Tech Spotlight

This being the last day of the year, I decided on doing a little reminiscing on the Windows Operating System and take a brief look back how this virtually unknown company called Microsoft came into power with its dominant force called Windows.

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s Microsoft was known for developing Programming Languages.  After seeing the GUI (Graphical User Interface) of Apple’s software, Bill Gates and company set out on a mission to develop a similar OS which we all know as Windows.  Versions 1 and 2 of Windows were basically a flop, but in the year 1992, Windows 3.1 was released and caught on very quickly.

Major Windows versions and release dates:

1. 12/93 - Windows 3.11 For Workgroups
2. 08/95 - Windows 95
3. 07/96 - Windows NT 4.0
4. 06/98 - Windows 98
5. 05/99 - Windows 98 SE
6. 02/00 - Windows 2000
7. 09/00 - Windows ME
8. 10/01 - Windows XP
9. 04/03 - Windows Server 2003
10. 01/07 - Windows Vista
11. 07/07 - Windows Home Server
12. 02/08 - Windows Server 2008

Heading into the year 2009, we are on the cusp of getting a Public Beta version of Windows 7.  This next version of Windows has no release date as of yet, although it has been well talked about on the web of a probable release sometime in the Summer of 2009.