The Evolution Of Microsofts Windows Computer Science Essay

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The Microsoft operating system has seen many changes from past three decades. From Microsoft’s Disc operating system (DOS) introduced in 1981 to windows 8 introduced in 2012, Microsoft operating system got changed completely. What began as a hard to use and understand text only operating system with MS-DOS, it excogitate into a complete graphical user-friendly interface (GUI) with windows 8. With the changes in computer hardware, software connecting to the user too needed to be changed. Microsoft’s operating systems have excogitate and changed greatly with the progression of computer systems.

When Microsoft introduced MS-DOS in 1981, users didn’t found it a user friendly product. It was difficult to use since it was text based operating system. Bill gates saw the popularity of Apple’s Lisa and Macintosh or MAC computers which uses GUI interface and was more user friendly so in 1983 Microsoft announced their next generation operating system which will provide a GUI and a multi tasking environment for IBM computers. With the release of Windows 1.0, Microsoft entered the GUI market of operating systems to cater the needs of users who wanted an operating system easy to use and good graphic support. Microsoft Windows 1.0 was a 16-bit graphical operating environment, developed by Microsoft Corporation and released on November 20, 1985. It was Microsoft's first attempt to implement a multi-tasking graphical user interface-based operating environment on the PC platform that runs on MS-DOS. It was the first version of Windows launched and the first commercially available GUI (Graphical user Interface) operating system from Microsoft Corporation by Bill Gates.

Window 1 was a graphical representation of MS-DOS. It used original drivers for video cards and used HGA/EGA/CGA for better graphic support. With the introduction of Windows 1.03 it had support for AT & T and Tandy graphic mode support. It was a 16 bit operating system with which it can process data and memory addresses which are represented by 16 bits. In it user can run more than a program at a time as Windows 1.0 supported multitasking but the multitasking feature was limited. In Windows 1.0 all the applications were supposed to handle memory via Windows Memory Management which actualizes a software-based virtual memory scheme allowing for applications larger than available RAM. Windows 1.0 requires MS-DOS 2.0, a DOS environment to operate since it was a graphical version of DOS. It features new programs as Calendar, Cardfile, Calculator, Notepad, Paint, Write, Terminal and clock. It requires minimum of 256 KB RAM, hard drives or two double sided disk drives and graphic adaptor card to run in a desktop. Windows 1.0 came up with a good change in MS-DOS but still it had various limitations which include usage of MS-DOS to operate its operations. It offered the feature of multitasking and graphic support but it was extremely limited and was slow to use. In Windows 1.0 overlapping of Windows was not allowed, instead windows got tiled.

Microsoft developed Windows 1.0 to give competition to Apple’s Lisa computer and Macintosh but it failed to do that, so Microsoft came up with an improved operating system in 1987 which proved slightly more popular than its predecessor i.e. Windows 1.0. The new operating system made windows based computers represent more like a Mac. It had icons to symbolize programs and files, better support for expandable-memory hardware and windows that could overlap. It required MS-DOS

version 3.0, 512 KB of RAM or more, Graphic adaptor card and a hard disk or two double sided disk drives to run Windows 2.0.

Windows 2.0 came up with many changes in Windows 1.0. With the release of Windows 2.0 users can overlap windows instead of windows getting tiled. It featured expanded memory support with the use of LIM version 4.0. With the support of Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) Windows 2.0 made inter-application communication capabilities possible. It provided better graphic support with the inclusion of VGA graphics. It was fast in use with the use of Intel 286/386 processor. Windows 2.0 for screen fonts included revised.FON format, NEWFON.EXE for changing 1.x font format to 2.x format. With the release of its other versions 2.1 and 2.11, it provided good support for additional printers, computers, and apple talk. It provided faster printing options and updated printer drivers and featured graphical applications, MS-Word and MS-Excel with its run time version. It came up with many changes in Windows 1.0 but it still did not attract many users. The user interface of Windows 2.0 was still not better than MAC and it needed improvement in Windows icon and applications.

Microsoft Corporation trying their best to compete with Apple’s Mac came up with another improved version of windows operating system, Windows 3.0. In 1990, Microsoft made their 3rd major release with Windows 3.0 which offered better accomplishment, advanced graphics with 16 colors & support of Intel 386 processor. It was the first successful version of windows operating system. With the release of Windows 3.1, it became the best operating system for Graphical User Interface and it made Microsoft the most successful company. It required 8086/8088 processor or better, 384 KB of free conventional memory, Hard Disk with 6-7 MB free space and MS-DOS version 3.1 or higher to run. It also required CGA/EGA/VGA/Hercules/8514/A graphics and an appropriate and compatible monitor for good graphic support. It was the only window which can run in different modes: real mode, protected modes require more.

Windows 3.0 had significantly revived user interface with technical improvements for the better use of memory management with Intel 80286 and 80386 processor. The MS-DOS Executive file manager in Windows was changed with icon based program manager and list base file manager. It included protected/enhanced mode which allowed applications to use more memory and it was faster than any previous windows version. In 1991, Microsoft released Windows 3.0 with multimedia extension requires 2 MB of RAM, CD-ROM with audio support and 30 MB of Hard drive and was compatible with 80386 sx or dx IBM. With new Windows 3.0 with multimedia extension Microsoft made several changes in previous Windows 3.0, which included introduction to various accessories which were MPC alarm clock, sound recorder, media player. It was only available in OEM hardware and new drivers were included to connect with specific hardware. With introduction to media extension in Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extension, Media Control Interface was included. Control panel in it was more enhanced, which now includes screen savers, joystick control, event based sound control, driver installer, video driver icon and MIDI mapping control. In Windows 3.x, use of 64k segment acted as a handicap for it, applications were restricted to use a specific space and if it doesn’t it overwrites the segment leading to crashing of application and stopping the surrounding processes.

In the era of fax/modems, emails, bright multimedia games, the new online world and educational software, Microsoft wanted such an operating system with which user can make use of each and every facilities available to them and they came with Windows 95. It required Intel 80386 DX CPU of any speed was needed to run Windows 95 with minimum of 4Mb of RAM was required, Hard disk space of 50-55 MB. Windows 95 can support max of 480 MB of RAM and it did not required MS-DOS to be installed beforehand. When it was released 80% of computers of that time were running on previous windows versions or MS-DOS, 16-bit application and device drivers with more stability and better performing system. Windows 95 can easily be upgraded from them and upgraded versions were available both in floppy disks and CD-ROM formats. It had virtual device drivers which were responsible for controlling physical device including network and video cards. It used three important virtual device drivers which included Virtual Machine Manager, Configuration Manager and Installable File System Manager. Virtual Machine Manager was considered as a Kernel of Windows 95 which was responsible for memory management, scheduling of threads, new virtual machines creation and event and interrupt handling, Configuration Manager was responsible for executing Plug and Play features and Installable File System Manager was responsible for concluding various file system.

Windows 95 was very user friendly which included TCP/IP stack report, Dial up networking. It supported long file name support which featured new plug and play capabilities which makes easy to install hardware and software. It was a 32-bit operating system which offers better multimedia capabilities and more powerful features for mobile computing. Win32 API was implemented by Kernel, User and GDI each consisting of 16-bit and 32-bit component. Kernel was responsible for windows high level access to applications such as memory management and process management. User was responsible for managing and drawing various user interface management and GDI for drawing graphics. In it, 32-bit applications were assigned their space and they could use any size space without crashing that application which happened with the removal of 64k segment. It provides better file and print support with faster printing and disk/file access and was faster and provide better system stability. Despite the features of dial up networking and plug and play, it had few limitations which were with File and printer sharing there is a security hole for NetWare networks which affected data security for users. It uses easily cracked 32-bit key to store passwords in PWL file and in compare to Windows NT and OS/2 warp system protection is considered weak against buggy applications. On most folders except Control panel, Dial-up networking folders or printers item dragging and dropping works. It was released with Internet Explorer 1.0 which was not fast for using internet services. Introduced Plug and Play features, USB support still needed improvement.

Microsoft came up with a change in Windows 95 with the release of Windows 98. Windows 98 was graphical operating system which was based on MS-DOS Kernel. It was developed as an upgraded version of Windows 95 and was a hybrid 16/32 bit product which was based on ms-dos boot page. It was a product which was described as an operating system that "Works better and Plays better". It required 486DX2/66 MHz or higher and Pentium processor was recommended with the minimum of 16 MB of RAM and 24 MB was recommended. It also required minimum of 500 MB of Hard disk space, VGA monitor or a higher solution monitor, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM to install windows and a Microsoft mouse or other compatible pointing device to run. With its new features it was one of the commercial successful products for Microsoft.

Windows 98 had an ability to switch between windows mode and dos mode which gave it a full support to dos applications. Windows 98 was compatible with older pc’s and had Internet Explorer 4.0 which was faster and lighter and made browsing experience better than the release version of

Windows 95. It supported digital audio sound and DVD reader for movies and better stereo and better plug and play features. It had many system tools which include scan disk, disk defragmentation, scanreg and msconfig .It supported new input devices like USB and had a quick launch bar so that files can be browsed easily and quickly. It also showed improvement in quicker shut down, ability to open and close programs more quickly. It also included many internet supported applications which were Outlook Express, Net Meeting, Microsoft Chat, NetShow Player and many others. It was the first operating system that used WDM (Windows Driver Model) which provided excellent driver support and includes many service packs which were not there in Windows 95. It provided ACPI 1.0 support with which Windows 98 had Power Management features which allows desktops to hibernate and standby but limited. Windows 98 hibernate feature was unreliable and vendor specific and was only compatible with Plug and Play hardware and BIOS. It provided AGP (Accelerated Graphic Port), built-in DVD and UDF 1.02 read support. Windows 98 had a memory overflow issue if it was used more than 49.7 days and it cannot handle RAM more than 1.0 GB.

Microsoft within a year came up with Windows 98SE which was released as a second edition of Windows 98. It was a commercial release by Microsoft that did not came with many technical improvements buy with minor fixes to Windows 98. It was also considered as the most stable release of Windows 9x family with improved USB support. In second edition of Windows 98 it Internet Explorer 4.0 was replaced by Internet Explorer 5.0 which was better for browsing. It solved the memory overflow issue that was there in Windows 98 and it had Internet Connection Sharing feature with which several machines can use a same internet connection. It provided increased support for drivers than its previous version. Despite making improvements in Windows 98SE, PnP feature still needed improvement and it cannot handle Hard disk of more than 137 GB in size with default drivers.

Microsoft released Windows 2000 which can be used both on client and server computers. With the release of it Microsoft targeted business users with four editions for different business users. It was marketed as a most secure Windows by Microsoft. Each edition of Windows 2000 targeted different market while sharing many system utilities including Microsoft Management Console and system administration applications. It was a NT kernel based operating system which had different system requirements for its editions. To use Windows 2000 Professional it required a minimum of 133 MHz or higher Pentium microprocessor. It provided support to two processors with a single computer. With minimum of 32 MB of RAM and 64 MB recommended and supported maximum of 4 GB of RAM. It required 650 MB free space from 2GB hard disk, VGA or higher resolution monitor, Keyboard, mouse or Microsoft compatible pointing device and CD or DVD drive for installation. It needs Windows 2000 compatible network adaptor and cable for network installation. To use Windows 2000 Server it

requires a minimum of 133 MHz or higher Pentium microprocessor. It supports up to four CPU per computer. With a minimum of 128 MB of RAM, 256 MB recommended and supported maximum of 4 GB of RAM. It required minimum of 1 GB free space, VGA or higher resolution monitor, Keyboard, mouse or Microsoft compatible pointing device, CD or DVD drive for installation and one or more Windows 2000 compatible network adaptor and cable for network installation. To use Windows 2000 Advanced Server it required a minimum of 133 MHz or higher Pentium microprocessor. It supported up to eight CPU per computer. With a minimum of 128 MB of RAM, 256 MB recommended and maximum support of 8 GB of RAM. It required minimum of 1 GB free space, VGA or higher resolution monitor, Keyboard, mouse or Microsoft compatible pointing device ,CD or DVD drive for installation and one or more Windows 2000 compatible network adaptor and cable for network installation.

Windows 2000 provided great support for plug and play hardware which includes better networking and wireless support for IEEE 1394 devices and infrared devices. It introduced layer windows with which provided transparency, clearness and many other effects which improved graphical support in it. It introduced NTFS 5 which introduced disk quotas, sparse files and reparse points. It also introduced Distributed link Tracking Service with which it is ensured that file shortcuts remain in a working state even they are moved, renamed. With Windows 2000 strong file system file encryption with windows was introduced with Encrypting File System. It included DirectX API version 7.0 for gaming in Windows 2000. It also had a recovery console that recovers the system from problems which runs from outside. It showed great improvement in Internet compatibility was easier to use, provided better support for mobile computing, offered automatic windows updates over the internet and better support for USB, fire wire and other technologies. Microsoft designed Windows 2000 professional for businesses and power users which offered greater security and stability to users. Windows 2000 Server had the same User Interface as Windows 2000 Professional but also allows computers to perform roles like server roles, run infrastructure and application software. It had a new component in server version called Active Directory which is a service based in LDAP. For medium to large business, Microsoft designed Windows 2000 Advanced Server which provided better availability and scalability of services and applications. Windows 2000 Datacenter Server was designed by Microsoft for large business that carried their work by moving large quantities of data via central server.

Microsoft marketed Windows 2000 as the most secured Operating system than any other Windows but it was highly criticized for its security reasons. It was a target of various virus attacks such as Nimda and Code Red. It was not stable and reliable operating system which was expensive and provided dew development tools. The file system used in Windows 2000 which were FAT and NTFS both were plague. These file system were for multi user OS and networking not for server applications.

Microsoft released Windows Me (Millennium edition) for home computer users which offer its users many music, video and home networking enhancements and was more reliable. It was released to target home users. It was a continuation of Windows 9x models but in order to decrease system boot time it gives limited excess to real mode MS-DOS which was often criticized because many applications which require DOS to run did not run in Windows ME. It required Pentium 150 MHz processor to use Windows Me while Pentium 2 300 MHz was recommended with hard drive space of 320 MB while 2 GB was recommended. It required 32 MB of RAM while 64 MB of RAM was recommended and could only support maximum of 1.5 GB of Physical RAM in a PC. It was the last operating system by Microsoft that was based on Windows 9x kernel and MS-DOS.

Windows ME came with huge improvements in cold boot time, resuming time after hibernation, pre and post-logon boot times. Windows Image Acquisition API introduced by Microsoft allows easier way of communicating with image acquisition devices as Scanners and digital cameras. It featured improvement in resumed/suspend operations, power management with the support of OS-controlled ACPI S4 sleep state, FireWire and USB support with the inclusion of generic drivers. Windows ME provided support for The Direct Sound, waveOut and Direct Show API. It had net crawling feature which automatically searches out and creates shortcuts to printer options and network folder in ‘my network places’. It has a New TCP/IP stack which is more reliable, with all features, more stable and offers better performance. It was the first operating system that had system restore feature with which user can resume system files prior to date and time. Internet browsing was improved with the change of Internet Explorer 5.0 with Internet Explorer 5.5. It also provided support to universal plug and play. Windows ME was highly criticized by the users as it did not supported real mode dos which makes it unsupportive to many dos applications which run on real mode dos and was slow and unstable. Windows System Restore was buggy and did not worked properly as sometimes ending in restoring malwares. It did not support pc with RAM over 1.5 GB.

Windows XP was an operating system released by Microsoft to cater the users of personal computers including business and home desktops, laptops and media centers. It was first operating system which was consumer oriented and it was built on the Windows NT 5.1 Kernel. These NT based operating system are more stable and efficient which are programmed in C, C++ and assembly.

Windows XP which was based on installed user base is the second most popular version of windows. With enhanced user experience it presented a redesigned graphical user interface with which it was marketed by Microsoft as the most user friendly operating system.

Windows XP was released in various editions each having their own system requirements.

System Requirements for Windows XP Home Edition

Minimum

Recommended

Processor

233 MHz processor

Atleast 300 MHz processor

Memory

64 MB of RAM

Atleast 128 MB

HDD free space

1.5 GB or higher, for Service Pack 1 and 1a 661 MB of additional space, for Service Pack 2 1.8 GB additional space and for Service Pack 3 900 MB of additional space

Video adaptor and monitor

Super VGA with 800 x 600 pixels or higher resolution is recommended

Input devices

Keyboard, Mouse or Microsoft compatible pointing device

Sound

Speakers or headphones and soundcard

System Requirements for Windows XP Professional

Processor

It needs x86-64 processor

Memory

256 MB of minimum RAM is required

HDD free space

1.5 GB of free space is required

Video Adaptor and Monitor

Super VGA with a 800 x 600 pixels or higher resolution

Input devices

Keyboard, Mouse or a Microsoft compatible pointing device

Optical Drive

CD-ROM drive is required to install

Sound

It requires Headphone or speakers and a soundcard

Additional

Sound Card Drivers, wired LAN card, GPU of video card

System Requirements for Windows XP 64-bit edition

Processor

It needs Intel Itanium 733 MHz processor while Intel Itanium 800 MHz or better is recommended

Memory

1 GB of minimum RAM is required

HDD free space

6 GB of free space is required

Video Adaptor and Monitor

Super VGA with a 800 x 600 pixels or higher resolution

Input devices

Keyboard, Mouse or a Microsoft compatible pointing device

Optical Drive

CD-ROM drive is required to install

Sound

It requires Headphone or speakers and a soundcard

Additional

Sound Card Drivers, wired LAN card, GPU of video card

Windows XP has a new task based GUI with the use of C++ based GDI+ software. It was shipped with DirectX 8.1 upgradable to DirectX 9.0c which brought major new features to DirectX graphics, DirectShow, DirectInput and DirectPlay. To make fonts easily readable and smoother in LCD’s it had Clear Type subpixel rendering. With Windows XP start menu was updated and it was expanded to two columns with left hand as user installed applications and right hand as user documents and system links. Significant changes were made in Windows Explorer with which it was made more discoverable and task based. It featured the auto play feature with which devices like mp3 player, USB storage automatically starts the software which is needed for getting access and viewing these files. It includes hyperthreading support with which more than one data can be processed at a single time. 1.3 GB of virtual address space was supported by Windows XP which gave Windows XP better memory management feature. Windows XP was made more reliable with significant changes to system restore. It had an automated system recovery feature with which windows automatically restores saved and installed windows applications. Windows Error Reporting in Windows XP collects and offers to send debug information to the developer using internet. It had Windows Driver Protection which blocks installation and loading of known drivers.

Windows XP was released in many editions which had many significant features. Windows XP Professional was built on strong foundation of Windows 2000.It provided enhanced reliability, security and performance. It included many features for advanced home computing and business which includes encrypting file system, remote desktop support, advanced networking features and system restore. The most important features included in Windows XP professional were Windows Messenger, 802.1x networking support and Remote assistance. Microsoft released Windows XP home edition for home users. It provided with the features of better Network Wizard, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media Player and better digital photo capabilities. Windows XP 64-bit edition was the first 64-bit windows designed for technical persons or specialized users who require large amount of memory and floating point performance in areas such as 3D animation, engineering, movie special effects and scientific applications. Windows XP Media Centre Edition was designed for home computing and entertainment. It included all the features of Windows Professional and adding on features such as fun digital media and entertainment options. Watch live televisions, communicate with friends and family, Watch DVD’s, work from home and enjoy digital music and video collections.

Windows XP also has certain processor limits. In windows XP maximum no of logical processor used are 32 for 32-bit and 64 for 64-bit. The maximum limit for physical processor for Professional is 2 and for Home Edition is 1. Depending on 32-bit or 64-bit versions, there is a maximum physical memory (RAM) limit to which Windows XP can be address:

Windows XP Physical Memory limits (RAM)

Version

Limit in 32-bit Windows

Limit in 64-bit Windows

Windows XP Home Edition

4 GB

NA

Windows XP Professional

128 GB

Windows XP Media Centre Edition

NA

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

NA

Windows XP Starter Edition

512 MB

NA

Despite having significant changes it was highly criticized for its security issues. It was too sensitive to malwares such as virus, Trojan horses and worms. It was not compatible with many DOS programs, unstable, prone to many crashes and had no inbuilt chipset drivers. It did not provided any file encrypting facility in XP home edition. To fix these errors, Microsoft released service packs for Windows XP.

Microsoft’s Window XP was criticized for the state of security, so Microsoft primary objective was to make such an operating system which will improve the state of security and released

Windows Vista which was for use on personal computers, laptops, tablet PCs and media center PCs. To use Windows Vista, processor of 800MHz with 512 MB minimum of RAM was needed for Vista Capable and 1 GHz for Vista Premium Ready and minimum of 1 GB for Vista Premium Ready. DirectX 9.0 capable graphic processor was needed for Vista Capable and DirectX 9.0 with WDDM 1.0 driver support was needed for Vista Premium Ready. Minimum of 64 MB of graphic memory was needed for Vista Capable and 128 MB graphic memory for Vista Premium Ready. It needed 40 GB of minimum HDD was required for Vista Capable and 80 GB for Vista Premium Ready. To install 15 GB of free space was needed for both Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready and it can only be installed from DVD-ROM media.

Features:

a) Windows Vista uses a new graphical user interface which was named as Windows Aero. In which Aero stands for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open. Windows Vista user interface attracted with features as new transparencies, live thumbnails, animations and live icons.

b) Windows provided range of organization, search capabilities and navigation with Windows Shell

c) With Windows Search, Windows Vista provides instant search results

d) Vista features parental control options which allow user to administrators to monitor and restrict user activity

e) With Vista file sharing and syncing was made easy

f) Vista gives us better notebook support with windows mobility centre which keeps all tools including wireless adaptor off or on, change your battery settings and many others in a single location

g) Vista provides us with better wireless networking

h) Vista gives us better security options with Windows Defender

i) Vista features sidebar where one can place all their desktop gadgets

j) Vista also features Windows DVD maker, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Media Centre, Windows Mail, Windows Calendar and others

Limitations:

Vista was the subject of criticism because of privacy, performance, security, product activation and driver support. Limitations in Vista include:

a) Hardware requirements were too high for vista and some of the premium features of it which made difficult for many to upgrade

b) For security reasons, only signed drivers can be installed in kernel mode in Vista which was not possible for small developers and was expensive or out of reach

c) Vista with its new features drained battery life very quickly

d) Early drop in games frame rate was seen in compared to Windows XP

e) System performance was slow in compared to previous operating systems

f) File operation performance was slow in compare to previous operating system

Depending on 32-bit or 64-bit versions, there is a maximum physical memory (RAM) limit to which Windows Vista can be address:

Windows Vista Physical Memory limits (RAM)

Version

Limit in 32-bit Windows

Limit in 64-bit Windows

Windows Vista Enterprise

4 GB

128 GB

Windows Vista Ultimate

Windows Vista Professional

Windows Vista Home Basic

8 GB

Windows Vista Home Premium

16 GB

Windows Vista Starter

1 GB

NA

Windows Vista also has certain processor limits. In windows Vista maximum no of logical processor used are 32 for 32-bit and 64 for 64-bit. The maximum limit for physical processor for Ultimate, Professional and Enterprise is 2 and Starter, Home Premium and Home Basic is 1.

Windows 7:

Windows 7 is an operating system developed by Microsoft for laptops, personal computers including business and home desktops, tablet pc’s, notebooks and media centre pc’s. Windows 7 was built to cater the needs of wireless world which made its existence in late 2000’s. By the time Windows 7 was released, laptops overtook desktops and it was common to connect and use public wireless hotspots in private networks in home or coffee shop.

Windows 7 included new methods to work with windows which were- Snap, Shake and Peek. These methods improved functionality of windows and even made interface easy and fun to use. With Windows 7 Microsoft made the starting of Windows touch, which made touch screen users to browse and do work more easily, better and fun.

System requirements:

Windows 7 was released in two versions which were 32-bit and 64-bit. The minimum hardware requirements for windows 7 are:

a) To use windows 7 in 32-bit, 1GHz IA-32 processor was needed while for 64-bit, 1Ghz X-86-64 processor

b) For 32-bit version minimum 1GB RAM was required and for 64-bit it was 2GB

c) DirectX 9 graphic processor with WDDM model 1.0 was needed for graphic cards

d) In 32-bit version 16 GB free hard disk drive space is required and for 64-bit it is 20 GB HDD

e) Windows 7 can only be installed from DVD-ROM media so DVD-ROM drive was required

Windows 7 Physical Memory limits (RAM)

Version

Limit in 32-bit Windows

Limit in 64-bit Windows

Windows 7 Enterprise

4 GB

192 GB

Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows 7 Professional

Windows 7 Home Basic

8 GB

Windows 7 Home Premium

16 GB

Windows 7 Starter

2 GB

NA

Depending on 32-bit or 64-bit versions, there is a maximum physical memory (RAM) limit to which Windows 7 can address.

Windows 7 also has certain processor limits. In windows 7 maximum no of logical processor used are 32 for 32-bit and 256 for 64-bit. The maximum limit for physical processor for Ultimate, Professional and Enterprise is 2 and Starter, Home Premium and Home Basic is 1.

Features:

a) It is faster than any other version of windows operating system

b) It is fully compatible with XP SP3 and Vista SP2

c) It provided remote desktop connection provided along with the operating system

d) It used Internet Explorer ( IE) 8 which was good and faster

e)It provided support for virtual hard disk

f) It gives us improved performance on multi-core processor and improvement in boot performance

g) In windows 7 control panel many new features were added which include: Gadgets, trouble shooting, ClearType Text Tuner, Recovery, locations and other sensors, System Icons

h) Windows Security Centre was renamed to Action centre which gives security and maintenance both to the computers

i) Windows 7 allow us to burn ISO file images to a DVD without any third party software through its Native ISO Burner

j) It has improved touch navigation. This feature makes it easy to navigate with our fingers

k) Windows 7 has a small preview player one can preview their music files very easily

l) Windows 7 has a new magnifier tool

m) Windows 7 gives us a better option of previewing each file or folder which is open with Win+T to scroll all the previews in the task bar

n) Windows 7 also have a feature of adjusting with multiple displays easily and quickly with Win+P

o) Windows 7 provides easier home networking which was not available before which makes it safe from hackers

Limitations:

a) It cannot be easily upgraded from Windows XP

b) User Account Control default’s setting in Windows 7 allows untrusted software to launch without any prompt

c) Features included in Vista as Start menu interface, InkBall, Windows Ultimate Extras, Windows calendar were removed from windows 7

d) Drawback of windows 7 hardware configuration is that Windows 7 needs RAM of atleast 1 GB

e) There were various old software’s which were still in existence but were not supported by windows 7 operating system

f) Many users faced the problems of BSOD with windows 7

Windows 8:

Using operating system is no more limited to laptops and desktops, now an operating system is used in personal computers both home and business desktops, laptops, home theater pc’s and tablets and with the growing popularity of apple’s IOS and android, Microsoft introduced windows 8 which makes an aggressive, bold statement and forward thinking for the future of pc’s. It marks the biggest change in Windows operating system since the launch of Windows 95.

System requirements:

Windows 8 was not just made for pc and laptops it caters the need of mobiles and tablets too, so it had different hardware requirements for pc’s and mobiles or tablets.

Windows 8 hardware requirements are:

a) In terms of processor minimum hardware requirements for using Windows 8 are:

1Ghz clock rate, IA-32 or x64 architecture and support for PAE, NX and SSE2

whereas, the recommended requirement in terms of processor are:

X64 and support for Second level Address Translation(SLAT)

b) The minimum memory(RAM) required for using Windows 8 for IA-32 edition is 1 GB and X64 edition is 2GB while recommended is 4GB

c) Minimum requirements for usage of graphic card are DirectX 9 graphics device or WDDM 1.0 or higher device while recommended settings are DirectX 10 graphics device

d) Windows 8 requires a screen resolution of 1024 X 768 pixels for windows store apps, whereas 1366X768 pixels screen resolution or higher is recommended

e) Hard disk space needed for Windows IA-32 edition is 16 GB and for x64 edition is 20 GB

f) It is also recommended that system should have UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B in its database with Microsoft Windows Certification Authority, USB 3.0 port, Trusted platform module(TPM) and internet connectivity.

Hardware requirements for windows tablets are:

a) It needs graphics device Direct10 x along WDDM 1.2 or higher driver for graphic card

b) After the out of box experience completes, it needs 10 GB of free space

c) The device should have standard buttons such as volume-up, volume-down, power, windows key and rotation lock

d) The device should have a touch screen support with at least 5- point digitizers and minimum screen resolution of 1366X768 and native color depth of 32-bits.

e) The device should have a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support to connect

f) Device should have a USB 2.0 port with one connector and one exposed port

Features:

a) Windows 8 is the first edition of windows operating system that will operate on both ARM-based tablets and x86 based on ARM processor form AMD and Intel

b) Windows 8 features entirely new user experience, It has a new animation-enabled user interface(UI) which is touch centric and tiled base

c) It features snap multi-tasking with which it is easy to run two windows app side by side.

d) Windows 8 has a redesigned control panel which features new options like Personalize, Wireless, Users, Notifications, Search, General, Share and privacy

e) Windows 8 has a built in Internet explorer (IE) 10 browser which is designed for faster browsing via greater hardware acceleration, with gesture-based zoom, Web site navigation and pan

f) It contains two touch keyboards, one is better traditional keyboard plus a new thumb keyboard, by doing this Microsoft made effort to make typing on virtual keyboard faster and more accurate

g) Windows 8 brings increased support for multiple keyboards

h) Windows 8 has a native USB 3.0 port which speeds up 10 times faster than USB 2.0 port

i) Windows 8 provides better copy experience with which one can perform all current copy operations in a single box

j) It offers easier recovery from system problems

k) It provides better integration with cloud i.e. Microsoft’s cloud services as SkyDrive and Windows live mesh

l) Windows 8 also has a built in PDF reader which is called Modern Reader

m) There is a huge improvement in Windows 8 security features which is done by replacing Microsoft windows essential by Windows Defender. Windows defender runs in background and notifies us whenever an action is required. It also features Windows smart screen which protects from phishing scams and malware which are not detected by the antivirus.

Limitations:

a) It’s difficult for someone to get use to new layout

b) It’s a bit difficult to move between the screens

c) There is no alternative for changing tiles into icons

d) The main disadvantage is when we work on which system reboots many times

e) Some programmes such as hardware drivers and some games are not compatible with it

f) Occupying the full face of the monitor, apps work in full monitor

After Windows 8:

With the great step of windows 8, Microsoft has made clear that they are targeting mobile or tablet market. It can be said that Microsoft will be launching an enhanced version of Windows 8 which will feature more advanced user interface which will make using tablets easier and programmers can easily write apps for windows with it.