Microsoft WindowsComputer operating systemOperating systemWindows is a proprietaryoperating system developed by Microsoft. Windows is grouped into families that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry – Windows for personal computers, Windows Server for servers, and Windows IoT for embedded systems.
MS-DOSMS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its alternate branding as IBM PC DOS, and a few operating systems attempting to be compatible with MS-DOS, are sometimes referred to as "DOS" (which is also the generic acronym for disk operating system).
Windows 3.1Windows 3.1 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft, released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992. Unlike its predecessors, which ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS, its 386 Enhanced Mode functioned as a virtual machine monitor virtualizing DOS as a guest. It was the last Windows 16-bit operating system, after which future versions of Windows moved to 32-bit. Windows 3.1 introduced the TrueType font system as a competitor to Adobe Type Manager.
Windows 9xWindows 9x (also known as Win9x) is a generic term referring to a former line of Windows, a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft. It had releases between 1995 and 2000, and were based on the kernel first introduced in Windows 95, which was continuously updated in later versions. MS-DOS support was retained in order to facilitate booting into Windows as well as providing real mode support for DOS.
Operating systemAn operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also include accounting software for cost allocation of processor time, mass storage, peripherals, and other resources.
Graphical user interfaceA graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphicalicons and visual indicators such as secondary notation. In many applications, GUIs are used instead of text-based UIs, which are based on typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces (CLIs), which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard.
32-bit computing32-bit computing refers to computer architectures with a processor, memory, and other major components that operate on 32-bit units of data. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculations more efficiently and process more data per clock cycle. From the 1980s to about 2006, typical 32-bit personal computers had a 32-bit address bus, permitting up to 4 GiB of RAM to be accessed.
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company became influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windows and has since expanded into areas such as Internet services, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, video gaming, and more.Cooperative multitaskingCooperative multitasking, also known as non-preemptive multitasking, is a computer multitasking technique in which the operating system never initiates a context switch from a running process to another process. Instead, in order to run multiple applications concurrently, processes voluntarily yield control periodically or when idle or logically blocked. This type of multitasking is called cooperative because all programs must cooperate for the scheduling scheme to work.
Preemption (computing)In computing, preemption is the act performed by an external scheduler — without assistance or cooperation from the task — of temporarily interrupting an executingtask, with the intention of resuming it at a later time. This preemptive scheduler usually runs in the most privileged protection ring, meaning that interruption and then resumption are considered highly secure actions. Such changes to the currently executing task of a processor are known as context switching.Software release life cycleThe software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the final version, or "gold", is released to the public. Pre-alpha refers to the early stages of development, when the software is still being designed and built.16-bit computingIn computer architecture, 16-bitintegers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 16 bits (2 octets) wide. Also, 16-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 2 different values.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.