Windows NT
Categories: Microsoft Windows | Microsoft software | ARC
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, and was succeeded by Windows 2000 (still based on Windows NT). Although the company decided to drop "NT" from the Windows naming scheme for marketing, it internally still uses Windows NT as a means of reference. The latest available operating systems based on NT are Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
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Development
When development started in November 1988, Windows NT (using protected mode) was to be known as OS/2 3.0, the third version of the operating system developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM. In addition to working on three versions of OS/2, Microsoft continued parallel development of the DOS-based and less resource-demanding Windows environment (using real mode). When Windows 3.0 was released in May 1990, it was so successful that Microsoft decided to change the primary application programming interface for the still-unreleased NT OS/2 (as it was then known) from an extended OS/2 API to an extended Windows API. This decision caused tension between Microsoft and IBM, and the collaboration ultimately fell apart. IBM continued OS/2 development alone, while Microsoft continued work on the newly-renamed Windows NT. Though neither operating system would be as immediately popular as Microsoft's DOS or Windows products, Windows NT would eventually be far more successful than OS/2.
Microsoft hired a group of developers from Digital Equipment Corporation led by Dave Cutler to build Windows NT, and many elements reflect earlier DEC experience with VMS and RSX-11. The OS is designed to run on multiple instruction set architectures, with the kernel separated from the hardware by a hardware abstraction layer. APIs are implemented as subsystems atop the publicly undocumented Native API; it was this that allowed the late adoption of the Windows API. Originally a microkernel design, subsequent releases have integrated more functions into the kernel for better performance. Windows NT was the first operating system to use Unicode internally.
Releases
| NT Ver. | Marketing Name | Editions | Release Date | Build |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NT 3.1 | Windows NT 3.1 | Workstation, Advanced Server | July 1993 | 528 |
| NT 3.5 | Windows NT 3.5 | Workstation, Server | September 1994 | 807 |
| NT 3.51 | Windows NT 3.51 | Workstation, Server | May 1995 | 1057 |
| NT 4.0 | Windows NT 4.0 | Workstation, Server, Server Enterprise Edition, Terminal Server, Embedded | July 1996 | 1381 |
| NT 5.0 | Windows 2000 | Professional, Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server | February 2000 | 2195 |
| NT 5.1 | Windows XP | Home, Professional, Media Center (2004 & 2005), Tablet PC, Starter, Embedded, N | October 2001 | 2600 |
| NT 5.2 | Windows Server 2003 | Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, XP Pro x64 | March 2003 | 3790 |
| NT 6.0 | Windows Vista | Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Small Business, Enterprise, Ultimate (x64 editions will be available too) | 2006 (expected) | Unknown |
| NT 6.0+ | Longhorn Server (codename) | Unknown | 2007 (expected) | Unknown |
The first release was given version number 3.1 to match the contemporary 16-bit Windows; magazines of that era claimed the number was also used to make that version seem more reliable than a ".0" release. The NT version is no longer marketed, but is said to reflect the degree of changes to the core of the operating system[1]. The build number is an internal figure used by Microsoft's developers.
Supported platforms
Windows NT 3.1 ran on Intel IA-32 x86, DEC Alpha, and MIPS R4000 processors. Windows NT 3.51 added support for PowerPC processors. Intergraph Corporation ported Windows NT to its Clipper architecture and later SPARC, but neither version was sold to the public. Windows NT 4.0 was the last major release to support Alpha, MIPS, or PowerPC, though development of Windows 2000 for Alpha continued until 1999, when Compaq stopped support for Windows NT on that architecture. Only 2 of the Windows NT 4.0 variants (IA-32 and Alpha) have a full set of service packs available. All of the other ports done by 3rd parties (Motorola, Intergraph, etc.) have few, if any, publicly available updates.
Windows XP 64-Bit, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter support Intel's IA-64 processors. As of April 25 2005, Microsoft had released four editions for the AMD64: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition, and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter x64 Edition.
The Xbox uses a heavily modified and stripped down Windows 2000 kernel. This kernel was heavily modified again for the Xbox 360 which runs on PowerPC. This version is not for sale, and little is generally known about it.
"NT" designation
It is popularly believed that Dave Cutler intended the initialism "WNT" as a pun on VMS, incrementing each letter by one, similar to the apocryphal story of Arthur C. Clarke deriving HAL 9000's name by decrementing each letter of IBM. While this would have suited Cutler's sense of humor, the project's earlier name of NT OS/2 belies this theory. Another of the original OS/2 3.0 developers, Mark Lucovsky, states that the name was taken from the Intel i860 processor—code-named "N-Ten"—which served as the original target hardware. Various Microsoft publications, including a 1998 question-and-answer session with Bill Gates[2], reveal that the letters were expanded to "New Technology" for marketing purposes but no longer carry any specific meaning.
The letters were dropped from the name of Windows 2000. This action ostensibly reflected Microsoft's intent to unify its home and business lines, then represented by Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0, but this goal would not be achieved until the introduction of Windows XP. Some believe this to be the result of a trademark dispute between Microsoft and Nortel.
Also worth noting is that on the bottom of the Windows NT 4.0 product boxes is a notice explaining that "NT" is a trademark of Northern Telecom.
See also
- Architecture of Windows 2000
- Microsoft Windows
- NSAKEY
- NT Domain
- ReactOS (an open source project with the goal of providing binary- and device driver-level compatibility with Windows NT)
- Windows Server System
External links
- Official Page
- Windows NT and VMS: The Rest of the Story, discussion of ancestry of NT by Mark Russinovich
- A Brief History of the Windows NT Operating System a Microsoft PressPass Fact Sheet
| 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 |
Notes
- ^ Gates, Bill (June 5, 1998). "Q&A: Protecting children from information on the Internet". Retrieved June 26, 2005.ca:Windows NT
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