Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a line of discontinued Microsoft Windows operating systems from 1995 to 2000, which were based on the Windows 95 kernel and its underlying foundation of MS-DOS , both of which were updated in subsequent versions. The first version in the 9x series was Windows 95, which was succeeded by Windows 98 and then Windows Me , which was the third and last version of Windows on the 9x line, until the series was superseded by Windows XP .
96-701: The HTC Advantage X7500 series were a collection of mobile phones that sold under the HTC Advantage X7500 or HTC Athena label. They were a Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition based smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC . The Athena was sold by T-Mobile US under the name T-Mobile Ameo. The Ameo launched in Europe in March 2007. It was also sold under the Dopod brand as the Dopod U1000 . The HTC Advantage X7501
192-521: A "mobile" version of the Microsoft OneNote program and an interactive "Getting Started" wizard. Domain Enroll is functionality to connect the device to System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, a product to manage mobile devices. Windows Mobile 6.1 also had improved bandwidth efficiency in its push-email protocol ActiveSync up to 40%; this considerably improved battery life in many devices. Aside from
288-538: A 16-bit real mode initialisation segment) to allow those virtual devices to intercept interrupts and faults to control the access that an application has to hardware devices and installed software. Both the VMM and virtual device drivers run in a single, 32-bit, flat model address space at privilege level 0 (also called ring 0). The VMM provides multi-threaded, preemptive multitasking . It runs multiple applications simultaneously by sharing CPU ( central processing unit ) time between
384-403: A 16GB flash drive. The X7510 model also brings back the secondary VGA camera on the screen side for videoconferencing . A full specifications sheet was leaked on January 26, 2007. Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDA). Designed to be the portable equivalent of
480-472: A demo system running Cairo for all attendees to use. Based on the Windows NT kernel, Cairo was a next-generation operating system that was to feature as many new technologies into Windows, including a new user interface with an object-based file system (this new user interface would officially debut with Windows 95 nearly 4 years later while the object-based file system would later be adopted as WinFS during
576-536: A large information database called the Windows registry . Hardware-specific settings are also stored in the registry, and many device drivers use the registry to load configuration data. Previous versions of Windows used files such as AUTOEXEC.BAT , CONFIG.SYS , WIN.INI , SYSTEM.INI and other files with an .INI extension to maintain configuration settings. As Windows became more complex and incorporated more features, .INI files became too unwieldy for
672-431: A more integrated manner. Windows 9x Windows 9x is predominantly known for its use in home desktops . In 1998, Windows made up 82% of operating system market share. The internal release number for versions of Windows 9x is 4.x. The internal versions for Windows 95, 98, and Me are 4.0, 4.1, and 4.9, respectively. Previous MS-DOS-based versions of Windows used version numbers of 3.2 or lower . Windows NT , which
768-415: A more modern computing environment. These factors immediately began to impact the operating system's efficiency and stability. Microsoft marketing adopted Windows 95 as the product name for Chicago when it was released on August 24, 1995. Microsoft went on to release five different versions of Windows 95: OSR2, OSR2.1, and OSR2.5 ("OSR" being an initialism for "OEM Service Release") were not released to
864-481: A new error reporting facility similar to that present in desktop and server Windows systems. Caller ID now supports photos so a user can apply an image to each contact to show when a call is received. DirectShow was also natively added. This release was the first to include DirectDraw with hardware acceleration, replacing the deprecated graphics component of GAPI . Windows Mobile 5.0 requires at least 64 MB of ROM (it's advisable to have 64 MB of RAM), and
960-406: A result, Pocket PC 2000 was released on multiple CPU architectures, such as SH-3 , MIPS , and ARM . The only resolution supported by this release was 240 x 320 ( QVGA ). Removable storage card formats that were supported were CompactFlash and MultiMediaCard . Infrared (IR) File beaming capability was among the original hardware features. Aesthetically, the original Pocket PC operating system
1056-563: A revamped GUI, a new Today screen resembling that of Microsoft's Zune player with vertically scrollable labels (called 'Titanium') in terms of functionality with a styling similar to that of Windows 7 . WM 6.5 also includes the new Internet Explorer Mobile 6 browser, with improved interface. Along with Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft announced several cloud computing services codenamed "SkyBox", "SkyLine", "SkyMarket". "SkyBox" has been confirmed as My Phone , while "SkyMarket" has been confirmed as Windows Marketplace for Mobile . This version
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#17328948927831152-577: A stopgap release between Windows 98 and Windows XP (then code-named Whistler at the time). It borrowed some features from the business-oriented Windows 2000 into the Windows 9x series, and introduced the first version of System Restore , which allowed users to revert their system state to a previous "known-good" point in the case of a system failure. Windows Me also introduced the first release of Windows Movie Maker and included Windows Media Player 7 . Internet Explorer 5.5 came shipped with Windows Me. Many of
1248-497: A variety of modems into their equipment. The user interface changed dramatically between versions, only retaining similar functionality. The Today Screen , later called the Home Screen , shows the current date , owner information, upcoming appointments, e-mails, and tasks . The taskbar displays the current time as well as the volume level. Devices with a cellular radio also show the signal strength on said taskbar. Windows Mobile
1344-457: A year before the development of Windows 3.1's successor (Windows 95, code-named Chicago) began, Microsoft announced at its 1991 Professional Developers Conference that they would be developing a successor to Windows NT code-named Cairo , which has been implied by some to succeed both Windows NT and Windows 3.1's successor under one unified system. Microsoft publicly demonstrated Cairo at the 1993 Professional Developers Conference, complete with
1440-593: Is cold-booted . Further updates both, security and feature, can now also be provided using Operating System Live Update. Among other improvements: 320×320 and 800×480 (WVGA) screen resolution support (The S01SH or "Em One" by Sharp was the first and only device to have an 800×480 screen on WM5), Improved Remote Desktop access (available for only certain Pocket PCs), Customer Feedback option, Smartfilter for searching within programs and Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) support for select operators. Windows Mobile 6.1
1536-626: Is a Windows Mobile 6.0 version released in July 2007 as an OEM unlocked GSM phone by CompUSA and Amazon.com primarily for the North American market as a Pocket PC . It does not have the second camera which the Advantage X7500 has for videoconferencing . The HTC Advantage X7510 is an updated version of the X7500, featuring Windows Mobile 6.1 "Manilla" Professional Edition, a solid state drive , and
1632-524: Is a fork of Gecko 1.8.1 aimed at bringing "improved compatibility on the modern web" for versions of Windows as old as Windows 95 and NT 4.0. The latest version, 2.2, was released in February 2019 and added support for TLS 1.2 . Windows 9x is a series of monolithic 16/32-bit operating systems. Like most operating systems, Windows 9x consists of kernel space and user space memory. Although Windows 9x features some memory protection , it does not protect
1728-656: Is based on the Windows CE kernel and first appeared as the Pocket PC 2000 operating system. It includes a suite of basic applications developed with the Microsoft Windows API , and is designed to have features and appearance somewhat similar to desktop versions of Windows . It allowed third party developers to develop software for Windows Mobile with no restrictions imposed by Microsoft. Software applications were purchasable from Windows Marketplace for Mobile during
1824-623: Is now preinstalled with the OS. Developers and users also have access to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition for storage and retrieval of information. AJAX , JavaScript , and XMLDOM support were added to Internet Explorer Mobile along with improved devicewide Internet Sharing. Communication abilities were further enhanced with a new Microsoft Bluetooth Stack and VoIP (Internet calling) support with acoustic echo cancellation and MSRT audio codec. To improve security Microsoft added Storage Card Encryption so that encryption keys are lost if device
1920-592: Is powered by Windows CE 5.0 (version 5.2) and is strongly linked to the then newly introduced Windows Live and Exchange 2007 products. Windows Mobile 6 Standard was first offered on the Orange's SPV E650 , while Windows Mobile 6 Professional was first offered on the O2's Xda Terra. Aesthetically, Windows Mobile 6 was meant to be similar in design to the then newly released Windows Vista . Functionally, it works much like Windows Mobile 5, but with much better stability. Along with
2016-849: Is presented as an enterprise handheld device, targeting retailers, delivery companies, and other companies that rely on handheld computing. Unlike Windows Phone, Windows Embedded Handheld retains backward compatibility with legacy Windows Mobile applications. Pocket PCs and personal digital assistants were originally the intended platform for Windows Mobile. These were grouped into two main categories: devices that lacked mobile phone capabilities, and those that included it. Beginning with version 6 devices with this functionality ran "Windows Mobile 6 Professional" and those that lacked it ran "Windows Mobile 6 Classic". Microsoft had described these devices as "a handheld device that enables you to store and retrieve e-mail, contacts, appointments, play multimedia files, games, exchange text messages with MSN Messenger, browse
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#17328948927832112-572: Is the last version compatible with latter releases of Windows 9x (i.e. 98 and Me). While Internet Explorer 6 for Windows XP did receive security patches up until it lost support, this is not the case for IE6 under Windows 98 and Me. Due to its age, Internet Explorer 7 , the first major update to Internet Explorer 6 in half a decade, was only available for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista. The Windows Update website continued to be available for Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows Me after their end of support date; however, during 2011, Microsoft retired
2208-556: The FAT32 file system which allows support for disk partitions larger than the 2 GB maximum accepted by Windows 95. The USB support in Windows 98 was more robust than the basic support provided by the OEM editions of Windows 95. It also introduces the controversial integration of the Internet Explorer 4 web browser into the Windows shell and File Explorer (then known as Windows Explorer at
2304-533: The Handheld PC in 1996. The next versions were Pocket PC 2002 and Smartphone 2002, the latter of which would power a new category of keypad-based cell phone devices named Smartphone. With the release of Windows Mobile 2003 , the software was rebranded to a single "Windows Mobile" for both Pocket PCs and Smartphones, and to connect the brand with its desktop counterpart. Support for SH-3 and MIPS processor architectures were dropped, focusing only on ARM . In
2400-502: The VFAT file system, allowing file names with a maximum of 255 characters instead of having 8.3 filenames . Windows 9x has no support for event logging and tracing or error reporting that the Windows NT family of operating systems has, although software like Norton CrashGuard can be used to achieve similar capabilities on Windows 9x. Windows 9x is designed as a single-user system. Thus,
2496-404: The Windows desktop OS in the emerging mobile/portable area, the operating system is built on top of Windows CE (later known as Windows Embedded Compact) and was originally released as Pocket PC 2000 . Microsoft introduced the Pocket PC keyboard-less PDAs in 2000, with Pocket PC 2000 being the software. It was based on version 3.0 of Windows CE, the operating system originally developed for
2592-483: The Windows CE 5.x kernel, intended to bridge the gap between version 6.1 and the then yet-to-be released Windows Mobile 7 (Later canceled in favor of Windows Phone 7), that arrived in 2010. It was never part of Microsoft's mobile phone roadmap, and has been described by its chief executive, Steve Ballmer , as "not the full release Microsoft wanted" until the multi-touch -enabled Windows Mobile 7 (now replaced by Windows Phone ) arrived in 2010. Ballmer also indicated that
2688-468: The development of Windows Vista ). According to Microsoft's product plan at the time, Cairo was planned to be released as late as July 1996 following its development. However, it had become apparent that Cairo was a much more difficult project than Microsoft had anticipated, and the project was subsequently cancelled 5 years into development. A subset of features from Cairo were eventually added into Windows NT 4.0 released on August 24, 1996, albeit without
2784-485: The real-mode memory model, which confined it to a maximum of 1 megabyte of memory. In such a configuration, it could run under another multitasking system like DESQview , which used the 286 Protected Mode . Microsoft Windows scored a significant success with Windows 3.0 , released in 1990. In addition to improved capabilities given to native applications, Windows also allowed users to better multitask older MS-DOS-based software compared to Windows/386 , thanks to
2880-518: The Internet Explorer web browser, did not support multi-touch. ) and drag-and-drop start menu icons. Touchable tiles replaced soft keys." Internet Explorer Mobile 6 has also received some major updates including decreased page load time, improved memory management and gesture smoothing. As with other updates it was unofficially ported to some other devices. Additional features include threaded email and Office Mobile 2010. The last minor update and
2976-627: The PATH environment variable. The registry consists of two files: User.dat and System.dat. In Windows Me, Classes.dat was added. The Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) is the 32-bit protected mode kernel at the core of Windows 9x. Its primary responsibility is to create, run, monitor and terminate virtual machines . The VMM provides services that manage memory, processes, interrupts and protection faults. The VMM works with virtual devices (loadable kernel modules, which consist mostly of 32-bit ring 0 or kernel mode code, but may include other types of code, such as
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3072-680: The Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), the Installable File System Manager ( IFSHLP ), the Configuration Manager, and in Windows 98 and later, the WDM Driver Manager (NTKERN). As a 32-bit operating system, virtual memory space is 4 GiB , divided into a lower 2 GiB for applications and an upper 2 GiB for kernel per process. Like Windows NT, Windows 9x stores user-specific and configuration-specific settings in
3168-529: The Web, and more". From a technical standpoint Microsoft also specified various hardware and software requirements such as the inclusion of a touchscreen and a directional pad or touchpad. Smartphones were the second hardware platform after Pocket PC to run Windows Mobile, and debuted with the release of Pocket PC 2002. Although in the broad sense of the term "Smartphone", both Pocket PC phones and Microsoft branded Smartphones each fit into this category. Microsoft's use of
3264-535: The Win16 subsystem, the Win32 subsystem and MS-DOS. Windows 9x/Me set aside two blocks of 64 KiB memory regions for GDI and heap resources. By running multiple applications, applications with numerous GDI elements or by running applications over a long span of time, it could exhaust these memory areas. If free system resources dropped below 10%, Windows would become unstable and likely crash. The kernel mode parts consist of
3360-454: The Windows 9x series until July 11, 2006, when extended support ended for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) – 4 years after extended support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2001. Microsoft DirectX, a set of standard gaming APIs, stopped being updated on Windows 95 at version 8.0a. It also stopped being updated on Windows 98 and Me after the release of Windows Vista in 2006, making DirectX 9.0c
3456-705: The Windows Update v4 website and removed the updates for Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows Me from its servers. Microsoft announced in July 2019 that the Microsoft Internet Games services on Windows Me (and XP) would end on July 31, 2019 (and for Windows 7 on January 22, 2020). The growing number of important updates caused by the end of life service for these operating systems have slowly made Windows 9x even less practical for everyday use. Today, even open source projects such as Mozilla Firefox will not run on Windows 9x without major rework. RetroZilla
3552-779: The announcement of Office Mobile 6.1 with support for Office 2007 document formats (pptx, docx, xlsx); OneNote Mobile, a companion to Microsoft Office OneNote was added to the already installed version. In addition to the newly included programs with Office Mobile improvements were made to existing applications. Such as HTML email support in Outlook Mobile. A large number of Windows Mobile users are enterprise users business environments were targeted. With Server Search on Microsoft Exchange 2007, Out of Office Replies with Microsoft Exchange 2007, and search ability for contacts in an Exchange Server Address Book being implemented. To aid development for programmers, .NET Compact Framework v2 SP2
3648-632: The bundled version of Office Mobile include a spell checker and word count tool in Pocket Word and improved Pocket Outlook . Connectivity was improved with file beaming on non-Microsoft devices such as Palm OS , the inclusion of Terminal Services and Virtual private networking support, and the ability to synchronize folders. Other upgrades include an enhanced UI with theme support and savable downloads and WAP in Pocket Internet Explorer . Smartphone 2002, originally codenamed "Stinger",
3744-658: The company "screwed up with Windows Mobile", he lamented that Windows Mobile 7 was not yet available and that the Windows Mobile team needed to try to recoup losses. Microsoft unveiled this version at the 2009 Mobile World Congress in February, and several devices were supplied with it. It was released to manufacturers on May 11, 2009; the first devices running the operating system appeared in late October 2009. Several phones that officially shipped with Windows Mobile 6.1 can be officially updated to Windows Mobile 6.5. This update includes some significant new added features, such as
3840-680: The device must run an ARM compatible processor such as the Intel XScale or the Samsung and Texas Instruments ARM compatibles. Windows Mobile 6, formerly codenamed "Crossbow", was released on February 12, 2007 at the 3GSM World Congress 2007 and was based on the Windows CE 5.2 kernel. It comes in three different versions: "Windows Mobile 6 Standard" for Smartphones (phones without touchscreens), "Windows Mobile 6 Professional" for Pocket PCs with phone functionality, and "Windows Mobile 6 Classic" for Pocket PCs without cellular radios. Windows Mobile 6
3936-625: The early 2000s. By March 2004, it was impossible to purchase any versions of the Windows 9x series. Over time, support for the Windows 9x series ended. Windows 95 had lost its mainstream support in December 31, 2000, and extended support was dropped from Windows 95 on December 31, 2001 (which also ended support for older Windows versions prior to Windows 95 on that same day). Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition had its mainstream support end on June 30, 2002, and mainstream support for Windows Me ended on December 31, 2003. Microsoft then continued to support
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4032-557: The first megabyte of memory from userland applications for compatibility reasons. This area of memory contains code critical to the functioning of the operating system, and by writing into this area of memory an application can crash or freeze the operating system. This was a source of instability as faulty applications could accidentally write into this region, potentially corrupting important operating system memory, which usually resulted in some form of system error and halt. The user-mode parts of Windows 9x consist of three subsystems:
4128-451: The general public, rather, they were available only to OEMs that would preload the OS onto computers. Some companies sold new hard drives with OSR2 preinstalled (officially justifying this as needed due to the hard drive's capacity). The first Microsoft Plus! add-on pack was sold for Windows 95. On June 25, 1998, Microsoft released Windows 98, code-named "Memphis" during development. It included new hardware drivers and better support for
4224-508: The hardware devices were also solely under the Windows Mobile banner. Along with the final major release, Windows Mobile 6.5 , the first to be designed for use without a stylus on touchscreens, Microsoft also introduced the Windows Marketplace for Mobile for software distribution, for Windows Mobile 6.x devices. Following the success of newer mobile operating systems like iOS , Windows Mobile faded rapidly; in 2010, Microsoft announced
4320-481: The hardware side of the Windows CE OS, attempting to create a form factor similar to a PC-esque PDA like WinPad, with communications functionality like Pulsar. Under the name Handheld PC , a hardware reference guide was created, and devices began shipping in 1996, although most of these devices bore little resemblance to the goal of a pen-based touchscreen handheld device. A specification for a smaller form factor under
4416-402: The head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that the name Windows would be more appealing to consumers. Windows 1.0 was not a complete operating system, but rather an "operating environment" that extended MS-DOS . Consequently, it shared the inherent flaws and problems of MS-DOS. The second installment of Microsoft Windows, version 2.0 , was released on December 9, 1987, and used
4512-431: The introduction of virtual memory . Microsoft developed Windows 3.1 , which included several minor improvements to Windows 3.0, primarily consisting of bugfixes and multimedia support. It also excluded support for Real mode, and only ran on an Intel 80286 or better processor. Windows 3.1 was released on April 6, 1992. In November 1993 Microsoft also released Windows 3.11 , a touch-up to Windows 3.1 which included all of
4608-750: The last released version is 6.5.5. It first leaked in January 2010, and was unofficially ported to some Windows Mobile phones. The name Windows Mobile 6.5.5 has been applied to these newer builds, although this name remained unconfirmed by Microsoft. There are three main versions of Windows Mobile for various hardware devices. Windows Mobile Professional , which runs on smartphones with touchscreens; Windows Mobile Standard , which runs on mobile phones without touchscreens; and Windows Mobile Classic , which runs on personal digital assistant or Pocket PCs . Windows Mobile for Automotive and Windows Mobile software for Portable Media Centers are among some specialty versions of
4704-471: The last version of DirectX to support these operating systems. Support for Microsoft Internet Explorer on all Windows 9x releases have also ended. Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me all lost security patches for Internet Explorer when the respective operating systems reached their end of support date. Internet Explorer 5.5 with Service Pack 2 is the last version of Internet Explorer compatible with Windows 95, while Internet Explorer 6 with Service Pack 1
4800-639: The limitations of the then-current FAT filesystem. Backwards-compatibility with .INI files was maintained until Windows XP succeeded the 9x and NT lines. Although Microsoft discourages using .INI files in favor of Registry entries, a large number of applications (particularly 16-bit Windows-based applications) still use .INI files. Windows 9x supports .INI files solely for compatibility with those applications and related tools (such as setup programs). The AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files also still exist for compatibility with real-mode system components and to allow users to change certain default system settings such as
4896-405: The more modern and consumer-focused Windows Phone 7 as its replacement, and Windows Mobile has been deprecated since existing devices and software are incompatible with Windows Phone . Most versions of Windows Mobile have a standard set of features, such as multitasking and the ability to navigate a file system similar to that of Windows 9x and Windows NT , including support for many of
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#17328948927834992-467: The more reliable Windows 98 Second Edition for the remainder of Windows Me's lifecycle until the release of Windows XP in 2001. A small number of Windows Me owners moved over to the business-oriented Windows 2000 Professional during that same time period. The inability of users to easily boot into real mode MS-DOS like in Windows 95 and 98 led users to quickly figure out how to hack their Windows Me installations to provide this missing functionality back into
5088-445: The name Palm-size PC was released in 1998. Pocket PC 2000, originally codenamed "Rapier", was released on April 19, 2000, and was based on the Windows CE 3.0 kernel. Pocket PC 2000 was the debut of what was later to become the Windows Mobile operating system, and was meant to be a successor to the operating system aboard Palm-size PCs . Backwards compatibility was retained with such Palm-size PC applications. Pocket PC 2000
5184-660: The need to call the real mode file system code of the DOS kernel). Partial support for Unicode can be installed on Windows 9x through the Microsoft Layer for Unicode . Windows 9x does not natively support NTFS or HPFS ; however, there are third-party solutions available for Windows 9x that allows read-only access to NTFS volumes. Early versions of Windows 95 did not support FAT32 . Like Windows for Workgroups 3.11 , Windows 9x provides support for 32-bit file access based on IFSHLP.SYS . Unlike Windows 3.x, Windows 9x has support for
5280-525: The new features from Windows Me were also available as updates for older Windows versions such as Windows 98 via Windows Update . The role of MS-DOS has also been greatly reduced compared to previous versions of Windows, with Windows Me no longer allowing real mode DOS to be accessed. Windows Me initially gained a positive reception upon its release, but later on it was heavily criticized by users for its instability and unreliability, due to frequent freezes and crashes. Windows Me has been viewed by many as one of
5376-400: The next major release, Windows Mobile 5.0 in 2005, Microsoft unified the separate developments of Pocket PC and Smartphone software into a single Windows Mobile codebase. Data could be synchronized with desktops using ActiveSync software, and later using Windows Mobile Device Center . Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 were the next major releases, in 2007 and 2008 respectively, by which time
5472-454: The object file system. Windows NT and Windows 9x would not be truly unified until Windows XP nearly 5 years later, when Microsoft began to merge its consumer and business line of Windows under a singular brand name based on Windows NT. After Windows 3.11 , Microsoft began to develop a new consumer oriented version of the operating system code-named Chicago. Chicago was designed to have support for 32-bit preemptive multitasking, that of which
5568-467: The operating system. Windows Me never received a dedicated Microsoft Plus! add-on like with Windows 95 and Windows 98. The release of Windows 2000 marked a shift in the user experience between the Windows 9x series and the Windows NT series. Windows NT 4.0, while based on the Windows 95 interface, suffered from a lack of support for USB, Plug and Play and DirectX versions after 3.0, preventing its users from playing contemporary games. Windows 2000 on
5664-442: The original version. Windows 98 Second Edition also has certain improvements over the original release, and hardware support through device drivers was increased. Many minor problems present in the original release of Windows 98 were also found and fixed. These changes, among others, makes it (according to many) the most stable release of Windows 9x family—to the extent that some commentators used to say that Windows 98's beta version
5760-501: The other hand, while primarily made towards business and server users, featured an updated user interface and better support for both Plug and Play and USB, as well as including built-in support for DirectX 7.0 . The release of Windows XP in late 2001 confirmed the change of direction for Microsoft, bringing the consumer and business operating systems together under Windows NT. After the release of Windows XP, Microsoft stopped selling Windows 9x releases to end users (and later to OEMs) in
5856-600: The patches and updates that followed the release of Windows 3.1 in early 1992. Meanwhile, Microsoft continued to develop Windows NT . The main architect of the system was Dave Cutler , one of the chief architects of VMS at Digital Equipment Corporation . Microsoft hired him in August 1988 to create a successor to OS/2 , but Cutler created a completely new system instead based on his MICA project at Digital. The first version of Windows NT, Windows NT 3.1 , would be released on July 27, 1993 and used Windows 3.1's interface. About
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#17328948927835952-551: The phone to share its Internet connection with computers via USB and Bluetooth. Windows Mobile supports virtual private networking over PPTP protocol. Most devices with mobile connectivity also have a Radio Interface Layer . The Radio Interface Layer provides the system interface between the Cell Core layer within the Windows Mobile OS and the radio protocol stack used by the wireless modem hardware. This allows OEMs to integrate
6048-496: The platform. Microsoft had over 50 handset partners, when Windows Mobile was still being shipped on new devices. 80% of the 50 million Windows Mobile devices that were made from launch to February 2009 were built by one contract manufacturing group, HTC , which makes handsets for several major companies under their brands, and under its own brand. On January 10, 2011, Microsoft announced Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5. The operating system has compatibility with Windows Mobile 6.5 and
6144-401: The platform. Some devices featured slideout keyboards, while others featured minimal face buttons. Microsoft's work on handheld portable devices began with research projects in 1990, with the work on Windows CE beginning in 1992. Initially, the OS and the user interface were developed separately. With Windows CE being based on Windows 95 code and a separate team handing the user interface which
6240-421: The release (notably Plug and Play) slipped. Microsoft did not change all of the Windows code to 32-bit; parts of it remained 16-bit (albeit not directly using real mode ) for reasons of compatibility, performance and development time. Additionally it was necessary to carry over design decisions from earlier versions of Windows for reasons of backwards compatibility, even if these design decisions no longer matched
6336-424: The same file types. Similarly to its desktop counterpart , it comes bundled with a set of applications that perform basic tasks. Internet Explorer Mobile is the default web browser , and Windows Media Player is the default media player used for playing digital media . The mobile version of Microsoft Office is the default office suite . Internet Connection Sharing , supported on compatible devices, allows
6432-551: The security model is much less effective than the one in Windows NT. One reason for this is the FAT file systems (including FAT12/FAT16/FAT32), which are the only ones that Windows 9x supports officially, though Windows NT also supports FAT12 and FAT16 (but not FAT32; which wouldn’t be supported until Windows 2000) and Windows 9x can be extended to read and write NTFS volumes using third-party Installable File System drivers. FAT systems have very limited security; every user that has access to
6528-418: The service's lifespan. Most early Windows Mobile devices came with a stylus , which can be used to enter commands by tapping it on the screen. The primary touch input technology behind most devices were resistive touchscreens which often required a stylus for input. Later devices used capacitive sensing which does not require a stylus. Along with touchscreens, a large variety of form factors existed for
6624-463: The term "Smartphone" includes only more specific hardware devices that differ from Pocket PC phones. Such Smartphones were originally designed without touchscreens , intended to be operated more efficiently with only one hand, and typically had lower display resolution than Pocket PCs. Microsoft's focus for the Smartphone platform was to create a device that functioned well as a phone and data device in
6720-479: The threads in which the applications and virtual machines run. The VMM is also responsible for creating MS-DOS environments for system processes and Windows applications that still need to run in MS-DOS mode. It is the replacement for WIN386.EXE in Windows 3.x, and the file vmm32.vxd is a compressed archive containing most of the core VxD, including VMM.vxd itself and ifsmgr.vxd (which facilitates file system access without
6816-488: The time). On June 10, 1999, Microsoft released Windows 98 Second Edition (also known as Windows 98 SE), an interim release whose notable features were the addition of Internet Connection Sharing and improved WDM audio and modem support. Internet Connection Sharing is a form of network address translation , allowing several machines on a LAN (Local Area Network) to share a single Internet connection . It also includes Internet Explorer 5 as opposed to Internet Explorer 4 in
6912-477: The transition period. 6.5.1 brings larger user interface elements, including icon based soft buttons (rather than text based), an updated contacts app, native support for A-GPS , improved threaded text messaging, and performance improvements. It was unofficially ported to several Windows Mobile phones. The second minor update was announced on February 2, 2010, along with the Sony Ericsson Aspen which
7008-459: The two as needed. Everything is backed up in the flash memory, so unlike prior devices, WM5 devices lose no data if power is lost. New to 5.0, OS updates were released as adaptation kit upgrades , with AKU 3.5 being the final released. Windows Mobile 5 comes with Microsoft Office Mobile which includes PowerPoint Mobile, Excel Mobile with graphing capability and Word Mobile with the ability to insert tables and graphics. Media management and playback
7104-513: The visual and feature distinctions, the underlying CE versions can be used to differentiate WM 6.0 from WM 6.1. The version of Windows CE in WM 6.0 is 5.2.*, where the third and final number being a four-digit build ID (e.g. 5.2.1622 on HTC Wing). In WM 6.1, the CE version is 5.2.* with a five-digit build number (e.g. 5.2.19216 on Palm Treo 800w). Windows Mobile 6.5 is a stopgap update to Windows Mobile 6.1, based on
7200-502: The worst operating systems of all time, both in critical and in retrospect. PC World was highly critical of Windows Me months after it was released (and indeed when it was no longer available), with their article infamously describing Windows Me as "Mistake Edition" and placing it 4th in their "Worst Tech Products of All Time" feature in 2006. Consequently, many home users that were affected by Windows Me's instabilities (as well as those who negatively viewed Windows Me) ultimately stuck with
7296-653: Was added. Multimedia improvements included MIDI file support as ringtones in Phone Edition and Windows Media Player 9.0 with streaming optimization. A puzzle game titled Jawbreaker is among the preinstalled programs. GAPI was included with this release to facilitate the development of games for the platform. Other features/built-in applications included the following: enhanced Pocket Outlook with vCard and vCal support, improved Pocket Internet Explorer and SMS reply options for Phone Edition. Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, also known as "Windows Mobile 2003 SE",
7392-410: Was aimed at professional users such as networks and businesses, used a similar but separate version number between 3.1 and 4.0. All versions of Windows from Windows XP onwards are based on the Windows NT codebase. The first independent version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0 , released on November 20, 1985, achieved little popularity. Its name was initially "Interface Manager", but Rowland Hanson ,
7488-418: Was also bundled and included Pocket Word, Pocket Excel and Pocket Outlook. Notes, a note-taking app saw its first release and would be supported by most later versions of Windows Mobile. Intelligent character recognition support allowed Notes to distinguish styles of handwriting to be learned by the OS during processing to improve accuracy and recognition levels. Pocket PC 2002, originally codenamed "Merlin",
7584-606: Was announced April 1, 2008, and was based on the Windows CE 5.x kernel. It is a minor upgrade to the Windows Mobile 6 platform with various performance enhancements and a redesigned Home screen featuring horizontal tiles that expand on clicking to display more information, although this new home screen is featured only on Windows Mobile Standard edition. This was not supported in the Professional edition. Several other changes such as threaded SMS , full page zooming in Internet Explorer and 'Domain Enroll' were also added, along with
7680-552: Was available in OS/2 and Windows NT, although a 16-bit kernel would remain for the sake of backward compatibility. The Win32 API first introduced with Windows NT was adopted as the standard 32-bit programming interface, with Win16 compatibility being preserved through a technique known as " thunking ". A new GUI was not originally planned as part of the release, although elements of the Cairo user interface were borrowed and added as other aspects of
7776-454: Was codenamed WinPad (later Microsoft At Work for Handhelds). Windows 95 had strong pen support making porting easy; with some saying "At this time, Windows 95 offers outstanding pen support. It is treating pens right for the first time." WinPad was delayed due to price and performance issues, before being scrapped in early 1995 due to touchscreen driver problems relating to WriteTouch technology, made by NCR Microelectronic Products. Although WinPad
7872-603: Was designed mainly for easier finger usage. Some reviewers have noted interface inconsistencies, with some applications having small buttons making them harder to operate using only a finger. Whilst this version of Windows Mobile does not natively support capacitive screens , mobile manufacturers have been able to use them on their devices. In the months following this release, development shifted from Windows Mobile to its successor Windows Phone. As such no major upgrades were planned or released, although three minor updates; 6.5.1, 6.5.3 and 6.5.5; were made to satisfy consumers during
7968-418: Was enhanced with Picture and Video package, which converged the management of videos and pictures and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile. Among new hardware features were enhanced Bluetooth support, default QWERTY keyboard-support and a management interface for Global Positioning System (GPS). Improvements were made to ActiveSync 4.2 with 15% increased synchronization speed. Business customers benefited from
8064-619: Was first offered on the Dell Axim x51. It used the .NET Compact Framework 1.0 SP3, an environment for programs based on .NET. Windows Mobile 5.0 included Microsoft Exchange Server "push" functionality improvements that worked with Exchange 2003 SP2. The "push" functionality also required vendor/device support. With AKU2 software upgrades all WM 5.0 devices supported DirectPush . Other features included an enhanced battery-saving capability called persistent storage capability. Previously up to 50% (enough for 72 hours of storage) of battery power
8160-402: Was intended mainly for Pocket PC devices; however, several Palm-size PC devices had the ability to be updated as well. Furthermore, several Pocket PC 2000 phones were released (under the name Handheld PC 2000), however at this time, Microsoft's "Smartphone" hardware platform had not yet been created. At this time, Pocket PC devices had not been standardized with a specific CPU architecture. As
8256-476: Was more stable than Windows 95's final (gamma) version. Like with Windows 95, Windows 98 received the Microsoft Plus! add-on in the form of Plus! 98 . On September 14, 2000, Microsoft introduced Windows Me (Millennium Edition; also known as Windows ME), which upgraded Windows 98 with enhanced multimedia and Internet features. Code-named "Millennium", It was conceived as a quick one-year project that served as
8352-478: Was never released as a consumer product, Alpha builds were released showcasing many interface elements. During development of WinPad a separate team worked on a project called Pulsar; designed to be a mobile communications version of WinPad, described as a "pager on Steroids". This project was also canceled around the same time as WinPad. The two disbanded groups would form the Pegasus project in 1995. Pegasus would work on
8448-477: Was powered by the same OS as with Windows Mobile 2003, which was Windows CE 4.20. Windows Mobile 5.0, originally codenamed "Magneto", was released at Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference 2005 in Las Vegas, May 9–12, 2005, and was based on the Windows CE 5.0 kernel. Microsoft offered mainstream support for Windows Mobile 5 through October 12, 2010, and extended support through October 13, 2015. It
8544-537: Was released in 2002. Based on Windows CE 3.0 like Pocket PC 2002 and Pocket PC 2000, Smartphone 2002 was built for GSM cell phones with standard keypad-based form factors, as opposed to Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition which targeted standard touch-based PDAs. The first device that was supposed to ship with Smartphone 2002 was the Sendo Z100 which was canceled after Microsoft sued Sendo. Windows Mobile 2003, initially named as Pocket PC 2003 and originally codenamed "Ozone",
8640-555: Was released on March 24, 2004, and first offered on the Dell Axim x30 . It was based on the Windows CE 4.x kernel. This was the last version which allowed users to back up and restore an entire device through ActiveSync . This upgrade allows users to switch between portrait and landscape modes and introduces a single-column layout in Pocket Internet Explorer . It includes support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and new screen resolutions : 640×480 ( VGA ), 240×240, and 480×480. It
8736-558: Was released on October 4, 2001, and was based on the Windows CE 3.0 kernel, like with Pocket PC 2000. Although targeted mainly for 240×320 ( QVGA ) Pocket PC devices, Pocket PC 2002 was also used for Pocket PC phones (Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition). Aesthetically, Pocket PC 2002 was meant to be similar in design to the then newly released Windows XP . Newly added or updated programs include Windows Media Player 8 with streaming capability; MSN Messenger , and Microsoft Reader 2, with Digital rights management support. Upgrades to
8832-445: Was reserved just to maintain data in volatile RAM. This continued the trend of Windows-based devices moving from using RAM as their primary storage medium to the use of a combination of RAM and flash memory (in use, no distinction between the two is obvious to users). Programs and frequently accessed data run in RAM, while most storage is in the flash memory. The OS seamlessly moves data between
8928-733: Was similar in design to the then-current Windows 98 , Windows 2000 , and the yet-to-be-released Windows Me desktop operating systems. Crucially, the Pocket PC had a less cluttered interface more suitable for a mobile device, unlike the interface on predeceasing Palm-size PCs. Mainstream support for Pocket PC 2000 ended on September 30, 2005, and extended support ended on October 9, 2007. This initial release had multiple built-in applications, many of them similarly branded to match their desktop counterparts; such as Microsoft Reader , Microsoft Money , Pocket Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player . A version of Microsoft Office called Pocket Office
9024-420: Was the first phone to use this version. 6.5.3 continues the trend of attempting to provide a more finger-friendly user interface with several new usability features such as native support for multitouch ; although device maker HTC Corporation created proprietary work-arounds to allow multi-touch to work on some applications it installed on its HD2 handset (However, Microsoft applications on this handset, such as
9120-467: Was the first release under the Windows Mobile banner, released on June 23, 2003, based on the Windows CE 4.2 kernel. It came in four editions: "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Premium Edition", "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Professional Edition", "Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone " and "Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Phone Edition". The last was designed especially for Pocket PCs which include phone functionalities. The Professional Edition
9216-541: Was used in Pocket PC budget models. It lacked a number of features that were in the Premium Edition, such as a client for L2TP/IPsec VPNs. All versions of Windows Mobile 2003 were powered by Windows CE 4.20. Communications interface were enhanced with Bluetooth device management, which allowed for Bluetooth file beaming support, Bluetooth headset support and support for Bluetooth add-on keyboards. A pictures application with viewing, cropping, e-mail, and beaming support
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