Microsoft Windows Past, Present, and Future

1
Microsoft WindowsPast, Present, and Future

• Daniel Ogden
• SIG Co-Leader
• Application Developer Issues SIG
• http//appdevissues.tripod.com
• September 21, 2002

2
Scope of Presentation

• A very brief history of Windows
• Discussion and comparison of the two tracks
  Microsoft took beginning with Windows 95 and
  Windows NT 3.1 resulting in two operating system
  lines and how they have become unified. Only
  client or desktop versions of Windows will be
  discussed-no server versions,
• A very brief overview of future Windows
  directions
• Recommendations
• This is not a how-to or demo presentation of
  various Windows OSes

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• The idea of a windowing operating system was
  planted in the minds of Bill Gates and Paul Allen
  (and Steve Jobs as well) when they visited Xerox
  PARC Labs in the late 1970s
• Microsoft in 1981 developed a character mode OS
  (which it bought from another party, Seattle
  Computer) for IBMs new PC that became MS-DOS
• In 1983, Microsoft began work on a new operating
  environment it called Windows. Only much later
  would Windows become a operating system.

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• Windows 1.0 was released in 1985. It could only
  operate in character-mode and its windows were
  not overlapping. It ran on top of DOS as an
  operating environment.
• Windows 2.0 was released in 1987. It featured
  overlapping windows, but was still character-mode
  operating environment.
• Windows 2.11 was released in 1989 in two
  versions-Windows 286 (for i286 PCs) and Windows
  386 (for i386 PCs). It was the first graphical
  version of Windows but was still an operating
  environment.

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• Windows 3.0 was released in 1990 to much fanfare.
  It was the first real usable version of Windows
  and had greatly improved graphics and file
  management.
• Windows 3.1 was released in 1992 at Spring Comdex
  in Chicago. It continued to improve on graphics,
  multimedia, communications and ease of use. Many
  users still consider Win3.1 to be the real
  version of Windows.

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was released in 1993.
  It was the first version of Windows to feature
  networking support as a client. It also had
  rudimentary support for the Internet built in.
  Perhaps its most important innovation was 32 bit
  disk access, which speeded up disk operations
  considerably. WFW 3.11 is the last version of
  Windows that was an operating environment running
  on top of DOS which relies on DOS for most or all
  of its hardware calls.

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• In 1985, Microsoft and IBM began joint
  development of a new operating system that would
  not need DOS at all. They called it OS/2 (for
  obvious reasons).
• OS/2 1.0 was released in 1987. While it was a
  true operating system, it was only 16 bit and
  character-mode based. It was a miserable failure
  in the marketplace, as was its follow-up, OS/2
  1.3.
• IBM and Microsoft planned to remedy OS/2s weak
  market reception with future versions that would
  be 32 bit and graphical in nature.

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• IBM and Microsoft decided to develop two new
  versions of OS/2 in concert. IBM would develop
  OS/2 2.0 (which would be a 32 bit, graphical OS)
  and Microsoft would develop OS/2 3.0 (which would
  be multi-platform in nature, i.e., run on
  non-Intel platforms, and have other advanced
  features).
• After Microsoft saw the market success of Windows
  3.0 and the continuing market failure of OS/2
  1.x, it dropped its development of OS/2 3.0, and
  left future OS/2 development solely to IBM.

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• Microsoft also had other ideas in mind for
  Windows. It realized the limitations inherent in
  a 16 bit OS, and also wanted to develop an
  advanced OS that would be Unix-like in
  architecture, reliability, robustness, security,
  and portability. In essence, it took its work on
  OS/2 3.0 and turned it into Windows NT.
• Microsoft hired Dave Cutler from DEC to create NT
  (Cutler was one of the architects of DEC VMS). NT
  was to be a radical departure for Windows (and
  PCs in general) as for the first time Windows
  would be completely uncoupled from DOS and its 16
  bit, real mode architecture.

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• Windows NT 3.1 was released in 1993. It had the
  same GUI that Win3.x had, but that was about the
  only similarity. It had the ability to run 16 bit
  Win3.x apps, 32 bit Win32 apps, 16 bit OS/2 1.3
  apps, and POSIX (a brand of Unix apps).
• NT was such a radical departure in terms of
  hardware requirements and software support from
  Win3.x that Microsoft realized that if the
  typical Windows user was going to be able to reap
  the benefits of 32 bit computing, it would need
  to upgrade Win3.x in an OS line separate from NT
  that would provide backward hardware and software
  compatibility for PCs that ran Win3.x. This led
  to the hybrid 16/32 bit OS line of Windows 95 and
  its successors, Windows 98 and Windows Millennium
  Edition.

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A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• Windows NT itself was upgraded to version 3.5 and
  then 3.51, before receiving the Win95 GUI in
  version 4.0 in 1996.
• WinNT 4.0 was upgraded again to Windows 2000 in
  1999. Win2K received much of the Win98 GUI.
• The two Windows lines of the Win9x hybrid 16
  bit/32 bit OSes and the WinNTx fully 32 bit OSes
  were finally merged with the release of Windows
  XP in 2001.

12
A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• Windows 2000 is which version of Windows?

13
A Very Brief History of Microsoft Windows

• Windows XP is which version of Windows?

14
Windows Roadmap
Professional
Home
15
Comparison of hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
to fully 32 bit Windows OSes

• A fully 32 bit Windows OS running on Intel
  architecture CPUs (including AMD CPUs) offers the
  following benefits when compared to a 16 bit or a
  hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OS.
• Protected memory versus shared memory
• Software code running in protected memory can not
  be overwritten by other software code, while
  software code running in shared memory can. This
  is probably the number one cause of OS crashes.
• Protected mode versus real mode
• All hardware access in protected mode is
  controlled by the OS rather than by individual
  apps, as it is in real mode. This leads to
  greater stability as errors in software code are
  less likely to crash the entire OS.

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Comparison of hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
to fully 32 bit Windows OSes

• Preemptive multitasking versus cooperative
  multitasking
• In preemptive multitasking the OS controls which
  apps get CPU time, thereby operating in a sense
  as a traffic cop. In cooperative multitasking,
  each app decides when it surrenders CPU time,
  leading to CPU-hogging apps. Cooperative
  multitasking greatly decreases user efficiency as
  quite often you will have to wait until a process
  is completely finished before you can do
  something else.
• Flat memory versus memory segmentation
• A flat memory model offers memory resources and
  scalability limited only by the OSes own
  capabilities. For example, system resources are
  essentially unlimited and adding additional
  memory allows the OS to scale.

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Comparison of hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
to fully 32 bit Windows OSes

• All versions of Windows through WFW 3.11 are
  purely 16 bit, meaning that they suffer from all
  of the disadvantages of 16 bit computing. WFW
  3.11 does have 32 bit disk access, which does
  increase disk efficiency, but this does nothing
  to eliminate the inherent disadvantages of being
  a 16 bit OS.
• Starting with Windows 95, the Win9x line of
  Windows are hybrid 16 bit/32 bit OSes. Unlike
  Win3.x, the Win9.x line are true operating
  systems, albeit they still require DOS for some
  functions.

18
Comparison of hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
to fully 32 bit Windows OSes

• Win9x OSes are hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
  in the following manner-
• Their hybrid 16 bit/32 bit nature is necessary in
  order to maintain certain backward hardware and
  software compatibility. For example, many games
  and utilities require direct access to hardware,
  something not allowed in a fully 32 bit OS.
• Many OS calls and functions remain 16 bit in
  nature for backward compatibility purposes, while
  other OS calls and functions are 32 bit, which
  they can be when they dont have a significant
  impact on backward compatibility.

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Comparison of hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
to fully 32 bit Windows OSes

• OS hybrid 16 bit/32 bit limitations-
• OS calls and functions that are 16 bit run in
  shared memory while OS calls and functions that
  are 32 bit run in protected memory.
• OS calls and functions that are 16 bit run in
  real mode while OS calls and functions that are
  32 bit run in protected mode.
• OS calls and functions that are 16 bit are
  cooperatively multitasked while OS calls and
  functions that are 32 bit are preemptively
  multitasked
• System resources, while significantly improved
  over Win3.x, still are limited
• Memory model is segmented and therefore the OS
  does not scale merely by adding more memory- 64
  MB is about the limit for scability.

20
Comparison of hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
to fully 32 bit Windows OSes

• Windows application hybrid 16 bit/32 bit
  limitations-
• Win16 apps run in shared memory while Win32 apps
  run in protected memory.
• Win16 apps run in real mode while Win32 apps run
  in protected mode.
• Win16 apps are cooperatively multitasked while
  Win32 apps are preemptively multitasked.

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Comparison of hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
to fully 32 bit Windows OSes

• WinNT/Win2K/WinXP are all fully 32 bit OSes and
  therefore suffer from non of the disadvantages of
  the hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows Oses
• WinNT/Win2K/WinXP, however, offer varying degrees
  of backward compatibility in both hardware and
  software
• Key to compatibility is that software can not
  directly address hardware and that all hardware
  must have OS supported drivers

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Comparison of hybrid 16 bit/32 bit Windows OSes
to fully 32 bit Windows OSes

• Prerequisites for a Modern Operating System
• Reliable-Crash Proof
• Functional-Usability
• Robust-Performance
• Secure-Hack Proof

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Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP over Win9x-
Reliability

• Fully 32 bit OSes
• Protected mode- no real mode
• Memory protection
• Multitasking of Win32 apps
• Multitasking of Win16 apps (VDMs)
• System file protection
• NT File System

24
Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP over Win9x-
Functionality

• Win98 interface/WinXP interface
• Fully Plug and Play/Device manager
• DirectX 8.x/AGP
• USB 2.0/IEEE 1394/Infrared
• Mobile support- PCMCIA/ACPI
• Multilingual- gt 60 languages
• Peer Networking
• Dual View monitors

25
Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP over Win9x-
Robustness

• CPU- Optimized for 32 bit/Pentium
• Video- Equivalent
• Disk- Caching/Paging
• Memory- Flat memory model

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Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP over Win9x-
Robustness

• On systems with 64 MB and 128 MB RAM, Windows
  2000 Professional is significantly faster than
  Windows 95 and Windows 98 (gt 25)

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Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP over Win9x-
Security

• Kerberos
• NTFS Encryption
• TCP/IP
• IP Security
• Smart Cards

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Disadvantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over
Win9x- Reliability

• None

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Disadvantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over
Win9x- Functionality

• Unable to use real mode drivers
• Unable to make real mode DOS calls
• Unable to write directly to screen
• Unable to write directly to disk
• Unable to use Win95/98 VXDs
• Unable to use 386/486 machines

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Disadvantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over
Win9x- Robustness

• Certain video operations

31
Disadvantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over
Win9x- Security

• None

32
Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT 4.0-
Reliability

• Kernel driver memory protection
• System file protection
• Driver signing
• Reduced memory leaks
• Multithreaded explorer.exe

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Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT 4.0-
Functionality

• Win98 interface/FAT32 support
• Reduced reboots/Safe boot mode
• Recovery Console
• Plug and Play/Device Manager
• DirectX 8.x/AGP
• USB/IEEE 1394/Infrared
• Mobile support- PCMCIA/ACPI
• Modem sharing
• COM

34
Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT 4.0-
Robustness

• Registry Caching
• Faster boot and shutdown
• Faster chkdsk
• Improved caching performance
• Built-in defrag
• Network performance

35
Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT 4.0-
Faster on High-end Workstations

• Based on High-end Winstone benchmarking of
  systems with 128 MB RAM, Windows 2000
  Professional is faster than Windows NT
  Workstation 4.0

36
Advantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT 4.0-
Security

• Kerberos authentication
• NTFS file encryption
• TCP/IP installed by default
• IP Security
• DNS machine naming
• Stealth NetBios port

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Disadvantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT
4.0- Reliability

• None

38
Disadvantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT
4.0- Functionality

• Unable to use 486 machines
• Automatic upgrade of NTFS 4.0-does not support
  any version of NT4 prior to SP5
• Memory requirements- 32 vs 64 mb

39
Disadvantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT
4.0- Robustness

• None

40
Disadvantages to Using Windows 2000/XP Over NT
4.0- Security

• None

41
Advantages to Using Windows XP Over Windows 2000-
Reliability

• Improved driver signing verification
• Improved OS code protection
• Reduced memory leaks
• Side-by-side DLL support-no more DLL hell
• Less BSODs in general

42
Advantages to Using Windows XP Over Windows 2000-
Functionality

• New GUI interface-can use Win2k interface
• Reduced reboots
• Better standby/hibernate support
• Better multimedia support for pictures
• Integrated CD burning
• Cleartype
• Remote assistance/desktop
• Improved network awareness
• System Restore/Device driver rollback

43
Advantages to Using Windows XP Over Windows 2000-
Robustness

• Faster boot and shutdown

44
Advantages to Using Windows XP Over Windows 2000-
Security

• Internet connection firewall
• Netbios not installed by default-can be installed
  as option (on WinXP disc)

45
Disadvantages to Using Windows XP Over Windows
2000- Reliability

• None

46
Disadvantages to Using Windows XP Over Windows
2000- Functionality

• Activation required
• Memory requirements- 128 mb vs. 64 mb

47
Disadvantages to Using Windows XP Over Windows
2000- Robustness

• WinXP GUI is slower than Win2K GUI

48
Disadvantages to Using Windows XP Over Windows
2000- Security

• Activation may create a security hole

49
Windows XP Home Professional Version Differences

• Professional version has everything that Home
  version has plus
• Remote desktop-provides the ability to have a
  Windows XP Pro PC run in host mode that allows
  other Windows 95 or later PCs to remotely control
  it.
• Encypting File System (EFS)-provides the ability
  to encrypt files on NTFS partitions
• Networking- provides the ability to participate
  in a domain-based network where you want to be
  joined to and managed by the domain, enter your
  domain credentials a single time, or use advanced
  security features such as IP Security and digital
  certificates. In general, XP Home networking is
  very lame

50
Windows XP Home Professional Version Differences

• Internet Information Services- provides the
  ability to run Web/FTP/SMTP servers
• System Restore-provides the ability to use system
  restore to do device driver rollbacks, boot to a
  last known good configuration, and record key
  system changes

51
Windows XP Requirements

• PC with 300 MHz or higher CPU recommended 233
  MHz minimum required Intel Pentium/Celeron or
  AMD K6/Athlon/Duron
• 128 MB of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB
  minimum supported may limit performance and some
  features)
• 1.5 GB of available hard disk space.
• Super VGA (800  600) or higher resolution video
  adapter and monitor
• CD-ROM or DVD drive

52
Windows XP Requirements

• Keyboard and mouse or compatible pointing device
• For sound Sound card and speakers or headphones
• For Internet access 14.4 Kbps or higher-speed
  modem
• For networking network adapter appropriate for
  the type of local-area, wide-area, wireless, or
  home network you wish to connect to, and access
  to an appropriate network infrastructure

53
Windows XP Requirements

• For instant messaging, both parties need
  Microsoft .NET Passport account and Internet
  access
• For voice and video conferencing, both parties
  need 33.6 Kbps or higher-speed modem, or a
  network connection microphone and sound card
  with speakers or headset video conferencing
  camera
• For application sharing, both parties need 33.6
  Kbps or higher-speed modem, or a network
  connection

54
Windows XP Requirements

• For remote assistance Both parties must be
  running Windows XP and be connected by a network
• For remote desktop a Windows 95 or laterbased
  computer, and the two machines must be connected
  by a network
• For DVD video playback DVD drive and DVD decoder
  card or DVD decoder software, and 8 MB of video
  RAM
• For Windows Movie Maker video capture feature
  requires appropriate digital or analog video
  capture device, and a 400-MHz or higher processor
  for digital video camera capture

55
Windows XP Upgrade Advisor

• The Upgrade Advisor is a tool that checks your
  system hardware and software to see if it is
  ready for upgrade to Windows XP. If you run
  Upgrade Advisor while you are connected to the
  Internet, and if your system needs updates that
  are available on the Windows Update Web site,
  Upgrade Advisor will find and install the updates
  for you.

56
Windows Upgrade Options

• Win3.x to Win95/Win98
• Win95 to Win98/WinME/WinNT
• Win98 to WinME/WinNT/Win2k/WinXP
• WinME to Win2K/WinXP
• WinNT to Win2K/WinXP Pro only
• Win2k to WinXP Pro only
• WinXP Home to WinXP Pro

57
Future Windows Versions

• Windows.NET- will be the server equivalent of
  Windows XP, RC2 out
• Longhorn- will add certain GUI enhancements and
  support for the data store being developed for
  the next version of SQL Server (Yukon), which
  will be in a new file system called the Windows
  File System
• Blackcomb- will further overhaul GUI and add
  new functions

58
Recommendations

• Do a clean installation
• Set up dual booting if you are concerned about
  hardware/software compatibility
• Use WinXP Home if you are not networked you
  dont need file encryption or advanced security
  you dont use your PC as an Internet server and
  you dont need to remotely control your PC or you
  use another remote control app
• Use WinXP Pro if you want extra features Pro
  offers
• Use Win2K if you want to avoid activation issues
• In any event, use either WinXP or Win2K

59
Windows XP Resources

• Windows XP comparisons to prior Windows
  versions-http//www.microsoft.com/windowsXP/pro/ev
  aluation/whyupgrade/compare.asp
• Windows XP Evaluation Guide-http//www.microsoft.c
  om/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/overviews/revguide.asp
  
• Windows XP Technical Overview-http//www.microsoft
  .com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/planning/techoverview/
  default.asp
• Windows XP Compatibility Information-http//www.mi
  crosoft.com/windowsxp/compatibility/default.asp
• Windows Upgrade Advisor-http//www.microsoft.com/w
  indowsxp/home/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp