The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

[microchick]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

There was a time when Windows 98 didn't support and USB drive. You needed to install a driver for each USB drive. When XP found all the drivers automatically I was fascinated.

[gcms]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

windows 98 was the best windowswhen it was upgraded from windows 3.1 and its brigs revolution in the computer world when windos 98n was introduced that time the computer configuration was only 166 mhz processor and 64 mb ram and a very less space on hdd only to install win 98 and run few application when i remember now then i think win 98 was the best windows

[microchick]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

The next one was Millenium edition which was a disaster. Microsoft made some changes to Windows 98 to release a new version for the new millenium.There was not much difference between the two but funnily millenium edition didnt support any drivers from 98. People were struggling to get drivers for thier hardware and the started to downgrade to 98.

[pan1300]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

[QUOTE=microchick;251473]There was a time when Windows 98 didn't support and USB drive. You needed to install a driver for each USB drive. When XP found all the drivers automatically I was fascinated.[/QUOTE]

hi microchick

I totally agree with you on this - recently used my 'Win 95 machine' again trying to recover one of my stb's - problem exactly as you stated: think I tried about 7 different usb-sticks and got none working because unable to find any correct driver - in end I burned the soft on a cd - so, win 95 still working now and then, but pc much much slower in the old days ...

[microchick]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

The other job was when microsoft released Microsoft Office XP. People started to use it and when they tried to open the document using windows 98, it failed and they had to write the whole program again because Office XP was not not compatible with anything below XP. People couldn't use Office XP without XP. But now All the office softwares are compatible with XP, Vista and Windows 7.

[benchsirius]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

I have to say that I see 7 as the new XP , ie one which is likely to hang on for 10 years +.
Windows 8 will be ignored by anyone other than Vista users who will see it as a quick upgrade to 7. I think that there will soon be some good mods and system edits such as the black diamond ones.

[thecrazybandit]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

[QUOTE=microchick;251473]There was a time when Windows 98 didn't support and USB drive. You needed to install a driver for each USB drive. When XP found all the drivers automatically I was fascinated.[/QUOTE]

When i first had windows 98 the usb connection was disabled i found this out when i tried to connect a camera and nothing happened

[microchick]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

After enabling the USB from the bios setup, I m sure you needed to insert the camera driver's CD to install the drivers first. That was the time when CD's were really important and people used to store driver's CDs somewhere safe. Have a look in your garage, I bet every one will still have CDs for their old gadgets.
Beat me to it!

[gcms]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

driver cds was very important to reinstall the drivers for the hardwhere on windows 98 as well as on windows xp as xp was also ve no support deiver for some hardwear but windows 7 has totally solved the problem of the hardwear driver as well as the internet the fast one not the 56 kbs and windows 8 i ve heard that every hardwear will be didgitally signed otherwise it will not be installed

[microchick]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

XP was released with so many drivers built in that it didnt need any drivers cd. Remember it saterted to find new hardware automatically and install it. There was no need for sound and video drivers. The hardware developed before XP started to release new drivers compatible with XP. The upgradation from 98 to XP was slow and Microsoft didnt feel the need for releasing a new OS.

[mahrkpat]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

With XP you did get a lot of drivers when installing so for some no installing of drivers post installation but if you wanted to get the best performance from your system you needed download install hardware specific drivers.
The two main drivers that I always had to download were graphics and sound because they were always better than the generic supplied on XP.

[thecrazybandit]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

when ever you buy a new product it still comes with the driver CD eg printer, camera, phone so i always install the drivers from the manufacture cd that came with the product

[microchick]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

Everything is changing so quickly these days. I always try to install the drivers from the product's website. Because the product we buy in PC World(Currys) or any other store are at least a month or two (or Three) old. Since then the windows security would be updated and the product's manufacturers would have also made changes to their drivers and released updated drivers on their websites.

[mahrkpat]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

[QUOTE=thecrazybandit;251694]when ever you buy a new product it still comes with the driver CD eg printer, camera, phone so i always install the drivers from the manufacture cd that came with the product[/QUOTE]

As a starting point manufacture cd but always need to check manufacture's site for latest firmare for new features and performance enhancement.

[microchick]

Re: The evolution of Windows from its beginnings to date

With the right set of security apps and browsing practices, all three OS's are secure enough. Xp's main advantage is it needs far fewer resources Than either Vista or Windows 7. It boils down to user personal preference. i'm running XP on my one laptop and Windows 7 on another. Don't have any security issues with either OS.