MA XIMUMPC NOVEMBER 20051990 1991 1992 1993
April 1992: Microsoft
releases Windows 3.1January 1992: Microsoft releases Windows for Pen
Computing, the company’s first attempt at a tablet OS1990 to 1994
WINDOWS FOR
WORKGROUPS (3.11)
Microsoft did one better on Windows 3.1 with
Windows for Workgroups, the fi rst version of
Windows to introduce relatively simple fi le and print
sharing without the need for third-party software,
cementing Windows as a true offi ce operating sys-
tem. Note WfW lacked native TCP/IP support, as
the Internet (and it’s native protocol) weren’t of con-
cern to the mass market yet. 286 support is totally
cut off in this revision as more components of the
OS are migrated to a dedicated 32-bit architecture.
(No 386? No Windows for Workgroups for you!)WINDOWS NT 3.51
Because of NT’s hefty system
requirements for a personal
operating system (at a time
when memory cost about
$100 per MB, NT 3.5 required
12MB), NT 3.5’s advances
were overlooked by all but a
select group of workstation
users and server jockeys.
Some key components of XP’s Administrative Tools—notably the disk partition-
ing tool and the performance monitor—were present in a form XP users would
recognize as early as NT 3.5. Microsoft added support for the PowerPC in this
version because Intel still didn’t have a lock on the desktop CPU market.WINDOWS 95
The promise of the fi rst decade
of development was fi nally
fulfi lled with Windows 95,
which combined backward-
compatibility with DOS and
Windows 3.x applications with
an icon-adorned Desktop, an
application dock, and an inte-
grated TCP/IP stack. At long
last, the 8.3-character fi lename
limit was gone. Plug-and-play
hardware detection made its
fi rst appearance, but it didn’t really work very well. Nevertheless, the Start menu
and Taskbar fi nally exposed Windows’ multitasking capabilities to all users, and
the fi rst modern version of Windows was born. After the DirectX gaming libraries
were added to Win95, the OS replaced DOS as the premier PC gaming platform.WINDOWS NT 4.0
NT 3.x was designed to look like Windows 3.x, but
the Windows 95 graphical shell was actually designed
fi rst for NT—Windows 95 simply beat NT 4.0 to mar-
ket, so NT 4 looks like the “copycat.” This operating
system was primarily intended for workstation use,
although some opportunities for mirth and merriment
were provided courtesy of DirectX 3. Hardware driver
support, which had been a problem for NT since the
beginning, continues with this version. Even though
NT4 has the Win95 look and feel, the control panel
remained a frightening place for novices—it’s just one
long list of operating system services, sans the handy
and helpful Device Manager.WINDOWS 95 OSR2
Before Service Packs, there were OSRs
(OEM Service Releases), and OSR2
was the fi rst time Microsoft had to
scramble to catch up to the rest of the
PC industry. The three key improve-
ments in OSR2 were the introduction
of the FAT32 fi lesystem (which fi nally
enabled hard drive partitions of more
than 2GB), Internet Explorer 3.0, and
the fi rst real attempt at USB support.
Nobody would mistake it for the basically painless plug-and-play of XP, but at least
hot-plugging was a hypothetical possibility now for Win95 users. Unlike modern
service packs, OSR2 was diffi cult to get unless you bought a new PC—as the
name implies, it was up to PC builders to supply it to customers.March 1993: Intel releases
the first PentiumJuly 1993: Microsoft releases
Windows NT 3.1, the first public version of NTMarch 1994: Microsoft releases MS-DOS
6.22, the last stand-alone version of DOS
1994 199538
1990 to 1994
Happy Birthday, Windows!
March 1990: New Zealand Navy dis-
continues daily ration of rum for troops