5 years ago today Windows XP was launched worldwide after it had RTM'd a month earlier.
It has been without a doubt the longest running operating system Microsoft has ever produced. Microsoft typically updated the client version of Windows every 2 years with Windows 95 being released in early 1996, the successive OSR updates until 1997 when Microsoft were hammered by anti-trust cases for bundling Internet Explorer 4.0 with Windows 95 OSR2, Windows '98 in 1998, Windows 98 Second Edition in 1999 and Windows Millennium in the February of 2000 after an extremely short beta cycle.
The flop that was Millennium was a last ditch attempt to salvage what was left of the outdated 16-bit legacy kernel, it was never at the top of Microsoft's comparison charts when Windows XP became available, they typically used Windows 98 SE as an example of how far the client version had come by switching to the proven NT kernel, offering for the first time the kind of stability only the industry had enjoyed with Windows 2000 Professional, the business workstation version of Windows.
Now, 5 years later Windows XP has been released with as many as 5 different flavors of which includes a 64-bit version and the latest version you can buy in the stores is Windows XP SP2b (an updated Service Pack 2 version). SP3 has been pushed back as far as 1H of 2008, long after its successor Windows Vista will be sitting on store shelves.
Less popular additions to the client version of Windows are WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) and "Activation" a technology that "calls home" and verifies the product key. Both of the above, like all previous versions of Windows however have been circumvented at least once and Microsoft continues to make it harder to pirate Windows and its other software packages. Lets hope Microsoft also goes as far as to "improve" its pricing after reeping the benefits of less pirating and more sales.
Link: Windows XP Website @ Microsoft | Neowin Forum Discussion
It has been without a doubt the longest running operating system Microsoft has ever produced. Microsoft typically updated the client version of Windows every 2 years with Windows 95 being released in early 1996, the successive OSR updates until 1997 when Microsoft were hammered by anti-trust cases for bundling Internet Explorer 4.0 with Windows 95 OSR2, Windows '98 in 1998, Windows 98 Second Edition in 1999 and Windows Millennium in the February of 2000 after an extremely short beta cycle.
The flop that was Millennium was a last ditch attempt to salvage what was left of the outdated 16-bit legacy kernel, it was never at the top of Microsoft's comparison charts when Windows XP became available, they typically used Windows 98 SE as an example of how far the client version had come by switching to the proven NT kernel, offering for the first time the kind of stability only the industry had enjoyed with Windows 2000 Professional, the business workstation version of Windows.
Now, 5 years later Windows XP has been released with as many as 5 different flavors of which includes a 64-bit version and the latest version you can buy in the stores is Windows XP SP2b (an updated Service Pack 2 version). SP3 has been pushed back as far as 1H of 2008, long after its successor Windows Vista will be sitting on store shelves.
Less popular additions to the client version of Windows are WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) and "Activation" a technology that "calls home" and verifies the product key. Both of the above, like all previous versions of Windows however have been circumvented at least once and Microsoft continues to make it harder to pirate Windows and its other software packages. Lets hope Microsoft also goes as far as to "improve" its pricing after reeping the benefits of less pirating and more sales.
Link: Windows XP Website @ Microsoft | Neowin Forum Discussion
Oh, I won't flame you - just disagree
Oh, I won't flame you - just disagree
such a refreshing change to have a reply that doesn't consist of immaturity
I think you would be more likely to be flamed if you attacked MacOS than Windows. Windows 'die-hard' fans are few and far, but that doesn't mean people still respect Windows - as most people first experienced a computer using Windows.
I for one think that Vista will be a success for MS. It's faster and nicer than XP and my RC2 has been brilliant. I installed it on my mothers PC during Beta 2 and have updated her PC to RC2 as well and she finds it very easy to navigate with NO problems. She might not be a big user, but she likes it better than XP and that counts for something, and she can now do more than before due to a simplified interface.
- Well, no one is forced to change.. People are still using Windows 95 or 98 till now..
Good comment. However, I don't think XP will remain the king for more than a year or so after Vista's release.
IMHO - with the Linux-style security features that have been implemented into Vista, it's MacOS-style prettyness and it's familiar XP-style interface, Vista will soon become the choice for most consumers.
Don't you mean long BEFORE its successor Windows Vista...?
Agreed. XP is well-established, well-liked, reliable, and has "matured" (as mentioned above). Service Pack 3 for XP could easily be released sometime in 2007, but Microsoft will be pushing Vista as hard as it can on consumers and businesses, and try to phase out XP as soon as possible. A shame. XP has been - and is - a good solid OS.
Windows 95 was RTM'd on August 24, 1995 and easily made the Christmas season store shelves...it was OPK1 that was released in early '96, and it was not available in shrinkwrap. OSR2 also was not shrinkwrapped, and it shipped in August of '96, not '97.
But more importantly, it's not exactly fair to compare NT operating systems to hybrid 16/32 operating systems when it comes to release cycles. If we are comparing only the oranges, NT4 was released mid-1996, and it was almost four years before we released NT5. WinXP (NT5.1) was a point release to NT5, which is why it took a little under two years for that release cycle...it was primarily built upon the work already done in NT5.
NT6 is headz-n-shoulderz above NT5.x in development and complexity. People complain how long five years has been, but what to keep in mind is that it was four years between NT4 and NT5. It takes time to develop such a complex true 32-bit OS, especially with all the latest standards and technologies that crop up every year. Yes, it's been publicly announced that a five-year cycle won't happen again, but my personal opinion is that NT has a more robust lifecycle than the Win9x systems, and XP has done an admirable job.
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