List of Microsoft Windows versions

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This is a listing of the versions of the operating systems offered by Microsoft as Windows.


Contents

[edit] Current versions

  • Windows Web Server 2008
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1)
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition
  • Windows Storage Server 2008
  • Windows Small Business Server 2008 (Codenamed "Cougar") for small businesses
  • Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (Codenamed "Centro") for medium-sized businesses[1]
  • Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
  • Windows Home Server Announced at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Windows Home Server is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups, and remote access.
  • Windows Vista, for home and business desktops and portable computers
    • Windows Vista Starter Much like Windows XP Starter Edition, this edition will be limited to emerging markets such as Colombia, India, Thailand, and Indonesia, mainly to offer a legal alternative to using unauthorized copies. It will not be available in the United States, Canada, Europe, or Australia.
    • Windows Vista Home Basic Similar to Windows XP Home Edition, Home Basic is intended for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use. The Windows Aero theme with translucent effects will not be included with this edition.
    • Windows Vista Home Premium Like Windows XP Media Center Edition, this edition will support more advanced multimedia and entertainment authoring, premium games, mobile and tablet PC support, Network Projector, Windows Aero, Touch Screen, and auxiliary display (via Windows Side Show) support.
    • Windows Vista Business Comparable to Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Windows Vista Business Edition is aimed at the business market. Includes all the features of Home Premium with the exception of Windows Media Center and related technologies, Parental Controls, and Windows DVD and Movie Maker HD.
    • Windows Vista Enterprise (Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6000.0) This edition is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market, and is a superset of the Business edition. Additional features include multilingual user interface support, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application support. This edition will not be available through retail or OEM channels
    • Windows Vista Ultimate This edition combines all the features of the Home Premium and Enterprise editions, a game performance tweaker (WinSAT), and "Ultimate Extras". On January 7, 2007, at CES, Microsoft began to announce what some of these Ultimate Extras will be.


[edit] Past versions

  • Windows Server 2003 for servers
    • Small Business Server for first server installations (up to 2 processors)
    • Web Edition for basic Web serving (up to 2 processors)
    • Standard Edition for smaller server applications that don't require clustering (up to 4 processors)
    • Enterprise Edition for larger server applications, and clustering (up to 8 processors)
    • Datacenter Edition for mainframe like servers (up to 128 processors)
    • Storage Server for Network Attached Storage Devices

[edit] Future versions

  • 2009 or later - Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Vienna, and before that, Blackcomb), slated to be Vista's successor,
  • Windows Server 7, slated to be Windows Server 2008's successor
  • Windows Mobile 7 for mobile devices

[edit] Cancelled versions

  • 1999 December - Windows Neptune was sent out to beta testers but was never released. Would have been a consumer version (i.e. home edition) of Windows 2000.
  • 1996 May 3 - Windows Nashville (Windows 96) (cancelled) (Became Windows 95B.)
  • 1991-1998 - Cairo (a "true object-oriented OS") planned after Windows NT

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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