2015 will mark the 30th anniversary of Windows, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) iconic operating system first launched in November 1985. 2015 will also mark the year that Windows 10 will be released, the follow-up to the critically panned Windows 8.

Over the last decade customer’s computing needs have shifted. The computing landscape is dramatically different in 2015 than in 2001, when Microsoft launched Windows XP its most popular operating system and considered to be the company’s best. People compute in different ways, and Microsoft now has to compete with new operating systems that have appeared in the last decade like Android in addition to longtime rival Mac OS from Apple (NASDAQ: APPL).

Microsoft now is at a critical juncture.The success or failure of Windows 10 will be turning point for Microsoft. The exact nature of Windows 11 will depend on whether the market embraces or rejects Windows 10. If the market embraces Windows 10, it’s very likely that the follow-up will be more of the same. A failure of Windows 10 — a repeat of Windows 8 — will force Microsoft back to the drawing board with the OS, re-imagining it from the ground up.

Back to the beginning: DOS

A history of Windows needs to begin with what preceded it: DOS. DOS, later known as MS-DOS, was Microsoft’s first operating system and until Windows ME the foundation of what Windows ran on.

The birth of MS-DOS began in 1981 when Microsoft met with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to discuss making an operating system for its upcoming personal computer.

Microsoft already had a relationship with IBM, as it was licensing the BASIC language to IBM. The scope and complexity of creating an entire operating system was beyond Microsoft’s resources available at the time, but that didn’t stop Bill Gates: he bought the full rights to DOS from a small firm based in Washington called Seattle Computer Products for $50,000.

The meeting that started this deal is dramatized in the film Pirates of the Silicon Valley:

Seattle Computer Products’ owner Rod Brock was unaware of the exact nature of the deal between Microsoft and IBM. However, when he discovered the profits Microsoft was making selling DOS to IBM he tried to sell the company and all of its intellectual property to one of IBM’s rivals. This led to a lawsuit between Brock and Microsoft and the two parties settled out of court for $925,000, and Microsoft confirmed its rights and license to DOS.

The first Windows

Microsoft announced Windows, first called Windows for DOS and known by its code name of, in 1983. It was finally released in 1985. However, it was not the first operating system with a graphical user interface. That honor goes to Apple’s Macintosh.

Windows shipped with several simple programs, such as MS‑DOS file management, Paint, Windows Writer, Notepad, Calculator, and a calendar, card file, and clock.

While Windows was praised for helping change the paradigm of how people interact with computers, this first version of the world’s most important operating system largely stood in the shadow of Macintosh. Apple, however felt threatened and sued Microsoft in 1988 for copyright infringement, claiming that Microsoft copied the “look and feel” of its operating system.

However Apple itself did not invent the GUI. That honor goes to Xerox, which effectively gave it away to Apple.

Support for Windows 1.0 ended in December 2001.

The post The History of Windows appeared first on VR World.

• W7 Starter Edition – 199.95 vs. 99.95
• W7 Home Premium – 259.95 vs. 159.95
• W7 Professional – 299.95 vs. 299.95 (Vista Business)
• W7 Ultimate – 319.95 vs. 399.95

If we compare the launch prices for two operating systems, we can see that Microsoft jacked up Starter Edition by $100 when compared to Vista Starter Edition, Home Premium is jacked up by the same amount. Professional (Business) Edition remained the same, while Ultimate got cheaper by 80 bucks. The differences become even more interesting if we take a look at current situation – roughly a year ago, Microsoft cut the Vista prices by as much as 20%.

Following is a comparison between actual prices:

• W7 Starter Edition – 199.95 vs. 52.99
• W7 Home Premium – 259.95 vs. 129.95
• W7 Professional – 299.95 vs. 299.95 (Vista Business)
• W7 Ultimate – 319.95 vs. 319.95

Now, the differences are even greater. You will pay almost $150 more for W7 Starter Edition, exactly twice the much for Home Premium (single W7 Home Premium box equals two Vista Home Premium boxes), while Professional (Business) and Ultimate remain the same.

Judging by what we are seeing now, the wave of positive PR should yield in additional hundreds of millions dollars, since Starter and Home Premium are most sold versions with netbooks and notebooks. This will put additional pressure on notebook manufacturers and you can expect that those manufacturers will be forced to offer cheaper components inside their computers in order to meet up for these jacked up prices. OEM pricing will differ, but don’t expect wonders.

The value of good PR for Windows 7? One Benjamin Franklin.

If you ever wanted to know what is the value of positive reviews from journalists around the world – the answer is somewhere between $80-150 per retail box. Looking it from othe other side, this can also be interpreted into the cost of negative reviews.

UPDATE: February 9, 2009, 15:02 CET – ArsTechnica posted a retraction of this rumor. As usuall, I will state that this story was a rumor to begin with, and we won’t know the truth until Microsoft officialy release the prices. You can expect MSFT to disclose pricing when W7 enters RC-1 stage.

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Order clockwise: Windows 1.0, 3.0, 95, NT 4.0, XP, Vista, 2000 and NT 3.1

Windows 1.0 finally entered production in September of 1985, and first system came from NEC, shipped right in November 1985. So, Windows is either 23 or 25 years old, but anyways, I wish to congratulate Microsoft on 25th birthday of the software platform that changed the world.

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The device is so good that it leaves a lasting impression... but you have to use it to build your profile. It only gets better as the time passes by...

Starting today, NIA finally has 64-bit driver support. According to Dr. Michael Schuette, “The migration to the Vista 64 environment with the unified ver. 2.0 software suite required a complete recoding of the human interface device library”. The company decided to add the 64-bit executable into brand new unified driver package, supporting 32-bit Windows XP and both versions of Vista.
You can download drivers from here. Given the fact that my old review never saw the light of day on previous publications, I am working on a new review, hopefully done by next week.
If you have NIA device, you can grab the drivers here. If you don’t have the device, I wholeheartedly advise you to reconsider your shopping list – the device now sells for only $116.99 (after  $20.00 MIR) over at Newegg.

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