Pedigree MS Windows `7

Discussing the latest operating system (OS) MS Windows 7, I suddenly found that many modern users see absolutely no difference between completely different generations and families of Microsoft operating systems.

It turns out that not everyone understands that the upcoming, new-fashioned MS Windows 7 OS belongs to the MS Windows NT OS family. This is caused by the confusion of “public names” and the non-announcement of the version numbers of the MS Windows NT OS:

Windows NT 3.1, Windows NT 4.0, Windows NT 5.0 (Windows`2000), Windows NT 5.1 (Windows`XP), Windows NT 6.0 (Windows`Vista), Windows NT 6.1 (Windows`7).

That is why I would like to share with you the knowledge of the history of the development of Microsoft Windows operating systems .



The history of Windows OS is divided into several "groups" (individual families).

I personally think that Microsoft made a mistake when, for the sake of marketing, it merged into one name - Windows , as many as 3 completely different and separate product groups for personal computers, produced for different times and peoples. Yes, the same name includes Mobile - Windows Mobile , and Embedded - Windows Embedded Microsoft operating systems!



Apple, for example, was more honest with consumers, and everyone knows that Apple had only 2 families of Operating Systems for Personal Computers, which gradually changed one after another:

1. Apple MacOS is a classic system, with versions from 1.0 (1984) to MacOS 9.2.2 (2001);

2. Apple MacOS X is a new OS developed from NeXTstep + MacOS , running on the Darwin core (a system with a hybrid core XNU : created on the basis of the Mach microkernel and FreeBSD services), with versions from 10.0 (2001) to 10.6 (2009). ).



And Microsoft had 3 different (competing) families of Systems, which were very difficult to replace each other. And not all of them can be attributed to full-fledged Operating Systems, but at the same time they all fall into the category of Microsoft Windows (which is very confusing to users).

Initially, in 1985, MS Windows 1.0 was released - this is a Graphic Shell (window environment) that worked on top of the MS-DOS Operating System.

And it was the window environment that began to carry the uncomplicated name MS Windows !!!

1. The release of the MS Windows window environment spawned a whole family of products:

- MS Windows 1.0 (1985);

- MS Windows 2.0 (1987);

- MS Windows 3.x (1990 - 1994).

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2. The second family, which already looked more like a full-fledged Operating System, but retained the need to use the old MS-DOS OS - this is the MS Windows 9x OS family (1995 - 2000):

- MS Windows 95 (1995 - 1997);

- MS Windows 98 (1998-1999);

- MS Windows ME (2000).



3. The third family is already a full-fledged Operating System, which has taken many features and principles from OS DEC VMS (developed by a group of specialists led by David Cutler, which was transferred to Microsoft from DEC, where they developed VAX and VMS) - this MS Windows NT family (1993 - 2009):

- MS Windows NT 3.1 (1993);

- MS Windows NT 3.5 (1994);

- MS Windows NT 3.51 (1995);

- MS Windows NT 4.0 (1996);

- MS Windows 2000 (Windows NT 5.0 - 2000);

- MS Windows XP (Windows NT 5.1 - 2001);

- MS Windows Vista (Windows NT 6.0 - 2007);

- MS Windows 7 (Windows NT 6.1 - 2009).



A bit of history:

The numbering of the MS Windows NT operating system was originally built on marketing benefits.

And the first commercial version of MS Windows NT has already carried the number 3.1 (the version number of the mature product)

Although according to all the rules that had developed among the Soft developers, the number of the first commercial version should have been 1.0, or at least 1.1, but not like not 3.1!



The NT 3.1 number appeared due to the fact that, at the last moment, instead of the OS / 2 2.0 API, the MS-Windows 3.1 API, a windowed environment running on top of the MS-DOS 6.0 OS, was built into a completely new OS from Microsoft.



I still remember the release of MS Windows NT 3.1, it was then terribly damp, unfinished and terribly slow. Almost no one bought it, well, except for the sake of experiment.

For the most modern equipment in 1993 - intel 486DX-66 MHz, it was simply not imaginable braking and really working on it was not possible.



In 1994-95 MS Windows NT 3.5 appeared, and soon MS Windows NT 3.51 and at the same time more or less new computers on the Intel Pentium-100 MHz processor appeared on the market.

And here only MS Windows NT 3.51, provided that the most up-to-date equipment was used, it was possible to use it as an operating system (from time to time it was angry and spitting on its brakes).

I personally think that only MS Windows NT 3.51, released in 1995, could rightfully be Version Number 1.0, and before that all versions of Windows NT were most likely Alfa and Beta products :)



Well, and then, in 1996, MS Windows NT 4.0 appeared, which practically until 2001, some used as a working OS on their working (and not experimental, as it was before with NT versions) computer. Although she had problems, the main one being poor compatibility with the Software optimized for the OS of MS Windows `9x family, but it was a more stable OS.



Initially, all the first versions of MS Windows NT OS had a “public number” the same as the version number of the product, but in 2000 the real fair carousel with the names of the MS Windows NT family of OS began!



By the year 2000, Microsoft realized that most users successfully use the classic OS for the MS Windows `9x family, and the MS Windows NT family of people fell out of favor with the people for their unacceptable hardware requirements.

And Microsoft began to try to drag users, most of whom got stuck on the classic but hopeless MS Windows 98 OS to the new MS Windows NT OS family.

And this is where marketing came into play. Everything was done to ensure that users after MS Windows `98 purchased a computer with a preinstalled new MS Windows` 2000 OS, which by its name seemed to be a continuation of the MS Windows `9x family. But in fact, the MS Windows `9x family had nothing to do with, and under the beautiful name a new version was presented - version 5.0, which was unloved by the MS Windows NT operating system, and still very slow (for 2000 equipment) working, especially compared to MS Windows`98.



But the debut of MS Windows 2000 failed, because in the first release of MS Windows 2000 there were a lot of bugs and it was poorly compatible with the software written for the MS Windows `9x family.

In 2001, a version of Windows NT 5.1 appeared, which began to be marketed under the name MS Windows XP and gradually, thanks to the successful adaptation of the software to this OS, it gained popularity, in many respects also due to a sharp jump in the performance of computers and also to the fact that for new hardware Began to issue drivers compatible only with MS Windows XP and not suitable for MS Windows`98.



Then everyone knows the failures that have befallen MS Windows Vista - the OS with the new MS Windows NT 6.0 kernel - 2007.

And today, in 2009, Microsoft is offering us a new OS, MS Windows 7, which in its version numbering is MS Windows NT 6.1.

That is, this is a little updated and debugged MS Windows NT 6.0 - the same Vista :)

I think that just like when Windows XP (NT 5.1) once expected success after an unsuccessful Windows 2000 (NT 5.0), today MS Windows 7 will also have success and popularity among the people!

But I can’t understand one thing. Why was it called MS Windows “The Seventh”, when the version numbering on it is Windows NT 6.1?

Wouldn't it have been better to save this nice name for the next one - the real MS Windows NT 7.0, and now use some other name, and not knock down users from the panties :)



* "Shoot down the panties" - to confuse, confuse.