Windows XP History Introduction Windows XP was originally brought into being as an operating system which would combine the

best features of the latest business operating system of the time, Windows 2000, which by then was quite mature and evolved, having had a few years of use in the business community, and Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), which was far and away the most robust version of a home-use operating system prior to XP. In today's computing environment, Windows XP can be useful for both small business and home users by making system problem recovery and digital media transfer easier. It also features history and Service Pack 2 features a better security for the user. Many users prefer to remain with Windows XP, rather than upgrade to the latest Microsoft Operating system, Windows Vista History Windows XP came into being around the year 2000/2001. It came as a logical progression from Windows 98 SE for many users although it had a look and feel about it much like Windows 2000 Professional. XP was originally brought into being as an operating system which would combine the best features of the latest business operating system, Windows 2000, which by then was quite mature and evolved, having had a few years of use in the business community, and Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), which was far and away the most robust version prior to XP. To say that Windows Millenium (ME) was any more than a cut-down version of Windows 2000 Professional would hide some of the inherent problems in that O/S. In fact it stands out from the others, rather like the version of MS-DOS known as version 4.00 (four point oh oh.) See Windows for a more detailed description of all the Microsoft Windows operating systems. It should be noted that now there are more flavors of Windows in place than ever before, with the introduction of Windows Vista. But there are basically three versions of Windows XP. The two other versions, (apart from Windows XP Professional) are: Windows_XP_Home and Windows_XP_Media_Center_Edition.

And all of these three are designed around the same O/S, Windows_XP, and accommodate the NTFS file system, designed by Helen Custer. (See the Wikipedia article on NTFS and its author, Helen Custer). A more rugged version of Windows XP was launched later with the introduction of Service Pack 2. This added basic security with the introduction of the Windows Firewall and other lock-downs, and support for more multi-media hardware. It provides enhanced security measures that have hopefully improved defenses against viruses, worms and hackers, along with increased manageability and an improved experience for users. In addition to security and bug fixes, it changed many default settings to improve security, but it may have also created some problems for users because of the increased security. Nevertheless, Windows XP Professional is a software product which a lot of users prefer over the latest version, Windows Vista, which introduced still more security features along with the enhanced visual effects.

Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed byMicrosoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops,laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename "Longhorn."[4] Development was completed on November 8, 2006; 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,[5] and was made available for purchase and download from Microsoft's website.[6] The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor,Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows desktop operating systems. It was succeeded by Windows 7 which was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and for the general public on October 22, 2009. Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updatedgraphical user interface and visual style dubbed Aero, a redesigned search function, multimedia tools including Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peerto-peer technology to simplify sharing files and media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without traditional Windows APIs. Microsoft's primary stated objective with Windows Vista has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system.[7] One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors is their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide "Trustworthy Computing initiative" which aims to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft stated that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.
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While these new features and security improvements have garnered positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted its high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights managementtechnologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with some pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Windows Vista had seen initial adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP.[9] However, with an estimated 330 million

Internet users as of January 2009, it had been announced that Vista usage had surpassed Microsofts pre-launch two-year-out expectations of achieving 200 million users.[10][11] At the release of Windows 7 (October 2009), Windows Vista (with approximately 400 million Internet users) was the second most widely used operating system on the Internet with an approximately 18.6% market share, the most widely used being Windows XP with an approximately 63.3% market share.[12] As of the end of May 2010, Windows Vista's market share estimates range from 15.26% to 26.04%.[13][14]\\\\\ Windows Vista system requirements[55]

Vista Capable

Vista Premium Ready

Processor

800 MHz[64]

1 GHz1

Memory

512 MB

1 GB

Graphics card

DirectX 9.0 capable

DirectX 9.0 capable and WDDM 1.0 driver support

Graphics memory

32 MB

128 MB

HDD capacity

20 GB

40 GB

HDD free space

15 GB

Other drives

DVD-ROM

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, and media centers. It was first released in August 2001, and is currently one of the most popular versions ofWindows. The name "XP" is short for "eXPerience."[3]

Windows XP is the successor to both Windows 2000 and Windows Me, and is the first consumeroriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on theWindows NT kernel and architecture. Windows XP was released for retail sale on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006, according to an estimate in that month by an IDC analyst.
[4]

It was succeeded by Windows Vista, which was released to volume license customers on November

8, 2006, and worldwide to the general public on January 30, 2007. Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on June 30, 2008. Microsoft continued to sell XP through their System Builders (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) program until January 31, 2009.[5][6] XP may continue to be available as these sources run through their inventory or by purchasing Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Pro, Windows Vista Ultimate or Windows Vista Business, and then downgrading to Windows XP.[7][8] The most common editions of the operating system are Windows XP Home Edition, which is targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which offers additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and is targeted at power users, business and enterprise clients. Windows XP Media Center Edition has additional multimedia features enhancing the ability to record and watch TV shows, view DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is designed to run stylus applications built using the Tablet PCplatform. Windows XP was eventually released for two additional architectures, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for IA-64 (Itanium) processors and Windows XP Professional x64 Editionfor x86-64. There is also Windows XP Embedded, a component version of the Windows XP Professional, and editions for specific markets such as Windows XP Starter Edition. By mid 2009, a manufacturer revealed the first Windows XP powered cellular telephone.[9] The NT-based versions of Windows, which are programmed in C, C++, andassembly,[10] are known for their improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows.[11][12] Windows XP presents a significantly redesignedgraphical user interface, a change Microsoft promoted as more userfriendly than previous versions of Windows. A new software management facility called Side-by-Side Assembly was introduced to ameliorate the "DLL hell" that plagues 9x versions of Windows.[13][14] It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat illegal copying, a restriction that did not sit well with some users[who?] and privacy advocates[who?]. Windows XP has also been criticized by some users for security vulnerabilities, tight integration of applications such as Internet Explorer 6 andWindows Media Player, and for aspects of its

default user interface. Later versions with Service Pack 2, Service Pack 3, and Internet Explorer 8 addressed some of these concerns. During development, the project was codenamed "Whistler", after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort.[15] As of the end of August 2010, Windows XP is the most widely used operating system in the world with a 53.1% market share, having peaked at 76.1% in January 2007.[16] System requirements for Windows XP Home and Professional editions as follows:[34] Minimum Recommended

Processor

233 MHz[1]

300 MHz or higher

Memory

64 MB RAM[2]

128 MB RAM or higher

Video adapter and monitor

Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution

1.5 GB or higher Hard drive disk free space (additional 1.8 GB in Service Pack 2[35] and additional 900 MB in Service Pack 3[36])

Drives

CD-ROM drive or DVD drive

Input devices

Keyboard. Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Sound

Sound card. Speakers or headphones

Windows 7 is the latest release of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systemsproduced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and businessdesktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, and media center PCs.[4] Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009,[5] and reached general retail availability on October 22, 2009,[6] 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. 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 is already compatible.
[7]

Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows and performance improvements. Some standard applications that have been included with prior

Shell with a newtaskbar, referred to as the Superbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,
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releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are not included in Windows 7;[9][10] most are instead offered separately at no charge as part of theWindows Live Essentials suite.[11] Microsoft has published the minimum specifications for a system to run Windows 7.[112] Requirements for the 32-bit version are similar to that of premium editions of Vista, but are higher for 64-bit versions. Microsoft has released an upgrade advisor that determines if a computer is compatible with Windows 7.

Minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7[112]

Architecture Processor Memory (RAM) HDD free space Optical drive 32-bit 1 GHz 32-bit processor 1 GB 16 GB of free disk space 64-bit 1 GHz 64-bit processor 2 GB 20 GB of free disk space

Graphics Card DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM driver model 1.0 (For Aero) DVD drive (only to install from DVD/CD Media)

Service packs
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) was announced on March 18, 2010 and is currently in development. A beta was released on July 12, 2010.[115][116][117] Microsoft confirmed that the service pack is to be on a much smaller scale than those released for previous versions of Windows, particularly Windows Vista.
[118]

On April 7, 2010, a build of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 dated from March 27, 2010 was leaked onto torrent sites.[119][120] The leaked service pack has a build number of 6.1.7601.16537.