Windows NT
Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which was released on July 27, 1993, and it lives on today since the latest version of Windows, 11, includes its technology.
| Developer | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Written in | C, Assembly language (core) C++ (user mode applications, kernel graphical subsystem) C# (user mode applications) |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | |
| Initial release | July 27, 1993 (as Windows NT 3.1) |
| Latest release | 23H2 (10.0.22631.3155) (February 13, 2024) [±] |
| Latest preview |
23H2 (10.0.22631.3155) (February 13, 2024) [±]
23H2 (10.0.22635.3140) (February 8, 2024) [±]
24H2 (10.0.26058.1100) (February 14, 2024) [±]
|
| Update method | Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services |
| Platforms | IA-32, x86-64, ARM and ARM64 (and historically Intel i860, DEC Alpha, Itanium, MIPS, and PowerPC) |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (NT) |
| Influenced by | RSX-11, VAXELN, OpenVMS, MICA, Mach (kernel) MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows 3.1x (userland) |
| Default user interface | Graphical (Windows shell) |
| License | Depending on version, edition or customer choice: Trialware, commercial software, volume licensing, OEM-only, SaaS, S+S |
| Official website | www |
Windows NT also denotes major technology advancements that it introduced to the Windows product line including eliminated the 16-bit memory access limitations of earlier Windows releases. Each Windows release that includes its technology is considered to be based on if not a revision of Windows NT even though the Windows NT name has not been used since 1996.
Windows NT provides many features including:
- pure 32-bit memory access -- earlier, consumer-oriented versions, Windows 3.1x and Windows 9x, were 16-bit/32-bit hybrids
- Multi-architecture support -- initially instruction set architectures including IA-32, MIPS, and DEC Alpha; support for PowerPC, Itanium, x64, and ARM were added later and later still: x86 (including IA-32 and x64) and ARM
- Many system services including: Windows shell, Windows API, Native API, Active Directory, Group Policy, Hardware Abstraction Layer, NTFS, BitLocker, Windows Store, Windows Update, and Hyper-V