Windows 98 (1998) 1564 Windows

Windows 98 is a continuation of the Windows 95 product. The major change is an insanely heavy focus on web integration. The help system, many applications, and even the desktop are redesigned to make use of Internet Explorer. Windows 98 runs on top of the same "MS-DOS 7.1" with FAT32 support as Windows 95 OSR2, and it includes support for USB. Windows 98 had two major releases - a First Edition and a Second Edition. It was followed up by Windows ME. | 1.0 | 2.x | 3.x | NT 3.x | 95 | NT 4.0 | 98 | 2000 | ME | All |

• Pre-Releases
• First Edition
• 98 SE Beta
• Second Edition

MS-DOS (1981) 1190 DOS

Originally 86-DOS, written by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products, DOS was a rough clone of CP/M for 8086 based hardware. Microsoft purchased it and licensed it to IBM for use with Microsoft's IBM PC language products. In 1982, Microsoft began licensing DOS to other OEMs that ported it to their custom x86 hardware and IBM PC clones.

• 1.x
• 3.00
• 3.10
• 3.20
• 3.21
• 3.30
• 3.31
• 4.0x
• 5.0
• 6.0
• 6.20
• 6.21
• 6.22

Windows 95 (1994) 1073 Windows

Windows 95 offered, at long last, a well designed document-oriented desktop shell that worked much like the 1984 Macintosh Finder. It also included a new way of finding installed applications through a "Start" menu. And it included the same networking abilities as Windows for Workgroups. | 1.0 | 2.x | 3.x | NT 3.x | 95 | NT 4.0 | 98 | 2000 | ME | All |

• 95 Demo
• OSR 2
• OSR 2.1
• OSR 2.5

Microsoft Visual Basic (1991) 731 Windows DOS

First released in 1991, Microsoft Visual Basic was a programming environment where one could build an application by visually creating the user interface first, and then adding code. In contrast, even the smallest Visual Basic basic programs could take reams of program code to write in C or C++. Visual Basic was extremely popular for business application programming. The language itself was an interpreted BASIC dialect, however speed was maintained through the use of reusable compiled libraries (DLLs and VBX controls). These however, limited application development to Microsoft Windows.

• 1.0
• 1.0 for DOS
• 2.0
• 3.0
• 4.0
• 5.0
• 6.0

Windows 2000 (1999) 723 Windows

Windows 2000 was a modernization of Windows NT 4.0 which brought many of the desktop changes, including Active Desktop, to Microsoft's Windows NT line. Four editions of Windows 2000 were released, Professional, Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server. Improvements over NT 4.0 include new Accessibility Options, increased language and locale support, NTFS 3.0, the Encrypting File System and Active Directory. Windows 2000 was first planned to replace both Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 although using the NT kernel for consumer and professional editions would not happen until Windows 2000's successor, Windows XP. | 1.0 | 2.x | 3.x | NT 3.x | 95 | NT 4.0 | 98 | 2000 | ME | All |

• Final

Windows 3.0 / 3.1 (1990) 603 Windows

Windows 3.x was the first to gain significant development and commercial traction. It combined the 8086, 286, and 386 modes of Windows 2 in to one package. It replaced the MSDOS Executive with a Program Manager and File Manager similar to those in OS/2 1.x. Much of its success was spurred by the availability and success of Microsoft Office. Although Microsoft would have had you believe otherwise, Windows 3.x was the direct foundation for Chicago/Windows 95. | 1.0 | 2.x | 3.x | NT 3.x | 95 | NT 4.0 | 98 | 2000 | ME | All |

• 3.1
• for Workgroups 3.1
• for Workgroups 3.11
• 3.11

Windows NT 4.0 (1995) 470 Windows

Windows NT 4.0 is the successor to the Windows NT 3.x release. In this release, the user interface from Windows 95 was integrated, making NT just as easy to use as its consumer counterpart. Internet Explorer was bundled, providing a web browser out of the box. Speed was improved by moving components into kernel-mode, at the expense of security and reliability - changes Windows is suffering from today, and is being reverted. NT 4 was followed up by Windows 2000. | 1.0 | 2.x | 3.x | NT 3.x | 95 | NT 4.0 | 98 | 2000 | ME | All |

• Cairo/Hydra
• 4.0
• Patches

Windows Longhorn (2001) 440 Windows

Windows Longhorn was the pre-release codename for Windows Vista and was the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (built from NT 5.2 codebase). Development on the OS started in May 2001 and went through two unique development cycles separated by a development reset in 2004. The reset occurred as Microsoft's development staff had lost focus on the project as a whole and what was required to be done in order to bring it to market. Features were being written into the OS at an alarming rate with a significant lack of QA or vision of true requirement. This combined with Microsoft's trustworthy computing initiatives caused the reset.

• Pre-Reset

Microsoft Windows Boot Disk (1995) 432 DOS

These disks are original boot floppy disk media for use with Microsoft Windows CD-ROMs. Not all Windows 9x/ME CDs are bootable, not all CDs included boot disks, and DOS will not see a CD-ROM drive unless a driver is loaded. OEMs were expected to provide compatible CD-ROM with the boot media provided with their systems. However towards the very late 90s, most vendors standardized on IDE/ATAPI CD-ROM hardware and the use of the OEM Adaption Kit (OAK) driver. If your CD drive is not IDE compatible (such as an MKE or Panasonic interface) you must manually add your own driver. Note: you can use the Windows 98 boot disk with Windows 95 to make things easier. If you have any UNTOUCHED OEM boot disks with different drivers, please submit them.

• 95 RTM
• 95 OSR2.x
• 98 FE
• 98 SE
• ME

Windows ME (2000) 403 Windows

Windows Millennium Edition (internally Windows 4.90) was the last in the line of DOS-based Windows products. Like Windows 95 and Windows 98 it used the same hybrid 16/32 bit kernel that ran on top of a bundled version of DOS (MS-DOS 8.0). | 1.0 | 2.x | 3.x | NT 3.x | 95 | NT 4.0 | 98 | 2000 | ME | All |

• Beta
• Final

Microsoft Office (1991) 333 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Publishing PIM Database Windows MacOS

Microsoft Office is a bundle of Microsoft's productivity application. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and later Mail, Office Manager, and Outlook. The "1.x" versions of Microsoft Office were simply a marketing bundle of the standalone products sold together with no other packaging changes. Even though these were distinct applications, rather than one single monolithic program, they shared a similar user interface, integrated well together and shared the ability to embed documents from one application in the documents of another.

• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.0
• 4.2
• 4.3
• 95
• 97/98
• 2000
• 2001 (Mac)

Internet Explorer (1995) 322 Web Browser Windows MacOS Unix Mac OS X

Microsoft Internet Explorer is a web browser application created by Microsoft primarily for Microsoft Windows. It was initially based on Spyglass Mosaic. At various points, Internet Explorer was also available for MacOS, Solaris, and HP-UX.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 5.5
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11

Windows NT 3.x (1991) 291 Windows

Windows NT 3.1 was the first of the Windows NT series. Sporting the same face as its consumer counterpart Windows 3.1, it was completely different under the hood. A true 32-bit native operating system, Windows NT descended from the work Microsoft did while collaborating with IBM on OS/2 after the great split, and bringing in former DEC employees like Dave Cutler, bringing a VMS influence into the system. It was followed up by Windows NT 4.0. | 1.0 | 2.x | 3.x | NT 3.x | 95 | NT 4.0 | 98 | 2000 | ME | All |

• NT 3.1 Pre-Release
• 3.1
• 3.5
• 3.51
• Patches

Windows 1.0 (1984) 254 Windows

Windows 1.0 was the first release of what eventually made it onto almost every desktop computer in the entire world. Many of you are probably unaware of this release from 1985; conceived from ideas found in the original Lisa/Macintosh and Xerox Star system, Windows 1.0 was Microsoft's attempt at a graphical multitasking operating environment for the IBM PC. | 1.0 | 2.x | 3.x | NT 3.x | 95 | NT 4.0 | 98 | 2000 | ME | All |

• DR 5
• Beta
• Premiere Edition
• Demo
• 1.03

Microsoft Visual Studio (1996) 202 Windows

Visual Studio is an IDE (integrated development environment) for Microsoft Windows that allows developers to develop a variety of applications. It is a bundle of seperate programming products, including Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft J++, Microsoft Visual Basic, and Foxpro

• 97 (5.x)
• 6.0

Microsoft Word (1983) 199 Word Processor DOS MacOS OS2 Windows Unix

The Microsoft Word word processor was first introduced for MS-DOS in 1983. Its design made use of a mouse and WYSIWYG graphics. Its crude WYSIWYG/mouse support was a direct response to the Apple Lisa/Mac, and VisiCorp Visi On. Initially it competed against many popular word processors such as WordStar, Multimate, and WordPerfect. Word for DOS was never really successful.

• 1.x (DOS)
• 2.x (DOS)
• 3.x (Mac)
• 4.0 (DOS)
• 5.x (DOS and OS/2)
• 1.x (Windows)
• 4.0 (Mac)
• 1.x (OS/2)
• 5.x (UNIX)
• 5.x (Mac)
• 6.x
• 95
• 97

Microsoft Works (1986) 123 Word Processor Spreadsheet Communications Database MacOS DOS Windows

Microsoft Works was an all-in-one scaled-down Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Database geared towards the home user. It was released in variants for early DOS, Windows, and Macintosh. Microsoft Works competed against Lotus Jazz, FrameWork, AlphaWorks/LotusWorks, PFS First Choice, and many others.

• 1.x (Mac)
• 1.x (DOS)
• 2.x (Mac)
• 2.x (DOS)
• 2.x (Win)
• 3.x (DOS)
• 3.x (Mac)
• 3.x (Win)
• 4.0
• 4.5
• 5.x
• 6.0
• 9.0

Windows Whistler (1999) 117 Windows

Windows Whistler was the pre-release codename for Windows XP, or NT 5.1. It is the successor to Windows 2000. XP was the first that did not compete against a DOS based version of Windows, effectively finally unifying the Windows line in to a single pure 32-bit product. Below are various Beta releases. Winworld does not host the final RTM versions.

• Early Whistler
• Beta 2

Microsoft Plus! (1995) 92 Utility Novelty Windows

Microsoft Plus! was an add-on package to Windows that added desktop themes, screen savers, sound effects, power-toys, and other assorted goodies for the home user. Plus! 95 also included Internet Explorer 1.0, which was not included in all Windows 95 distributions.

• 95
• 98

Microsoft Excel (1985) 91 Spreadsheet MacOS Windows OS2

Excel, from Microsoft, is a powerful spreadsheet application for Mac, Windows, and OS/2. Excel was first released for the Mac. When it was ported to Windows 2.x, they started at version "2.0" to one up current Mac version. There was never a DOS version. Instead, DOS and 8-bit platforms used the older Microsoft Multiplan. Excel was later bundled as part of Microsoft Office

• 1.x
• 2.0
• 2.1
• 2.2
• 3.x
• 5.x
• 95 (7.0)

FoxPro (1990) 83 Windows DOS MacOS Unix

FoxPro, originally from Fox Software and later Microsoft, is a relational database that clones the functionality of dBase IV, but offers vast speed improvements. It was based on Fox Software's FoxBASE (a dBASE II clone) and FoxBASE+ (a dBase III Plus clone). It adds a new mac-like user interface that was first developed for FoxBASE+/Mac.

• 2.0
• 2.5
• 2.6
• 3.0

Age of Empires (1997) 83 MacOS Windows

Age of Empires is a civilization simulator strategy game where different empires fight to rule.

• 1.0
• Gold Edition

Visual C++ (1993) 81 Windows

Visual C++ is a greatly enhanced and re-branded version of Microsoft C/C++. The Visual C++ line is primarily aimed at Windows development on 386 CPUs. 5.0 and later were bundled as a part of Microsoft Visual Studio.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 4.x
• 5.x
• 6.x

Multiplan (1983) 81 Spreadsheet DOS MacOS OS2

Microsoft Multiplan was an early 8-bit spreadsheet application for CP/M and MS-DOS with ports to numerous other platforms in the early 80s. Initially it competed against VisiCalc and later Lotus 1-2-3. A companion product, Microsoft Chart, provided graphing support. Multiplan was never ported to Windows, where it was replaced with Microsoft Excel. Excel also replaced Multiplan on the Macintosh platform.

• 1.x
• 1.x (Mac)
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x

Virtual PC (1996) 60 Virtualization Windows MacOS Mac OS X

Virtual PC started off originally as an x86 emulator for PowerPC Macintosh to run MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. Connectix, the company that made it, was purchased by Microsoft. Virtual PC was then retooled into a virtualization tool for x86 systems. Microsoft discontinued Virtual PC in favor of a server-oriented virtualization product called Hyper-V.

• 2004
• 7.x
• 2007