Windows NT
Microsoft operating system family / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 in latest version of Windows, 11.
Developer | Microsoft |
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Written in | C, Assembly language (core) C++ (user mode applications, kernel graphical subsystem) C# (user mode applications)[1] |
Working state | Current |
Source model | |
Initial release | July 27, 1993; 30 years ago (1993-07-27) (as Windows NT 3.1) |
Latest release | 23H2 (10.0.22631.3527) (April 23, 2024; 15 days ago (2024-04-23)[2]) [±] |
Latest preview |
23H2 (10.0.22631.3527) (April 23, 2024; 15 days ago (2024-04-23)[3][4]) [±]
23H2 (10.0.22635.3570) (May 3, 2024; 5 days ago (2024-05-03)[5]) [±]
24H2 (10.0.26120.461) (May 3, 2024; 5 days ago (2024-05-03)[6]) [±]
|
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 [citation needed] (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[lower-alpha 1] |
Official website | windows |
The Windows NT name denotes major technology advancements that it introduced to the Windows product line including eliminating 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