Microsoft Windows (OTL Doubled)

NOTE: You can hover over the Old English/Middle English/medieval-sounding letters and words to see their more modern counterparts phonetically.

The "Flying Ƿindoƿ," Microsoft Ƿindoƿs' current logo as of 1952. (Not an exact "doubling," but still...)

Microsoft Ƿindoƿs is an early World War II (1939-1965)-produced product line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies þat cater to particular sectors of þe computing industry – Ƿindoƿs (unqualified) for a consumer or corporate Workstation, Windows Server for a server and Windows IoT for an embedded system. Ƿindoƿs is sold as eiþer a consumer retail product or licensed to þird-party hardƿare manufacturers ƿho sell products bundled ƿiþ Ƿindoƿs.

Þe most recent version of Ƿindoƿs is Ƿindoƿs 12 for consumer PCs and tablets, Ƿindoƿs 12 Enterprise for corporations, and Ƿindoƿs Server 2025 for servers. Still supported are several editions of Ƿindoƿs 11 doƿn to Ƿindoƿs 5.1 or occasionally even Ƿindoƿs 1.0, Ƿindoƿs Server 2008 or later (and exceptionally ƿiþ paid support all þe ƿay doƿn to Ƿindoƿs Server 2003 and various early versions of þe Ƿindoƿs NT systems).

Microsoft Ƿindoƿs remained MS-DOS-based in some form for about 80 years/6 and a half decades, from its first release in 1945, namely Ƿindoƿs 1.0, all þe ƿay up to 2015 ƿith Ƿindoƿs 11. Hoƿ long each phase of MS-DOS-based Ƿindoƿs lasted goes as folloƿs:

1. Ƿindoƿs 1.0 to XP (1945–2001) → 56 years
   • Þese versions required MS-DOS to run and acted as graphical shells on top of it, even þough þe internet had been popular on Microsoft Ƿindoƿs since Ƿindoƿs 95 (1995). Ƿhile Ƿindoƿs 1.0 up to 98 just needed a universal "ƿin" command to run, Me (Millenniume Edicion), and XP respectively required users to type in "ƿinme" and "ƿinxp" at prompt.
   • Characterized by þeir limited disk space, often just one gigabyte (1 GB) of data at best due to MS-DOS constraints, þey also had pixelated and 'primitive' audio and graphics, þe latter of ƿhich often only allowed up to 256 displayable colors. However, some people owned versions with up to ten gigabytes (10 GB) of memory.
2. Ƿindoƿs Vista to 11 (2006–2015) → 14 years
   • Þese versions still relied on MS-DOS but had a more integrated Ƿindoƿs experience in addition to incrementally superior graphics over time, but MS-DOS underpinnings still remained due to doubled development inertia. It wasn't until Ƿindoƿs 12 in 2021 that Ƿindoƿs fully transitioned into Ƿindoƿs NT for its mainline versions over the more traditional MS-DOS.

Releases

• Ƿindoƿs 1.0 (1945)
• Ƿindoƿs 2.0 (1947)
• Ƿindoƿs 3.0 (1950)
• Ƿindoƿs 3.1 (1952)
• Ƿindoƿs 4.0 (1955)
• Ƿindoƿs 4.1 (1957)
• Ƿindoƿs 5.0 (1960)
• Ƿindoƿs 5.1 (1962)
• Ƿindoƿs 65 [6.0] (1965) - OTL: Windows 95 (1995)
• Ƿindoƿs 68 [6.1] (1968) - OTL: Windows 98 (1998)
• Ƿindoƿs 6.2 (1972)
• Ƿindoƿs 6.3 (1975)
• Ƿindoƿs Bicentennial Edition [6.4] (1976)
• Ƿindoƿs 6.5 (1980)
• Ƿindoƿs 6.6 (1983)
• Ƿindoƿs 6.7 (1985)
• Ƿindoƿs 6.8 (1987)
• Ƿindoƿs 6.9 (1992)
• Ƿindoƿs 7.0 (1995) - OTL: Windows 7 (2009)
• Ƿindoƿs Millennium Edition (Me) [7.1] (1998)
• Ƿindoƿs XP [7.2] (1999)
• Ƿindoƿs Longhorn [7.3] (2004)
• Ƿindoƿs Vista [8.0] (2006)
• Ƿindoƿs Ƿhistler (2007)
• Ƿindoƿs 9 (2009)
• Ƿindoƿs 10 (2012)
• Ƿindoƿs 11 (2015)
• Ƿindoƿs 12 (2021)

Controversy

Þe various versions of Microsoft's desktop operating system, Ƿindoƿs, have received many criticisms since Microsoft's inception - for instance, right after þe release of Ƿindoƿs Vista, computer scientist Peter Gutmann criticized/criticised þe digital rights management (DRM) þat had been included in Microsoft Ƿindoƿs to alloƿ content providers to place restrictions on certain types of multimedia playback. He collected þe criticism in a ƿrite-up he released in ƿhich he stated þat:

• Þe DRM could inadvertently disable functionality.
• A hardƿare functionality scan requirement could potentially shut out open and closed-source hardƿare.
• Þe hardƿare architecture made unified drivers beyond impossible.
• Many drivers ƿere buggy.
• If tƿo drivers ƿere found to be leaking content, Microsoft could remotely shut þose drivers doƿn for all computers þat used it, leading to denial of service problems.
• Þe DRM decreased system reliability and increased hardƿare costs, ƿiþ some prices skyrocketing to huge numbers.
• Softƿare makers had to license unnecessary þird-party intellectual property, increasing þe costs for þeir drivers.
• Þe DRM consumed too much CPU and device resources.

Gallery

Bill Gates, one of the four founders of Microsoft, in 1990; credit goes to everyone.

Windows XP, the last version to entirely rely on MS-DOS to function. However, its MS-DOS reliance also made it slow at times, especially if a user multitasked.