History of Computers: Microsoft Windows
Every time I turn on my Dell computer the screen pops up that says loading Windows XP software. My roommate turns on her computer and it says the same thing, as with most people on my floor. Today this seems to be the trend with most computers no matter what brand of hardware. This was not always the case though, Windows software is actually a fairly new technology that has grown much over the years and continues to develop and change even today. I wouldn know where I would be without my Windows software, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. This software is important in so many lives and companies today that it would be hard to imagine a time without it.
Windows software was not always as popular as it is today. It took a lot of work to develop this complex software. Let start by taking a brief look back on the major software before Windows, to fully understand why Microsoft Windows gradually became a total hit. Before Microsoft Windows there was MS-DOS. MS-DOS was a highly complicated operating system that often frustrated its users and was difficult to learn. Interaction with the operating system was by command line interference. Every command had to be typed in exactly right and the system was case sensitive (Campbell-Kelly 264). If anything was incorrect in the command line, then the whole command had to be retyped (264). Not only did this prove to be frustrating, but once you got the hang of this type of command typing, you would go use another program and the command set would be totally different. There were not standard interference commands and therefore every company made theirs different (265).
With the hope of inventing something better than MS-DOS, in 1985 Windows 1.0 was finally released after a preemptive marketing announcement three years earlier (Rojas 828). Windows 1.0 was not well received and was no where near the capabilities of the Macintosh software which offered clear graphics and fonts. Windows 1.0 still had many of the same type of problems encountered with MS-DOS (History of Microsoft Windows).
Windows, and of course over DOS, but it still didn't compete against the ease of
Microsoft is an American company that was founded by William Henry Gates III, as known as Bill Gates, and his his high school friend Paul Gardner Allen in 1975 April 4. But unluckily, Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after developing Hodgkin’s disease. In 1985 October 20, Microsoft released Microsoft window. It is the first original operating system. It is a graphical extension for MS-DOS. Even though, it’s not handy like nowadays Microsoft window. Then in 1990, Microsoft introduced Microsoft office, which is a bundle office productivity application with Microsoft Word and Microsoft excel. The Microsoft Word was the first application that could display italics. And the Microsoft Office would be available for free for all the PC World’s computer that is produce on that same year in November. In the 2000 February 17, Microsoft released Window 2000 operating system, and according to Microsoft it is the most safe operating system in the world at that time. But still, there are so many problems and glitches need to be fixed. Besides there are mutable computer viruses are made specially to attack Window 2000. Rush to gain back the sales. In the 2001 October 25 Window xp is available. The new operating system fix most of the problem. Although some of the user were still complaining the system that it will take your information, but in the 2007 January, there are 76% of people in the entire world are using the operating system.
The computer programmers decided to make the dates in these operating systems and programs with 2 digits(73) instead of 4(1973). That was all fine until about the early 90's when computer programmers noticed something. They saw that when the year 2000 rolled around the computers would read the date as 00 instead of 2000. The computer would think, "1900?", but I was made in 1973.
"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." -Bill Gates (Bill 1). Microsoft Windows, as of October 2013, is used by approximately 85 percent of all laptops and desktops worldwide (StatCounter 1). The Windows operating system is the pride and joy of the programmer, inventor, and co-founder of Microsoft, William Henry Gates III. His impact on the world has been astronomical resulting in many advancements in science and technology that just wouldn’t have been possible without him. In order to fully understand his significance and influence in the world, one must be knowledgeable of his background, the critics view of his most famous achievement, and must have a discussion about his impact and importance in the modern world.
The debate between whether to buy Macintosh or buy a PC has been ongoing since Microsoft first introduced Microsoft Windows in November 1984. Apple Macintosh had developed its first personal computer, mouse and graphical user interface (GUI) in January of 1984. The debate has grown and has been the subject of many articles and even is the main high light of various websites. This frequently heated debate has even been compared to the Pepsi vs. Coke debate (Derene, 2009). While the rhetoric has continued the differences between these products has actually lessened, making it possible for some applications to be shared. Even the mechanics of the machines has become similar. Both use Intel processors, and both obtain many of their parts from the same supply companies. The operating systems of Windows Vista and Mac OSX Leopard are very similar when comparing multimedia, Internet and applications (Derene, 2009).
Microsoft, one of the largest corporations in the world today, employs over 93,000 people and is a public, multinational company that manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computers and is most widely known for its Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft not only markets computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse and the Microsoft Natural keyboard, but it also manufactures and sells home entertainment products including, the Xbox, Xbox 360, and Zune. It also holds assets in other markets including the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.
Microsoft’s mission of placing a “PC running Microsoft software on every desk and in every home” drove their overall strategy early on. Depending on the business segment within Microsoft, one would see in place very different business models as the strategy for each line of business could vary. In the operating system (OS) segment, Microsoft initially brought in an existing product and modified this (MS-DOS) to work with the Intel microprocessor, which were the “brains” of the IBM PC. Microsoft partnered with IBM to provide the operating system for the IBM PC. In addition to developing Windows, Microsoft during this period was working to write applications for the Apple OS.
He had helped IBM with an operating system for their new personal computer coming out soon. “In order to meet the IBM deadline, Gates paid $50,000 for the rights to a rudimentary operating system called "Q-DOS" ("quick and dirty operating system") designed by a Seattle programmer. Gates and his team made some adjustments to the system and added some new features, renaming the result MS-DOS (after Microsoft)”(McGuire 1). Bill Gates had made his first operating system which was the kickstart to his new company called Microsoft. One problem he went through was when his amazing success brought him to court.
It all began in 1991, during the time of monumental computing development. DOS had been bought from a Seattle hacker by Bill Gates, for a sum of $50,000 – a small price for an operating system that had managed sneak its way across the globe due to a clever marketing strategy. Apple’s OS and UNIX were both available, though the cost of running either was far greater than that of running DOS. Enter MINIX, an operating system developed from the ground up by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, a college professor. MINIX was part of a lesson plan used to teach students the inner-workings of an operating system. Tanenbaum had written a book on MINIX called “Operating System” and anyone who had picked up a copy would find the 12,000 lines of code that comprised MINIX itself. This was a big issue; due to the fact that all know (well published) operating systems to that point had been well guarded by software developers, thus making it difficult for people to truly expand on operating system mechanics.
"Technology is like fish. The longer it stays on the shelf, the less desirable it becomes." (1) Since the dawn of computers, there has always been a want for a faster, better technology. These needs can be provided for quickly, but become obsolete even quicker. In 1981, the first "true portable computer", the Osborne 1 was introduced by the Osborne Computer Corporation. (2) This computer revolutionized the way that computers were used and introduced a brand new working opportunity.
The Longhorn development cycle had begun in May 2001 according to Peter Galli (et.al.), and was expected to fill the gap between Windows XP and the more robust operating system code named "Vienna" within Microsoft. In what was a tumultuous period of Microsoft's development, in 2003 Robert Allchin, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer decided to stop development of the existing Longhorn operating system and revert to use the existing Windows Server 2003 code base as the foundation for Windows Vista. What forced these three Microsoft executives to scrap development of the existing development of Longhorn and begin over was the inclusion of a completely different software development methodology called the Security Development Lifecycle, reducing the number of security-related errors in coding by as much as 50% to 60% according to Michael Howard (ET.AL.) writing in MSDN Magazine. The re-write of an entire operating system in the new development methodology completed changed the development processes within Microsoft as well. It took literally a year for the pace of coding to approach the efficiency levels of Longhorn prior to the decision being made.
As time passed other companies cloned IBM PC system, and Microsoft started selling its software massively. During the 80s Microsoft’s growth exploded and run most of the computers software on the world.
The First Generation of Computers The first generation of computers, beginning around the end of World War 2, and continuing until around the year 1957, included computers that used vacuum tubes, drum memories, and programming in machine code. Computers at that time where mammoth machines that did not have the power our present day desktop microcomputers. In 1950, the first real-time, interactive computer was completed by a design team at MIT. The "Whirlwind Computer," as it was called, was a revamped U.S. Navy project for developing an aircraft simulator.
Thousands of years ago calculations were done using people’s fingers and pebbles that were found just lying around. Technology has transformed so much that today the most complicated computations are done within seconds. Human dependency on computers is increasing everyday. Just think how hard it would be to live a week without a computer. We owe the advancements of computers and other such electronic devices to the intelligence of men of the past.
...iety as a whole is very dependent on computers weather it’s playing games, chatting online, shopping, emailing family and friends or emailing a coworker the next aisle over. Many business are so dependent on computers that they are now storing all their information on their computers hard drive and not giving thought if the computer crash. Many department stores are now computer based and do not have any other way to check out a customer if their system go down I remember waiting in line and the store’s computer went many customers left stating they didn’t not want to wait for the system to come back up because of the dependency of computers the store lost many potential customers. Computers are not bad to have and use but to be dependent may not be so good and if a business is dependent on a computer it may want to have a backup system just in case of an emergency.