130-601: VME ( Virtual Machine Environment ) is a mainframe operating system developed by the UK company International Computers Limited (ICL, now part of the Fujitsu group). Originally developed in the 1970s (as VME/B , later VME 2900 ) to drive ICL's then new 2900 Series mainframes, the operating system is now known as OpenVME incorporating a Unix subsystem, and runs on ICL Series 39 and Trimetra mainframe computers, as well as industry-standard x64 servers. The development program for
260-462: A UNIX System V Release 3 based subsystem, called VME/X, adapted to run under VME and using the ASCII character encoding. ICL had originally announced a hosted Unix facility for VME in 1985, with availability and support for strategic applications to arrive within eighteen months. This facility, supporting SVR1 , was reportedly in "field trials" and was to be upgraded to SVR2 prior to a general release in
390-558: A mainframe or big iron , is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses , industry and consumer statistics , enterprise resource planning , and large-scale transaction processing . A mainframe computer is large but not as large as a supercomputer and has more processing power than some other classes of computers, such as minicomputers , servers , workstations , and personal computers . Most large-scale computer-system architectures were established in
520-729: A web browser . The new service is an attempt at capitalizing on the growing trend, fostered during the COVID-19 pandemic , for businesses to adopt a hybrid remote work environment, in which "employees split their time between the office and home". As the service will be accessible through web browsers, Microsoft will be able to bypass the need to publish the service through Google Play or the Apple App Store . Microsoft announced Windows 365 availability to business and enterprise customers on August 2, 2021. Multilingual support has been built into Windows since Windows 3.0. The language for both
650-412: A File Description. The Catalogue was probably the first example of what would later be called an entity-relationship database. Interrupts are handled by creating a new stack frame on the stack for the relevant process, handling the interrupt using this new environment, and then popping the stack to return to the interrupted process. Run-time exceptions, referred to as contingencies , are captured by
780-550: A change which Microsoft promised would provide better performance over its DOS-based predecessors. Windows XP would also introduce a redesigned user interface (including an updated Start menu and a "task-oriented" Windows Explorer ), streamlined multimedia and networking features, Internet Explorer 6 , integration with Microsoft's .NET Passport services, a " compatibility mode " to help provide backwards compatibility with software designed for previous versions of Windows, and Remote Assistance functionality. At retail, Windows XP
910-449: A fraction of the acquisition price and offer local users much greater control over their own systems given the IT policies and practices at that time. Terminals used for interacting with mainframe systems were gradually replaced by personal computers . Consequently, demand plummeted and new mainframe installations were restricted mainly to financial services and government. In the early 1990s, there
1040-508: A large number of new features, Windows 7 was intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista was already compatible. Windows 7 has multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell with an updated taskbar with revealable jump lists that contain shortcuts to files frequently used with specific applications and shortcuts to tasks within
1170-539: A level of sophistication not usually available with most server solutions. Modern mainframes, notably the IBM Z servers, offer two levels of virtualization : logical partitions ( LPARs , via the PR/SM facility) and virtual machines (via the z/VM operating system). Many mainframe customers run two machines: one in their primary data center and one in their backup data center —fully active, partially active, or on standby—in case there
1300-595: A modular, portable kernel with preemptive multitasking and support for multiple processor architectures. However, following the successful release of Windows 3.0 , the NT development team decided to rework the project to use an extended 32-bit port of the Windows API known as Win32 instead of those of OS/2. Win32 maintained a similar structure to the Windows APIs (allowing existing Windows applications to easily be ported to
1430-400: A new Windows 365 service in the following month. The new service will allow for cross-platform usage , aiming to make the operating system available for both Apple and Android users. It is a separate service and offers several variations including Windows 365 Frontline, Windows 365 Boot, and the Windows 365 app. The subscription service will be accessible through any operating system with
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#17328524071281560-403: A number of nodes , and each node contains its own order-code processor (CPU) and main memory. Virtual machines are typically located (at any one time) on one node, but have the capability to run on any node and to be relocated from one node to another. Discs and other peripherals are shared between nodes. Nodes are connected using a high-speed optical bus, which is used to provide applications with
1690-563: A program called "Interface Manager". The name "Windows" comes from the fact that the system was one of the first to use graphical boxes to represent programs; in the industry, at the time, these were called "windows" and the underlying software was called "windowing software." It was announced in November 1983 (after the Apple Lisa , but before the Macintosh ) under the name "Windows", but Windows 1.0
1820-506: A redesigned, object oriented user interface, replacing the previous Program Manager with the Start menu , taskbar , and Windows Explorer shell . Windows 95 was a major commercial success for Microsoft; Ina Fried of CNET remarked that "by the time Windows 95 was finally ushered off the market in 2001, it had become a fixture on computer desktops around the world." Microsoft published four OEM Service Releases (OSR) of Windows 95, each of which
1950-434: A reference to the anticipated Year 2000 problem (Y2K). That trend started to turn around in the late 1990s as corporations found new uses for their existing mainframes and as the price of data networking collapsed in most parts of the world, encouraging trends toward more centralized computing. The growth of e-business also dramatically increased the number of back-end transactions processed by mainframe software as well as
2080-407: A single mainframe can replace higher-functioning hardware services available to conventional servers . While mainframes pioneered this capability, virtualization is now available on most families of computer systems, though not always to the same degree or level of sophistication. Mainframes can add or hot swap system capacity without disrupting system function, with specificity and granularity to
2210-558: A single module, for more efficient loading at run-time, and the Module Amender, which allows patching of the instructions in an OMF module to fix bugs, using assembly language syntax. The command language for VME is known as SCL (System Control Language). This is much more recognizably a typed high-level programming language than the job control or shell languages found in most other operating systems: it can be likened to scripting languages such as JavaScript , though its surface syntax
2340-460: A special version with integrated peer-to-peer networking features and a version number of 3.11, was released. It was sold along with Windows 3.1. Support for Windows 3.1 ended on December 31, 2001. Windows 3.2, released in 1994, is an updated version of the Chinese version of Windows 3.1. The update was limited to this language version, as it fixed only issues related to the complex writing system of
2470-529: A specific base language and are commonly used for more popular languages such as French or Chinese. These languages cannot be downloaded through the Download Center, but are available as optional updates through the Windows Update service (except Windows 8). The interface language of installed applications is not affected by changes in the Windows interface language. The availability of languages depends on
2600-416: A successor to NT 4.0. The Windows NT name was dropped at this point in order to put a greater focus on the Windows brand. The next major version of Windows NT, Windows XP , was released to manufacturing (RTM) on August 24, 2001, and to the general public on October 25, 2001. The introduction of Windows XP aimed to unify the consumer-oriented Windows 9x series with the architecture introduced by Windows NT,
2730-487: A virtual shared memory. Memory segments that are marked as shared (public or global segments) are replicated to each node, with updates being broadcast over the inter-node network. Processes which use unshared memory segments (nodal or local) run in complete isolation from other nodes and processes. VME was originally written almost entirely in S3 , a specially-designed system programming language based on Algol 68R (however, VME/K
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#17328524071282860-421: Is S3 . This is a high level language based in many ways on Algol 68 , but with data types and low-level functions and operators aligned closely with the architecture of the 2900 series. An assembly language SFL ( S ystem F unction L anguage) is also available. This was used for the development of VME/K, whose designers were not confident that a high-level language could give adequate performance, and also for
2990-549: Is a product line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft . It is grouped into families and sub-families that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry – Windows (unqualified) for a consumer or corporate workstation , Windows Server for a server and Windows IoT for an embedded system . Windows is sold as either a consumer retail product or licensed to third-party hardware manufacturers who sell products bundled with Windows. The first version of Windows, Windows 1.0 ,
3120-732: Is a catastrophe affecting the first building. Test, development, training, and production workload for applications and databases can run on a single machine, except for extremely large demands where the capacity of one machine might be limiting. Such a two-mainframe installation can support continuous business service, avoiding both planned and unplanned outages. In practice, many customers use multiple mainframes linked either by Parallel Sysplex and shared DASD (in IBM's case), or with shared, geographically dispersed storage provided by EMC or Hitachi. Mainframes are designed to handle very high volume input and output (I/O) and emphasize throughput computing. Since
3250-450: Is also spurring major mainframe investments to solve exceptionally difficult computing problems, e.g. providing unified, extremely high volume online transaction processing databases for 1 billion consumers across multiple industries (banking, insurance, credit reporting, government services, etc.) In late 2000, IBM introduced 64-bit z/Architecture , acquired numerous software companies such as Cognos and introduced those software products to
3380-435: Is an edition of Windows that runs on minimalistic computers , like satellite navigation systems and some mobile phones. Windows Embedded Compact is based on its own dedicated kernel, dubbed Windows CE kernel. Microsoft licenses Windows CE to OEMs and device makers. The OEMs and device makers can modify and create their own user interfaces and experiences, while Windows CE provides the technical foundation to do so. Windows CE
3510-450: Is an unofficial name given to the version of Windows that runs on Xbox consoles. From Xbox One onwards it is an implementation with an emphasis on virtualization (using Hyper-V ) as it is three operating systems running at once, consisting of the core operating system , a second implemented for games and a more Windows-like environment for applications. Microsoft updates Xbox One's OS every month, and these updates can be downloaded from
3640-634: Is being refreshed. In the late 1950s, mainframes had only a rudimentary interactive interface (the console) and used sets of punched cards , paper tape , or magnetic tape to transfer data and programs. They operated in batch mode to support back office functions such as payroll and customer billing, most of which were based on repeated tape-based sorting and merging operations followed by line printing to preprinted continuous stationery . When interactive user terminals were introduced, they were used almost exclusively for applications (e.g. airline booking ) rather than program development. However, in 1961
3770-489: Is controlled through a set of Access Levels: in order for a process to use a resource at a particular access level, it must have an access key offering access to that level. The concept is similar to the "rings of protection" in Multics . The architecture allows 16 access levels, of which the outer 6 are reserved for user-level code. Orthogonally to the access levels, the operating system makes resources available to applications in
3900-757: Is dependent on its ability to scale, support mixed workloads, reduce labor costs, deliver uninterrupted service for critical business applications, and several other risk-adjusted cost factors. Mainframes also have execution integrity characteristics for fault tolerant computing. For example, z900, z990, System z9, and System z10 servers effectively execute result-oriented instructions twice, compare results, arbitrate between any differences (through instruction retry and failure isolation), then shift workloads "in flight" to functioning processors, including spares, without any impact to operating systems, applications, or users. This hardware-level feature, also found in HP's NonStop systems,
4030-445: Is derived from Algol 68 . SCL is designed to allow both line-at-a-time interactive use from a console or from a command file , and creation of executable scripts or programs (when the language is compiled into object module format in the same way as any other VME programming language). The declaration of a procedure within SCL also acts as the definition of a simple form or template allowing
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4160-412: Is driven by its own local command file which is incorporated inline in the SCL between the delimiters "----" and "++++". The sub-commands INPUT and NEWMODULE identify the names of the input and output modules; SUPPRESS and RETAIN determine the external visibility of named procedures within the collected module; and LISTMODULE requests a report describing the output module. Note that "." is used to separate
4290-500: Is independent of the location of a file on a particular tape or disk volume. In days where there was more need for offline storage, this made it easy to keep track of files regardless of their location, and to move files between locations without renaming them. As well as files, the Catalogue keeps track of users and user groups, volumes, devices, network connections, and many other resources. Metadata for files can be held in an object called
4420-428: Is involved in the transfer of control between processes sharing the same VM. The allocation of resources to a virtual machine uses a stack model: when the stack is popped, all resources allocated at that stack level are released. Calls from an application to the operating system are therefore made by a call that retains the same process stack, but with a change in protection level; the resulting efficiency of system calls
4550-421: Is known as lock-stepping, because both processors take their "steps" (i.e. instructions) together. Not all applications absolutely need the assured integrity that these systems provide, but many do, such as financial transaction processing. IBM , with the IBM Z series, continues to be a major manufacturer in the mainframe market. In 2000, Hitachi co-developed the zSeries z900 with IBM to share expenses, and
4680-427: Is one of the features that makes the architecture competitive. Communication between Virtual Machines is achieved by means of Events (named communication channels) and shared memory areas. The hardware architecture also provides semaphore instructions INCT (increment-and-test) and TDEC (test-and-decrement). Files and other persistent objects are recorded in a repository called the Catalogue. The file naming hierarchy
4810-523: Is said to be available to update from qualified Windows 7 with SP1, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices from the Get Windows 10 Application (for Windows 7 , Windows 8.1 ) or Windows Update ( Windows 7 ). In February 2017, Microsoft announced the migration of its Windows source code repository from Perforce to Git . This migration involved 3.5 million separate files in a 300-gigabyte repository. By May 2017, 90 percent of its engineering team
4940-573: Is the most popular desktop operating system in the world, with a 70% market share as of March 2023 , according to StatCounter ; however when including mobile OS es, it is not the most used, in favor of Android . As of today, the most recent version of Windows is Windows 11 for consumer PCs and tablets , Windows 11 Enterprise for corporations, and Windows Server 2025 for servers. Still supported are some editions of Windows 10 , Windows Server 2016 or later (and exceptionally with paid support down to Windows Server 2008 ). As of today,
5070-447: Is the last Windows client operating system to support Itanium. Windows Server line continues to support this platform until Windows Server 2012 ; Windows Server 2008 R2 is the last Windows operating system to support Itanium architecture. On April 25, 2005, Microsoft released Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 editions to support x86-64 (or simply x64), the 64-bit version of x86 architecture. Windows Vista
5200-492: Is then deleted at the END of the block), S3_COMPILE (compiles a program written in S3: this command breaks the usual verb-noun convention), NEW_MESSAGE_TEXT_MODULE (creates a module containing parameterized error messages suitable for localization) and COMPILE_SCL, which compiles an SCL program into object code. The COLLECT command combines different object code modules into a single module, and
5330-657: Is unusually homogeneous, with most customers using the same core set of languages and tools. As a result, the tools are also very well integrated. Third-party tools have made relatively little impression. For many years the large majority of VME users wrote applications in COBOL , usually making use of the IDMS database and the TPMS transaction processing monitor. Other programming languages included Fortran , Pascal , ALGOL 68RS , Coral 66 and RPG2 , but these served minority interests. Later, in
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5460-498: The 99 bottles of beer website. A more realistic example, where SCL is used to compile a program written in S3 , is shown below. This example is taken from the Columbia University Archive of implementations of Kermit . Commands illustrated in this fragment include WHENEVER (declares error handling policy), ASSIGN_LIBRARY (binds a local name for a file directory), DELETE_FILE (Makes a permanent file temporary, and it
5590-453: The CESG UK (Security) Evaluation Scheme, one of the predecessors to ITSEC and Common Criteria , and in doing so became the first mainstream operating system to be formally Certified. The Series 39 range introduced Nodal Architecture, a novel implementation of distributed shared memory that can be seen as a hybrid of a multiprocessor system and a cluster design. Each machine consists of
5720-471: The Department for Work and Pensions completely replaced its VME based systems, following the completion of its award winning VME-R replacement programme. VME is structured as a set of layers, each layer having access to resources at different levels of abstraction. Virtual resources provided by one layer are constructed from the virtual resources offered by the layer below. Access to the resources of each layer
5850-649: The IDMS database system on account of its origins as a third-party product. SFL was originally called M acro A ssembler P rogramming L anguag E (MAPLE), but as the 2900 architecture was being positioned as consisting of high level language machines the name was changed at the request of ICL Marketing. It had been developed as a part of the toolkit for System D, which was subsequently cancelled. Related families of assemblers for other architectures (CALM-xx running under VME, PALM-xx developed in Pascal and running on various hosts) were developed for internal use. Neither S3 nor SFL
5980-541: The New Range system started on the merger of International Computers and Tabulators (ICT) and English Electric Computers in 1968. One of the fundamental decisions was that it would feature a new operating system. A number of different feasibility and design studies were carried out within ICL, the three most notable being: The chief architect of VME/B was Brian Warboys , who subsequently became professor of software engineering at
6110-585: The Start screen , which uses large tiles that are more convenient for touch interactions and allow for the display of continually updated information, and a new class of apps which are designed primarily for use on touch-based devices. The new Windows version required a minimum resolution of 1024×768 pixels, effectively making it unfit for netbooks with 800×600-pixel screens. Other changes include increased integration with cloud services and other online platforms (such as social networks and Microsoft's own OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) and Xbox Live services),
6240-493: The Telum . Unisys produces code compatible mainframe systems that range from laptops to cabinet-sized mainframes that use homegrown CPUs as well as Xeon processors. Furthermore, there exists a market for software applications to manage the performance of mainframe implementations. In addition to IBM, significant market competitors include BMC and Precisely ; former competitors include Compuware and CA Technologies . Starting in
6370-642: The University of Manchester . A number of influences can be seen in its design, for example Multics and ICL's earlier George 3 operating system; however it was essentially designed from scratch. VME/B was viewed as primarily competing with the System/370 IBM mainframe as a commercial operating system, and adopted the EBCDIC character encoding . When New Range was first launched in October 1974, its operating system
6500-950: The Windows Driver Model , support for USB composite devices , support for ACPI , hibernation , and support for multi-monitor configurations. Windows 98 also included integration with Internet Explorer 4 through Active Desktop and other aspects of the Windows Desktop Update (a series of enhancements to the Explorer shell which was also made available for Windows 95). In May 1999, Microsoft released Windows 98 Second Edition , an updated version of Windows 98. Windows 98 SE added Internet Explorer 5.0 and Windows Media Player 6.2 amongst other upgrades. Mainstream support for Windows 98 ended on June 30, 2002, and extended support for Windows 98 ended on July 11, 2006. On September 14, 2000, Microsoft released Windows Me (Millennium Edition),
6630-494: The Windows Image Acquisition framework for retrieving images from scanners and digital cameras), additional system utilities such as System File Protection and System Restore , and updated home networking tools. However, Windows Me was faced with criticism for its speed and instability, along with hardware compatibility issues and its removal of real mode DOS support. PC World considered Windows Me to be one of
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#17328524071286760-568: The Windows Store service for software distribution, and a new variant known as Windows RT for use on devices that utilize the ARM architecture , and a new keyboard shortcut for screenshots . An update to Windows 8, called Windows 8.1 , was released on October 17, 2013, and includes features such as new live tile sizes, deeper OneDrive integration, and many other revisions. Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have been subject to some criticism, such as
6890-448: The x86 -based personal computer became dominant in the professional world. Windows NT 4.0 and its predecessors supported PowerPC , DEC Alpha and MIPS R4000 (although some of the platforms implement 64-bit computing , the OS treated them as 32-bit). Windows 2000 dropped support for all platforms, except the third generation x86 (known as IA-32 ) or newer in 32-bit mode. The client line of
7020-446: The "Tablet PC" edition (designed for mobile devices meeting its specifications for a tablet computer , with support for stylus pen input and additional pen-enabled applications). Mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009. Extended support ended on April 8, 2014. After Windows 2000, Microsoft also changed its release schedules for server operating systems; the server counterpart of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 ,
7150-684: The 1960s, but they continue to evolve. Mainframe computers are often used as servers. The term mainframe was derived from the large cabinet, called a main frame , that housed the central processing unit and main memory of early computers. Later, the term mainframe was used to distinguish high-end commercial computers from less powerful machines. Modern mainframe design is characterized less by raw computational speed and more by: The high stability and reliability of mainframes enable these machines to run uninterrupted for very long periods of time, with mean time between failures (MTBF) measured in decades. Mainframes have high availability , one of
7280-504: The 1980s, many mainframes supported general purpose graphic display terminals, and terminal emulation, but not graphical user interfaces. This form of end-user computing became obsolete in the 1990s due to the advent of personal computers provided with GUIs . After 2000, modern mainframes partially or entirely phased out classic " green screen " and color display terminal access for end-users in favour of Web-style user interfaces. The infrastructure requirements were drastically reduced during
7410-595: The 2010s, cloud computing is now a less expensive, more scalable alternative. Several manufacturers and their successors produced mainframe computers from the 1950s until the early 21st century, with gradually decreasing numbers and a gradual transition to simulation on Intel chips rather than proprietary hardware. The US group of manufacturers was first known as " IBM and the Seven Dwarfs ": usually Burroughs , UNIVAC , NCR , Control Data , Honeywell , General Electric and RCA , although some lists varied. Later, with
7540-890: The 64-bit IBM Z CMOS servers have nothing physically in common with the older systems. Notable manufacturers outside the US were Siemens and Telefunken in Germany , ICL in the United Kingdom , Olivetti in Italy, and Fujitsu , Hitachi , Oki , and NEC in Japan . The Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries manufactured close copies of IBM mainframes during the Cold War ; the BESM series and Strela are examples of independently designed Soviet computers. Elwro in Poland
7670-726: The C development environment, which included numerous windows samples. Windows 2.0 was released in December 1987, and was more popular than its predecessor. It features several improvements to the user interface and memory management. Windows 2.03 changed the OS from tiled windows to overlapping windows. The result of this change led to Apple Computer filing a suit against Microsoft alleging infringement on Apple's copyrights (eventually settled in court in Microsoft's favor in 1993). Windows 2.0 also introduced more sophisticated keyboard shortcuts and could make use of expanded memory . Windows 2.1
7800-589: The Chinese language. Windows 3.2 was generally sold by computer manufacturers with a ten-disk version of MS-DOS that also had Simplified Chinese characters in basic output and some translated utilities. The next major consumer-oriented release of Windows, Windows 95 , was released on August 24, 1995. While still remaining MS-DOS-based, Windows 95 introduced support for native 32-bit applications , plug and play hardware, preemptive multitasking , long file names of up to 255 characters, and provided increased stability over its predecessors. Windows 95 also introduced
7930-542: The Japanese market. The amount of vendor investment in mainframe development varies with market share. Fujitsu and Hitachi both continue to use custom S/390-compatible processors, as well as other CPUs (including POWER and Xeon) for lower-end systems. Bull uses a mixture of Itanium and Xeon processors. NEC uses Xeon processors for its low-end ACOS-2 line, but develops the custom NOAH-6 processor for its high-end ACOS-4 series. IBM also develops custom processors in-house, such as
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#17328524071288060-550: The Object Program Error Handler (OPEH), which can produce a report (equivalent to a stack trace ), either interactively or written to a journal. Compiled object code is maintained in a format called OMF (Object Module Format), which is both the compiler output and the format used by the loader. Various compilers are available, as well as utilities, notably the Collector, which links the code in several OMF modules into
8190-612: The Secure Systems arena. It had the advantage that as the last large-scale operating system ever designed, and one built from scratch, its underlying architecture encompassed many of the primitives needed to develop a Secure System, in particular the hardware assisted Access Control Registers (ACR) to limit to privileges that could be taken by any process (including Users). This led to the UK Government's Central Computing and Telecommunications Agency ( CCTA ) funding Project Spaceman in
8320-539: The VME/B base with a few selected features from VME/K grafted on. This provided the opportunity to drop some obsolescent features, which remained available to customers who needed them in the form of the "BONVME" option. The "2900" suffix was dropped at System Version 213 (SV213) when ICL launched Series 39 in 1985 as the successor to the original 2900 series, and the "Open" prefix was added after SV294. VME became capable of hosting applications written originally for Unix through
8450-575: The Windows NT family still ran on IA-32 up to Windows 10 (the server line of the Windows NT family still ran on IA-32 up to Windows Server 2008 ). With the introduction of the Intel Itanium architecture ( IA-64 ), Microsoft released new versions of Windows to support it. Itanium versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were released at the same time as their mainstream x86 counterparts. Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2003), released in 2003,
8580-430: The Windows interface, and require a certain base language (the language which Windows originally shipped with). This is used for most languages in emerging markets. Full Language Packs, which translate the complete operating system, are only available for specific editions of Windows (Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista and 7, and all editions of Windows 8, 8.1 and RT except Single Language). They do not require
8710-616: The Xbox 360's system is backwards compatible with the original Xbox. Up to and including every version before Windows 2000 , Microsoft used an in-house version control system named Source Library Manager (SLM). Shortly after Windows 2000 was released, Microsoft switched to a fork of Perforce named Source Depot. This system was used up until 2017 once the system could not keep up with the size of Windows. Microsoft had begun to integrate Git into Team Foundation Server in 2013, but Windows (and Office) continued to rely on Source Depot. The Windows code
8840-522: The Xbox Live service to the Xbox and subsequently installed, or by using offline recovery images downloaded via a PC. It was originally based on NT 6.2 (Windows 8) kernel, and the latest version runs on an NT 10.0 base. This system is sometimes referred to as "Windows 10 on Xbox One". Xbox One and Xbox Series operating systems also allow limited (due to licensing restrictions and testing resources) backward compatibility with previous generation hardware, and
8970-452: The application developers themselves. Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 introduce a new Language Control Panel where both the interface and input languages can be simultaneously changed, and language packs, regardless of type, can be downloaded from a central location. The PC Settings app in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 also includes a counterpart settings page for this. Changing
9100-437: The application, a home networking system called HomeGroup , and performance improvements. Windows 8 , the successor to Windows 7, was released generally on October 26, 2012. A number of significant changes were made on Windows 8, including the introduction of a user interface based around Microsoft's Metro design language with optimizations for touch-based devices such as tablets and all-in-one PCs. These changes include
9230-524: The back-office engines behind the world's financial markets and much of global commerce". As of 2010 , while mainframe technology represented less than 3% of IBM's revenues, it "continue[d] to play an outsized role in Big Blue's results". IBM has continued to launch new generations of mainframes: the IBM z13 in 2015, the z14 in 2017, the z15 in 2019, and the z16 in 2022, the latter featuring among other things an "integrated on-chip AI accelerator" and
9360-455: The compilers used a module named ALICE [Assembly Language Internal Common Environment] and produced an early form of precompiled code (P-Code) termed ROSE, making compiled Object Module Format (OMF) libraries loadable on any machine in the range. . The primary language used for developing both the VME operating system itself and other system software such as compilers and transaction processing monitors
9490-592: The departure of General Electric and RCA, it was referred to as IBM and the BUNCH . IBM's dominance grew out of their 700/7000 series and, later, the development of the 360 series mainframes. The latter architecture has continued to evolve into their current zSeries mainframes which, along with the then Burroughs and Sperry (now Unisys ) MCP -based and OS1100 mainframes, are among the few mainframe architectures still extant that can trace their roots to this early period. While IBM's zSeries can still run 24-bit System/360 code,
9620-409: The design, mostly because of virtual memory and loadable virtual device drivers ( VxDs ) that allow Windows to share arbitrary devices between multi-tasked DOS applications. Windows 3.0 applications can run in protected mode , which gives them access to several megabytes of memory without the obligation to participate in the software virtual memory scheme. They run inside the same address space, where
9750-510: The different technologies and architectures for supercomputers and mainframes has led to a so-called gameframe . Microsoft Windows 24H2 (10.0.26100.2454) (November 21, 2024 ; 7 days ago ( 2024-11-21 ) ) [±] 23H2 (10.0.22635.4515) (November 22, 2024 ; 6 days ago ( 2024-11-22 ) ) [±] 24H2 (10.0.26120.2415) (November 22, 2024 ; 6 days ago ( 2024-11-22 ) ) [±] Microsoft Windows
9880-558: The early 1990s, many supercomputers were based on a mainframe architecture with supercomputing extensions. An example of such a system is the HITAC S-3800 , which was instruction-set compatible with IBM System/370 mainframes, and could run the Hitachi VOS3 operating system (a fork of IBM MVS ). The S-3800 therefore can be seen as being both simultaneously a supercomputer and also an IBM-compatible mainframe. In 2007, an amalgamation of
10010-748: The first academic, general-purpose timesharing system that supported software development, CTSS , was released at MIT on an IBM 709 , later 7090 and 7094. Typewriter and Teletype devices were common control consoles for system operators through the early 1970s, although ultimately supplanted by keyboard / display devices. By the early 1970s, many mainframes acquired interactive user terminals operating as timesharing computers, supporting hundreds of users simultaneously along with batch processing. Users gained access through keyboard/typewriter terminals and later character-mode text terminal CRT displays with integral keyboards, or finally from personal computers equipped with terminal emulation software. By
10140-559: The first time. IBM received the vast majority of mainframe revenue. During the 1980s, minicomputer -based systems grew more sophisticated and were able to displace the lower end of the mainframes. These computers, sometimes called departmental computers , were typified by the Digital Equipment Corporation VAX series. In 1991, AT&T Corporation briefly owned NCR. During the same period, companies found that servers based on microcomputer designs could be deployed at
10270-589: The form of environment variables ) can have a number of simple types such as strings, superstrings (sequences of strings), booleans, and integers, and are also used to contain references to system resources such as files and network connections. It is possible to "disassemble" an SCL program from OMF back into SCL source code using the READ_SCL (or RSCL) command. However the output is not always perfect, and will often include errors that would stop re-compilation without user intervention. A simple code example can be seen on
10400-400: The form of a Virtual Machine (VM). A VM can run multiple processes. In practice, a VM in VME is closer to the concept of a process in other operating systems, while a VME process (or application-created sub-process) is more like a thread in other systems. However, processes running within a VM cannot run concurrently and thus resemble user threads found in other systems. A dedicated instruction
10530-516: The full Windows feature set. The early versions of Windows are often thought of as graphical shells, mostly because they ran on top of MS-DOS and used it for file system services. However, even the earliest Windows versions already assumed many typical operating system functions; notably, having their own executable file format and providing their own device drivers (timer, graphics, printer, mouse, keyboard and sound). Unlike MS-DOS, Windows allowed users to execute multiple graphical applications at
10660-436: The interface language also changes the language of preinstalled Windows Store apps (such as Mail, Maps and News) and certain other Microsoft-developed apps (such as Remote Desktop). The above limitations for language packs are however still in effect, except that full language packs can be installed for any edition except Single Language, which caters to emerging markets. Windows NT included support for several platforms before
10790-505: The keyboard and the interface can be changed through the Region and Language Control Panel. Components for all supported input languages, such as Input Method Editors , are automatically installed during Windows installation (in Windows XP and earlier, files for East Asian languages, such as Chinese, and files for right-to-left scripts, such as Arabic, may need to be installed separately, also from
10920-433: The last DOS-based version of Windows. Windows Me incorporated visual interface enhancements from its Windows NT-based counterpart Windows 2000 , had faster boot times than previous versions (which however, required the removal of the ability to access a real mode DOS environment, removing compatibility with some older programs), expanded multimedia functionality (including Windows Media Player 7, Windows Movie Maker , and
11050-752: The late 1950s, mainframe designs have included subsidiary hardware (called channels or peripheral processors ) which manage the I/O devices, leaving the CPU free to deal only with high-speed memory. It is common in mainframe shops to deal with massive databases and files. Gigabyte to terabyte -size record files are not unusual. Compared to a typical PC, mainframes commonly have hundreds to thousands of times as much data storage online, and can access it reasonably quickly. Other server families also offload I/O processing and emphasize throughput computing. Mainframe return on investment (ROI), like any other computing platform,
11180-726: The latest Hitachi AP10000 models are made by IBM. Unisys manufactures ClearPath Libra mainframes, based on earlier Burroughs MCP products and ClearPath Dorado mainframes based on Sperry Univac OS 1100 product lines. Hewlett Packard Enterprise sells its unique NonStop systems, which it acquired with Tandem Computers and which some analysts classify as mainframes. Groupe Bull 's GCOS , Stratus OpenVOS , Fujitsu (formerly Siemens) BS2000 , and Fujitsu- ICL VME mainframes are still available in Europe, and Fujitsu (formerly Amdahl) GS21 mainframes globally. NEC with ACOS and Hitachi with AP10000- VOS3 still maintain mainframe businesses in
11310-477: The mainframe. IBM's quarterly and annual reports in the 2000s usually reported increasing mainframe revenues and capacity shipments. However, IBM's mainframe hardware business has not been immune to the recent overall downturn in the server hardware market or to model cycle effects. For example, in the 4th quarter of 2009, IBM's System z hardware revenues decreased by 27% year over year. But MIPS (millions of instructions per second) shipments increased 4% per year over
11440-406: The mid 1980s for ICL Defence Technology Centre (DTC) to develop an enhanced security variant of VME. ICL launched this as a pair of complementary products, with the commercial release being called High Security Option (HSO), and the public sector release, including Government Furnished Encryption (GFE) technologies, being called Government Security Option (GSO). HSO and GSO were formally tested under
11570-524: The mid 1980s, compilers for C became available, both within and outside the Unix subsystem, largely to enable porting of software such as relational database systems. It is interesting that a PL/I subset compiler was written by the EEC, to assist in porting programs from IBM to ICL hardware. The compilers developed within ICL share a common architecture, and in some cases share components such as code-generators. Many of
11700-472: The mid-1990s, when CMOS mainframe designs replaced the older bipolar technology. IBM claimed that its newer mainframes reduced data center energy costs for power and cooling, and reduced physical space requirements compared to server farms . Modern mainframes can run multiple different instances of operating systems at the same time. This technique of virtual machines allows applications to run as if they were on physically distinct computers. In this role,
11830-433: The most secure, with vulnerabilities in the low single digits, as compared to thousands for Windows , UNIX , and Linux . Software upgrades usually require setting up the operating system or portions thereof, and are non disruptive only when using virtualizing facilities such as IBM z/OS and Parallel Sysplex , or Unisys XPCL, which support workload sharing so that one system can take over another's application while it
11960-431: The new Telum microprocessor . A supercomputer is a computer at the leading edge of data processing capability, with respect to calculation speed. Supercomputers are used for scientific and engineering problems ( high-performance computing ) which crunch numbers and data, while mainframes focus on transaction processing. The differences are: Mainframes and supercomputers cannot always be clearly distinguished; up until
12090-622: The only active top-level family is Windows NT . The first version, Windows NT 3.1 , was intended for server computing and corporate workstations . It grew into a product line of its own and now consists of four sub-families that tend to be released almost simultaneously and share the same kernel. These top-level Windows families are no longer actively developed: The term Windows collectively describes any or all of several generations of Microsoft operating system products. These products are generally categorized as follows: The history of Windows dates back to 1981 when Microsoft started work on
12220-476: The parts of a hierarchic file name. A leading asterisk denotes a local name for a library, bound using the ASSIGN_LIBRARY command. The number in parentheses after a file name is a generation number. The operating system associates a generation number with every file, and requests for a file get the latest generation unless specified otherwise. Creating a new file will by default create the next generation and leave
12350-433: The past two years. Alsop had himself photographed in 2000, symbolically eating his own words ("death to the mainframe"). In 2012, NASA powered down its last mainframe, an IBM System z9. However, IBM's successor to the z9, the z10 , led a New York Times reporter to state four years earlier that "mainframe technology—hardware, software and services—remains a large and lucrative business for I.B.M., and mainframes are still
12480-403: The platform), but also supported the capabilities of the existing NT kernel . Following its approval by Microsoft's staff, development continued on what was now Windows NT, the first 32-bit version of Windows. However, IBM objected to the changes, and ultimately continued OS/2 development on its own. Windows NT was the first Windows operating system based on a hybrid kernel . The hybrid kernel
12610-477: The previous generation intact; this program however is deliberately choosing to create generation 101, to identify a public release. As a result of ICL's heavy involvement with delivery of computer services to the UK Public Sector, in particular those with special security requirements such as OPCON CCIS , it was an early entrant into the market for Secure Systems . VME formed a core of ICL's activities in
12740-628: The primary reasons for their longevity, since they are typically used in applications where downtime would be costly or catastrophic. The term reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) is a defining characteristic of mainframe computers. Proper planning and implementation are required to realize these features. In addition, mainframes are more secure than other computer types: the NIST vulnerabilities database, US-CERT , rates traditional mainframes such as IBM Z (previously called z Systems, System z, and zSeries), Unisys Dorado, and Unisys Libra as among
12870-464: The procedure to be invoked from an interactive terminal, with fields validated according to the data types of the underlying procedure parameters or using the default procedure parameter values. The built-in command vocabulary uses a consistent naming convention with an imperative verb followed by a noun: for example DELETE_FILE or DISPLAY_LIBRARY_DETAILS. The command can be written in full, or in an abbreviated form that combines standard abbreviations for
13000-489: The removal of the Start menu . On September 30, 2014, Microsoft announced Windows 10 as the successor to Windows 8.1. It was released on July 29, 2015, and addresses shortcomings in the user interface first introduced with Windows 8. Changes on PC include the return of the Start Menu, a virtual desktop system, and the ability to run Windows Store apps within windows on the desktop rather than in full-screen mode. Windows 10
13130-751: The said Control Panel). Third-party IMEs may also be installed if a user feels that the provided one is insufficient for their needs. Since Windows 2000, English editions of Windows NT have East Asian IMEs (such as Microsoft Pinyin IME and Microsoft Japanese IME) bundled, but files for East Asian languages may be manually installed on Control Panel. Interface languages for the operating system are free for download, but some languages are limited to certain editions of Windows. Language Interface Packs (LIPs) are redistributable and may be downloaded from Microsoft's Download Center and installed for any edition of Windows (XP or later) – they translate most, but not all, of
13260-420: The same time, through cooperative multitasking . Windows implemented an elaborate, segment-based, software virtual memory scheme, which allows it to run applications larger than available memory: code segments and resources are swapped in and thrown away when memory became scarce; data segments moved in memory when a given application had relinquished processor control. Windows 3.0 , released in 1990, improved
13390-439: The segmented memory provides a degree of protection. Windows 3.0 also featured improvements to the user interface. Microsoft rewrote critical operations from C into assembly . Windows 3.0 was the first version of Windows to achieve broad commercial success, selling 2 million copies in the first six months. Windows 3.1, made generally available on March 1, 1992, featured a facelift. In August 1993, Windows for Workgroups,
13520-613: The size and throughput of databases. Batch processing, such as billing, became even more important (and larger) with the growth of e-business, and mainframes are particularly adept at large-scale batch computing. Another factor currently increasing mainframe use is the development of the Linux operating system, which arrived on IBM mainframe systems in 1999. Linux allows users to take advantage of open source software combined with mainframe hardware RAS . Rapid expansion and development in emerging markets , particularly People's Republic of China ,
13650-474: The summer of 1987. Limited availability was then announced to existing VME customers, with others being guided towards ICL's Clan range of Unix departmental systems. In October 1987, ICL made the SV221 release of VME available with support for running SVR2 as a VME Unix System guest. This implementation, described as an "unmarketed" product also known as VNS, informed the design of VME/X, a largely new implementation that
13780-429: The verb and noun: for example XF (X for DELETE, F for FILE) or DLBD (D for DISPLAY, LB for LIBRARY, D for DETAILS). SCL is block-structured, with begin/end blocks serving the dual and complementary roles of defining the lexical scope of variable declarations, and defining the points at which resources acquired from the operating system should be released. Variables in the language (which are accessible from applications in
13910-465: The worst operating systems Microsoft had ever released, and the fourth worst tech product of all time. In November 1988, a new development team within Microsoft (which included former Digital Equipment Corporation developers Dave Cutler and Mark Lucovsky ) began work on a revamped version of IBM and Microsoft's OS/2 operating system known as "NT OS/2". NT OS/2 was intended to be a secure, multi-user operating system with POSIX compatibility and
14040-410: Was a rough consensus among industry analysts that the mainframe was a dying market as mainframe platforms were increasingly replaced by personal computer networks. InfoWorld ' s Stewart Alsop infamously predicted that the last mainframe would be unplugged in 1996; in 1993, he cited Cheryl Currid, a computer industry analyst as saying that the last mainframe "will stop working on December 31, 1999",
14170-594: Was also a project known as System D, which was an advanced, highly modular operating system designed for configuring and building customized near real-time applications. Although it was used to bid on a system for British Rail it was subsequently cancelled because of engineering resource constraints. ICL had sold a large system to the European Space Agency to process data from Meteosat at its operation centre in Darmstadt . A bespoke variant of VME/K, known as VME/ESA
14300-407: Was announced as the successor to Windows 10 during a livestream. The new operating system was designed to be more user-friendly and understandable. It was released on October 5, 2021. As of May 2022, Windows 11 is a free upgrade to Windows 10 users who meet the system requirements. In July 2021, Microsoft announced it will start selling subscriptions to virtualized Windows desktops as part of
14430-569: Was another Eastern Bloc manufacturer, producing the ODRA , R-32 and R-34 mainframes. Shrinking demand and tough competition started a shakeout in the market in the early 1970s—RCA sold out to UNIVAC and GE sold its business to Honeywell; between 1986 and 1990 Honeywell was bought out by Bull ; UNIVAC became a division of Sperry , which later merged with Burroughs to form Unisys Corporation in 1986. In 1984 estimated sales of desktop computers ($ 11.6 billion) exceeded mainframe computers ($ 11.4 billion) for
14560-492: Was available in a number of different editions , and has been subject to some criticism , such as drop of performance, longer boot time, criticism of new UAC, and stricter license agreement. Vista's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 was released in early 2008. On July 22, 2009, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 were released to manufacturing (RTM) and released to the public three months later on October 22, 2009. Unlike its predecessor, Windows Vista, which introduced
14690-509: Was designed as a modified microkernel , influenced by the Mach microkernel developed by Richard Rashid at Carnegie Mellon University, but without meeting all of the criteria of a pure microkernel. The first release of the resulting operating system, Windows NT 3.1 (named to associate it with Windows 3.1 ) was released in July 1993, with versions for desktop workstations and servers . Windows NT 3.5
14820-403: Was developed on-site to meet the customer's requirements. Following a financial crisis in 1980, new management was brought into ICL: Christophor Laidlaw as Chairman, and Robb Wilmot as Managing Director. An early decision of the new management was to drop VME/K. Thus in July 1981, VME 2900 was launched. Although presented to the customer base as a merger of VME/B and VME/K, it was in reality
14950-443: Was developed with the aid of a software engineering repository system known as CADES , originally designed and managed by David Pearson (computer scientist) and built for the purpose using an underlying IDMS database. CADES is not merely a version control system for code modules: it manages all aspects of the software lifecycle from requirements capture, design methodology and specification through to field maintenance. CADES
15080-420: Was ever promoted as a commercial development tool for end-user applications, as neither were normally delivered as a standard part of the operating system, nor were they explicitly marketed as products in their own right. Both SFL and S3 were however available as options to user organisations and third parties who had a specific need for them. Mainframe computer A mainframe computer , informally called
15210-705: Was itself released in 1991 and recognised as XPG3 compliant, with XPG4 base 1 compliance following in 1992. In 2007 Fujitsu announced a VME version run as a hosted subsystem, called superNova , within Microsoft Windows , or SUSE or Red Hat Enterprise Linux on x86-64 hardware. In 2012 the VME user group, AXiS, announced that after almost 40 years it would be disbanding because of the reduced user base. Fujitsu intended to support VME on customer computers until 2020. In 2020 Fujitsu transferred 13 HM Revenue and Customs applications from their computers onto Fujitsu's virtual managed VME hosting platform. As of 2021,
15340-462: Was marketed in two main editions : the "Home" edition was targeted towards consumers, while the "Professional" edition was targeted towards business environments and power users , and included additional security and networking features. Home and Professional were later accompanied by the "Media Center" edition (designed for home theater PCs , with an emphasis on support for DVD playback, TV tuner cards , DVR functionality, and remote controls), and
15470-690: Was not released until November 1985. Windows 1.0 was to compete with Apple 's operating system, but achieved little popularity. Windows 1.0 is not a complete operating system; rather, it extends MS-DOS . The shell of Windows 1.0 is a program known as the MS-DOS Executive . Components included Calculator , Calendar, Cardfile , Clipboard Viewer , Clock, Control Panel , Notepad , Paint , Reversi , Terminal and Write . Windows 1.0 does not allow overlapping windows. Instead, all windows are tiled . Only modal dialog boxes may appear over other windows. Microsoft sold as included Windows Development libraries with
15600-456: Was referred to as "System B". By the time it was first delivered it had become "VME/B". VME/K (originally known internally as "System T" for "Tiny") was developed independently (according to Campbell-Kelly, "on a whim of Ed Mack"), and was delivered later with the smaller mainframes such as the 2960. At the time VME/B was still plagued with performance and reliability problems, and the mainly American management team had misgivings about it. There
15730-458: Was released in April 2003. It was followed in December 2005, by Windows Server 2003 R2. After a lengthy development process , Windows Vista was released on November 30, 2006, for volume licensing and January 30, 2007, for consumers. It contained a number of new features , from a redesigned shell and user interface to significant technical changes , with a particular focus on security features . It
15860-609: Was released in September 1994, focusing on performance improvements and support for Novell 's NetWare , and was followed up by Windows NT 3.51 in May 1995, which included additional improvements and support for the PowerPC architecture. Windows NT 4.0 was released in June 1996, introducing the redesigned interface of Windows 95 to the NT series. On February 17, 2000, Microsoft released Windows 2000 ,
15990-671: Was released in two different versions: Windows/286 and Windows/386 . Windows/386 uses the virtual 8086 mode of the Intel 80386 to multitask several DOS programs and the paged memory model to emulate expanded memory using available extended memory . Windows/286, in spite of its name, runs on both Intel 8086 and Intel 80286 processors. It runs in real mode but can make use of the high memory area . In addition to full Windows packages, there were runtime-only versions that shipped with early Windows software from third parties and made it possible to run their Windows software on MS-DOS and without
16120-505: Was released on November 20, 1985, as a graphical operating system shell for MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The name "Windows" is a reference to the windowing system in GUIs. The 1990 release of Windows 3.0 catapulted its market success and led to various other product families, including the now-defunct Windows 9x , Windows Mobile , Windows Phone , and Windows CE/Embedded Compact . Windows
16250-401: Was roughly equivalent to a service pack . The first OSR of Windows 95 was also the first version of Windows to be bundled with Microsoft's web browser , Internet Explorer . Mainstream support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2000, and extended support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2001. Windows 95 was followed up with the release of Windows 98 on June 25, 1998, which introduced
16380-582: Was the first client version of Windows NT to be released simultaneously in IA-32 and x64 editions. As of 2024, x64 is still supported. An edition of Windows 8 known as Windows RT was specifically created for computers with ARM architecture , and while ARM is still used for Windows smartphones with Windows 10, tablets with Windows RT will not be updated. Starting from Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709) and later includes support for ARM-based PCs. Windows CE (officially known as Windows Embedded Compact ),
16510-583: Was used in VME module development to hold separate definitions of data structures (Modes), constants (Literals), procedural interfaces and the core algorithms. Multiple versions ('Lives') of each of these components could exist. The algorithms were written in System Development Language (SDL), which was then converted to S3 source by a pre-processor. Multiple versions of the same modules could be generated. The application development tools offered with VME fall into two categories: The toolset on VME
16640-551: Was used in the Dreamcast along with Sega's own proprietary OS for the console. Windows CE was the core from which Windows Mobile was derived. Its successor, Windows Phone 7 , was based on components from both Windows CE 6.0 R3 and Windows CE 7.0 . Windows Phone 8 however, is based on the same NT-kernel as Windows 8. Windows Embedded Compact is not to be confused with Windows XP Embedded or Windows NT 4.0 Embedded , modular editions of Windows based on Windows NT kernel. Xbox OS
16770-420: Was using Git, in about 8500 commits and 1760 Windows builds per day. In June 2021, shortly before Microsoft's announcement of Windows 11, Microsoft updated their lifecycle policy pages for Windows 10, revealing that support for their last release of Windows 10 will end on October 14, 2025. On April 27, 2023, Microsoft announced that version 22H2 would be the last of Windows 10. On June 24, 2021, Windows 11
16900-474: Was written primarily in the SFL assembly language). Although a high-level language is used, the operating system is not designed to be independent of the underlying hardware architecture: on the contrary, the software and hardware architecture are closely integrated. From the early 1990s onwards, some entirely new VME subsystems were written partly or wholly in the C programming language . From its earliest days, VME
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