Windows XP 15 years
Exactly fifteen years ago, the world saw “Windows XP released to manufacturing” and, although the system got into widespread sale only in October 2001, it is August 24 that can be considered the release date of the most popular operating system for personal computers in history. Another successful Microsoft product, Windows 7, managed to outrun XP in popularity only 10 years after its release, in 2011.
By the beginning of the new millennium, Microsoft's managers recognized that the completely successful Windows 98 is already becoming obsolete, Windows 2000 does not meet the requirements set for the products, and Windows ME didn’t want to remember with all its crashes, bugs and unstable work, which has become a kind “Standard” of how not to do not only for developers within the company, but in general in the IT community:
"Balmer Peak"
For reasons of failure Windows ME, XP became the heir of its other predecessor - Windows 2000 Professional.
')
A distinctive feature of XP from its predecessors is the massive changes in design, security, delivery of the Internet Explorer 6 hated by many (OS IE recently celebrated its 21st anniversary ) and, most importantly, XP had many variations for different audiences, although CIS countries mainly used the pirated version of XP Professional.
For example, several years after the release of the main versions of the OS Home, Professional and others, Microsoft overtook the time and released Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, which came bundled with a PDA and supported the work with the stylus, recognized the handwriting of letters and, in fact, could would become the base OS for tablets. An attempt to master this market turned out to be hasty - the world and technologies were not ready to create tablets that were comfortable to use, and then the iPad and other modern devices saw the light. How it ended - we know. Instead of creating a comfortable mobile OS for tablets in operation, Microsoft chose the path of total “equality” on the example of Windows 8, 8.1 and 10, and the mobile segment did not resist even when using the Nokia brand, because the OS itself was not the main thing for users , and ecosystem, applications and compatibility. Perhaps this was overlooked, as MS got used to the fact that “the PC world revolves around Windows”, which cannot be said about mobile devices.
There is another interesting fact of the prophetic abilities of managers from Microsoft, which were revealed to the end only with the release of Windows 7. At a time when 32-bit processors dominated the market, MS developers released Windows XP 64-bit Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. The first was designed for Italium processors from Intel, the second for AMD64, Opteron and Athlon 64 processors and Intel's EM64T processors. However, a massive upgrade of the computer park and the transition to the 64-bit architecture took place only at the end of zero, but the fact that the end of the 32-bit processors is near, Microsoft is honoring, and when this happened, they were completely ready for this.
Well, the most probably known fact of using XP, which is surprising among people who are not familiar with the financial sphere - Windows XP Embedded. It is with this assembly that you may encounter when servicing ATMs, terminals or other equipment, where you certainly do not expect to meet the “Windows”.
In addition to the "life" in ATMs and terminals, Windows XP is still a significant and irreplaceable OS in some areas. For example, it was under WinXP that one of the well-known European manufacturers wrote diagnostic software, which not only “tightly” glued to the hardware on which it was installed, but also works only from under XP.
The main innovations in Windows XP regarding Windows 2000 are:
Already in 2004, Microsoft reported on the sale of 210 million licensed copies of Windows XP. One can only guess about the real number of users of the company's OS, taking into account pirated copies.
Microsoft has released three service packs for XP. SP1 was released a year after its release, September 9, 2002. It was probably one of the most important updates, because it was with SP1 that the systems of the family began to support USB 2.0, which retains its position to this day and reluctantly retreats before the onslaught of USB 3.0. Two years later, the company introduced SP2, and a month before the start of Vista sales in January 2007, everyone was familiar and obligatory after their release of SP3.
Speaking of Vista. Many joked that Microsoft have stable operating systems every other time and, unfortunately, turned out to be right. The system that was supposed to catch the triumphal banner of XP failed miserably. Perhaps the problem was in a hurry on the part of MS, perhaps in errors during the development, but the voracious and always buggy Vista never got accustomed. Plus, the hardware manufacturers were not ready for the new OS and often the drivers weren't released to the old hardware, and the drivers for XP didn't work. Many laptop owners faced the same problem, who, while waiting for the “usual Windows”, ignored the “Vista” sticker on the case, and when trying to install XP they faced the same problem - the lack of drivers, but this time for XP.
What is the saddest thing, Microsoft did not think about the general consumer. If in the case of XP the hardware requirements were more than gentle, which allowed the majority of users to “transplant” to the new OS, then Vista was deprived of this nobility:
System Requirements Windows XP (2001), Wikipedia
System Requirements Windows Vista (Early 2007), Wikipedia
As you can see, XP requirements were more than acceptable. In 2001, 266 MHz were very many, and a substantial proportion of users even had the recommended 600 MHz processor clock speeds. The same with RAM - in 2001, 64 Mb was considered to be a frankly small number for a home or working PC, and many had 128, or even 256 (closer to the middle of zero) Mb of memory.
In the case of Vista, someone had something jammed and from users who already peacefully and comfortably existed on XP with 800–1500 MHz processors, they already required from 800 for minimal work (from 1000 MHz) to 2000 and two cores. With RAM, it is even sadder - from 512 to 1024 Mb, the lion’s share of which the system “otzhiralos” tightly.
Plus, problems with stability of work and, as a result, the existence of Vista was ignored by the broad masses, and one of the few channels of stable sales was pre-installation on laptops, to the hardware of which the official drivers on XP simply did not exist (in any case, on manufacturers' websites).
The situation was saved by the release of Windows 7, which rightfully occupied the “throne” of Windows XP and is now the dominant product in the Microsoft OS line.
After Microsoft realized that the situation had stabilized, a stop in support for Windows XP was announced, which, nevertheless, was postponed several times due to the huge number of users.
Of course, progress played a role. The older XP was, the less it could work with less software, so we can say that Microsoft did not try to “kill” its best product, but simply did not want time to do it for it. Plus, you must also sell new operating systems, expanding the audience.
As it is no wonder, XP is still firmly on its feet in relation to many other operating systems created after it. So, according to statistics, the system of 2001 is still used by just over 10% of PC users worldwide. Of course, the lion’s share comes from third world countries and China, where people cannot afford to leave the system due to the inability to replace equipment or for other reasons, for example, production reasons, but the figure is still impressive:
netmarketshare.com
As can be seen from the diagram, Vista, planned as a “successor of XP”, did not even enter the main unit and took shelter in “Other”, but Windows 7 has nothing to blush with an indicator of almost half of the world operating system market.
Surprisingly, even after withdrawing from support in 2015, XP experienced 3 of the 5 operating systems released after it - Vista, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 can be written as "losers". In defense of the last two, we can say that they became “outsiders” with respect to the old woman-XP after the release of Windows 10, that is, coped with the role assigned to them and transferred a significant part of their audience to the new product - Windows 10, albeit through a huge advertising campaign and , at times, coercion. In general, they did what XP had to do for Vista, but it didn’t grow together.
In the near future, only Windows 7 can claim XP's laurels and there is a suspicion that Microsoft again miscalculated - the seven and 8.0-8.1 turned out to be too different (as a result, their successor is Windows 10). Will XP history repeat Windows 7? It is quite likely, but we will find out about it only by 2022-23, when the OS that is currently the most popular OS will “hit” for fifteen years.
In the meantime, the laurels of the most "long-playing" and popular operating system in the world in the whole history remain Windows XP.
By the beginning of the new millennium, Microsoft's managers recognized that the completely successful Windows 98 is already becoming obsolete, Windows 2000 does not meet the requirements set for the products, and Windows ME didn’t want to remember with all its crashes, bugs and unstable work, which has become a kind “Standard” of how not to do not only for developers within the company, but in general in the IT community:
"Balmer Peak"
For reasons of failure Windows ME, XP became the heir of its other predecessor - Windows 2000 Professional.
')
A distinctive feature of XP from its predecessors is the massive changes in design, security, delivery of the Internet Explorer 6 hated by many (OS IE recently celebrated its 21st anniversary ) and, most importantly, XP had many variations for different audiences, although CIS countries mainly used the pirated version of XP Professional.
For example, several years after the release of the main versions of the OS Home, Professional and others, Microsoft overtook the time and released Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, which came bundled with a PDA and supported the work with the stylus, recognized the handwriting of letters and, in fact, could would become the base OS for tablets. An attempt to master this market turned out to be hasty - the world and technologies were not ready to create tablets that were comfortable to use, and then the iPad and other modern devices saw the light. How it ended - we know. Instead of creating a comfortable mobile OS for tablets in operation, Microsoft chose the path of total “equality” on the example of Windows 8, 8.1 and 10, and the mobile segment did not resist even when using the Nokia brand, because the OS itself was not the main thing for users , and ecosystem, applications and compatibility. Perhaps this was overlooked, as MS got used to the fact that “the PC world revolves around Windows”, which cannot be said about mobile devices.
There is another interesting fact of the prophetic abilities of managers from Microsoft, which were revealed to the end only with the release of Windows 7. At a time when 32-bit processors dominated the market, MS developers released Windows XP 64-bit Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. The first was designed for Italium processors from Intel, the second for AMD64, Opteron and Athlon 64 processors and Intel's EM64T processors. However, a massive upgrade of the computer park and the transition to the 64-bit architecture took place only at the end of zero, but the fact that the end of the 32-bit processors is near, Microsoft is honoring, and when this happened, they were completely ready for this.
Well, the most probably known fact of using XP, which is surprising among people who are not familiar with the financial sphere - Windows XP Embedded. It is with this assembly that you may encounter when servicing ATMs, terminals or other equipment, where you certainly do not expect to meet the “Windows”.
In addition to the "life" in ATMs and terminals, Windows XP is still a significant and irreplaceable OS in some areas. For example, it was under WinXP that one of the well-known European manufacturers wrote diagnostic software, which not only “tightly” glued to the hardware on which it was installed, but also works only from under XP.
The main innovations in Windows XP regarding Windows 2000 are:
- new interface design;
- Remote Assistance;
- System Restore;
- remote access;
- improved work with CD;
- the ability to write to disks -R -RW means of the system;
- direct work with ZIP and CAB archives without the use of software and others.
Already in 2004, Microsoft reported on the sale of 210 million licensed copies of Windows XP. One can only guess about the real number of users of the company's OS, taking into account pirated copies.
Microsoft has released three service packs for XP. SP1 was released a year after its release, September 9, 2002. It was probably one of the most important updates, because it was with SP1 that the systems of the family began to support USB 2.0, which retains its position to this day and reluctantly retreats before the onslaught of USB 3.0. Two years later, the company introduced SP2, and a month before the start of Vista sales in January 2007, everyone was familiar and obligatory after their release of SP3.
Speaking of Vista. Many joked that Microsoft have stable operating systems every other time and, unfortunately, turned out to be right. The system that was supposed to catch the triumphal banner of XP failed miserably. Perhaps the problem was in a hurry on the part of MS, perhaps in errors during the development, but the voracious and always buggy Vista never got accustomed. Plus, the hardware manufacturers were not ready for the new OS and often the drivers weren't released to the old hardware, and the drivers for XP didn't work. Many laptop owners faced the same problem, who, while waiting for the “usual Windows”, ignored the “Vista” sticker on the case, and when trying to install XP they faced the same problem - the lack of drivers, but this time for XP.
What is the saddest thing, Microsoft did not think about the general consumer. If in the case of XP the hardware requirements were more than gentle, which allowed the majority of users to “transplant” to the new OS, then Vista was deprived of this nobility:
System Requirements Windows XP (2001), Wikipedia
System Requirements Windows Vista (Early 2007), Wikipedia
As you can see, XP requirements were more than acceptable. In 2001, 266 MHz were very many, and a substantial proportion of users even had the recommended 600 MHz processor clock speeds. The same with RAM - in 2001, 64 Mb was considered to be a frankly small number for a home or working PC, and many had 128, or even 256 (closer to the middle of zero) Mb of memory.
In the case of Vista, someone had something jammed and from users who already peacefully and comfortably existed on XP with 800–1500 MHz processors, they already required from 800 for minimal work (from 1000 MHz) to 2000 and two cores. With RAM, it is even sadder - from 512 to 1024 Mb, the lion’s share of which the system “otzhiralos” tightly.
Plus, problems with stability of work and, as a result, the existence of Vista was ignored by the broad masses, and one of the few channels of stable sales was pre-installation on laptops, to the hardware of which the official drivers on XP simply did not exist (in any case, on manufacturers' websites).
The situation was saved by the release of Windows 7, which rightfully occupied the “throne” of Windows XP and is now the dominant product in the Microsoft OS line.
After Microsoft realized that the situation had stabilized, a stop in support for Windows XP was announced, which, nevertheless, was postponed several times due to the huge number of users.
Of course, progress played a role. The older XP was, the less it could work with less software, so we can say that Microsoft did not try to “kill” its best product, but simply did not want time to do it for it. Plus, you must also sell new operating systems, expanding the audience.
As it is no wonder, XP is still firmly on its feet in relation to many other operating systems created after it. So, according to statistics, the system of 2001 is still used by just over 10% of PC users worldwide. Of course, the lion’s share comes from third world countries and China, where people cannot afford to leave the system due to the inability to replace equipment or for other reasons, for example, production reasons, but the figure is still impressive:
netmarketshare.comAs can be seen from the diagram, Vista, planned as a “successor of XP”, did not even enter the main unit and took shelter in “Other”, but Windows 7 has nothing to blush with an indicator of almost half of the world operating system market.
Surprisingly, even after withdrawing from support in 2015, XP experienced 3 of the 5 operating systems released after it - Vista, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 can be written as "losers". In defense of the last two, we can say that they became “outsiders” with respect to the old woman-XP after the release of Windows 10, that is, coped with the role assigned to them and transferred a significant part of their audience to the new product - Windows 10, albeit through a huge advertising campaign and , at times, coercion. In general, they did what XP had to do for Vista, but it didn’t grow together.
In the near future, only Windows 7 can claim XP's laurels and there is a suspicion that Microsoft again miscalculated - the seven and 8.0-8.1 turned out to be too different (as a result, their successor is Windows 10). Will XP history repeat Windows 7? It is quite likely, but we will find out about it only by 2022-23, when the OS that is currently the most popular OS will “hit” for fifteen years.
In the meantime, the laurels of the most "long-playing" and popular operating system in the world in the whole history remain Windows XP.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/397121/
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