PC Operating Systems from

1973 to date8

1973  CP/M (Control Program/Microcomputers) was the first operating system created for personal computers and was devised by Gary Kildall. He had the foresight to realise that microcomputers (as they were then called) would load programs a lot faster from inexpensive magnetic disks than from bulky (or costly) punched tape machines.

1981  CP/M ruled the microcomputer world, but MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) was chosen by IBM for its first personal computer. Apparently, Gary Kildall had offended IBM executives which was a big mistake. On its release MS-DOS was a big success; the only downside being that people disliked having to type text commands for everything.

1985  The first version of Windows was introduced, which was initially quite sluggish and unreliable. Windows 286 followed but was still not much better because the PC's of the day were simply not powerful enough to run it. We used to have one of these in our office and it had a 40 MB hard disk drive and only 4 MB of ram memory. It took absolutely ages to do anything. It was really, really slow!

1988  OS/2 was released as a graphical operating system, and was devised jointly by Microsoft and IBM.  Unfortunately it never quite made it as an attractive proposition for the home user, and it failed to get off the ground.

1990  Microsoft then got it almost right with the 3rd release of Windows which came out at the same time as the Intel 386 processor, which finally gave the PC enough speed to be able to run a graphical operating system.

1991  Windows 3.1 was then released on several floppy disks and was an immediate runaway success. It marked the start of Microsoft's rise to global operating system domination and although MS-DOS continued to be developed (because Windows relied on it in order to function) it's days were numbered.

1992  IBM were by now going it alone with OS/2 and they launched a second version to try and steal the market away from Microsoft. Unfortunately, it attracted little attention and few people bought into it.

1993  Windows NT (New Technology) was introduced. This was not a replacement for Windows 3.1 but Microsoft's answer to IBM's OS/2. It was designed for powerful networked PC's and signalled the parting of the ways for the consumer and business versions of Windows. IBM tried unsuccessfully to develop an improved OS/2 variant called 'Warp' to compete with NT but it was a case of 'too little too late'.

1995  Windows 95 was launched for the first time on CD-Rom amid a massive publicity campaign. People stood up and took more notice of PC's and they suddenly became a 'must-have' household item. Windows 95 was the first version to run independently of MS-DOS - which finally ceased development after the release of version 6.22

1998  Windows 98 appeared, which was far better developed than Windows 95. For the first time it was easier to configure, easier to upgrade and introduced the customer to the Internet, often mistakenly believed to be up there somewhere in 'cyberspace'. Windows 98 OS2 soon followed which cleared up some of the 'glitches' that were found after the release of the first version.

2000  Despite all the hype about a new version of Windows for the new millennium, Windows 2000 turned out to be nothing more than version 5.0 of Windows NT (with a new name). Known as Windows Millennium (or simply Me) it was a cosmetic upgrade / facelift for Windows 98 users (with the remaining traces of MS-DOS conveniently swept under the carpet). It is worth noting that as part of the Microsoft Lifecycle, Microsoft have retired public and technical support for Windows 98 and Me (including security updates) from July 11th 2006.

2001  Microsoft Windows XP attempted to combine the security and stability of Windows 2000, with the fun, features and flexibility of Windows 2000. It was released in both Home Edition and Professional Edition versions, which meant that the consumer and business versions of Windows finally reunited (in name at least) for the first time since 1993.

2002  Microsoft Windows XP updates were now available as Service Packs. These helped to keep Windows current, and extended or updated the functionality of the computer. Each new Service Pack contained all the fixes that were included in earlier Service Packs, plus any newer fixes required to 'tweak' the current Windows operating systems. Sept 9th 2002 saw the release of Windows XP Service Pack 1 (known as SP1) and XP Service Pack 1a followed very soon afterwards.

2004  Service Pack 2 (SP2) was released to sort out most of the vulnerability and security problems experienced by users of the first versions of Windows XP, and all new XP operating system CD's at this time included SP2 as standard. Registered users of genuine licensed versions of Windows could now keep their computers up to date via automatic downloadable system updates.

2005  On the 27^th July 2005 Microsoft announced the release of a new "beta 1" version of Windows to the 'trade'. At that time it was known as "Longhorn". The idea behind this pre-release version of Windows was to gather feedback from original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) independent hardware manufacturers, system builders, software vendors and developers etc, so that further improvements, corrections or modifications could be applied to the software before it was released on the general public under the name of Windows "Vista".

2006  We were still waiting for the first release of Windows Vista. Beta versions were being extensively tested, but the retail trade was still waiting for the software to hit the shelves. The hardware requirements to run this new version of Windows were said to be substantially higher than for previous versions. A minimum of 256MB of Ram would be required on the graphics card (or on-board the motherboard) and 1GB of the newer DDR2 ram memory would be recommended as a minimum requirement. At this same time, component manufacturers were working hard to get a new range of dual-core processors onto the market to enable the software required for this new operating system to function at maximum speed. 

2007  After several well publicised delays, the various retail versions of Vista were finally released in the UK on the 30th Jan 2007 and according to Microsoft we are all now going to be operating in a much "safer and more productive computing environment". The most popular version of Vista here in the UK was the Home Premium Edition. Take-up of all versions was quite slow at this time, and in our opinion, not entirely unexpected. After all, we had endured 2 Service Packs + countless updates (and were being told by those 'in the trade') that our beloved XP computers would become obsolete within 4 years - so we were all, simply waiting for the release of Vista SP1 before upgrading.

2008  From Jan 2008 onwards, it became more difficult to find a new computer with XP on it (in the larger retail stores such as PC World) and whilst Vista was fine for anyone new to computers, XP was still very much in demand by those of us who had spent years getting to know it, and didn't see what all the fuss was about. As long as XP remained in demand (and the smaller retail outlets could supply genuine Microsoft licences for it) it seemed that it would remain popular.

2009  As with all new versions of Windows there were bound to be minor problems and software compatibility issues that needed fixing, and Windows Vista (despite all the hype at the time of launch) was no exception. To this end, Vista SP1 was soon released, which contained updated device drivers and software compatibility technology that was missing from the first release of the operating system. It remains to be seen if the general public and small businesses throughout the UK will be more accepting of Vista now SP2 has been released, however Windows 7 is just around the corner.

2009  On the 22nd October 2009 Microsoft's latest operating system known simply as Windows 7 was released in the UK, and is available in 3 versions: Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate. So far the reaction from the 'trade' and our private clients has been very positive. Initial reports from those of our clients who have upgraded to this system, or found it already pre-installed on their new computer, seem very positive, in fact a lot more positive than when Vista was first released.  

We will be reviewing this system in more detail later on in 2010 when the 'hype' has died down and the inevitable release of a service pack has been announced. In the meantime we would welcome your feedback!   

 Constructive comments are always welcome ......

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