Microsoft Windows is a pc working system developed by Microsoft. It was first launched in 1985 as a graphical working system constructed on MS-DOS. The preliminary model was followed by several subsequent releases, and by the early nineteen nineties, the Home windows line had break up into two separate traces of releases: Windows 9x for shoppers and Home windows NT for businesses and enterprises. In the next years, several further variants of Home windows would be launched: Home windows CE in 1996 for embedded programs; Pocket Computer in 2000 (renamed to Home windows Cellular in 2003 and Windows Phone in 2010) for private digital assistants and, later, smartphones; Windows Holographic in 2016 for AR/VR headsets; and several other editions.

A "personal computer" model of Windows is considered to be a version that end-customers or OEMs can set up on private computers, together with desktop computers, laptops, and workstations. The primary 5 versions of Home windows-Windows 1.0, Home windows 2.0, Windows 2.1, Windows 3.0, and Windows 3.1-had been all based on MS-DOS, and were aimed at both shoppers and companies.

Nevertheless, Windows 3.1 had two separate successors, splitting the Windows line in two: the buyer-centered "Home windows 9x" line, consisting of Home windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me; and the professional Windows NT line, comprising Windows NT 3.1, Home windows NT 3.5, crypto-markets Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000.

These two traces had been reunited into a single line with the NT-based Windows XP; this Home windows launch succeeded both Windows Me and Home windows 2000 and had separate editions for client and professional use. Mobile variations confer with versions of Windows that can run on smartphones or private digital assistants. Windows MultiPoint Server was an operating system primarily based on Home windows Server. It was succeeded by the MultiPoint Providers role in Windows Server 2016 and Home windows Server model 1709.

It was now not being developed in Home windows Server version 1803 and later variations. In 2012 and 2013, Microsoft launched variations of Windows specially designed to run on ARM-based mostly tablets; these versions of Home windows have been based mostly on Home windows eight and Home windows 8.1, respectively, though the standard versions may run on x86-based mostly tablets with out modification.

Windows 10 Mobile primarily ended up solely running on smartphones until its discontinuation.

In 2017, the total version of Windows 10 gained the flexibility to run on ARM, which rendered a selected model of Windows for ARM-based tablets unnecessary. Microsoft originally announced the Floor Hub, an interactive whiteboard, in January 2015. The Floor Hub family of gadgets runs a customized variant of Windows 10 often called Home windows 10 Group.