Notices by Windows On Windows (windowsonwindows@mas.to)

Windows 2000 (1999) updated the default Windows Classic theme: the original grey colour changed to beige, title bars became a lighter shade of blue & the font Tahoma replaced MS Sans Serif. This is how the default Classic theme would remain until its removal in Windows 8 (2012).

Support for Windows XP (2001) ended 10 years ago, on 8th April 2014. 🪦Appreciating its continued significance, Microsoft released several critical updates for the OS after this date, in 2014, 2017 & 2019. This made XP the first unsupported Windows version to receive updates. 🤯

In April 2008, Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for Windows XP (2001) - around 18 months after the release of Windows Vista (2006). With security & performance improvements - in addition to new features - many users opted to stick with XP with SP3, instead of upgrading to Vista.

Windows Classic refers to the Windows UI theme that debuted in Windows 95 (1995). It was the default Windows theme until Windows XP (2001), where it was replaced as the default look & feel by the new Luna visual style. Classic was removed as a theme option in Windows 8 (2012). 👨🏻🎨

Windows 95 (1995) introduced a Welcome window that launched automatically on boot up. Found at C:\Windows\welcome.exe, it provided tips, as well as links to a tour, online registration, info on new features & other Microsoft products. It was later ported to Windows NT 4 (1996).

Windows 95 (1995) introduced a brand new Windows user interface, centred around the new Start menu & Taskbar. For users who preferred the older Program Manager UI seen in Windows 3 (1990) & Windows 3.1 (1992), an option was included during 95’s setup to switch back to it. 👍

On New Year’s Eve 1999, PC users anticipated the Millennium Bug: an issue where some OSes couldn’t recognise dates after 31/12/99, causing app/system malfunctions. Microsoft’s latest version of Windows, Windows 98 SE, was deemed “millennium compliant” & suffered no major issues.

System Restore, introduced in Windows ME (2000), is a recovery option that allows users to restore a Windows system to an earlier state. ⏳ Originally its own app, as of Windows Vista (2006), it was found in the System Properties applet. How many times has it saved your PC? 🧐

“Frutiger Aero” refers to the UI aesthetic used in the latter years of Windows XP (2001) & development of Vista (2006). Characterised by glossy textures & glass effects, Windows Media Player 10 (2004) & Windows XP Media Center Edition (2005)’s Royale visual style are examples. ✨

Windows NT 4, released on 24th August 1996, brought Windows 95’s (1995) new Start Menu & Taskbar UI to the Windows NT line. Its Start Menu has a unique feature: it shows program groups for all users (i.e. common program groups) & the current user separately in the Programs menu.

In 2004, the EU ruled Microsoft had broken European law by “abusing its monopoly to hurt competing video & audio apps”. They fined Microsoft €500m & required them to offer a Windows edition sans video & audio apps. The 1st such edition - Windows XP Edition N - released in 2005.

In 1998, Bill Gates said Windows 98 would be the last Windows version to depend on MS-DOS, with future releases based on Windows NT. When it was clear work on this would take longer than planned, Windows Millennium Edition (ME) - the true last DOS-dependent Windows - was born.

Windows XP Starter Edition (2004) is a lightweight version of Windows XP (2001) intended to be bundled with cheap, low-end PCs in developing countries. Differences from regular XP include a limit on the number of running apps (max 3) & use of Windows Classic as the default theme.

Running Windows XP’s (2001) Logon screensaver in the Home Premium edition of Windows Vista gives this curious result: the OS is referred to as “Windows XP Freestyle”. Freestyle was the codename for Windows XP Media Centre Edition (2002), which this seems to be a holdover from. 👀

Windows XP (2001) introduced a theming engine, allowing the use of visual styles. During development, Microsoft tested many visual styles, including Business (hidden in build 2223), Candy (found via the source code) & Watercolor (in various early builds), before finalising Luna.

On 15th February 1999, fans of Linux - & other non-Windows OSes - gathered at Microsoft HQ in Washington to demonstrate against the company’s monopoly in the OS market, seeking refunds for the Windows licenses they’d acquired with new PCs. It became known as Windows Refund Day. #DailyWindowsFact #Microsoft #Windows #WindowsRefundDay