Microsoft recently held a press conference with the theme "Learn what's next" in New York. The company launched a lightweight version of the "Windows 10 S" operating system for educational applications at this conference. System's Surface Laptop product.
It should be said that Microsoft, which started from operating system software, has now transformed into the world's top technology giant integrating hardware, software, physical stores, and the research and development of cutting-edge technologies including AR/VR. Among them, the company's ace operating system Windows for many years may be the product we are most familiar with. Let us take advantage of the opportunity of the release of the "Windows 10 S" operating system to briefly review the "Chronicle of 30 Years of Changes in the Windows Operating System":
1985, Windows 1.0
Windows 1.0 is Microsoft's first attempt to implement a user graphical interface for the personal computer operating platform, and it is also the first Windows operating system version released by Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft originally planned to name the product "Interface Manager", but ended up naming it "Windows" because of the way its software was displayed.
Windows 1.0 was based on the MS-DOS operating system, which was not actually an operating system itself, at most it was based on application software running under pure DOS at that time. However, the advent of Windows 1.0 essentially heralded the end of the era of the DOS operating system.
1987, Windows 2.0
On December 9, 1987, Microsoft released Windows 2.0 with desktop icons and expanded memory. Windows 2.0 is designed for the Intel 286 processor, taking full advantage of the Intel 286 processor's increased processing speed, expanded memory, and inter-application communication capabilities brought about by dynamic data exchange technology. Enhanced graphics support in Windows 2.0 allows users to overlay windows, control screen layout, and use key combinations to quickly access Windows functions. Also, many Windows developers wrote their first Windows applications for this generation of systems.
1990, Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0 was released on May 22, 1990. Due to the huge improvements in interface, humanization, and memory management, it was affirmed by consumers and had a very high user utilization rate. It is reported that within 2 weeks of the initial release of Windows 3.0, its sales exceeded 10 million copies. After that, Microsoft struck while the iron was hot and released a multilingual version of Windows 3.0 in October 1991, which played a major role in the promotion of Windows in non-English-speaking countries.
The last version of Windows 3.x was Windows 3.2 released in 1994, and this version only has a simplified Chinese version. A year later, Windows 95 was released, and Windows 3.x was replaced by Windows 95/98, but it was the perfect transition of Windows 3.x in the graphical interface that made Microsoft become the king of desktop operating systems. road.
1995, Windows 95
On August 24, 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95 with the Rolling Stones' deafening "Start Me Up" at the press conference. Windows 95, the successor to Windows 3.x, dropped support for the previous generation of 16-bit x86 and brought a more powerful, more stable, and more usable desktop GUI. That year, Microsoft spent $300 million just to advertise Windows 95.
For example, the launch site of Windows 95 was a 12-acre sports field on the campus of the University of Redmond. More than 70,000 people around the world watched the launch through satellite broadcasts, and the subsequent media coverage was overwhelming.
It should be pointed out that Microsoft's production of the Chinese version of Windows 95 is also meticulously crafted and strives for perfection. According to sources, Microsoft has invested a total of nearly 100,000 people per hour in the process of developing the Chinese version of Windows 95, and distributed more than 6,000 sets of test versions for users to test and solicit suggestions. Compared with the previous Chinese versions of Windows, the Chinese version of Windows 95 is the Chinese version with the largest investment by Microsoft, the longest continuous development time, and the shortest time difference between the English version and the English version.
Today, Windows 95 is one of Microsoft's most successful operating systems.
1998, Windows 98
Windows 98 is a desktop operating system launched by Microsoft when the Internet ushered in great development. The company called Windows 98 "the first software system really aimed at consumers", including "plug and play", desktop fast The launch bar and auto-playing CDs are both new features of this system.
Although from the current point of view, Windows 98 has simple functions and ugly interface, but at that time, Windows 98 was a god-like existence. It improved many shortcomings of Win 95 and laid a good foundation for the later launch of Windows XP. .
2000, Windows ME
Windows Me (Windows Millennium Edition) is a 16-bit/32-bit mixed Windows operating system, released by Microsoft Corporation on September 14, 2000. Its name has three meanings. The first is to commemorate the year 2000. Me means Millennium in English. Also refers to yourself, Me means "I" in English. In addition, Me also has the meaning of multimedia application, multimedia English is Multimedia.
Windows Me, though, may be the least advertised in the Windows franchise of all time. Although Microsoft added multimedia services such as Windows Movie Maker to it, and was the first operating system to have Windows Recovery built in. However, Windows Me has been criticized for being cumbersome to install at the beginning of its launch, so its installation chances have been very limited.
2001, Windows XP
As soon as Windows XP was launched, it was well-received for the aesthetic design of its user interface. David Pogue, a well-known technology columnist in the New York Times, even wrote in an opinion piece at the time: "The same as its predecessor. You'll definitely hear less criticism of Windows XP than that."
Even now, using the built-in Windows XP operating system still provides users with a smooth experience. On April 8, 2014, Microsoft's Windows XP system, which had been in service for 13 years, was officially "retired". Although the system can still be used, Microsoft will no longer provide official service support.
But what many people don't expect is that as a 15-year-old operating system, the tenacity of vitality is unbelievable. Even almost three years after it was abandoned by Microsoft, it is still a favorite, and its market share is actually increasing. According to the latest data from NetMarketShare, a world-renowned technology data research company, in December 2016, Windows XP had a global share of 9.07%, still the third largest desktop system in the world. Moreover, this figure was 0.44 percentage points higher than the previous November, and 0.80 percentage points higher than that in October, achieving two consecutive increases for the first time in recent years.
2005, Windows Vista
It took Microsoft five years to successfully develop Windows Vista, the next-generation operating system for Windows XP, but unexpectedly, it was a disaster for Microsoft no matter how you looked at it.
The kernel version number of Windows Vista is Windows NT 6.0. On July 22, 2005, Microsoft announced Windows Vista as the name of this new operating system. On January 30, 2007, it was officially sold to ordinary users. Windows Vista adds hundreds of new features over the previous version, Windows XP, including a new graphical user interface called "Aero", an enhanced search function (Windows Indexing Service), new media creation tools, and a redesigned Network, audio, output and display subsystems.
Windows Vista had high hopes by Microsoft, but because it was too radical, many places were not mature enough, especially the hardware coordination was not in place, resulting in an unsatisfactory experience. In addition, Windows Vista has been criticized since its inception in 2007 due to its high hardware requirements and compatibility issues. On July 12, 2011, Microsoft terminated support for Service Pack 1; on April 10, 2012, Microsoft terminated mainstream technical support for Windows Vista; on April 11, 2017, Microsoft officially terminated all its technical support.
2009, Windows 7
When Windows 7 came out in 2009, the operating system was well received by the outside world. The US technology media CNET even said: "This (Windows 7) is what Windows Vista should look like!" Until now, Windows 7 is still widely used by enterprises and consumers.
According to the Windows Lifecycle Chart published by Microsoft, the company will end support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. In fact, Windows 7 has passed the stage of mainstream support and is currently in an extended support state, that is, Microsoft will only fix major bugs and push security updates for Windows 7.
2012, Windows 8
Windows 8 is a revolutionary operating system officially launched by Microsoft on October 26, 2012. The system's unique Metro start interface and touch-sensitive interactive system are designed to make people's daily computer operations easier and faster, and provide People provide an efficient and accessible work environment. At the same time, it is also an operating system for the way a tablet operates. However, Windows 8 was criticized after its launch due to its overly complex user interface and lack of a Start Menu.
It should be pointed out that Windows Vista has always been recognized as Microsoft's failure, but sadly it actually has a higher share than Windows 8. Take the comparison of the two products in the same promotion period, Windows Vista has a market share of 4.52%, while Windows 8 has only 2.67%.
In January last year, Microsoft officially stopped technical support for the Windows 8 operating system, so the latter can be described as the shortest-lived operating system in history.
2015, Windows 10
Windows 10 is a new generation of cross-platform and device application operating system developed by Microsoft. It is also the last independent Windows version released by Microsoft. The next generation of Windows will appear as an update. Compared to Microsoft's previous pre-release operating systems, Windows 10 has drastically reduced the development phase. The system has been in public beta since October 1, 2014, and Windows 10 has only gone through two development stages: Technical Preview (Technical Preview) and Insider Preview (Internal Preview).
On the evening of July 13, 2015, Microsoft announced the official release of Windows 10 on July 29, 2015, and revealed the joint activities of thousands of retailers, including Microsoft's own channels, global advertising and fan celebrations, and A new year-long project called "Upgrade Your World" was released with detailed plans.
According to the latest statistics from Net Market Share, Microsoft's Windows 10 share has reached 26.28%, an increase of nearly 1% from the 25.36% share in March. And according to the plan, many enterprise users will deploy the Windows 10 system by the end of this year. This also means that there is still a lot of room for growth in the Windows 10 system in the future.