Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

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"Windows" redirects here. For other uses, see Windows (disambiguation).

Microsoft Windows

Screenshot of Windows Vista Ultimate (Build 6000).

Company / developer Microsoft Corporation

OS family MS-DOS/9x-based, Windows CE, Windows NT

Working state Publicly released

Source model Closed source / Shared source

Latest stable release Client:

Windows Vista SP1

NT 6.0.6001  (February 4, 2008)

Server:

Windows Server 2008

NT 6.0.6001  (February 27, 2008) [+/−]

Latest unstable release Windows 7

NT 6.1.7000  (January 7, 2009) [+/−]

License MS-EULA

Website www.microsoft.com/windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs).[1] Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. At the 2004 IDC Directions conference, it was stated that Windows had approximately 90% of the client operating system market.[2] The most recent client version of Windows is Windows Vista; the most recent server version is Windows Server 2008. Vista's successor, Windows 7 (currently in public beta) is slated to be released in July 2009.