now monitor items such as Connection Speeds, Bytes Received or Transmitted / Second. SCANDISK runs from within Windows upon an improper shutdown before the Windows Shell loads. AUTOMATIC UPDATES: The Automatic Updates utility automatically downloads and installs critical updates from the Windows Update Web site with little user interaction. It is set up to check Windows Update once every 24 hours by default. Users can choose to download which update they want, although high-priority updates must be downloaded and installed.

COMPRESSED FOLDERS: Windows Me includes support for ZIP files through a shell extension known as Compressed Folders. Originally introduced in thePlus! 98 pack for Windows 98, this feature allows users to create, access and extract files from ZIP archives similar to a regular folder in Windows. The user can also restrict access to files with a password. A new Help and Support program has also been added, replacing the HTML Help-based documentation in Windows 2000 and Windows 98. The Help and Support Center is entirely HTML-based that can show support information from the internet, allows collecting data for troubleshooting via WMI and scripting and for third parties to plug into Windows Help and Support. Windows Me also includes Internet Explorer 5.5 which supports a new Print Preview feature. It also shipped with the MSN Messenger Service.

ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES On-Screen Keyboard: Originally introduced with Windows 2000, a program called On-screen Keyboard has been added, which makes it possible to input characters using the mouse instead of the keyboard. This feature is useful for computers that use a tablet as the primary pointing device or for accessibility purposes. The Mouse Control Panel incorporates IntelliPoint features, namely, ClickLock (selecting or dragging without continuously holding down the mouse button), hiding the pointer while typing and showing it by pressing Ctrl. The cursor (system caret) can be set to a thicker width. Increased Active Accessibility support in utilities such as Calculator and Magnifier.

Windows Me was complemented by NT-based Windows 2000, which was aimed at professional users. Both operating systems were succeeded by Windows XP with their features unified. All Windows Me support, including security updates and security related hotfixes, was terminated on July 11, 2006. Support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE was also terminated on that date. Many third-party applications written for earlier editions of Microsoft Windows, especially older games, run under Windows Me but not under Windows 2000. This fact has become less relevant with the sharp decline in popularity of Windows Me after the release of Windows XP, which features a compatibility mode which allows many of these older applications to run.. Windows XP, which is NT-based, became the successor to Windows Me. It also closed the gap between consumer Windows and Windows NT. In addition, no service packs for Windows Me were released. Along with Windows 2000 from the NT family, Windows Me was the last version of Windows that lacked Windows Product Activation. SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT Minimum Hardware requirements: 32 mbyte RAM, 500 mbyte of free harddisk storage up to 512 mbyte RAM adressable , FAT-16 or FAT-32 File system , x86 and compatible processors.

PART 2: SERVER OPERATING SYSTEM

Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server, code-named Quattro, is a home server operating system from Microsoft. Announced on 7 January 2007, at theConsumer Electronics Show by Bill Gates, Windows Home Server is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups, print server, and remote access. Windows Home Server was released to manufacturing on 16 July 2007and officially released on 4 November 2007. Power Pack 1 for Windows Home Server was released on 20 July 2008, Power Pack 2 was released on 24 March 2009, and Power Pack 3 was released on 24 November 2009. FEATURES

Centralized backup - Allows backup of up to 10 PCs, using Single-instance storage technology to avoid multiple copies of the same file, even if that file exists on multiple PCs. Health monitoring - Can centrally track the health of all PCs on the network, including antivirus and firewall status. File sharing - Offers network shares for computers to store the files remotely, acting as a network-attached storage device. Separate categories are provided for common file types like Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos. The files are indexed for fast searching. Printer sharing - Allows a centralized print server to handle print jobs for all users. Shadow Copy - Takes advantage of Volume Shadow Copy Service to take point in time snapshots that allow older versions of files to be recovered. Headless operation - No monitor or keyboard is required to manage the device. Remote administration is performed by using the Windows Home Server Console client software provided in the bundle. Also supports Remote Desktop Services connections to the server while connected to the same LAN. Remote access gateway - Allows remote access to any connected PC on the network, including the server itself, over the Internet. Media streaming - Can stream media to an Xbox 360 or other devices supporting Windows Media Connect. Selective data redundancy - Guards against a single drive failure by duplicating selected data across multiple drives.

Expandable storage - Provides a unified single and easily expandable storage space, removing the need for drive letters. Extensibility through add-Ins - Add-Ins allow third-party developers to extend the features and functionality of the server. Add-Ins can be developed using the Windows Home Server SDK, to provide additional services to the client computers or work with the data already on the server. Add-Ins can also be ASP.NET applications, hosted in IIS 6 running on WHS. Server backup - Backs up files which are stored within shared folders on the server to an external hard drive.

Minimum system requirements

The following minimum specs are needed

1.0 GHz Intel Pentium 3 (or equivalent) processor 512 MB RAM 65 GB internal hard drive as primary drive 100 Mbit/s wired Ethernet

Note: These requirements have been upgraded for Windows Home Server 2011 Additionally, the following are required for installation of the operating system only:

Bootable DVD drive or USB stick Display Keyboard and mouse

Windows Server 2003 Windows 2003 Windows Server 2003 (sometimes referred to as Win2K3) is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005. The operating system was published as a successor of Windows server 2000 in April 2003.windows Server 2003 carries the internal version number 5.2. The 32-bit version of the Datacenter Edition of Windows Server 2003 can supported by the Physical Address Extension (PAE) up to 32 processors and 64 gbyte RAM in a server. This operating system is used on IBM servers of the series x445 and x455, for example. The following services are started after the installation of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition.

Microsoft introduced the 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 on the WinHEC 2005 event in Seattle in April 2005. The service pack 1 for Windows Server 2003 is already integrated, the operating system is available in the variants Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter edition. The advantages in the 64 bit variant lie int othe architecture obtained security functions for the increase of the safety in the running operating system on hardware level. The Patch Guard is a function for the protection of the system components from applications be able to destabilize the system. For the addressing of the main memory at present are used only 40-bits for a virtual addressable storage of 16-tbyte. The compatibility to existing 32-bit applications remains unchanged.

Windows Server 2003 Web Edition

- service for the delivery and store of web pages - till 2 CPU and 2 gbyte RAM supported - supports .NET framework, IIS 6, ASP.NET, Network Load Balancing, IPv6, Distributed file system (Dfs), Encrypting File System (EFS), Shadow Copy Restore, print services for Unix - can not be used as domain controller

Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition

- intended purpose for small till medium-sized enterprises - till 2 CPU and 4 gbyte RAM supported - supports the services of the Web Edition, extended by enterprise UDDI services, Internet Authentication services (IAS), removable and remote storage, Fax service, services for Macintosh, Remote Installation Services (RIS), Windows Media Services (WMS), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Certificate Services, Smart Card support and Terminal Services

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

- designed for high requirements - at least 550 mhz processor, 256 mbyte RAM, 2 gbyte free storage - up to 8 processors and 32 gbyte RAM - support for 8-nodes combined cluster - also as 64-bit version available - supports the services of the Standard Edition, extended by Metadirectory Services Support (MMS), Terminal Services Session Directory functions, support for hot-add memory and NonUniform memory access (NUMA) - Server functions are the role as a file server, print server, application server (for IIS 6.0, ASP.NET), mail server (for POP3, SMTP), terminal server, RAS/VPN server, domain controller for Active directory, DNS server, DHCP server, Streaming Media server, WINS server.

Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition

- intended purpose for highest performance, availability and scalability - up to 32 processors and 64 gbyte RAM - up to 8 node combined cluster - also as 64-bits version available - same services of the Enterprise Edition but without Metadirectory Services Support (MMS) and Internet Connection Firewall, supports Datacenter Program (DCP) The Service Pack 1 (SP1) was published at the end of March 2005 and improved the reliability and safety of the operating system with light increased performance. Functions which are already in the Service Pack 2 for Windows XP contained find the way to server operating systems now. The Windows firewall is installed (deactivated), the Internet Explorer extended by the pop-up blocker and the Automatic Update can be activated optionally. With the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is the executing of programme code in not privileged memory areas prevented. The Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) helps at the configuration of safety guidelines with querys. In February 2006 the functions extended Windows servers 2003 R2 came on the market. With this second version the administration of local and remote resources gets more efficient. Moreover, it offers a scalable web platform and harmonizes with existing UNIX systems in the network. The Windows Servers 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition and Enterprise Edition offer a more dynamic licensing model for the customers to be able to profit better from the server virtualization. The replication services were revised and can simplify the file exchange with other servers. The Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) is integrated directly now for for a light weight directory service for network applications. The Active Directory Federation Services connects directory services with each other about web services. The services for UNIX (SfU) provide the interoperability with existing Linux/UNIX systems. The .NET runtime 2.0 is included. The Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Server 2003 was released at the end of March 2007. Contained are new functions and patches for the operating system. The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) offers new and improved command line tools in the new version. The performance with SQL servers and use of Windows virtualization was improved. The secure Wireless Protected Access 2 (WPA2) is supported now. The Scalable Networking Pack (SNP) offers an efficient scalability of network based applications.

Windows server 2008 Windows Server 2008 (sometimes abbreviated as "Win2K8"or "W2K8") is one of Microsoft Windows' server line of operating systems. Released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, and officially released on February 27, 2008, it is the successor toWindows Server 2003, released nearly five years earlier. A second release, named Windows Server 2008 R2, was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. This new Server operating system bases on source code of the Windows Vista Kernel and carries the internal version number 6.0, build 6001. The successor of Windows server 2003 was developed under the code name "Longhorn". The operating system Windows Server 2008 from Microsoft shall further increase the reliability and flexibility in the server environment. This happens by interesting functions, efficient tools and the implementation of innovatively security features. The known Aero interface of Windows Vista was left out. A existing server installation with Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate is cabable for an upgrade. It is recommended to have at least a 2 ghz processor, 2 gb RAM and 40 gb of free storage on the hard disk. A new special feature which was never available before in a Windows operating system is beside the option Complete Installation the Server Core Installation without the Windows user interface only with a command line. The administration is possible completely in booth variants, but the core installation is limited to 8 server roles. Hyper-Vpresupposes a x64 processor of AMD or Intel with virtualization technology and offers a installable virtualization solution during or optionally after the installation. Several instances of operating systems like Windows and Linux can be executed at the same time on a computer with that. The 4 main versions of Windows Server 2008 are different in the versions for 32 bit and 64 bit systems. For Itamium based computer systems (IA-64) Microsoft offers an optimized version as Web Server and Application Server. The functional range varies depending on variant and covers up to 17 server roles. Windows Server 2008 Standard supports up to 4 GB RAM in the 32-bit version and 32 GB RAM in the 64-bit version. The operating system supports up to 4 processors. 12 server roles are complete supported, 4 partial and Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) are not supported. Windows Server 2008 Enterprise supports up to 64 GB RAM in the 32-bit version and 2 TB RAM in the 64-bit version. The operating system supports up to 8 processors. As field of application this server platform is recommended for the securing of business critical applications in Clusters. All server roles are supported. Windows Server 2008 Datacenter supports up to 64 GB RAM in the 32-bit version and 2 TB RAM in the 64-bit version. The operating system supports depending on hardware up to 64 processors. As field of application this server platform is recommended for Computer Centres and Clusters. The replace of working memory and processors is possible without shutdown of the running operating system. All server roles are supported. Windows Web Server 2008 supports up to 4 GB RAM in the 32-bit version and 32 GB RAM in the 64-bit version. As field of application this server platform is recommended for Web Server and supports only this server role.

Product features of Windows Server 2008 (depending on version):

Hyper-V, Windows Server Virtualization PowerShell new command line SMB 2.0 for faster file and printer access User Interface like Windows Server 2003 "Bitlocker" for the complete encoding of the hard disk Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 IIS 7.0 Webserver RODC (Read Only Domain Controller) NAP (Network Access Protection) to isolate unsafe clients WDS (Windows Deployment Services) WSRM (Windows System Resource Manager) Windows Server Backup NLB (Network Load Balancing)

The Windows Vista Service Pack 2 of 26th, 2009 brings the operating system up-to-date. In addition to the bug fixes, the Hyper-V virtualization solution is now an integral part of the operating system. With Windows Server 2008 Standard, an additional instance is already included in the license, even unlimited in the Windows Server 2008 Datacenter. The options for authentication over WebDAV redirector were increased and energy management improved. Backward compatibility to legacy terminal server of license keys with 512 bytes in size is now ensured. Older license keys of Citrix applications can now be also used to work on Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server.

===============================================================

PART3: NT KERNEL BASED OPERATING SYSTEM

WINDOWS NEW TECHNOLOGY(3.1,3.5,4.0)

Windows NT 3.1 is the first release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of server and business desktop operating systems, and was released to manufacturing on 27 July 1993. The version number was chosen to match the one of Windows 3.1, the then-latest operating environment from Microsoft, on account of the similar visual appearance of the user interface. Two editions of NT 3.1 were made available, Windows NT 3.1 and Windows NT Advanced Server. It was succeeded by Windows NT 3.5 in September 1994. It came as a Workstation (Client) and Advanced Server operating system for Intel x86 and RISC architecture to the market. It is the indirect successor to Windows 3.0 and OS/2 2.0 in the new NT product line for high demands on stability. It allows 32-bit applications and makes them available each up to 2 GB of virtual memory. The protected memory area ensures the stability of Windows NT if an application has a crash. To protect against power outages, the use of a UPS is supported. The operating system is suitable as a network client and in the office. The system structure is based on a micro-kernel with support for up to 2 CPUs and can address a maximum of 64 MB of RAM. The file systems NTFS, HPFS and FAT-16 are fully supported. This version of Windows does not support Plug and Play. Minimum requirement of hardware is at least an Intel 386 microprocessor with 25 MHz, 12 MB of RAM and a hard drive with 75 MB of free disk space. For the RISC architecture is suitable for example one Mips R4000 processor, at least 16 MB of RAM and 92 MB free hard disk space. WINDOWS NT 3.1 ADVANCED SERVER The first Windows NT Server operating system was introduced in July 1993. The system requires at minimum a 486 processor with 25 MHz, 16 MB RAM and 90 MB hard disk space. For a RISC-based system are 16 MB RAM with 110 MB of free hard disk capacity recommended. The scalability is increased to up to 4 processors, and each application can be served with up to 4 GB of virtual memory. The manageable disk storage can now span multiple terabytes. The operating system is based on the Client-Server concept and adds support for various RAID levels. The networking capabilities allow the Global Network Login for access to network-wide resources, providing of Connectivity Services for Macintosh and RAS as well as integration into existing network structures.

Windows NT 3.5 is the second release of the Microsoft Windows NT operating system. It was released on 21 September 1994.One of the primary goals during Windows NT 3.5's development was to increase the speed of the operating system; as a result, the project was given the codename "Daytona" in reference to the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Windows NT 3.51 is the third release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems. It was released on 30 May 1995, nine months after Windows NT 3.5. The release provided two notable feature improvements; firstly NT 3.51 was the first of a short-lived outing of Microsoft Windowson the PowerPC architecture. The second most significant enhancement offered through the release was that it provides client/server support for interoperating with Windows 95, which was released three months after NT 3.51. Windows NT 4.0 became its successor a year later; Microsoft continued to support 3.51 until 31 December 2001. INTRODUCED NEW SHELL On 26 May 1995, Microsoft released a test version of a shell refresh, named the Shell Technology Preview, and often referred to informally as "NewShell". This was the first incarnation of the modern Windows GUI with the Taskbar and Start menu. It was designed to replace the Windows 3.x Program Manager/File Manager based shell with Windows Explorerbased graphical user interface. Five Service Packs were released for NT 3.51, which introduced both bug fixes and new features. Service Pack 5, for example, fixed issues related to the Year 2000 problem. Windows NT 3.51 hardware requirements "Windows NT Workstation" "Windows NT Server" Processor Memory Video 386 or 486/25 processor 12 MB RAM VGA video 386 or 486/25 processor 16 MB RAM VGA video 90 MB

Hard disk drive free space 90 MB

WINDOWS NT 4.0 WORKSTATION: The operating system Windows New Technology in the current version 4.0 of July 1996 was developed further considerably to the predecessor NT 3.51. The user interface of Windows 95 was united and revised with the stability and accuracy of Windows NT and integrated into this new version. The complete graphic engine, user, GDI and graphic driver software were transferred by the user mode into the kernel mode. Through this an improvement in the performance has happen opposite the earlier versions. Standards from the UNIX world like TCP/IP protocols and Posix Guidelines are also includet. Windows NT does not allow direct access to the hardware and controls all accesses. Only with special graphics boards and specified driver software approximately the overlay mode is possible for the faster playback of videos Windows NT is availably in a Server Edition (up to 4 CPUs) in a Workstation Version (up to 2 CPUs) and Enterprise Server Edition (up to 8 CPUs). There in addition are the Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Edition. The Registry is fully responsible for the user settings, system configuration, hardware and software settings and others. Other configuration files plays only a minor roll opposite to previous NT versions and of course Windows 9x. The Registry is therefore far bigger. The files used for the Registry are NTUSER.DAT from the respective user directory, default (standard user profile), system (hardware configuration), software (installed programs), Security (control of the access list) and Sam (user account and passwords), in the directory "C:/Winnt/system32/config/". The service packs also added a multitude of new features such as newer versions of or improvements to Internet Information Services, public-key and certificate authority functionality, user accounts and Software General release (Retail) Service Pack 1 (SP1) Service Pack 2 (SP2) Service Pack 3 (SP3) Service Pack 4 (SP4) Date 24 August 1996 16 October 1996 14 December 1996 15 May 1997 25 October 1998

Release to manufacturing (RTM) 31 July 1996

user profile improvements, smart Service Pack 5 (SP5) 4 May 1999 card support, improved symmetric Service Pack 6 (SP6) 22 November 1999 multiprocessing (SMP) scalability, Service Pack 6a (SP6a) 30 November 1999 clustering Service Pack 7 (SP7) Due Q3 2001, cancelled 1 capabilities, COM support improvements, User Profile Disk Quotas, Configuration Manager , and SMB packet signng, boot improvements, WINSimprovements, Routing and Remote Access

Service (RRAS), PPTP, DCOM/HTTP tunneling improvements, IGMPv2, WMI, Active Accessibility and NTFS 3.0 support among others. Update: August, 23. 1997 With the Internet Explorer 4.0 the Active Desktop is offered as an extension for the installation. It is possible with that to act like in a browser in the Windows Explorer and the desktop can display web objects. The start bar is extended by the integration of own tool bars for the quick start. The user interface looks through this more modern like in Windows 98. Update: August, 07. 1998 Last DirectX release in the version 6.0 for Windows NT. Direct3D and DirectSound are supported only emulated. Update: November, 19. 1999 With the 35 mbyte great Service Pack 6.0 Windows NT 4.0 is taken to the newest stand. All bug fixes were integrated in relation with the turn of the year 2000, euro currency support and security updates. The NTFS driver software was revised and supports now except for EFS and Quotas, NTFS 5.0 harddisk storages from Windows 2000. There are no updates for the MDAC and Internet Explorer includet. Update: July, 26. 2001 The 14.5 mbyte great and last Security Rollup Package (SRP) is published. All Patches are contained that was released since the Service Pack 6a.

STRUCTURE INFORMATIONS - Microkernel - Platforms: Intel x86, Alpha, on MIPS and PowerPC only very little common - multi-processor capable (up to 4 CPUs) FEATURES - stable system - Systemlog for events - High performance at Office applications - High security with current Service Packs - bad integration of newest hardware - no Plug and Play - no ACPI or direct USB support MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: - 486 CPU or RISC-based CPU, such as Alpha, MIPS or PowerPC , 16 MB RAM 110 MB free hard disk space, VGA or SVGA compatible graphics card , CD-ROM drive

WINDOWS 2000 Microsoft released this new Windows version 5.0, Build 2195 in February 2000. It is the desktop operating system of the new Windows 2000 platform for x86 architecture and be completed by the versions Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. As a minimum requirements for the installation a Pentium processor, 32 mbyte main memory and 650 mbyte of free hard disk storage are needed. Microsoft had planned to develop also a operating system version for the Alpha architecture, the plans were stopped after an announcement of Compaq. Compaq restricted the support to Windows NT 4.0 with service pack 6 and not higher at 1999-08-25. Microsoft stopped the development plans for the Windows 2000 32- bit of Alpha version after that. Windows 2000 unites defined roughly the user-friendliness, pug & play and USB device support of Windows 98 and the safety and stability of the Windows NT family. The update to this new operating system is possible from Windows 95, 98 and Windows NT 3.51, 4.0. It is a multitasking, multiprocessing operating system and supports up to 2 processors of the x86 32- bit and 64 bit architecture with SMP. Threads or processes can choose between the available processors. Beside the complete revision new features and many improvements are integrated. The result is high compatibility, simplified administration, increased hardware support with over 7,000 devices, file administration and extended security functions. Applications for Windows 9x are only supported restrictedly. The installation is possible from CD-ROM or over the network from a file server. The virtual addressable storage is 4 gbyte and is managed by the Virtual Memory manager (VMM). VMM assigns the addressable storage on the actually available physical memory and the memory page file (pagefile.sys) on hard disk. The field of application of this operating system is suitable as a single user computer or as a client in company networks. The operating system is enhanced with the game interface DirectX 7.0, the Internet Explorer 5.0 made access to the Internet possible. Windows 2000 authenticates the user first at the access to files, printers or other computers. Networks are supported with the protocols TCP/IP, NWLink and AppleTalk. Windows 2000 supports the data interchange in decentralised working groups and central domains. Furthermore the Registry consists as in Windows NT 4.0 before of the system files SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE and SYSTEM. The hierarchical database saves information of the hardware and applications as well as configuration settings. The following basic services are in Windows 2000 Prof. installed. The SFC (System File Protection) offers protection from overwrite of Windows system files. It is possible to create hardware profiles for different

hardware configurations with the settings of all devices and services. NTFS is used as file system in the new version 5. The specification of user rights is possible for files and directories on file system level, file compression in real time, disk storage quotas (Quotas) and encrypting with EFS (Encrypting File System) can also be use. - unattended installation of the operating system via script possible - different options for Windows start like "safe mode" and "last as good known configuration" - booting from the Windows 2000 CD-ROM offers repair of the operating system or recovery console - supports the display of the desktop on up to 10 monitors - task planner for time controlled executing of programmes - utilities for hard disk like defragmentation and check on disk errors - event viewer for protocolling of application, security and system events - backup tool for data safety and recovery - Microsoft Management Console (MMC), administration of the local or remote computer, expandable by SnapIns - support for local and predefined user accounts, domain user accounts - ActiveDirectory directory service available if client is member in Windows 2000 domain - New protocols for a secure authentication in the network are EAP, RADIUS, IPSec, L2TP and BAP SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Minimum CPU Memory Pentium 133 MHz recommended Pentium II 300 MHz

32 MB (128 MB for 256 MB Server) 1 GB (2 GB for Server) 800600 VGA or better monitor Keyboard or mouse 5 GB

Hard drive space Graphics hardware Input device(s)

1024768 VGA or higher monitor Keyboard and mouse

Microsoft released various editions of Windows 2000 for different markets and business needs: Professional, Server, Advanced Server and Datacenter Server. Each was packaged separately.

Windows 2000 has received four full service packs and one rollup update package following SP4, which is the last service pack. These were: SP1 on 15 August 2000, SP2 on 16 May 2001, SP3 on 29 August 2002 and SP4 on 26 June 2003. Windows 2000 was superseded by newer Microsoft operating systems: Windows 2000 Server products by Windows Server 2003, and Windows 2000 Professional by Windows XP Professional. WINDOWS XP Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base. The name "XP" is short for "eXPerience." Windows XP, the successor to Windows 2000 and Windows Me, was the first consumeroriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel. Windows XP was released for retail sale on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006 Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on June 30, 2008. Microsoft continued to sell Windows XP through their System Builders (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) program until January 31, 2009. Windows XP was the most widely used operating system for accessing the internet. As of September 2011, Windows XP market share is at 36.2% after having peaked at 76.1% in January 2007.

Standard features of Windows XP - Home and Professional Fast user switching Network assistant Remote control for the diagnosis (Remote assistant) Simplified user interface Windows Media Player Internet Explorer 6.0 Windows Movie Maker Special features of Windows XP - Professional Edition ASR - Automated System Recovery Create of offline files Backup/recovery function

User guidelines (Policies) User administration (limited in Home Edition) File system encrypting (only for NTFS) Integration of the PC in a domain Integration of dynamic data storage Use as a terminal service client Use as a NetWare-Client Remote connection (desktop sharing) Use of multiple monitors EFS support in the file system Send and received Fax support SMP (use of more than one processor) With the new introduced multi-user function, user are now be able to run her applications in the background even if the user signs off and another user is logging on to Windows. If the previous user returns he can continue his work after that without having to once more start the recent documents or applications. SERVICE PACK 1 Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows XP was released on September 9, 2002. It contains post-RTM security fixes and hot-fixes, compatibility updates, optional.NET Framework support, enabling technologies for new devices such as Tablet PCs, and a new Windows Messenger 4.7 version. The most notable new features were USB 2.0 support and a Set Program Access and Defaults utility that aimed at hiding various middleware products. The Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, which was not in the RTM version, appeared in this Service Pack. SERVICE PACK 2 Service Pack 2 also added new security enhancements (codenamed "Springboard"),which included a major revision to the included firewall that was renamed to Windows Firewall and became enabled by default, Data Execution Prevention, which can be weakly emulated. Windows Security Center, which provides a general overview of security on the system, including the state of antivirus software, Windows Update, and the new Windows Firewall. Third-party anti-virus and firewall applications can interface with the new Security Center. The update fixes the issue of the diminishing number of available product keys for Windows XP. SERVICE PACK 3 Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) was released to manufacturing on April 21, 2008, and to the public via both the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update on May 6, 2008. It began being automatically pushed out to Automatic Update users on July 10, 2008. A feature set overview which details new features available separately as standalone updates to Windows XP, as well as backported features from Windows Vista has been posted by Microsoft. A total of 1,174 fixes have been included in SP3. Service Pack 3 can be installed on systems with Internet Explorer versions 6, 7 or 8.Internet Explorer 7 and 8 are not included as part of SP3.

Microsoft showed the naming for a Windows without Windows Media player on March 28, 2005. It is called Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional Edition N on the market. Microsoft followed with this change the demands of to the EU-Kommision for a better competition between further software houses which offers a own media player like Realplayer, QuickTime and Winamp. There is no price difference to the standard Windows versions. WINDOWS VISTA

Microsoft published the new product name Vista for this new Windows Version on an event in the USA/Atlanta on 21-07-2005. This Windows Version was known under the development name Longhorn before. The installation of Vista is based on WIM (Windows Imaging format), a file-based Image Format. It compresses the contained files and can be used for the installation on several platforms from the same Image. The image on the DVD contains a pre-installation of the system directories of Windows in the Windows Imaging (.WIM) file and adapts to the hardware configuration. With the User State Migration Toolkit the user defined settings can be imported of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. An advantage of WIM images is the easy integration of new drivers and updates, the LZX compression provides the smallest file size and XPress compression the fastest compression. The installation DVD of Windows Vista already contains about 16,000 drivers, the Windows update offers further 14,000 drivers for supported hardware. There is no licence key during the Windows Vista installation necessary, in this case it start with a 30 days trial license. After this time period the activation of the operating system is inevitably with the Internet Explorer, after the start-up Windows opens only this window for activation. Windows Vista contains DRM technology for the playback of protected multimedia files. Windows Vista (Windows version 6.0) contains the new user interface Aero. The start menu has a round start button without text now. New characteristics are three-dimensional effects, the transparent representation and freely scalable symbols. To see all visual features a graphiccard with DirectX 9.0 support is required. The known interface of Windows XP can be activated alternatively. The PC should at least contain a processor with 2 ghz, 512 mbyte RAM and at least 10 GByte of free harddisk storage. Developer take advance from the new graphic interface WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) for the component-based development of 2D and 3D applications, WPF was designed under the code name Avalon. This framework supports the use of vector graphic for better scaling of applications on the display screen. For better Security Microsoft has integrated useful functions. The automatic update of the operating system provides the installation of new patches. When required the function UAC (User Account Control) asks the user whether it shall unlock unlimited user rights for the execution of a program. Info Cards makes the automated log-on and register of login informations for web pages possible. Windows Defender extends Windows by an spyware/malware protection, the Windows Firewall monitors connections which are incoming

and outgoing.

The performance is for a shorter reactivation time of Windows with the active programmes after a cold start of the PC improved by Windows SuperFetch. Windows Ready Boost provides an additional working memory on USB flash devices and can be combined with SuperFetch. The USB flash storage has much faster access times than hard disks. Preinstalled Programs by Microsoft were updated. The Internet Explorer 7 contains a Phishing Filter opposite to the previous version and supports Tabbed Browsing. The navigation in the Windows Explorer was revised, the address bar is equipped with single-line option fields displays for faster navigation in the directories on the file system. The search after files is possible with the use of many filters. Outlook Express was renamed in Windows Mayl and got version 7.0 now. The functions of the Windows Media Player 11 and Windows Movie Maker were refined. Microsoft announced the product versions for Windows Vista on 2006-02-26. Altogether there are 6 versions which are different in product functions and price. The same characteristic is the maximum support of 4 gbyte RAM for all 32-bit versions. For Windows Vista 64-bit and Home Basic are already 8 gbyte supported, Home Premium 16-gbyte, for the business variants and Vista Ultimate more than 128 gbyte RAM. The Windows Vista Starter Edition is targeted to technological developing countries at a low price and fewer program functions. Only the Vista Basic graphical interface and 32-bit version is available, the number of simultaneously executable applications is limited to 3. Windows Vista Home Basic for private users contains only the simple user interface and cames without different new effects of the Aero interface. A new function is the content and access control with protection of children and young people for the restricted use of Windows and display of web sites. The next higher version is Windows Vista Home Premium which can also show the new Windows Aero interface. Aero offers a simpler search for files in the audio and video format. Additional functions belongs to the Windows Media Center to convert the computer into a multimedia player. The field of application is enhanced by the Windows Tablet PC technique like hand character recognition, support of digital pins and finger touch recognition. The storage medium DVD can be described over the integrated burning function with data, the authoring software helps at the creation of own films. The Basic version for enterprise use forms the Windows Vista Business edition. The Windows Aero user interface can be activated, Windows Tablet PC technique like hand character recognition is also included. The administration of many documents is improved, file encrypting and the Encrypting File System (EFS) are important security extensions. For mobile use are designed the PC to PC synchronization and other mobile functions. The domain logon and group guidelines is part of the network component. Data security is provided by the image based backup. Windows Vista Enterprise has the same functions as the Business Edition and contains in addition Windows BitLocker for hard disk encrypting and Virtual PC Express for the compatibility to older Windows applications by the creation of a virtual environment. The subsystem for UNIX allows the execute of UNIX applications without porting. Windows Vista Ultimate contains all features of the other versions but is the most expensive Edition.

Microsoft published the first Service Pack for Windows Vista in March 2008. It is distributed over the automatic Windows Update one month later. If Vista is not activated the further use is possibly now without restrictions, but message windows remember the missing activation. Major changes are the support of UEFI, DirectX 10.1, the new file system exFAT for flash storage and optimizations of the performance. The use of network drives, handling of large pictures as well as file operations is faster done now. Device drivers were updated and the API of the kernel protection for Windows 64 bit is opened now for security service providers. The installation of Windows updates is accelerated and the number of UAC reports with directories reduced. In July 2008 different analysts like Forrester, King Research and others reported that many big enterprises want not to migrate from Windows XP to Windows Vista but to wait for the successor Windows 7. From 2.300 enterprises work after a survey less then 10% with Vista (Forrester). Possible reasons are problems with the compatibility of existing applications and scarce investments for IT with other priorities. Microsoft published at the 26.05.2009 the second service pack for Windows Vista for the download. The download size is depending of the chosen language and architecture with at least 302 MByte, via automatic update at least with 43 MByte. The Service Pack 1 is required for installation. The installation packages exist separately for 32-bit, 64-bit and IA64 processor architectures. 836 issues became fixed for Windows Vista is and Server 2008. The most important changes include:

improved program compatibility improved power management Windows Search 4.0 Support for 64-bit CPU VIA Technologies Burning Blu-ray media Improved support for eSATA drives Bluetooth stereo headphones now possible RSS feed sidebar improved in performance and response times Limit of 10 half open, outgoing TCP connections removed,UAC(user account control)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Vista Capable
Processor Memory Graphics card 800 MHz 512 MB DirectX 9.0 capable

Vista Premium Ready

1 GHz1 1 GB DirectX 9.0 capable and WDDM 1.0 driver

support

Graphics memory

32 MB 20 GB 15 GB

128 MB 40 GB

WINDOWS 7

HDD capacity

HDD free space

Microsoft has worked under the code name Windows 7 on the successor of Windows Vista since approximately August 2007. The new operating system is based on Windows Vista and comes with new programme functions and improvements in detail. Steve Ballmer talked with a keynote onto the Gartner Symposium IT 2008 on October 16th, 2008, that Windows 7 one Windows Vista is but with numerous improvements. It shall be release after 2.5 years development time as a new Windows major release. The version number is not increased to 7.0 but to 6.1 for compatibility reasons. Through this Microsoft wants to prevent problems with programmes which checks the version number. Microsoft introduced the first Windows 7 test release with the build 6801 on the Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles on October 28th, 2008. BASIC DATA OF WINDOWS 7:

64 bit and 32 bit version Kernel is based on "MinWin", introduced by Eric Traut in October 2007 new graphic system improved language and handwriting recognition, useable over touch screen new user interface new program menues, with a recent list of the latests file and program functions used Windows XP mode (Windows 7 Professional or higher)

The first Windows 7 Release Candidate build 7100 appeared on April 21st, 2009. The operating system can be tested for 30 days without product activation. Microsoft refer as minimum requirements a computer with 1 ghz CPU, 1 gbyte main memory, 16 gbyte free storage and a DirectX 9 graphics card with a WDDM 1.0 driver or higher. Microsoft cooperates closely with Intel so that Windows 7 can use Hyper-threading still better. The Release Candidate contains the Windows Media Player 12, Internet Explorer 8 and the Windows Defender 6.1. Optionally the Windows XP Mode (XPM) can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site for testing purpose. This promises users of Windows 7 Professional and higher to start some older productive Windows XP applications directly from the Windows 7 desktop. To this an configured, virtual image of Windows XP is installed with Windows Virtual PC. Requirement for the hardware virtualization is a computer with Intel-VT or AMD-V processor. Otherwise the XPM will not start. For a fast working are 2 gbyte of main memory and additional 15 gbyte of free hard disk storage recommended.

Minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7 Architecture Processor Memory (RAM) Graphics Card HDD free space Optical drive 32-bit 1 GHz IA-32 processor 1 GB 64-bit 1 GHz x86-64 processor 2 GB

DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM driver model 1.0 (Not absolutely necessary; only required for Aero) 16 GB of free disk space 20 GB of free disk space

DVD-ROM drive (Only to install from DVD-ROM media)

Unlike Windows Vista, which introduced 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. Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell with a new taskbar, referred to as the Superbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements. Some standard applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are not included in Windows 7; most are instead offered separately at no charge as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS TO USE CERTAIN FEATURES:

Windows XP Mode (Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise): Requires an additional 1 GB of RAM and additional 15 GB of available hard disk space. The requirement for a processor capable ofhardware virtualization has been lifted.

Windows Media Center (included in Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise), requires a TV tuner to receive and record TV.

SERVICE PACK 1

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) was announced on March 18, 2010. A beta was released on July 12, 2010. The final version was released to the public on February 9, 2011. At the time of release, it was not made mandatory. Technet has information on blocking it; or getting it via Windows Update, direct download, or by ordering the Windows 7 SP1 DVD. Microsoft confirmed that the service pack is to be on a much smaller scale than those released for previous versions of Windows, particularly Windows Vista. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 adds support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX), a 256-bit instruction set extension for processors, and improves IKEv2 by adding additional identification fields such as E-mail ID to it. In addition, it adds support for Advanced Format 512e as well as additional Identity Federation Services. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 also resolves a bug related to HDMI audio and another related to printing XPS documents. Some programs have compatibility issues with SP1 and a limited number of programs may experience a loss of functionality. EDITIONS Physical memory limits for Windows 7 versions Version Windows 7 Ultimate Windows 7 Enterprise Windows 7 Professional Windows 7 Home Premium Windows 7 Home Basic Windows 7 Starter 2 GB 4 GB 16 GB 8 GB N/A 192 GB Limit in 32-bit Windows Limit in 64-bit Windows

FUTURE OF WINDOWS:WINDOWS 8 Windows 8 is the next version of Microsoft Windows, a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, servers, and media center PCs. It adds support for ARM microprocessors in addition to the traditional x86 microprocessors from Intel and AMD. Its user interface has been changed to make it better suited for touchscreen input in addition to the traditional mouse, keyboard, and pen input. Microsoft is porting basic-applications like the Internet Explorer and Office applications to the new platfrom. They are native ARM applications for Windows 8. At the D9 conference of May 31 till June 2, 2011 in California Microsoft unveil the recent development state of the new Windows user interface. The whole interface is useable over touch screen but also still with keyboard and mouse. A few aspects are e.g. the tile-based start screen for launch of applications as replacement of the existing Windows Start menu. Livw notifications from applications are also shown as tiles. Switching between running apps is done fluid and the resize and snap of application windows is convenient possible. Web-based applications are built using HTML5 and JavaScript with full access to the entire capabilities of the computer. Browsing the internet is optimized for use by touchscreen and hardware-accelerated with Internet Explorer 10. Microsoft will reveal much more informations at the BUILD developer event from September 13 to 16, 2011 in California. Until then there will be no public released builds with various milestones of Windows 8 for preview available. On 14 September 2011, Microsoft released the first Windows 8 Developer Preview (build 6.2.8102) for free public download. As a downloadable ISO image in DVD format, x86, x64 and x64 version including development tools are available. The new Metro-surface with the tile-based look based on the new Windows runtime (WinRT) which works as an asynchronous API. Applications for Metro can be programmed in Javascript, C++, C# and Visual Basic. Best usability of Metro is only possible with a multi-touch screen. A Windows desktop is also available, but a familiar interface like Windows Vista and Windows 7 only in this build after adjusting the value of "RPEnable" with the Registry Editor. Minimum hardware requirements for Windows Developer Preview Architecture Processor Memory (RAM) 32-bit 1 GHz x86 processor 1 GB 64-bit 1 GHz x86-64 processor 2 GB

Graphics Card HDD free space NEW FEATURES

DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 (Not absolutely necessary; only required for Aero hardware acceleration) 16 GB of free disk space 20 GB of free disk space

Windows 8 will contain a new user interface based on Microsoft's design language named Metro. With the new change, the Start Menu was replaced in favor for the new Start Screen, where there are tiles that contain shortcuts to applications, Metro style applications, and updating tiles, similar to Windows Phone. A new authentication method allows users to sketch in three different places over the picture to login, instead of typing a password. Windows Explorer now uses a ribbon interface, similar to those used in Microsoft Office applications. Another feature expected to be introduced in Windows 8 is USB 3.0 support. Windows 8 will come with Windows Store, an online marketplace for buying, selling, and advertising applications.Windows 8 can be run from a USBconnected drive, such as a flash drive. This feature is called Windows To Go.Windows 8 will support multiple monitors with the new ability to natively display different background images on each display and customized taskbar(s) on each of the connected displays. The Developer Preview comes with two new recovery functions.Refresh and Reset, which both make a complete restore easier than a re-installation. The former keeps all the settings and files of the user intact and only reverses all changes to Windows files to its original state while removing all installed programs and apps. The latter deletes all files and effectively re-installs Windows, but without any additional user input such as agreeing to license agreements or selecting a hard disk required. After a reset completes, the user will be asked for the product key and will then proceed to account creation. new "Hybrid Boot" option that uses "advanced hibernation functionality" on shutdown to allow faster startup times. A new version of Task Manager with a re-designed user interface is also present in pre-release versions of Windows 8

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
All this above information obtain from following websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows http://toastytech.com/guis/win7.html http://www.angelfire.com/amiga/pc100/ms.html#windows1.0 http://cybernetnews.com/cybernotes-history-of-windows-system-requirements/ http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/02/evolution-of-windows-operating-system-from-windows-10-to-windows-7/ http://www.webdesignfact.com/2011/01/evolution-of-microsoft-windows.html

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