Editing Microsoft Windows (section)

===== Early versions (Windows NT 3.1/3.5/3.51/4.0/2000) =====
{{Main|Windows NT 3.1|Windows NT 3.5|Windows NT 3.51 |Windows NT 4.0|Windows 2000}}
[[File:Windows Logo (1992-2001).svg|thumb|Windows logo (1995–2001)]]
In November 1988, a new development team within Microsoft (which included former [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] developers [[Dave Cutler]] and [[Mark Lucovsky]]) began work on a revamped version of [[IBM]] and Microsoft's [[OS/2]] operating system known as "NT OS/2". NT OS/2 was intended to be a secure, [[multi-user]] operating system with [[POSIX]] compatibility and a modular, [[Software portability|portable]] kernel with [[preemptive multitasking]] and support for multiple processor architectures. However, following the successful release of [[Windows 3.0]], the NT development team decided to rework the project to use an extended [[32-bit computing|32-bit]] port of the [[Windows API]] known as Win32 instead of those of OS/2. Win32 maintained a similar structure to the Windows [[API]]s (allowing existing Windows applications to easily be [[Porting|ported]] to the platform), but also supported the capabilities of the existing NT [[Kernel (operating system)|kernel]]. Following its approval by Microsoft's staff, development continued on what was now Windows NT, the first 32-bit version of Windows. However, IBM objected to the changes, and ultimately continued OS/2 development on its own.<ref name="insident">{{Cite book |last=Custer |first=Helen |url=https://archive.org/details/insidewindowsnt00cust |title=Inside Windows NT |publisher=Microsoft Press |year=1993 |isbn=1-55615-481-X |location=Redmond |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="thurrott-nt" />

Windows NT was the first Windows operating system based on a [[hybrid kernel]]. The hybrid kernel was designed as a modified [[microkernel]], influenced by the [[Mach (kernel)|Mach microkernel]] developed by [[Richard Rashid]] at Carnegie Mellon University, but without meeting all of the criteria of a pure microkernel.

The first release of the resulting operating system, [[Windows NT 3.1]] (named to associate it with [[Windows 3.1]]) was released in July 1993, with versions for desktop [[workstation]]s and [[server (computing)|servers]]. [[Windows NT 3.5]] was released in September 1994, focusing on performance improvements and support for [[Novell]]'s [[NetWare]], and was followed up by [[Windows NT 3.51]] in May 1995, which included additional improvements and support for the [[PowerPC]] architecture. [[Windows NT 4.0]] was released in June 1996, introducing the redesigned interface of [[Windows 95]] to the NT series. On February 17, 2000, Microsoft released [[Windows 2000]], a successor to NT 4.0. The Windows NT name was dropped at this point in order to put a greater focus on the Windows brand.<ref name="thurrott-nt">{{Cite web |last=Thurrott |first=Paul |date=January 24, 2003 |title=Windows Server 2003: The Road To Gold – Part One: The Early Years |url=http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winserver2k3_gold1.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050101005634/http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winserver2k3_gold1.asp |archive-date=January 1, 2005 |access-date=May 28, 2012}}</ref>