Windows NT 3.1
From Micropedia
| {{{logo}}} | |
 User interface similar to Windows 3.1 | |
| Company/ developer: | Microsoft |
| OS family: | Windows NT |
| Source model: | Closed source |
| Stable release: | Template:Latest stable release/Windows NT 3.1 [+/-] |
| Preview release: | Template:Latest preview release/Windows NT 3.1 [+/-] |
| Kernel type: | Hybrid kernel |
| Default user interface: | {{{ui}}} |
| License: | Microsoft EULA |
| Working state: | Unsupported since December 31 2000 |
| Website: | Microsoft Support Lifecycle |
Windows NT 3.1 is the first release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of server and business desktop operating systems, and was released to manufacturing on July 27 1993. The version number was chosen to match the one of Windows 3.1, then-latest OS from Microsoft. Two editions of NT 3.1 were made available, Windows NT 3.1 and Windows NT Advanced Server.
It could run on Intel x86, DEC Alpha, and MIPS CPUs.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Development of Windows NT started in November 1988, after Microsoft hired a group of developers from Digital Equipment Corporation led by Dave Cutler. Many elements of the design reflect earlier DEC experience with VMS and RSX-11. The operating system was designed to run on multiple instruction set architectures and multiple hardware platforms within each architecture. The platform dependencies are largely hidden from the rest of the system by a kernel mode module called the HAL.
Windows NT was originally intended to be OS/2 3.0, the third version of the operating system developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM. When Windows 3.0 was released in May 1990, it was so successful that Microsoft decided to change the primary application programming interface for the still-unreleased NT OS/2 (as it was then known) from an extended OS/2 API to an extended Windows API. This decision caused tension between Microsoft and IBM, and the collaboration ultimately fell apart. IBM continued OS/2 development alone, while Microsoft continued work on the newly-renamed Windows NT.
Windows NT was formally announced at the Spring 1993 Comdex in Atlanta, Georgia.
Application programming interfaces in Windows NT are implemented as subsystems atop the undocumented Native API; it was this that allowed the late adoption of the Windows API. Windows NT was the first operating system to use Unicode internally.
The project had a codename of just "NT OS", which is preserved in the filename of the Windows NT kernel, ntoskrnl.exe. Since it was targeted to become the next version of OS/2, a more official name of the project was "NT OS/2". This name is preserved up to now in some Windows NT DDK files.
Though "NT OS/2" was finally released as "Windows NT", it is largely compatible with OS/2 applications and HPFS disk volumes.
[edit] N-Ten
Originally the OS was targeted at Intel i860 CPU, the "N-Ten", thus the name for the NT family [1] But the CPU was "horribly behind schedule", so the NT team ditched its support completely and switched to existing CPUs.
The beta versions of Windows NT 3.1 had an emulator for the i860, however. The NT team used it internally for the testing.
[edit] Similarities to Windows 3.1
Windows NT 3.1's UI was so similar to Windows 3.1's UI that people would sometimes mistake it for Windows 3.1. This made the OS very easy to use for people with prior experience with Windows 3.x.
[edit] External links
- GUIdebook: Windows NT 3.1 Gallery - A website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces
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