A Quick History of Microsoft Windows

By Philip Leimbach, MCT

For those who are not Information Technology people and who do not know the basic history of Microsoft Windows here is a simple breakdown of the different versions of Microsoft Windows over the years.

The 1980’s brought us Windows 1.0 through 2.1x, while Windows at this time was still a huge experiment a few new ideas had made their way to the public eye. Multiple Windows allowing for cooperative multitasking was one of these ideas. But, since Windows was barely a dream the Apple II (MAC System Software 1.0-3.0) ruled the roost.

The 1990’s quickly changed the Desktop Operating System game with the introduction of Windows 3.x systems. Like many long time Windows users, Windows 3.11 was my first real foray into the Windows systems and began a long term work relationship. In 1995 Microsoft began what would become the biggest breakthrough in Desktop Operating Systems when it introduced Windows 95 to the general public. Windows 95 was the first real effort at Plug And Play devices (PNP) with the idea you could take any printer or other device and simply plug them into a computer and “poof” it would magically work. While it was a great idea, it still doesn’t always work like that.

Home computing continued on through the year 2000 with the introduction of Windows 98 which had some improvements over Windows 95 and of course the dreaded Windows ME.

Enterprise computing is where Microsoft would make their biggest splash with the 4th edition of Windows NT called Windows NT 4.0. Windows NT 4.0 quickly gained favor over a then flag bearer of Novell Netware who at the introduction of Microsoft NT server had a 90% market share. Microsoft was able to quickly outpace Novell not only because of an outstanding marketing campaign but also because Microsoft used TCP/IP networking protocol which enabled Microsoft to easily connect to the internet. In 2000 Microsoft introduced Windows 2000 which was an upgrade of the Windows NT 4.0 system and had a much cleaner feel to the user interface as well as other enhancements.

Now where it gets confusing for most people is with the introduction of Windows XP in 2001. Windows XP introduced different flavors such as XP Home and XP Professional. One obviously made for general consumer while the other was made for an enterprise environment. Since Windows XP has been the vanguard of the Microsoft Desktop Operating Systems for ten years now it was not without its issues when first released and by many accounts was not considered a stable platform until after its update called Service Pack 2. Once Windows XP became a “stable” platform it became the Operating System of preference to most standard computer users and is still one of the more popular operating systems.

In 2006 Windows Vista was released and quickly shocked the IT world. After our first install of Windows Vista many IT professionals quickly had flashbacks to Windows ME, it was a huge resource hog that liked to crash just because it could. Many of us who had tested the first Beta version of Windows Vista were quite shocked at how unstable Vista turned out. In fact many IT Professionals, especially Small Business consultants recommended companies not move up to Windows Vista unless they were buying a new computer.

2009 brought us Windows 7, what many believe Windows Vista should have been from the beginning. Windows 7 is much more resource friendly and so far appears to be much more stable. It has many enhancements built to the operating system to make it much prettier than Windows XP but more user friendly than Windows Vista. Windows 7 is much nicer to laptops especially netbooks and has been ported over to cell phones in an attempt to match Apples iPhone and Google’s Android Phone System. With Windows 7, pretty much just drop in a couple of gigabytes of RAM (Random Access Memory) on an average video card and your good, Vista just was not that kind.

What I forgot about the servers, no, not really. After Windows 2000 the servers and the desktops had a parting of the ways. Servers are now called by the year they are supposed to have been released. As of today while a majority of Servers are still Windows Server 2003, the most current flavor is Windows Server 2008 R2. Oh and trust me there are still plenty of Server 2000 systems in the enterprise. But does any of this matter to a non IT guy, no really does it?

The future holds some interesting avenues. I have seen snippets of Windows 8 and to me it really looks like Windows Phone 7 in many ways, many are speculating with the extreme and sudden popularity of Tablets that Windows 8 is being geared toward Tablet and Cloud Computing. Of course there is the “Cloud” where very little of your data resides locally. With you having such a small local footprint the devices you are using can be smaller as long as they can get to the internet in order to access the cloud. With AT&T having bought T-Mobile to have immediate access to a much faster network (read 4G network) and all wireless delivery companies building cellular devices into Tablets, the cloud is right around the corner. Don’t worry we are sure Microsoft has a solution for better Tablet Computing (I’m guessing Windows 8 will be their start), heck what do you think Windows Office 365(live) is doing? With all the changes that have happened over the last 30 years all I can tell you for sure is to either love change or hang up the keyboard, because I’m sure in 30 more years the 32 gigabyte thumb/flash drive will have gone the way of that super-fast 1.4 megabyte, super small 3.5 inch floppy disk.

Better computing to all

FREE-ACCION – Small Business Workshop

FREE-ACCION – Small Business Workshop

Please join us on July 15th for a no-cost, informative presentation about Accion and how they may provide access to capital for your business. Money Management International will also have a presentation on financial education and the services they offer. Accion is a nonprofit organization that invests in the community’s most important asset – human potential. They increase access to business credit, make loans and provide training to help emerging and existing entrepreneurs realize their dreams. They service small businesses in more than 150 communities throughout New Mexico. They have term loans from $200 to $150,000.

WHEN: Thursday, July 15, 2010 TIME: 10:00am – 12:00pm

WHERE: UNM Valencia Campus, 280 La Entrada Rd., Los Lunas, NM 87031, CSCC200

CALL: 925-8980 FOR ENROLLMENT or email Ruby, raragon@unm.edu

FREE-ACCION – Small Business Workshop

FREE-ACCION – Small Business Workshop

Please join us on July 15th for a no-cost, informative presentation about Accion and how they may provide access to capital for your business. Money Management International will also have a presentation on financial education and the services they offer. Accion is a nonprofit organization that invests in the community’s most important asset – human potential. They increase access to business credit, make loans and provide training to help emerging and existing entrepreneurs realize their dreams. They service small businesses in more than 150 communities throughout New Mexico. They have term loans from $200 to $150,000.

WHEN: Thursday, July 15, 2010 TIME: 10:00am – 12:00pm

WHERE: UNM Valencia Campus, 280 La Entrada Rd., Los Lunas, NM 87031, CSCC200

CALL: 925-8980 FOR ENROLLMENT or email Ruby, raragon@unm.edu

Welcome to a new decade.

Welcome back to a new decade and the start of the Spring 2010 semester! We hope you like some of the changes we've made, in part with help from the STEM grant.

Classroom/Lecture Capture - We have installed 31 Classrooms with Lecture Capture devices, called Media Site this product is from Sonic Foundry. These classrooms have been setup with stationary cameras and microphones. All you have to do is setup a schedule with the Teaching and Learning Center and teach like normal. In addition we have 3 rooms on campus which have stationary cameras and microphones but are setup for mobile capture devices. This is a great tool to help your students study and we at the TLC are more than happy to get you started.

Podiums - 9 Classrooms now have new podiums. We have installed (we feel) easier to use podiums in rooms that had limited instructor areas before. The new podiums were installed in 2 science labs in the Academics building and the remainder where installed in the numerous Computer Classrooms in the Business, Occupational and Technologies Building. These podiums match what we had previously installed in the Vocational and Technical Building.

New Projectors - With all of the technology upgrades going on we were also to install and add new projectors to some rooms. This will really help the campus in the future as we have streamlined our makes and models of projectors to just a few. Additionally the new projectors are much more energy conscious than the projectors they replaced and the bulbs should last twice as long. Wow, a little more green and much more cost effective, what more could you ask for?

New Document Camera - Yes, we had to replace some of the old Canon and Elmo Document cameras. We chose a brand called AverMedia. Most of the AverMedia Document Camera have a much smaller foot print and will be less intrusive into the teaching area while still delivering a high content Doc. Camera.

Online Learning Platform - The Teaching and Learning Center is aggressively working on an Online Teaching Certificate for current faculty. With Dr. Najib Manea, PhD working on theory and design, Philip Leimbach, MCT is working on applications and tools. Call us today to find out more 505-925-8556

We hope you all have a great semester! If you have any problems please do not hesitate in calling us 925-8556

Have You signed up for your Teaching and Learning Center Classes yet? Here is the schedule so find something you might like and email us at tlc@unm.edu and we will get you scheduled.

Dates Semester Kickoff Classes Time
01/12/10 Web CT 9-11am
01/12/10 Using Smart Boards & Sympodiums 11-12pm
01/12/10 Clickers 12-2pm
01/13/10 Groupwise 9-10am
01/13/10 Classroom Capture Refresher 11-12pm
01/13/10 Groupwise 3:30-4:30pm
01/14/10 Clickers 9-11am
01/14/10 Using Smart Boards & Sympodiums 11-12pm
01/14/10 Web CT 12-2pm
Dates Online Learning Courses Thursdays
Jan 18 - Feb 19 Beginning Online Instruction 12-2pm
Feb 22 - Apr 2 Design & Development of Online Courses 12-2pm
Apr 5 - May 7 Online Instruction Assessment 12-2pm
Dates Skill Developmental Classes Mondays
1/25 - 2/22 Microsoft Word 2007 Level 1 12-2pm
3/1 - 3/22 Microsoft Power Point 2007 Level 1 12-2pm
3/29 - 4/26 Beginning Web Design (NOT Dreamweaver) 12-2pm
Dates Bring Your Lunch and Learn Tue & Wen
Jan 26 & 27 Using Lecture Capture for Class Success 12-1pm
Feb 2 & 3 Blogs in the Classroom 12-1pm
Mar 2 & 3 Portfolio Building Blocks 12-1pm
Apr 6 & 7 Introduction to Digital Communications 12-1pm
May 4 & 5 Introduction to Camtasia 12-1pm

Schedule your Classes for Lecture Capture

With school starting in just over a week now is the time to schedule your classes for lecture capture. Give your students one more important and easy tool to use when studying. Here is all you do:

Email the following information to tlc@unm.edu

1. Your Name
2. Your Email
3. Class with section #
4. Start time and day (ex. Mon. & Wed 11:30-12:45) NOTE: this is what time your recordings will start and stop, if you need to adjust your times slightly please list those times (ex. 11:40-12:45)

We will schedule your classes, set up a media catalog for each course which will have a URL that you can paste in WebCT or on your website and we’re off to the races.

Virtualizing

So I'm sitting here tasked with checking out virtualization. Sure I've used MS Virtual PC's and Servers for my MS Training courses. I was pretty good at loading them and using them. But really not the ideal platform for real life use. So off on the search I go!

So what to use? Xen, Citrix, VMWare, Microsoft or other? Wow, who just through the bag of skittles into my search?

So what am I looking for? Free, inexpensive, easy to learn, setup and manage Virtualization Desktop that can manage Windows XP-7, Mac Tiger-Snow Leopard, and Linux Ubunutu, SUSE, Red Hat and most others, not including FreeBSD. Really I don't think I'm asking for too much. This is only going to run a small section but hey I want what I need!