"including Photoshop and WinRAR, also performed worse under Vista. Many low-to-mid-end machines that come with Windows Vista pre-installed suffer from exceptionally slow performance with the default Vista settings that come pre-loaded, and laptop manufacturers have offered to ""downgrade"" laptops to Windows XP—for a price. However, this ""price"" is unnecessary, as Microsoft allows users of Windows Vista and Windows 7 to freely ""downgrade"" their software by installing XP and then phoning a Microsoft representative for a new product key. When first released in November 2006, Vista performed file operations such as copying and deletion more slowly than other operating systems. Large"
"successor to both Windows NT and Windows 3.1's replacement (Windows 95, codenamed Chicago), which would unify the two into one operating system. This successor was codenamed Cairo. In hindsight, Cairo was a much more difficult project than Microsoft had anticipated and, as a result, NT and Chicago would not be unified until Windows XP—albeit Windows 2000, oriented to business, had already unified most of the system’s bolts and gears, it was XP that was sold to home consumers like Windows 95 and came to be viewed as the final unified OS. Parts of Cairo have still not made it into"
"Windows Odyssey Windows Odyssey is a codename for a cancelled version of the Microsoft Windows operating system intended to succeed Windows 2000. It was later combined with Windows Neptune to create Windows XP. Windows Odyssey was intended to replace the business-oriented Windows 2000. Development began in the 1990s and was based on Windows 2000. The version number of Windows Odyssey is still unknown and unverified sources claim it as Windows NT 6.0. Features found in Windows Odyssey was the new Activity Center and the new user interface. However, due to high hardware requirements and because Windows Odyssey and the consumer-based"
"target of a number of high-profile virus attacks such as Code Red and Nimda. For ten years after its release, it continued to receive patches for security vulnerabilities nearly every month until reaching the end of its lifecycle on July 13, 2010. Windows 2000 is the last version of Microsoft Windows to display the ""Windows NT"" designation, and the last version where the desktop and server operating systems shared the same name. It is succeeded by Windows XP (released in October 2001) and Windows Server 2003 (released in April 2003). Windows 2000 is a continuation of the Microsoft Windows NT"
"of Microsoft Office to be compatible with Windows ME. Windows ME was a continuation of the Windows 9x model and still DOS-based like its predecessors, but with restricted access to real mode MS-DOS in order to decrease system boot time. In 2001, Windows XP was released and became Windows ME's successor, popularizing most of its features and introducing more visual themes. In 1998, Microsoft stated that there would be no version of Windows 9x after Windows 98. In May 1999, however, Microsoft released Windows 98 Second Edition, and then announced a new version of Windows 9x which was later revealed"
"widespread adoption of XP among both home and business users. Windows XP lasted longer as Microsoft's flagship operating system than any other version of Windows, from October 25, 2001 to January 30, 2007 when it was succeeded by Windows Vista. Windows XP is available in a number of versions: On April 25, 2003 Microsoft launched Windows Server 2003, a notable update to Windows 2000 Server encompassing many new security features, a new ""Manage Your Server"" wizard that simplifies configuring a machine for specific roles, and improved performance. It has the version number NT 5.2. A few services not essential for"
"Windows ME Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows ME (marketed with the pronunciation of the pronoun ""me"" and codenamed Millennium) is a graphical operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. It is the successor to Windows 98, and was released to manufacturing on June 19, 2000, and reached general availability on September 14, 2000. The last operating system released in the Windows 9x series, Windows ME was targeted specifically at home PC users, and included Internet Explorer 5.5, Windows Media Player 7, and the new Windows Movie Maker software, which provided basic video"
"Windows Neptune were based on the same codebase, Microsoft combined them to form codename ""Whistler"" which would later be Windows XP for efficiency. No version of Windows Odyssey was officially released. Confidential documents from the ""Comes vs. Microsoft"" case do state that Windows Odyssey was indeed under development. Windows Odyssey Windows Odyssey is a codename for a cancelled version of the Microsoft Windows operating system intended to succeed Windows 2000. It was later combined with Windows Neptune to create Windows XP. Windows Odyssey was intended to replace the business-oriented Windows 2000. Development began in the 1990s and was based on"
"Windows Aero, updated versions of the standard games (e.g. Solitaire), Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Mail to replace Outlook Express. Despite this, Windows Vista was critically panned for its poor performance on older hardware and its at-the-time high system requirements. Windows 7 followed two and a half years later, and despite technically having higher system requirements, reviewers noted that it ran better than Windows Vista. Windows 7 also removed many extra features, such as Windows Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Mail, instead requiring users download a separate Windows Live Essentials to gain those features and other online services."
"Windows Vista Windows Vista is an operating system that was produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs and media center PCs. Development was completed on November 8, 2006, and over the following three months, it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide and was made available for purchase and download from the Windows Marketplace. The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time"
"Windows Virtual PC Windows Virtual PC (successor to Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, Microsoft Virtual PC 2004, and Connectix Virtual PC) is a virtualization program for Microsoft Windows. In July 2006 Microsoft released the Windows version as a free product. In August 2006, Microsoft announced the Macintosh version would not be ported to Intel-based Macintosh computers, effectively discontinuing the product as PowerPC-based Macintosh computers are no longer manufactured. The newest release, Windows Virtual PC, does not run on versions of Windows earlier than Windows 7, and does not officially support MS-DOS or operating systems earlier than Windows XP Professional SP3 as"
"3 months later on October 22, 2009. Unlike its predecessor, 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. Windows 7 has multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell with an updated taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements. Windows 8, the successor to Windows 7, was released generally on October 26, 2012. A number of significant changes were made on Windows 8, including the"
"and remote controls), and the ""Tablet PC"" edition (designed for mobile devices meeting its specifications for a tablet computer, with support for stylus pen input and additional pen-enabled applications). Mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009. Extended support ended on April 8, 2014. After Windows 2000, Microsoft also changed its release schedules for server operating systems; the server counterpart of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, was released in April 2003. It was followed in December 2005, by Windows Server 2003 R2. After a lengthy development process, Windows Vista was released on November 30, 2006, for volume licensing"
"XP. This version of Microsoft Windows superseded Microsoft's earlier pen computing operating environment, Windows for Pen Computing 2.0. After releasing Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Microsoft designed the successive desktop computer versions of Windows, Windows Vista and Windows 7, to support pen computing intrinsically. Tablet PCs failed to gain popularity in the consumer space because of unresolved problems. The existing devices were too heavy to be held with one hand for extended periods, the specific software features designed to support usage as a tablet (such as finger and virtual keyboard support) were not present in all contexts, and there were"
"hardware and software on launch, changes affecting the compatibility of certain PC games, and unclear assurances by Microsoft that certain computers shipping with XP prior to launch would be ""Vista Capable"" (which led to a class action lawsuit), among other critiques. As such, adoption of Vista in comparison to XP remained somewhat low. In July 2007, six months following the public release of Vista, it was reported that the next version of Windows would then be codenamed Windows 7, with plans for a final release within three years. Bill Gates, in an interview with"" Newsweek"", suggested that Windows 7 would"
"family of operating systems, replacing Windows NT 4.0. The original name for the operating system was Windows NT 5.0 and its Beta 1 was released in September 1997, followed by Beta 2 in August 1998. On October 27, 1998, Microsoft announced that the name of the final version of the operating system would be Windows 2000, a name which referred to its projected release date. Windows 2000 Beta 3 was released in January 1999. NT 5.0 Beta 1 was similar to NT 4.0, including a very similar themed logo. NT 5.0 Beta 2 introduced a new 'mini' boot screen, and"
"Windows 98 Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis) is a graphical operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. It is the successor to Windows 95, and was released to manufacturing on May 15, 1998, and to retail on June 25, 1998. Like its predecessor, Windows 98 is a hybrid 16-bit and 32-bit monolithic product with the boot stage based on MS-DOS. The startup sound for Windows 98 was composed by Microsoft sound engineer Ken Kato, who considered it to be a ""tough act to follow"". Windows 98 was succeeded by Windows 98 Second Edition"
"and NVIDIA provided full Vista-compatible ICDs. However, hardware overlay is not supported, because it is considered as an obsolete feature in Vista. ATI and NVIDIA strongly recommend using compositing desktop/Framebuffer Objects for same functionality. Windows Vista is the first Microsoft operating system: Some notable Windows XP features and components have been replaced or removed in Windows Vista, including several shell and Windows Explorer features, multimedia features, networking related functionality, Windows Messenger, NTBackup, the network Windows Messenger service, HyperTerminal, MSN Explorer, Active Desktop, and the replacement of NetMeeting with Windows Meeting Space. Windows Vista also does not include the Windows XP"
"January 30, 2007. Windows Vista intended to have enhanced security by introducing a new restricted user mode called User Account Control, replacing the ""administrator-by-default"" philosophy of Windows XP. Vista was the target of much criticism and negative press, and in general was not well regarded; this was seen as leading to the relatively swift release of Windows 7. One major difference between Vista and earlier versions of Windows, Windows 95 and later, is that the original start button was replaced with the Windows icon in a circle (called the Start Orb). Vista also features new graphics features, the Windows Aero"
"runs on Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51, and Windows NT 4.0. Version 3.0 was included in Windows 95 OSR2, but Windows 98 launched with IE4. Major Microsoft's OS releases after Windows 98, switched to supporting Internet Explorer 4 (or higher). Internet Explorer 3 had a Beta supporting Solaris (UNIX). IE4 integration with the OS meant systems that upgraded from Internet Explorer 3 to 4.0, or came with 4.0, could not easily revert to IE3 (see Removal of Internet Explorer). The Mac OS version supported PPC and 68k Macs, superseding IE 2.1. Microsoft released various 16- and 32-bit versions"
"Windows 7 Windows 7 is a personal computer operating system that was produced by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009 and became generally available on October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, was released at the same time. Windows 7 was primarily intended to be an incremental upgrade to Microsoft Windows, intended to address Windows Vista's poor critical reception while maintaining hardware and software compatibility. Windows 7 continued improvements on"
"span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows desktop operating systems. New features of Windows Vista include an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Aero, a new search component called Windows Search, redesigned networking, audio, print and display sub-systems, and new multimedia tools such as Windows DVD Maker. Vista aimed to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and media between computers and devices. Windows Vista included version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without traditional Windows APIs. Microsoft's primary stated objective with"
"the NT series. On February 17, 2000, Microsoft released Windows 2000, a successor to NT 4.0. The Windows NT name was dropped at this point in order to put a greater focus on the Windows brand. The next major version of Windows NT, Windows XP, was released on October 25, 2001. The introduction of Windows XP aimed to unify the consumer-oriented Windows 9x series with the architecture introduced by Windows NT, a change which Microsoft promised would provide better performance over its DOS-based predecessors. Windows XP would also introduce a redesigned user interface (including an updated Start menu and a"
"replace DOS. After AT&T began selling Unix, Microsoft and IBM began developing OS/2 as an alternative. The two companies later had a series of disagreements over two successor operating systems to DOS, OS/2 and Windows. They split development of their DOS systems as a result. The last retail version of MS-DOS was MS-DOS 6.22; after this, MS-DOS became part of Windows 95, 98 and Me. The last retail version of PC DOS was PC DOS 2000 (also called PC DOS 7 revision 1), though IBM did later develop PC DOS 7.10 for OEMs and internal use. The FreeDOS project began"
"to over 630 million licenses by July 2012. As of December 2018, about 36% of computers running Windows are running Windows 7. Originally, a version of Windows codenamed ""Blackcomb"" was planned as the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 in 2000. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed ""Longhorn,"" was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb. By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for"
"""Whistler"", which would serve as a single OS platform for both consumer and business markets. As such, Windows XP was the first consumer edition of Windows not to be based on MS-DOS. Upon its release, Windows XP received generally positive reviews, with critics noting increased performance and stability (especially in comparison to Windows ME), a more intuitive user interface, improved hardware support, and expanded multimedia capabilities. However, some industry reviewers were concerned by the new licensing model and product activation system. Extended support for Windows XP ended on April 8, 2014, after which the operating system ceased receiving further support"
"32-bit applications with backward compatibility – leading the way for more successful NT release. After multiple delays, Windows 95 was released without unicode and used the VxD driver model. Windows NT 3.1 evolved to Windows NT 3.5, 3.51 and then 4.0 when it finally shared a similar interface with its Windows 9x desktop counterpart and included a Start button. The evolution continued with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, then Windows 7. Windows XP and higher were also made available in 64-bit modes. Windows server products branched off with the introduction of Windows Server 2003 (available in 32-bit and 64-bit"
"Windows Live Mail Windows Live Mail (formerly named Windows Live Mail Desktop, code-named Elroy) is a discontinued freeware email client from Microsoft. It is the successor to Windows Mail on Windows Vista, which was the successor to Outlook Express on Windows XP. It is designed to run on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows 8, and is also compatible with Windows 10. The first version of Windows Live Mail was released on 6 November 2007. The Windows Live Mail version numbering starts at 12 because this application is an advancement of Windows Mail, not an entirely new application."
"which was first introduced with Windows 98, but was based on the NT driver model. Windows Vista added native support for the Windows Driver Foundation, which is also available for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and to an extent, Windows 2000. Microsoft decided to create a portable operating system, compatible with OS/2 and POSIX and supporting multiprocessing, in October 1988. When development started in November 1989, Windows NT was to be known as OS/2 3.0, the third version of the operating system developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM. To ensure portability, initial development was targeted at the Intel i860XR RISC"
"ran several functional tests that succeeded on MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS, but resulted in a technical support message on competing operating systems. If the system was not MS-DOS, the installer would fail. Digital Research, who owned DR-DOS, released a patch within weeks to allow the installer to continue. Microsoft disabled, but did not remove, this warning message for the final release of Windows 3.1. When Caldera bought DR-DOS from Novell, they brought a lawsuit against Microsoft over the AARD code, which was later settled. Windows 3.x was superseded by the release of Windows 95 in August 1995. Microsoft officially"
"98 and Windows ME. Windows ME was the last in the line of the Windows 3.x-based operating systems from Microsoft. Windows underwent a parallel 32-bit evolutionary path, where Windows NT 3.1 was released in 1993. Windows NT (for New Technology) was a native 32-bit operating system with a new driver model, was unicode-based, and provided for true separation between applications. Windows NT also supported 16-bit applications in an NTVDM, but it did not support VxD based drivers. Windows 95 was supposed to be released before 1993 as the predecessor to Windows NT. The idea was to promote the development of"
"superseded by Windows 3.0 in May 1990, but supported by Microsoft for twelve years, until December 31, 2001. Windows 2.1x Windows 2.1x (marketed as Windows/286 and Windows/386) is a family of Microsoft Windows graphical user interface-based operating environments. Windows/286 2.10 and Windows/386 2.10 were released on May 27, 1988, less than six months after the release of Windows 2.0 although there were versions of Windows/386 as early as version 2.01 in September 1987 slightly before Windows 2.0 in December 1987. These versions can take advantage of the specific features of the Intel 80286 and Intel 80386 processors. A hard disk"
"stress testing of the system, and automatic detection of many serious errors in drivers."" InformationWeek summarized the release ""our tests show the successor to NT 4.0 is everything we hoped it would be. Of course, it isn't perfect either."" Wired News later described the results of the February launch as ""lackluster."" Novell criticized Microsoft's Active Directory, the new directory service architecture, as less scalable or reliable than its own Novell Directory Services (NDS) alternative. Windows 2000 was first planned to replace both Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 However, this changed later. Instead, an updated version of Windows 98 called"