Time line
A family tree of operating systems created by Microsoft. This time line is neither complete or comprehensive. For example, Windows Server and Windows Embedded families are left out.
This is a list of Microsoft written and published operating systems. For the codenames that Microsoft gave their operating systems, see Microsoft codenames. For another list of versions of Microsoft Windows, see, List of Microsoft Windows versions.
| Name | Date of release | Update version |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 | 2015-07-29 | RTM (10240) |
| Windows 10 (1511) | 2015-11-10 | November (1511) |
| Windows 10 (1607) | 2016-08-02 | Anniversary (1607) |
| Windows Server 2016 | ||
| Windows 10 (1703) | 2017-04-05 | Creators (1703) |
| Windows 10 (1709) | 2017-10-17 | Fall Creators (1709) |
| Windows Server (1709) | ||
| Windows 10 (1803) | 2018-04-30 | April 2018 (1803) |
| Windows Server (1803) | ||
| Windows 10 (1809) | 2018-11-13 | October 2018 (1809) |
| Windows Server (1809) | ||
| Windows Server 2019 | ||
| Windows 10 (1903) | 2019-05-21 | May 2019 (1903) |
| Windows Server (1903) | ||
| Windows 10 (1909) | 2019-11-12 | November 2019 (1909) |
| Windows Server (1909) | ||
| Windows 10 (2004) | 2020-05-27 | May 2020 (2004) |
| Windows Server (2004) | ||
| Windows 10 21H2 | 2021-10-05 | October 2021 (21H2) |
| Windows 11 (2021) | ||
| Windows Server 2022 |
| Name | Date of release |
|---|---|
| Windows Phone 7 | 2010 |
| Windows Phone 8 | 2012 |
| Windows Phone 8.1 | 2014 |
| Version | Date of release |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1987 |
| 1.1 | 1988 |
| 1.2 | 1989 |
| 1.3 | 1990 |
Operating systems by Microsoft | |
|---|---|
| Desktop / Server | |
| Mobile | |
| Embedded / IoT | |
| Network | |
| Others | |
Microsoft Windows is a product line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and sub-families that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry – Windows (unqualified) for a consumer or corporate workstation, Windows Server for a server and Windows IoT for an embedded system. Windows is sold as either a consumer retail product or licensed to third-party hardware manufacturers who sell products bundled with Windows.
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became highly influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windows, and the company has since expanded to Internet services, cloud computing, video gaming and other fields. Microsoft is the largest software maker, one of the most valuable public U.S. companies, and one of the most valuable brands globally.
In computing, cross-platform software is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software requires a separate build for each platform, but some can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, being written in an interpreted language or compiled to portable bytecode for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all supported platforms.
A computing platform, digital platform, or software platform is the infrastructure on which software is executed. While the individual components of a computing platform may be obfuscated under layers of abstraction, the summation of the required components comprise the computing platform.
Microsoft is a multinational computer technology corporation. Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Its current best-selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system; Microsoft Office, a suite of productivity software; Xbox, a line of entertainment of games, music, and video; Bing, a line of search engines; and Microsoft Azure, a cloud services platform.
Microsoft engineering groups are the operating divisions of Microsoft. Starting in April 2002, Microsoft organised itself into seven groups, each an independent financial entity. In September 2005, Microsoft announced a reorganization of its then seven groups into three. In July 2013, Microsoft announced another reorganization into five engineering groups and six corporate affairs groups. A year later, in June 2015, Microsoft reformed into three engineering groups. In September 2016, a new group was created to focus on artificial intelligence and research. On March 29, 2018, a new structure merged all of these into three.
A mobile operating system is an operating system used for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical/mobile laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on them are usually not considered mobile, as they were originally designed for desktop computers that historically did not have or need specific mobile features. This "fine line" distinguishing mobile and other forms has become blurred in recent years, due to the fact that newer devices have become smaller and more mobile, unlike the hardware of the past. Key notabilities blurring this line are the introduction of tablet computers, light laptops, and the hybridization of the two in 2-in-1 PCs.
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft Mobile for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design language. Unlike Windows Mobile, it was primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market.
An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the computer itself. Complex software designed for use on a personal computer, for example, may have a related app designed for use on a mobile device. Today apps are normally designed to run on a specific operating system—such as the contemporary iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux or Android—but in the past mobile carriers had their own portals for apps and related media content.
Microsoft mobile services are a set of proprietary mobile services created specifically for mobile devices; they are typically offered through mobile applications and mobile browser for Windows Phone platforms, BREW, and Java. Microsoft's mobile services are typically connected with a Microsoft account and often come preinstalled on Microsoft's own mobile operating systems while they are offered via various means for other platforms. Microsoft started to develop for mobile computing platforms with the launch of Windows CE in 1996 and later added Microsoft's Pocket Office suite to their Handheld PC line of PDAs in April 2000. From December 2014 to June 2015, Microsoft made a number of corporate acquisitions, buying several of the top applications listed in Google Play and the App Store including Acompli, Sunrise Calendar, Datazen, Wunderlist, Echo Notification Lockscreen, and MileIQ.
The Nokia Asha platform is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for low-end borderline smartphones, based on software from Smarterphone which was acquired by Nokia. The platform inherits UI similarities mostly from MeeGo "Harmattan", and replaced Series 40 on Nokia's low-end devices. The user interface design team was headed by Peter Skillman, who had worked previously on webOS and the design of MeeGo for the Nokia N9.
The Nokia X platform was a Linux-based mobile operating system and software platform originally developed by Nokia, and subsequently by Microsoft Mobile. Introduced on 24 February 2014, it was forked from Android and used on all the devices of the Nokia X family. It was also the next Nokia Linux project after the ill-fated MeeGo.
Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft Mobile. First released in 2015, it is the successor to Windows Phone 8.1, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an edition of its PC operating system Windows 10.
Azure Sphere is an application platform with integrated communications and security features developed and managed by Microsoft for Internet Connected Devices.
Comparison of user features of operating systems refers to a comparison of the general user features of major operating systems in a narrative format. It does not encompass a full exhaustive comparison or description of all technical details of all operating systems. It is a comparison of basic roles and the most prominent features. It also includes the most important features of the operating system's origins, historical development, and role.
