March 1992
OS/2 2.0 begins shipping. It offers good DOS/Windows 3.x support but is burdened by the complicated Object-Oriented Workplace Shell and by resource requirements that are heavy for the time. OS/2 still lacks widespread driver and third-party software support, and Windows emerges as the market leader.
April 6, 1992
Windows 3.1 is released. It contains numerous bug fixes, is more stable, and adds a few new features, including scalable TrueType fonts. Windows 3.x becomes the operating system most often installed on U.S. PCs and will remain so into 1997.
July 4, 1992
Microsoft announces Win32, the next-generation API for 32-bit Windows NT. The first public mentions of “Chicago” appear (the code name for what will become Windows 95), as well as talk about how the NT product will eventually supplant the existing Windows architecture.
October 27, 1992
Windows for Workgroups 3.1 ships. Integrates networking and workgroup capabilities, including electronic mail delivery, group meeting scheduling, file and printer sharing, and calendar management. Although 3.1 presages the small-LAN boom, it is a commercial failure, earning the ignominious nickname “Windows for Warehouses.”
April 1993
With Version 6.0, IBM begins marketing PC-DOS separately from Microsoft. PC-DOS 6.0 incorporates a different memory manager and optimizer from the one Microsoft licensed in the original 1981 IBM PC. Novell acquires DR-DOS and rereleases it, with fancier networking, in December 1993 as Novell DOS 7.0. Both of these efforts are too little, too late, as DOS is waning in significance. All the real PC innovation is happening in Windows and non-Microsoft OSs.
May 24, 1993
Windows NT (which stands for New Technology, although wags refer to it as Not Today, No Thanks, and Nice Try) is launched. Geared towards the power user and the server market from the start, the first version, 3.1, requires a high-end PC to run and is rough around the edges. But Windows NT is well received by developers because of its security, stability, and richer Win32 API, which makes it easier to write powerful programs. The project began as OS/2 3.0 but became a total rewrite of the code.
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April 1993
With Version 6.0, IBM begins marketing PC-DOS separately from Microsoft. PC-DOS 6.0 incorporates a different memory manager and optimizer from the one Microsoft licensed in the original 1981 IBM PC. Novell acquires DR-DOS and rereleases it, with fancier networking, in December 1993 as Novell DOS 7.0. Both of these efforts are too little, too late, as DOS is waning in significance. All the real PC innovation is happening in Windows and non-Microsoft OSs.
May 24, 1993
Windows NT (which stands for New Technology, although wags refer to it as Not Today, No Thanks, and Nice Try) is launched. Geared towards the power user and the server market from the start, the first version, 3.1, requires a high-end PC to run and is rough around the edges. But Windows NT is well received by developers because of its security, stability, and richer Win32 API, which makes it easier to write powerful programs. The project began as OS/2 3.0 but became a total rewrite of the code.
November 8, 1993
Windows for Workgroups
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 ships. Offering imroved support for NetWare and Windows NT, it also slips in numereous architectural changes that imrove performance and stanilityand later finf their way into Windows 95. Much better received by corporate America this time around.
March 1994
Linux 1.0, a new multiuser Unix operating system that began as a hobby project, is released. Launches the open source code movement where in any third party can make its own imrovements and contribute them to the maine prodeuct. New hardware and software can be ported to Linux quickly, often befor been available for Windows. Although Linux has never had a large commercial presence, it continues to intrigue(even Netscape has mused about integration Linux and Communicatior to take on Windows NT). Indeed, Linux has become the Unix of choice on PC systems, thanks in larg part to it popularity with the Linix crowd.
August 24, 1995
After numerous and unprecedented prelaunch hype for a software product, Windows 95 ships. In the frenzy, some people line up to buy it event hough they don’t own a computer. The first Windows version that didn’t require the user to install DOS first, Win 95 isthe most user-friendly Windows yet and help spur the mainstreraming of PCs. A much imroved itnterface finally closes the gap with the Mac platform, ultimately marginalizing the Mac further. Win 95 also adds an integrated TCP/IP stack, Dial-Up Networking, and long filename support.
July 31, 1996
Microsoft ships Windows NT 4.0. A much-imroved version from 3.51, it features the Windows 95 user interface, expanded device support, and numerous bundled server processes, like its Internet Information Server Web server. NT 4.0 firmly plants Microsoft in the interprise space. Positioned as a Unix replacement, its presence in corporate America starts small but grows dramatically, and it increasingly becomes the platform for intranets and public Internet sites.
October 1996
OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) for Windows 95 is made availible to manufactures for preinstallation. Contains interim bug fixes as well as improvements to many of the built-in features and applets od Windows 95 in the control panel. Someof the “new” features in Windows 98 make their debut here, includinf FAT32, which allowsmore efficient use of the hard disk space, and improve Dile-Up Networking. OSR2 alsio included Inernet Explorer 3.0, the first viable Web browser from Microsoft.
September 23, 1997
First beta of Windows NT 5.0 is given to a developer conference. The massive new versionwill support new generations of hardware, as well as imroved menagement and security features. Expected release date: 1999.
June 25, 1998
Microsoft launches Windows 98, the last major version of Windows based on the old kernel running on top of DOS. Windows 98 integrate Internet Explorer 4 and supports numerous new device types, from USB to ACPI power management. Feature consumer versions of Windows will be built on the NT kernel.