Windows NT

Windows NT

Developer	Microsoft
Written in	C, Assembly language (core) C++ (user mode applications, kernel graphical subsystem) C# (user mode applications)[1]
Working state	Current
Source model	Closed-source Source-available (through Shared Source Initiative)
Initial release	July 27, 1993; 30 years ago (1993-07-27) (as Windows NT 3.1)
Latest release	23H2 (10.0.22631.3527) (April 23, 2024; 2 days ago (2024-04-23)[2]) [±]
Latest preview	Release Preview Channel 23H2 (10.0.22631.3527) (April 23, 2024; 2 days ago (2024-04-23)[3][4]) [±] Beta Channel 23H2 (10.0.22635.3500) (April 19, 2024; 6 days ago (2024-04-19)[5]) [±] Dev Channel 24H2 (10.0.26100.2) (April 17, 2024; 8 days ago (2024-04-17)[6]) [±] Canary Channel 10.0.26200.5001 (April 19, 2024; 6 days ago (2024-04-19)[7]) [±]
Update method	Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services
Platforms	IA-32, x86-64, ARM and ARM64 (and historically Intel i860, DEC Alpha, Itanium, MIPS, and PowerPC)
Kernel type	Hybrid [citation needed] (NT)
Influenced by	RSX-11, VAXELN, OpenVMS, MICA, Mach (kernel) MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows 3.1x (userland)
Default user interface	Graphical (Windows shell)
License	Depending on version, edition or customer choice: Trialware, commercial software, volume licensing, OEM-only, SaaS, S+S[a]
Official website	windows.com

Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which was released on July 27, 1993, and it lives on today since the latest version of Windows, 11, includes its technology.

The Windows NT name denotes major technology advancements that it introduced to the Windows product line including eliminating the 16-bit memory access limitations of earlier Windows releases. Each Windows release that includes its technology is considered to be based on, if not a revision of, Windows NT even though the Windows NT name has not been used since 1996.

Windows NT provides many features including:

• multiprocessing

• multi-user

• pure 32-bit memory access — earlier, consumer-oriented versions, Windows 3.1x and Windows 9x, were 16-bit/32-bit hybrids

• Multi-architecture support — initially instruction set architectures including IA-32, MIPS, and DEC Alpha; support for PowerPC, Itanium, x64, and ARM were added later and later still: x86 (including IA-32 and x64) and ARM

• Many system services including: Windows shell, Windows API, Native API, Active Directory, Group Policy, Hardware Abstraction Layer, NTFS, BitLocker, Windows Store, Windows Update, and Hyper-V

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