It grew into a product line of its own and now consists of four sub-families that tend to be released almost simultaneously and share the same kernel. The first version, Windows NT 3.1, was intended for server computing and corporate workstations. Microsoft registered trademarks for various products (families) of the Windows product line - most of which target a specific sector of the computing industry.Īs of 2024, the only active top-level family is Windows NT. Still supported are some editions of Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 and later (and exceptionally with paid support down to Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded POSReady 7).

Īs of 2024, the most recent version of Windows is Windows 11 for consumer PCs and tablets, Windows 11 Enterprise for corporations, and Windows Server 2022 for servers.

However, Windows is not the most used operating system when including both mobile and desktop OSes, due to Android's massive growth. Windows is the most popular desktop operating system in the world, with a 70% market share as of March 2023, according to StatCounter. The first version of Windows was released on November 20, 1985, as a graphical operating system shell for MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Defunct families include Windows 9x, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, and Windows Embedded Compact. It is grouped into families and sub-families that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry - Windows (unqualified) for a consumer or corporate workstation, Windows Server for a server and Windows IoT for an embedded system. Microsoft Windows is a product line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft.

Windows 9x and earlier: Monolithic ( MS-DOS).

Windows Embedded Compact/Windows CE: Hybrid.

Windows 10 Manager 3.8.9 download