Two Decades

Has it really been that long since Microsoft unveiled Windows? Yes, and there's a good chance I could have cared less about that at the time, toiling away as a rookie reporter in Concord, Massachusetts, on a TRS-80 from that grand old computer maker Tandy that I thought was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Try finding one of those today. But Windows? That's everywhere, including a place that would have seemed ridiculously unlikely at the time -- the server rooms of thousands of enterprises across the world. Honestly, in a server world populated with big iron running proprietary systems, Microsoft was the last company anyone thought would create the dominant server platform of 2005. All of which shows that gazing into crystal balls can be a dangerous occupation.

So, I won't try that here. What we do know is that we'll have Windows Server 2003 R2 on our doorsteps imminently, and Windows Vista Server down the road a year or two. We'll tell you everyhting you need to know about those when it's time. Meanwhile, take an entertaining journey through the past and see just how we all got to today's Windows in the first place.