On the eve of the Windows 7 launch, we’ve been doing some reminiscing, but it hit us: There have been way more than six uniquely named prior versions of Windows. So how does Microsoft count?
1, 2 and 3: These were the original DOS-based Windows that started it all. Windows 3.1 is the first version I remember (and even that only vaguely).
4: Windows 4.0 includes Windows 95, 98, ME and NT 4.0.
5: Windows 2000 and all the flavours of Windows XP.
6: The oft-maligned Windows Vista (and Windows Server 2008).
And that brings us to Windows 7. What a long, strange trip it’s been. [Wikipedia]
ThePengwin
October 22, 2009 at 11:51 AM
95 / 98 / me were DOS branches. they had nothing to do with the NT kernel.
The best thing they ever did was drop the 9x family. Win2000 should have replaced what ME was, but i guess most users just waited for XP.
Report PermalinkBernie
October 22, 2009 at 2:08 PM
WIndows 95/98 and ME were DOS based, but they were version 4. The version number is important when determining which API set you can use. The original NT was also version 4. Version numbers were somewhat dependant on platform.
Report PermalinkPlatform WIN32_NT:
4.0 NT
5.0 2000
5.1 XP
5.2 Server 2003, or XP
6.0 Vista
Platform WIN32_WINDOWS
4.0 95
4.10 98
4.90 ME
Bernie
October 22, 2009 at 1:49 PM
You’ve forgotten Windows for Workgroups (WFW) 3.11 It was quite different from 3.1 and used the VM architecture that was eventually used for Windows 95. It was probably Microsofts first decent version of Windows. It was reliable and snappy.
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