A brief note:

Windows XP differs greatly from the previous versions that were installed on home computers.  The entire concept of Windows XP was built around the "NT" kernal (the main thinking process of windows).

During 2000 Microsoft incorporated the look and feel of Windows 9x with their Professional / Networking Windows (NT), and developed Windows 2000.

At this point they decided to drop the old Windows 9x development and focus primarily on the more stable, more secure type of operating system that Windows 2000 offered (aka NT).  Much of this was driven by growth of the Internet, and the technology of computers talking to each other.

Now Microsoft offers basically 2 types of Windows, both of which are called Windows XP.  The first is the home version called Windows XP Home, the second being Windows XP Professional.  While they do offer several flavors of the XP Profession Server XP, basically the 2 operating systems are very similar.  Both have the ability to provide what is called an NTFS format.  Both provide more stable (they don't lock up or crash as much as the old Windows), and more secure (you can't get into the computer by pressing the escape key) systems.    The primary difference in the 2 is more in the tools that they provide for "servers" and "professionals" than in how the system works.
 
 

A brief history:

 
Many years ago Microsoft got its start by leasing an operating system called DOS to IBM many years ago.  The entire system revolved around a hard disk having a format called FAT (File Allocation Table).  That entire concept stayed with us until recently, when Microsoft released its newest version of Windows called XP. Although XP will still support and understand a FAT or FAT32 format, its strength is the ability to work with NTFS.

Microsoft got their foot in the door of the computer field with this "You can have it, but it belongs to us" operating system called DOS (Disk Operating System).  From there they started developing a more graphical system.  Users wouldn't have to type in commands like dir, cd, mkdir, delete, etc., The could point and click to execute commands with a mouse.

Microsoft produced "Windows" in the late 1980s, first with Window 3.0, and quickly ugrading that to Windows 3.1.  At the time many folks claimed that Microsoft was just trying to copy what Apple had done with the Macintosh computer by creating a more graphical interface for the user.  Beyond the political and business aspects of that, Windows 3.1 became the primary system that people buying computers ended up having once they pushed the on button.

In the early 90's they developed an operating system that was "more secure" and more capable of being used as a networking tool so that 2 computers could share the same information.  WFW, and NT were born.  Microsoft wanted to be a part of computers talking to one another.

At first it was "Windows For Workgroups (version 3.11), and that quickly developed into, or was part of a system that could be used on a Main Computer (or server).  That development was called Windows NT*, and it progressed through several stages, on through NT 4.0.  At the time, the systems that were capable of this type of communication between computers were limited to big main frame computers, systems like UNIX, Novell, and then Sun.  Microsoft wanted to be a part of this big interest in what was to be known as "The Web" (aka: The Net, the Internet, www, w3, etc.)

In the early to mid 1990s Microsoft developed a new operating system for home users called Windows 95.  95 made it easy to talk to the Internet.  Perhaps the biggest jump in computers, technology, and the "Internet" came at this time.  Some would debate whether Windows 95 pushed the evolotion of computers, or the technology pushed Microsoft into Window 95.  Whatever the case, Windows 95 was a huge jump from Windows 3.1.  Gone were "Program Manager", "File Manager", etc., and incoming were "The Start Button", and "Explorer".  As Window 95 progressed through its different stages, (Windows 95, Windows 95b, Windows 98, Windows Second Edition, and Windows ME) they all became to be known in a general term as Win 9x.

Through the mid to late 90s there were 2 types of Operating Systems that Microsoft pushed.  The Windows 9x versions, and the Windows NT versions.  The primary difference was that Windows 9x versions were built around a format or file system called FAT, or FAT32.  The NT file system was built around a system called NTFS.

Now we have Windows XP.  Be it the Home edition, or the professional version, it is the next step in what we are using in computers today.
 

* NT ... while Microsoft claims that NT stood for nothing in particular, many claim that it stood for New Technology.
** NTFS ... NT File System.

Note: I am not, nor have I ever been an employee of Microsoft.  I don't suggest their systems or software, I only acknowledge that they are the prime provider for what most users are working with today.  I have used Linux, Macs, UNIX, Banyan, and other types of systems, and can find good and bad to say about them all.  This article is not meant to be an endorsement of XP or Microsoft, just a brief account of the industry.  While Microsoft may be the top provider for home computers, it should be noted that UNIX / Linux are still the prefered platforms for Internet Providers.  Apache is still used more often on an Internet server than Microsoft (IIS).

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file: xpintro.html
created: 07.05.2002
All rights reserved: Charles H. Davis