ASL STEM

Definition

Generic name for the various operating systems in the Microsoft Windows family, including Microsoft Windows CE, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (ME), Microsoft Windows 2000, and Microsoft Windows XP, which are designed to run on Intelpowered hardware.Introduced in 1985, Windows attracted little attention until the 1990 release of Windows 3.0, which was essentially an MS-DOS program that enabled the recently developed 32-bit protected mode of Intel microprocessors. Windows offered many of the graphical user interface (GUI) features that won acclaim for Apple’s Macintosh computers; at the same time, it could run on inexpensive Intel hardware. As a significant pool of 32-bit Windows applications developed, Windows emerged as the overwhelmingly dominant operating system for desktop systems worldwide; its market share exceeds 90 percent. Microsoft has been less successful in the server market, where its products face stiff competition from commercial UNIX operating systems, Linux, and FreeBSD.

Source: Pfaffenberger, Bryan. Webster's new world computer dicdtionary. London: Wiley, 2003. Print.