Windows NT 4.0
| Windows NT 4.0 | |
|---|---|
| Image:Nt4server.png Updated user interface similar to Windows 95 | |
| Development team: | Microsoft |
| OS family: | Windows NT |
| Source model: | Closed source |
| Latest stable release: | Service Pack 6a SRP / November 1999 |
| Kernel type: | Hybrid kernel |
| License: | Microsoft EULA |
| Working state: | Extended Support |
| Website: | www.microsoft.com/ntserver |
Windows NT 4.0 was the fourth release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released in 1996. It is a 32-bit Windows system available in workstation and server versions with a graphical environment similar to Windows 95. The "NT" designation in the product's title initially stood for "New Technology" according to Bill Gates, but no longer has any specific meaning, although some critics of its security shortcomings claimed the suffix stood for "Nice Try".
While more stable than Windows 95, it is also less flexible from a desktop perspective. Much of the stability is gained by virtualising the hardware and having software applications access the system APIs rather than the hardware directly as was done in DOS and continued with Windows 95 and on. The trade-off is that writing to the APIs rather than to the hardware directly requires much more work be done by the computer and so hardware intensive applications such as games run much more slowly. While many programs written for the Win32 API will run on both Windows 95 and Windows NT, depict support for DirectX, the majority of 3D games will not.
The dichotomy between the NT and "9x" lines of Windows arguably only ended with the arrival of Windows XP, by which time the gaming APIs—such as OpenGL and DirectX—had matured sufficiently to be more efficient to write for than common PC hardware and the hardware itself had become powerful enough to handle the API processing overhead acceptably.
Windows NT 4.0 was rendered "obsolete" with the advent of Windows 2000 but is still (as of 2005) in widespread use despite Microsoft's many efforts to persuade customers to upgrade to more recent versions.
Contents |
Features
Most noticeable was that the workstation and server editions of Windows NT 4.0 had gained the user interface of Windows 95. The server editions of Windows NT 4.0 also had a built in web server, IIS 2.0. It also natively supported plugins and extensions of Microsoft FrontPage, a web site creation and management application. Other important features also were Microsoft Transaction Server for network applications, and Microsoft Message Queue Server (MSMQ), which improved communication.
Service packs
Microsoft released service packs primarily for Windows NT 4.0 to fix problems. Windows NT 4.0, during the product's lifecycle, had a total of 6 service packs, as well as numerous service rollup packages and option packs. The last service pack was Service Pack 6a (SP6a) which was made available in November 30, 1999.
The service packs and an option pack were also released to add features. These included newer versions of Internet Information Services, versions 3.0, and 4.0, support for Active Server Pages, public-key and certificate authority functionality, smart card support, improved symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) scalability, clustering capabilities, and component object model (COM) support, among others.
Editions
Servers
- Windows NT 4.0 Server, released in 1996, was designed for small-scale business server systems.
- Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Server, released in 1997 is the precursor to the Datacenter line of the Windows server family. Enterprise Server was designed for high-demand, high-traffic networks.
- Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server, released in 1998, is an NT OS that allows the user to log on to a remote machine, and operate it normally. This same functionality has been implemented as Terminal Services (in Windows 2000), and Remote Desktop (Windows XP and Server 2003).
Other
- Windows NT 4.0 Embedded was designed for special function devices like an ATM or kiosk.
- Windows NT 4.0 Workstation was designed for use as the general business desktop OS. Boasting a pure 32-Bit environment, with excellent stability, it quickly became a success for its intended market.
External links
| History of Microsoft Windows |
|---|
| MS-DOS–based: 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.x | 95 | 98 | Me |
| NT-based: NT 3.1 | NT 3.5 | NT 3.51 | NT 4.0 | 2000 | XP | Server 2003 |
| CE-based: CE 3.0 | Mobile | CE 5.0 |
| Forthcoming: Vista | Server "Longhorn" | Blackcomb |