Gadgetory

now this may come as a surprise to some of our younger viewers out there but there was a time when operating systems and graphical user interfaces you know like Mouse pointers didn't exactly go together leaving computer enthusiasts with only plain text and cat posters to stare at in their moms basements the long winter ended however in 1985 when Microsoft delivered Windows 1.0 shining and graphically generated light for the first time ok so they actually weren't the first to do that at all but we've got to give them credit where it's due and while the first several windows version still basically ran over top of NS DOS relying heavily on command line entries they also introduced many things we take for granted today such as differing executable file formats device drivers and multitasking that's right for the first time people can play minesweeper and solitaire simultaneously the next big developments came with the smash hit release of Windows 95 arguably the most prolific OS to date with sales reaching 40 million copies that year many of which are still running on elderly people's computers worldwide Windows 95 was the first OS capable of running 32-bit applications it introduced plug-and-play hardware commonly called plug and pray at the time and pre-emptive multitasking and OSS ability to pause and resume program operations users were also treated to a groundbreaking new way of launching programs and ironically powering down the computer this Start menu from then until Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 95 and launched Windows XP in the year 2001 we had witnessed much advancement multi-monitor and Universal Serial bus or USB support with Windows 98 the first non server OS based on the NT kernel in Windows 2000 and that very unhelpful but friendly little paper clip but XP is the next proper stop on our tour because of this milestone it was the first consumer oriented Windows OS to break free from Gauss's stranglehold in favor of an NT kernel although many remnants of the Hedi daus days rim and in fact still exist like the command prompt or the Tildy menus used to enter god mode anyway this combined with its robust features like a restyled double-wide Start menu searching by document types not just name easier networking and file sharing and even autoplay all eventually led to 400 million copies being distributed with extended support continued up until last year this success did not come without a price though literally and Microsoft shocked many by announcing that while Internet Explorer and space-cadet pinball were bundled for free office would no longer be included and would have to be purchased separately a tasty premium a trend that continues today eventually demand for a 64-bit operating system capable of breaking through the 4 gigabyte system memory limit imposed by 32-bit processors and OSS led to the release of Vista in 2007 whose reception was less than lukewarm with DirectX 10 ending up not being relevant for quite some time and controversy over things like the unavailability of hardware drivers and its very high system requirements for the time Microsoft hurriedly released Windows 7 just two years later though which while sharing much of the same codebase ended up looking and performing better than its predecessor thanks to Windows 7's critical acclaim it got a longer shelf life but the same can't be said of Windows 8 and it's free incremental point one improvement they did deliver better performance monitoring faster boot up and sleep and wake times improved networking performance and the Microsoft Store for apps but they replaced the beloved Start menu with the large brightly colored tiled Start screen meant to blend the experience between Windows desktop and Windows Mobile devices a halfway measure that ended up not pleasing anyone but that doesn't mean they don't learn good old Microsoft which brings us to the present day Windows 10 while it may be too soon yet to determine what we'll remember about Windows 10 in ten years there are some solid additions like Cortana for voice control the new and improved Start menu and a new way of handling upgrades with Microsoft offering Windows seven and eight owners a free Windows 10 license within the first year as long as they're willing to wade through the appropriate menu options to preserve their privacy if you're interested in more specific information about Windows 10 features and performance make sure to check out our video about it here otherwise I guess there's lynda.com with a lynda.com membership you can watch and learn from top experts online who are passionate about teaching you can download courses and create playlists and share them with your friends who are also Linda subscribers and you can watch them on your mobile device while you commute I mean imagine if you turned all that time you sit on the bus into learning time pretty freakin awesome you can browse course transcripts to follow along or you can search for an answer and skip to that point in the video and what's great about it is there's all kinds of different things you can learn whether you want to pick up Photoshop or Adobe Premiere for video editing or you want to work on your photography skills or your website coding or your business skills awesome stuff and it starts at just $25 a month so head over to lynda.com slash tech wiki to get a free 10-day trial and see how much you like it I guess that's pretty much it thanks for watching guys if you like the video do this thing if you disliked it do the other thing check out our other channels channel superfund is full of all kinds of wacky crazy stuff and Linus tech tips hopefully you're familiar with that channel we do like you know Technology reviews and vlogs and stuff like that if you like this video go ahead and get subscribed and all that good stuff and as always leave a comment under the video if you have suggestions for future fast as possible just like this one