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Windows XP debuted 25 years ago today — Microsoft's biggest launch since 95 was its first consumer OS to remove the DOS underpinnings Hugely popular OS would enjoy nearly 13 years of support. Windows XP became available at retailers for the first time on this day back in 2001. It was ushered in with Microsoft's largest and glitziest launch event since Windows 95, but the bigger news was its delivery of an OS with modern underpinnings and features. Thankfully, it lived up to the hype and would ensure nearly 13 years of favor among enthusiasts, but that might be partly due to the failure of the unloved Vista. The NYC launch event for Windows XP in 2001 was the centerpiece of a lavish $500 million campaign Microsoft had planned for the new OS. However, celebrations were somewhat muted due to the aftermath of 9/11. Microsoft actually dumped its intended ‘Prepare to Fly’ launch slogan for ‘Yes You Can’ for this obvious reason. Nevertheless, the launch was still a significant event and featured NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani joining Bill Gates on stage. Gates framed the big launch as evidence that “New York is back and open for business.” There was also a free lunchtime concert in Bryant Park featuring Sting, followed by a Times Square NYC takeover. Meanwhile, retail stores like CompUSA, Circuit City, and Best Buy opened at midnight for eager tech beavers to grab a copy of Windows XP at its freshest. At the launch presentation, Gates said that the debut of Windows XP represented the end of the era of MS-DOS, which had underpinned a UI or shell known as Windows for many years. For consumers, that stretched all the way up to the much maligned Windows Me. As we mentioned in our 40-year retrospective of Windows last year, Windows XP was the real ‘Start Me Up’ moment. That’s because it brought the Windows NT core to consumer PCs – replacing the archaic DOS and its restrictions and drivers. Thus, Windows XP would become well regarded for reliability, performance, and security (after a few teething troubles), and its new UI was claimed to make tasks 25% easier to complete, too. Some of the technical features that would be widely welcomed in XP included USB plug-and-play support that worked, built-in CD burning software, and ClearType support as new LCDs started to usurp bulky CRTs on desks. During Windows XP’s supported life (October 2001 to April 2014), there would be three major Service Pack (SP) releases. It also saw DirectX 8.1 to 9.0c arrive for gamers. In the meantime, Windows Vista made something of an unwanted splash, launched to consumers in January 2007. Windows XP’s lengthy extended support meant that folks could skip Vista entirely and move straight to Windows 7 when it hit retail and new-build systems in October 2009. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Overall, it is interesting to observe that Windows XP’s lifespan was actually over two years longer than Windows 10, which was (in)famously launched as “the last version of Windows.” Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. - rooted I had a MSDN subscription back then, it was awesome getting Windows Whistler disks for testing. Computing was so much more interesting from the 70's to the early 2000's. Reply - tommyhardware rooted said:I had a MSDN subscription back then, it was awesome getting Windows Whistler disks for testing. Computing was so much more interesting from the 70's to the early 2000's.It's still pretty interesting Reply - Bullwinkle J Moose I still use XP -SP2 Online, in a Full Admin Account, with ZERO MS Security Updates It has remained Problem Free and Malware Free for more than 12 years straight (since May 24th 2014) It has never had a single Bluescreen of Death since 2007 I have challenged all hackers from all Countries to wreck my XP Installation All have failed for more than 12 years straight If A.I. can wreck my box and force me to re-install or restore a clean Backup, I'd like to see it! Still running XP-SP2 Online with no security updates in a FULL ADMIN Account with ZERO Problems! Beat THAT Spyware Platform 11 Bullwinkle J Moose Reply - USAFRet Bullwinkle J Moose said:I still use XP -SP2 Online, in a Full Admin Account, with ZERO MS Security UpdatesWhat do you use it for? Reply - ravewulf but that might be partly due to the failure of the unloved Vista I know Vista wasn't popular with the mainstream, but I loved it Reply - Devoteicon I love those old launch slides. No mention of AI. What a great time it was back then...Reply - atomicWAR Another artical to politely remind me I am old, awesome! No really I had a love hate relationship with XP. My backed up PC games no longer worked so I spent days or weeks finding a fix. I learned to trick my XP into thinking my burned discs were originals before going full iso and cracking those issues. But drivers were easier, installs more stable, lasted longer before bugging out needing a reinstall, etc etc. XP was MS's peak OS if you ask me. Everything since has been chasing its coat tails even if they are more advanced... Reply - teknixstuff Thanks to the community, XP need not be dead, even today. Here it is with all updates up to 2019-08, NVMe drivers, UEFI support, GPT disks, and Chromium 153! https://files.catbox.moe/585le0.png Reply
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