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Early history: an expansion of MS-DOS

Main articles:Windows 1.0,Windows 2.0, andWindows 2.1x

Early Windows logo

The first independent version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released on 20 November1985, achieved little popularity. It was originally going to be called "Interface Manager" butRowland Hanson, the head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that the name would be more appealing to consumers. Windows 1.0 was not a complete operatingsystem, but rather an "operating environment" that extendedMS-DOS, and shared the latter'sinherent flaws and problems. The first version of Microsoft Windows included a simple graphicspainting program calledWindows Paint,Windows Write, a simpleword processor, anappointment "calendar", a "cardfiler", a "Microsoftnotepad", a "clock", a "control panel", a"computerterminal", "Clipboard", andRAMdriver. It also included theMS-DOS Executiveanda game calledReversi.

Microsoft had worked withApple Computerto develop severalDesk Accessoriesand otherminor pieces of software that were included with earlyMacintoshsystem software. As part of therelated business negotiations, Microsoft had licensed certain aspects of the Macintosh userinterface from Apple; in later litigation, a district court summarized these aspects as "screendisplays". In the development of Windows 1.0, Microsoft intentionally limited its borrowing ofcertain GUI elements from the Macintosh user interface, in order to comply with its license.

For example, windows were only displayed "tiled" on the screen; that is, they could not overlapor overlie one another. There was no trash can icon with which to delete files, since Appleclaimed ownership of the rights to that paradigm.

Microsoft Windows version 2 came out on 9 December 1987, and proved slightly more popularthan its predecessor. Much of the popularity forWindows 2.0came by way of its inclusion as a"run-time version" with Microsoft's new graphical applications,ExcelandWord for Windows.They could be run from MS-DOS, executing Windows for the duration of their activity, andclosing down Windows upon exit.

Microsoft Windows received a major boost around this time whenAldusPageMakerappeared ina Windows version, having previously run only onMacintosh. Some computer historians datethis, the first appearance of a significant andnon-Microsoft application for Windows, as thebeginning of the success of Windows.

Versions 2.0x used thereal-modememorymodel, which confined it to a maximum of 1megabyteof memory. In such a configuration, it could run under another multitasker likeDESQview, which used the286Protected Mode.

Later, two new versions were released:Windows/2862.1 andWindows/3862.1. Like previousversions of Windows, Windows/286 2.1 used the real-mode memory model, but was the firstversion to support the "High Memory Area|HMA". Windows/386 2.1 had a protected mode

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kernel withLIM-standard EMSemulation, the predecessor toXMSwhich would finally changethe topology ofIBMPC computing. All Windows and DOS-based applications at the time werereal mode, running over the protected mode kernel by using the virtual8086mode, which wasnew with the 80386 processor.

Version 2.03, and later 3.0, facedchallenges from Appleover its overlapping windows and otherfeatures Apple charged mimicked the ostensibly copyrighted "look and feel" of its operatingsystem and "embodie[d] and generated a copy of the Macintosh" in its OS. JudgeWilliamSchwarzerdropped all but 10 of Apple's 189 claims of copyright infringement, and ruled thatmost of the remaining 10 were over uncopyrightable ideas.

[edit] Success with Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0 screenshot.Main article:Windows 3.0

Microsoft Windows scored a significant success with Windows 3.0, released in 1990. In additionto improved capabilities given to native applications, Windows also allowed users to bettermultitaskolder MS-DOS based software compared to Windows/386, thanks to the introductionofvirtual memory.

Windows 3.0's user interface was finally a serious competitor to the user interface of theMacintoshcomputer. PCs had improved graphics by this time, due toVGAvideo cards, and theProtected/Enhanced mode allowed Windows applications to use more memory in a morepainless manner than their DOS counterparts could.Windows 3.0could run in Real, Standard, or386 Enhanced modes, and was compatible with any Intel processor from the8086/8088up to the80286and80386. This was the first version to run Windows programs in protected mode,

although the 386 enhanced modekernelwas an enhanced version of the protected mode kernel inWindows/386.

A "multimedia" version, Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions 1.0, was released severalmonths later. This was bundled with "multimedia upgrade kits", comprising aCD-ROM driveand asound card, such as theCreative LabsSound Blaster Pro. This version was the precursor tothe multimedia features available inWindows 3.1and later, and was part of Microsoft'sspecification for theMultimedia PC.

The features listed above and growing market support from application software developersmade Windows 3.0 wildly successful, selling around 10 million copies in the two years before

the release of version 3.1. Windows 3.0 became a major source of income for Microsoft, and ledthe company to revise some of its earlier plans.

[edit] A step sideways: OS/2

OS/2 logoMain article:OS/2

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Microsoft also released Windows 3.11, a touch-up to Windows 3.1 which includes all of thepatches and updates that followed the release of Windows 3.1 in 1992. Around the same time,Microsoft released Windows for Workgroups (WfW), available both as an add-on for existingWindows 3.1 installations and in a version that included the base Windows environment and thenetworking extensions all in one package. Windows for Workgroups includes improved network

drivers and protocol stacks, and support for peer-to-peer networking. One optional download forWfW was the "Wolverine" TCP/IP protocol stack, which allowed for easy access to the Internetthrough corporate networks. There are two versions of Windows for Workgroups, WfW 3.1 andWfW 3.11. Unlike the previous versions, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 only runs in 386Enhanced mode, and requires at least an80386SX processor.

All these versions continued version 3.0's impressive sales pace. Even though the 3.1x series stilllacked most of the important features of OS/2, such as long file names, a desktop, or protectionof the system against misbehaving applications, Microsoft quickly took over the OS and GUImarkets for theIBM PC. TheWindows APIbecame the de-facto standard for consumersoftware.

Meanwhile Microsoft continued to develop Windows NT. The main architect of the system wasDave Cutler, one of the chief architects ofVMSatDigital Equipment Corporation(laterpurchased byCompaq, now part ofHewlett-Packard).[1]Microsoft hired him in August 1988 tocreate a successor to OS/2, but Cutler created a completely new system instead. Cutler had beendeveloping a follow-on toVMSatDECcalled Mica, and when DEC dropped the project hebrought the expertise and around 20 engineers with him to Microsoft. DEC also believed hebrought Mica's code to Microsoft and sued.[2]Microsoft eventually paid $150 million U.S. andagreed to support DEC'sAlphaCPU chip in NT.

Windows NT 3.1 (Microsoft marketing wanted Windows NT to appear to be a continuation of

Windows 3.1) arrived in Beta form to developers at the July 1992Professional DevelopersConferenceinSan Francisco.[3]Microsoft announced at the conference its intentions to develop asuccessor to both Windows NT and Windows 3.1's replacement (code-named Chicago), whichwould unify the two into one operating system. This successor was codenamedCairo. Inhindsight, Cairo was a much more difficult project than Microsoft had anticipated and, as aresult, NT and Chicago would not be unified untilWindows XP. Parts of Cairo have still notmade it into Windows as of 2009 - specifically, theWinFSfile system, which was the muchtouted Object File System of Cairo. Microsoft announced that they have discontinued theseparate release of WinFS for Windows XP and Windows Vista[4]and will gradually incorporatethe technologies developed for WinFS in other products and technologies, notablyMicrosoftSQL Server.

Driver support was lacking due to the increased programming difficulty in dealing with NT'ssuperior hardware abstraction model. This problem plagued the NT line all the way throughWindows 2000. Programmers complained that it was too hard to write drivers for NT, andhardware developers were not going to go through the trouble of developing drivers for a smallsegment of the market. Additionally, although allowing for good performance and fullerexploitation of system resources, it was also resource-intensive on limited hardware, and thuswas only suitable for larger, more expensive machines.

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However, these same features made Windows NT perfect for theLANserver market (which in1993 was experiencing a rapid boom, as office networking was becoming common). NT also hadadvanced network connectivity options and the efficientNTFSfile system. Windows NT version3.51 was Microsoft's entry into this field, and took away market share from Novell (the dominantplayer) in the following years.

One of Microsoft's biggest advances initially developed for Windows NT was a new 32-bit API,to replace the legacy 16-bitWindows API. This API was calledWin32, and from then onMicrosoft referred to the older 16-bit API asWin16. The Win32 API had three mainimplementations: one for Windows NT, one forWin32s(which was a subset of Win32 whichcould be used on Windows 3.1 systems), and one for Chicago. Thus Microsoft sought to ensuresome degree of compatibility between the Chicago design and Windows NT, even though thetwo systems had radically different internal architectures. Windows NT was the first Windowsoperating system based on a hybrid kernel.

[edit] Windows 95

Windows 95 LogoWindows 95 screenshot.Main article:Windows 95

AfterWindows 3.11, Microsoft began to develop a new consumer oriented version of theoperating system code-named Chicago. Chicago was designed to have support for 32-bitpreemptive multitasking like OS/2 and Windows NT, although a 16-bit kernel would remain forthe sake of backward compatibility. The Win32APIfirst introduced with Windows NT wasadopted as the standard 32-bit programming interface, with Win16 compatibility being preservedthrough a technique known as"thunking". A new GUI was not originally planned as part of the

release, although elements of the Cairo user interface were borrowed and added as other aspectsof the release (notably Plug and Play) slipped.

Microsoft did not change all of the Windows code to 32-bit; parts of it remained 16-bit (albeitnot directly usingreal mode) for reasons of compatibility, performance and development time.Additionally it was necessary to carry over design decisions from earlier versions of Windowsfor reasons of backwards compatibility, even if these design decisions no longer matched a moremodern computing environment. These factors eventually began to impact the operating system'sefficiency and stability.

Microsoft marketing adoptedWindows 95as the product name for Chicago when it was released

on August 24, 1995. Microsoft had a double gain from its release: first it made it impossible forconsumers to run Windows 95 on a cheaper, non-Microsoft DOS; secondly, although traces ofDOS were never completely removed from the system, and a version of DOS would be loadedbriefly as a part of thebootingprocess, Windows 95 applications ran solely in 386 EnhancedMode, with a flat 32-bit address space andvirtual memory. These features make it possible forWin32 applications to address up to 2gigabytesof virtual RAM (with another 2GB reserved forthe operating system), and in theory prevented them from inadvertently corrupting the memoryspace of other Win32 applications. In this respect the functionality of Windows 95 moved closer

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toWindows NT, although Windows 95/98/ME did not support more than 512megabytesofphysical RAM without obscure system tweaks.

IBMcontinued to market OS/2, producing later versions in OS/2 3.0 and 4.0 (also called Warp).Responding to complaints about OS/2 2.0's high demands on computer hardware, version 3.0

was significantly optimized both for speed and size. Before Windows 95 was released, OS/2Warp 3.0 was even shipped preinstalled with several large German hardware vendor chains.However, with the release of Windows 95, OS/2 began to lose market share.

It is probably impossible to choose one specific reason why OS/2 failed to gain much marketshare. While OS/2 continued to run Windows 3.1 applications, it lacked support for anything buttheWin32ssubset of Win32 API (see above). Unlike with Windows 3.1, IBM did not haveaccess to the source code for Windows 95 and was unwilling to commit the time and resources toemulate the moving target of the Win32 API. IBM also introduced OS/2 into theUnited States v.Microsoftcase, blaming unfair marketing tactics on Microsoft's part, but many people[who?]would probably agree that IBM's own marketing problems and lack of support for developers

contributed at least as much to the failure.

[original research?]

Microsoft went on to release five different versions of Windows 95:

Windows 95 - original release Windows 95 A - included Windows 95 OSR1slipstreamedinto the installation. Windows 95 B - (OSR2) included several major enhancements,Internet Explorer(IE) 3.0

and fullFAT32file system support. Windows 95 B USB - (OSR2.1) included basicUSBsupport. Windows 95 C - (OSR2.5) included all the above features, plus IE 4.0. This was the last

95 version produced.

OSR2, OSR2.1, and OSR2.5 were not released to the general public, rather, they were availableonly toOEMsthat would preload the OS onto computers. Some companies sold new hard driveswith OSR2 preinstalled (officially justifying this as needed due to the hard drive's capacity).

The firstMicrosoft Plus!add-on pack was sold for Windows 95.

[edit] Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT logoMain article:Windows NT 4.0

Microsoft released Windows NT 4.0, which features the new Windows 95 interface on top of theWindows NT kernel. (a patch was available for developers to make NT 3.51 use the new UI, butit was quite buggy[citation needed]).

Windows NT 4.0 came in four versions:

Windows NT 4.0 Workstation

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Windows NT 4.0 Server Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition (includes support for 8-waySMPand

clustering) Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server

[edit] Windows 98

Windows 98 logoWindows 98 screenshot.Main article:Windows 98

On 25 June 1998, Microsoft released Windows 98, which was widely regarded as a minorrevision of Windows 95[citation needed], but generally found to be more stable and reliable than its1995 predecessor. It included new hardware drivers and better support for theFAT32file systemwhich allows support for disk partitions larger than the 2 GB maximum accepted by Windows95. TheUSBsupport in Windows 98 is far superior to the token, unreliable support provided by

theOEMeditions of Windows 95. It also controversially integrated theInternet Explorerbrowser into the Windows GUI and Windows Explorer file manager, prompting the opening oftheUnited States v. Microsoftcase, dealing with the question of whether Microsoft was abusingits hold on the PC operating system market to unfairly compete with companies such asNetscape.

In 1999, Microsoft released Windows 98 Second Edition, an interim release whose most notablefeature was the addition ofInternet Connection Sharing, which was a form ofnetwork addresstranslation, allowing several machines on a LAN (Local Area Network) to share a singleInternetconnection. Hardware support through device drivers was increased. Many minor problemspresent in the original Windows 98 were found and fixed which make it, according to many[who?],

the most stable release ofWindows 9xfamily.

[edit] Windows 2000

Windows 2000 logoWindows 2000 screenshot.Main article:Windows 2000

Microsoft released Windows 2000, known during its development cycle as Windows NT 5.0, inFebruary 2000. It was successfully deployed both on the server and the workstation markets.Amongst Windows 2000's most significant new features wasActive Directory, a near-completereplacement of the NT 4.0 Windows Server domainmodel, which built on industry-standardtechnologies likeDNS,LDAP, andKerberosto connect machines to one another.TerminalServices, previously only available as a separate edition of NT 4, was expanded to all serverversions. A number of features from Windows 98 were incorporated as well, such as animproved Device Manager,Windows Media Player, and a revisedDirectXthat made it possiblefor the first time for many modern games to work on the NT kernel. Windows 2000 is also thelast NT-kernel Windows operating system to lackProduct Activation.

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kipedia.org/wiki/Netscapehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsofthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_equipment_manufacturerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USBhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Tablehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_98http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Microsoft_Windows&action=edit&section=7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clusteringhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetric_multiprocessing

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While Windows 2000 upgrades were available for Windows 95 and Windows 98, it was notintended for home users.[5]It lacked device drivers for many common consumer devices such asscanners and printers[citation needed].

Windows 2000 was available in six editions:

Windows 2000 Professional Windows 2000 Server Windows 2000 Advanced Server Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Windows 2000 Advanced Server Limited Edition Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Limited Edition

[edit] Windows Millennium Edition (Me)

Windows Me logo

Main article:Windows Me

In September 2000, Microsoft introduced Windows Me (Millennium Edition), which upgradedWindows 98 with enhanced multimedia and Internet features. It also introduced the first versionofSystem Restore, which allowed users to revert their system state to a previous "known-good"point in the case of system failure. System Restore was a notable feature that made its way intoWindows XP. The first version ofWindows Movie Makerwas introduced as well.

Windows Me was conceived as a quick one-year project that served as a stopgap release betweenWindows 98 and Windows XP. Many of the new features were available from theWindowsUpdate siteas updates for older Windows versions, (System Restore and Windows Movie Maker

were exceptions). As a result, Windows Me was not acknowledged as a unique OperatingSystem along the lines of 95 or 98. Windows Me was widely criticised[who?] for serious stabilityissues, and for lackingreal modeDOS support, to the point of being referred to as the "MistakeEdition" or Me meaning "Many Errors". Windows Me was the last operating system to be basedon the Windows 9x (monolithic) kernel andMS-DOS. It is also the last 32-bit release ofMicrosoft Windows which does not include Product Activation.

[edit] Windows XP

The Windows logo, redesigned with the release of Windows XP, used until 4 December 2006.

Windows XPscreenshot - showing the Sample Pictures folder, Sample Music folder, andControl Panel, with the blueLunascheme andBlissdesktop.Main article:Windows XP

See also:Features new to Windows XP

In 2001, Microsoft introduced Windows XP (code named "Whistler"). The merging of theWindows NT/2000 and Windows 95/98/Me lines was finally achieved with Windows XP.Windows XP uses the Windows NT 5.1kernel, marking the entrance of the Windows NT core to

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the consumer market, to replace the aging 16/32-bit branch. The initial release met withconsiderablecriticism, particularly in the area ofsecurity, leading to the release of three majorService Packs. Windows XP SP1 was released in September 2002, SP2 came out in August,2004 and SP3 came out in April, 2008. Service Pack 2 provided significant improvements andencouraged widespread adoption of XP among both home and business users. Windows XP

lasted longer than any other version of Windows, from 2001 to 2007 whenWindows Vistawasreleased to consumers. The Windows XP line of operating systems was succeeded by WindowsVista on January 30, 2007.

Windows XP is available in a number of versions:

Windows XP Home Edition, for home desktops andlaptops(notebooks)o Windows XP Home Edition N, as above, but without a default installation of

Windows Media Player, as mandated by aEuropean Unionruling Windows XP Professional, for business and power users

o Windows XP Professional N, as above, but without a default installation ofWindows Media Player, as mandated by a European Union ruling

Windows XP Media Center Edition(MCE), released in November 2002 for desktops andnotebooks with an emphasis on home entertainment

o Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003o Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004o Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, released on 12 October 2004.

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, fortablet PCs(PCs withtouch screens)o Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

Windows XP Embedded, for embedded systems Windows XP Starter Edition, for new computer users in developing countries Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, released on 25 April 2005 for home and

workstation systems utilizing 64-bit processors based on thex86-64instruction setdeveloped by AMD as AMD64; Intel calls their version Intel 64

Windows XP 64-bit Edition, is a version for Intel'sItaniumline of processors; maintains32-bit compatibility solely through a software emulator. It is roughly analogous toWindows XP Professional in features. It was discontinued in September 2005 when thelast vendor of Itanium workstations stopped shipping Itanium systems marketed as"Workstations".

o Windows XP 64-bit Edition 2003, based on the Windows NT 5.2 codebase.

[edit] Windows Server 2003

Main article:Windows Server 2003

On 24 April 2003 Microsoft launched Windows Server 2003, a notable update toWindows 2000Serverencompassing many newsecurityfeatures, a new "Manage YourServer" wizard thatsimplifies configuring a machine for specific roles, and improved performance. It has the versionnumber NT 5.2. A few services not essential for server environments are disabled by default forstability reasons, most noticeable are the "Windows Audio" and "Themes" services; Users haveto enable them manually to get sound or the "Luna" look as per Windows XP. The hardware

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acceleration for display is also turned off by default, users have to turn the acceleration level upthemselves if they trust the display card driver.

December 2005, Microsoft released Windows Server 2003 R2, which is actually WindowsServer 2003 with SP1 (Service Pack1) plus anadd-onpackage. Among the newfeaturesare a

number of management features for branch offices, file serving, printing and company-wideidentity integration.

Windows Server 2003 is available in six editions:

Web Edition (32-bit) Standard Edition (32 and 64-bit) Enterprise Edition (32 and 64-bit) Datacenter Edition (32 and 64-bit) Small Business Server (32 and 64-bit) Storage Server (OEM channel only)

[edit] Thin client: Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs

Main article:Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs

In July 2006, Microsoft released athin-clientversion of Windows XP Service Pack 2, calledWindows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs(WinFLP). It is only available toSoftware Assurancecustomers. The aim of WinFLP is to give companies a viable upgrade option for older PCs thatare running Windows 95, 98, and Me that will be supported with patches and updates for thenext several years. Most user applications will typically be run on a remote machine usingTerminal Services orCitrix.

[edit] Windows Home Server

Main article:Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server (codenamed Q, Quattro) is a server product based onWindows Server2003, designed for consumer use. The system was announced on January 7, 2007 byBill Gates.Windows Home Server can be configured and monitored using a console program that can beinstalled on a client PC. Such features as Media Sharing, local and remote drive backup and file

duplication are all listed as features.

[edit] Windows Vista

Windows Vistalogo

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Windows Vista, showing its new Aero Glass interface, Welcome Center and Start menu.Main article:Windows Vista

See also:Features new to Windows VistaandDevelopment of Windows Vista

The current client version of Windows,Windows Vista(codenamed Longhorn) was released on

30 November 2006[1]to business customers, with consumer versions following on 30 January2007. Windows Vista intended to have enhanced security by introducing a new restricted usermode calledUser Account Control, replacing the "administrator-by-default" philosophy ofWindows XP. Vista also features new graphics features, theWindows AeroGUI, newapplications (such asWindows Calendar, Windows DVD Maker and some new games includingChess,Mahjong, andPurble Place)[6], a revised and more secure version ofInternet Explorer, anew version ofWindows Media Player, and a large number of underlying architectural changes.

Windows Vista ships inseveral editions:[7]

Starter (only available in developing countries) Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise (only available to large businesses and enterprises) Ultimate (combines both Home Premium and Enterprise)

All editions (except Starter edition) are currently available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.The biggest advantage of the 64-bit version is breaking the 4 gigabyte memory barrier, which 32-bit computers cannot fully access. In the first year after Vista's release, most installations werestill 32-bit, due to poor driver support of the 64-bit version.

[edit] Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008, released on 27 February 2008, was originally known as Windows ServerCodename "Longhorn". Windows Server 2008 builds on the technological and security advancesfirst introduced with Windows Vista, and is significantly more modular than its predecessor,Windows Server 2003. At theProfessional Developers Conference(PDC) 2008, MicrosoftannouncedWindows Server 2008 R2, as the server variant ofWindows 7. Windows Server 2008R2 will ship in 64-bit (x64andItanium) only.

Windows Server 2008 is available in ten editions:

Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition (32-bit and 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (32-bit and 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition (32-bit and 64-bit) Windows HPC Server 2008 Windows Web Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit) Windows Storage Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit) Windows Small Business Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)

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Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems Windows Server 2008 Foundation Server

[edit] Windows 7

This article or section contains information aboutcomputer softwarecurrentlyin

development, based on publicly available builds of it. Information about it may changeas the final release approaches and more information becomes available.

Windows 7logoMain article:Windows 7

See also:Features new to Windows 7

Windows 7 is the next major release after Windows Vista and is planned for a three-yeardevelopment timeframe.[8]It was previously known by the code-names Blackcomb and Vienna.

Some features of Windows 7 are faster boot-up, Device Stage,Windows PowerShell, lessobtrusive User Account Control, multi-touch, improved window management, homegroupnetworking, multiple thumbnails for combined taskbar buttons, and better power managementfor notebooks. Features included with Windows Vista and not in the Windows 7 ReleaseCandidate include the sidebar (although gadgets remain) and several programs that wereremoved in favor of downloading theirWindows Livecounterparts.

On February 3, 2009, Microsoft announced that Windows 7 would ship in six editions:[2]

Starter (available worldwide with new PCs only) Home Basic (only available to emerging markets) Home Premium Professional Enterprise (only available to volume-license business customers only) Ultimate (available to retail market with limited availability to OEMs)

Microsoft will focus on selling Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional. All editions, exceptthe Starter edition, will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. According to PaulThurrott, news editor for Windows IT Pro Magazine, Microsoft plans to ship Windows 7 in2009.

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