Windows turned 25 last month, and there have been a lot of highlights during that time. Let’s remember some of the best of Windows over the last years.
Windows XP
This may well be the most loved version of Windows of all time — so much so that even though it was introduced back in 2001, XP remains the dominant version of Windows on PCs, and will be so for quite some time.
In XP Microsoft also revamped the Windows interface, giving it a more contemporary look, and added features including animated windows and background themes.
Windows 7
Microsoft recovered from the fiasco of Windows Vista with Windows 7. Windows 7 fixed many of Vista’s shortcomings, including hardware incompatibilities and upgrade problems. It enhanced the taskbar, and added useful navigation shortcuts known as Aero Peek, Aero Snap and Aero Shake. It’s more stable than Vista. Some people believe that it’s the operating system that Vista should have been.
Windows Phone 7
Strictly speaking, despite the “Windows” name in the title, this isn’t really Windows. It’s a completely different code, and a completely different operating system. But it’s been designed from the ground up to work with desktop Windows and extensions of Windows that Microsoft is moving to the cloud. So you can consider it, in a way, as an extension of Windows itself.
Microsoft’s mobile attempts before Windows Phone 7 were not particularly successful, and it ceded the entire Smartphone market to Apple and Android Phones. With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft finally has a competitor. Whether it can catch up remains to be seen. But at least now it’s in the race.
Do you have something to add about the history of Windows?
