The most widely used operating system for desktop and laptop computers. Developed by Microsoft, Windows primarily runs on x86-based computers (the ubiquitous PC), although versions have run on Intel's Itanium CPUs. Windows provides a graphical user interface and desktop environment in which applications are displayed in resizable, movable windows on screen.
Windows comes in both client and server versions, all of which support networking, the difference being that the server architecture is designed for dedicated server hardware. Although they can easily share their data with other users on the network, the client versions of Windows are geared to running user applications. While Windows is the dominant desktop OS, Linux is the leading server OS. See
Linux,
operating system,
smartphone operating system and
embedded OS.
Thin Windows Clients
In many organizations, Windows runs in a thin client environment, whereby the user's PC functions like a terminal to a central server. For more details, see
Remote Desktop Services.
Windows Versions
Starting with Windows 1.0 in 1985, the OS evolved into numerous incarnations. It originally was a graphical extension to the DOS operating system but was integrated with DOS as of Windows 95. For version history, see
Windows versions. See
Microsoft Bob.
Windows How to's
All the Windows "how to's" in this encyclopedia have a "Win" prefix in front of their name in order to group them together; for example,
Win Change Windows appearance and
Win Desktop search. For fundamentals on how to work with Windows, see
Win abc's,
Win8 abc's and
Win10 abc's.