Microsoft Monday
Ever since the very first version of Windows launched, technology has changed and improved by leaps and bounds. Today we’re looking at the history of Windows system requirements which by itself, helps to show how technology has changed. We’ll start with Windows 1.0 and work our way up to Windows Vista. As you can imagine, the changes that have occurred are pretty drastic. Take a look:
Windows 1.0
Windows 1.0 was released on November 20, 1985.
- CGA/Hercules/EGA (or compatible)
- MS-DOS 2.0
- 256 KB Ram
- 2 double-sided disk drives or a hard drive
Windows 2.10
Windows 2.1 was officially released on May 27, 1988.
Interesting Fact: Versions of 2.10 were released so that the Intel 286 Processor could be taken advantage of.
- MS-DOS version 3.0 or later
- 512 K RAM
- One floppy-disk and one hard disk
- Graphics adapter card
- Microsoft mouse is optional
Windows 3.1x
Versions of Windows 3.1 were released between 1992 and 1994.
Interesting fact: What was different with this version of Windows was that if a user was running a different DOS operating system other than MS DOS, the installer would fail and the user would not be able to install Windows.
- MS-DOS 3.1 or later
- Intel 80286 (or higher) processor
- 1 MB or more of memory (640K conventional and 256K extended)
- 6.5 MB of free disk space (9 MB is recommended)
Windows 95
Windows 95 was released on August 24, 1995.
Interesting Fact: The graphical user interface was one of the biggest improvements with this operating system. In fact, the general format and structure of the GUI is still used in Windows today.
- Intel 80386 DX CPU
- 4 MB of system RAM
- 50 MB hard drive space
Windows 98
Windows 98 was released on June 25, 1998
Interesting Fact: Windows 98 was the first operating system to use the Windows Driver Model.
- 486DX-2/66 MHz or higher processor (Pentium processor recommended
- 16 MB of RAM (24MB recommended)
- At least 500 MB of space available on HDD
- VGA or higher resolution monitor
- CD-ROM or DVD-Rom drive
- Microsoft Mouse or pointing device
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 was released on February 17, 2000. There were three different versions of Windows 200 and each had different requirements.
Interesting Fact: Microsoft advertised Windows 2000 as “a standard in reliability.” With this version, new features like Windows Desktop Update, Internet Explorer 5 and Outlook Express were introduced. There were also many improvements made to Windows Explorer.
Windows 2000 Professional
- 133 MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU
- 32 MB of RAM (64 MB recommended)
- 700 megabytes hard disk space (2 GB recommended)
Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server
- 133 MHz CPU
- 256 MB of RAM minimum
- 2 GB hard disk space
Windows Me
Windows Me was released on September 24, 2000
Interesting Fact: Windows Me wasn’t around for very long, only about a year and then it was replaced with Windows XP
- 150 MHz Pentium Processor
- 320 MB hard drive space
- 32 MB RAM
*Note: This was the last version of Windows to include a real-mode MS-DOS subsystem even though access to it was restricted.
Windows XP
Windows XP launched on October 25, 2001.
Interesting Fact: It was the first consumer oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel and architecture. Below are the minimum requirements for XP Home and Professional (not the recommended).
- 233 MHz processor
- 63 MB RAM
- 1.5 GB free hard disk space
- Super VGA video adapter and monitor
- CD-ROM drive or DVD drive
Windows Vista
Windows Vista launched to the public on January 30, 2007. Below are the “Vista Capable” requirements as well as the “Vista Premium Ready” requirements.
Interesting Fact: one of the things Vista is criticized most for is system requirements.
Vista Capable
- 800 MHz processor
- 512 MB RAM
- 32 MB Graphics memory
- 20 GB hard disk capacity
- 15 GB free hard disk space
Vista Premium Ready
- 1.0 GHz processor
- 1 GB RAM
- 128 MB Graphics memory
- 40 GB hard disk capacity
- 15 GB free hard disk space
Wrapping it up…
It really is amazing to go back and look at how the system requirements have progressed over time. To think that Windows 1.0 only required 256 KB of RAM while the latest operating system, Vista, requires 1 GB of RAM is crazy! It leaves us wondering, what will the system requirements be for the next Windows operating system?
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Tags: CyberNotes, Software, Windows, Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows XP
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You worried me when I read the title of this article that it was going to turn in to another one of these Vista-bashing articles that are all over the internet recently. Vista’s minimum requirements are pretty much the same as OS X 10.5 but no-one moans about that.
I must be getting old since I can remember using all of those OS’s except Windows 1.
“Interesting Fact: (Windows XP) was the first operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel and architecture.”
???
Windows NT would have been the first, followed by Windows 2000.
I’d like to see another article talking about Linux and Mac requirements. Just to compare, maybe in a chart. Thak you.
Interesting review!
Although, I think there’s a typo in the recommended RAM in Windows 98.
i think a lot of credit should go to amiga for the first few versions of windows
http://www.guidebookgallery.or...../amigaos10
MY two cents
Theres some good info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.....ft_Windows
Poor quality article to be honest and frank. Sorry.
“Interesting Fact: one of the things Vista is criticized most for is system requirements.”
And I never knew Windows 98 recommend was so high either
“16 MB of RAM 924MB recommended)”
I’m sorry this article didn’t appeal to you. Unfortunately what we write won’t always appeal to everybody. Judging by the stats of this particular article, a good chunk of people did find it interesting. Every now and then we like to take a look back at just how far we’ve come with technology, and that’s what this article demonstrates.
You’re right, thanks for pointing out the error.
Ahh.. no Vista bashing here. I’ll be the first to defend Vista with certain things, it’s a great operating system in my opinion (of course it has a few flaws too).
I am with Stationstops.com. Windows xp was not the first OS based on the NT kernel. Although to me it looks like forgot many versions.. 3.11 which was a network enabled version of 3.1, 3.51 which took quite a bit of the os/2 code and started the basis for later what would be Windows NT 4.0 . I suspect you just meant to list the OS’s that were consumer friendly. If not, then you missed a few..
I’ve used all of those since 95.
Vista’s requirements aren’t those steep.
I’m sorry, I meant that it was the first consumer oriented version of Windows to be built on the Windows NT kernel.
“You worried me when I read the title of this article that it was going to turn in to another one of these Vista-bashing articles that are all over the internet recently. Vista’s minimum requirements are pretty much the same as OS X 10.5 but no-one moans about that.”
Unlike Vista, OSX actually works.
My guess, anonymous, is that you’re saying that based upon what other people have said and you haven’t tried Vista for yourself. Try it, and you’ll see it does in fact work.
Vista works fine for me, but this is a NEW machine. I think it is one of those (like XP SP2) that is best done on a clean install, not upgrade.
That’s normally what I recommend to people if they want Vista. To me it is a little pointless to try and upgrade an older machine to the operating system, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to take Vista off of a new machine I bought.