Short essay on Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of graphical interface operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Microsoft.

Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal computer market with over 90% market share, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984.

The most recent client version of Windows is Windows 8; the most recent mobile client version is Windows Phone 8; the most recent server version is Windows Server 2012.

Windows XP, Vista and 7

Microsoft then moved to combine their consumer and business operating systems with Windows XP that was released on October 25, 2001. It came both in home and professional versions (and later niche market versions for tablet PCs and media centers); they also diverged release schedules for server operating systems. Windows Server 2003, released a year and a half after Windows XP, brought Windows Server up to date with Windows XP. After a lengthy development process, Windows Vista was released on November 30, 2006 for volume licensing and January 30, 2007 for consumers. Its server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 was released in early 2008. On July 22, 2009, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 were released as RTM (release to manufacturing) while the former was released to the public 3 months later on October 22, 2009.

Windows 8

Windows 8, the successor to Windows 7, was released to the market on 26 October 2012. Windows 8 has been designed to be used on both tablets and the conventional PC. The Microsoft Surface tablet was released alongside Windows 8, as a competitor to the Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. It has been announced by Microsoft that Windows Surface will be available in two editions - one for the typical end user, and a Professional edition aimed at designers and other work-based users. Windows 8 was released to manufacturing on 1 August 2012, with a build of 6.2.9200.