First of all, Windows is a graphical operating system which is based on a windows interface. Each running program has a window which can occupy all or part of the screen.
Unlike the old operating system MS DOS, where you had to use the keyboard to control the computer, Windows mostly uses the mouse to perform operations on objects. Despite the convenience of managing PC resources with a mouse, the main mandatory device for entering information into the computer is still the keyboard.
When Windows was created, the original intention was to divide the operating system into two parts: a core and an additional one. At the same time, the Windows kernel itself consists of three modules:
Kernel – the low-level part that controls processes, memory allocation, file I/O, etc.;
User – the user part, which controls the keyboard, mouse, timer and ports;
GDI (Graphic Devices Interface) – the graphical device interface that controls the work with the display and printer.
The remaining components (optional) are loaded as required from a special dynamically loadable library (Dynamic Link Library – DLL).
In the Windows operating system the principle of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get – what you see is what you get) was used for the first time, which allowed to establish full compliance of the image on the screen to the subsequent image on the paper.
Since the first releases of Windows operating systems, their interface has been standardized. This made it possible to create new software later with the same menus and toolbars.
The Windows operating system allows several programs to work together in the preparation of a single document and allows you to create complex documents containing different types of data by transferring and copying objects between applications. The system has special integration tools for this purpose.
The most commonly used clipboard is a special area of memory, which is necessary for transferring data between applications and documents. It is possible to select some object, put it to the clipboard and then paste it into another place of the same document or into another document of the same or quite different application.
OLE technology allows you to combine in one document objects of completely different origin, such as text, photos and music. Such objects can be inserted via the clipboard or with the menu command Insert ? Object.
The capability of the operating system to carry out a dynamic data exchange (Dynamic Data Exchange – DDE), which allows for a quick exchange of information between different programs that operate in Windows according to a developed set of special agreements (protocols), is of no small importance in the work.
The operating system also allows you to convert files, i.e. change the format of documents. For this purpose, many applications contain special import (export) filters that transfer data from one document to another according to specific conventions. For instance, a text file can be converted into a Word document and vice versa.
Unlike the obsolete operating system MS DOS, in which the full file name did not exceed 11 characters (8 + 3), in Windows you can use long file names and directories (up to 256 characters).
All Windows family operating systems are multithreaded with preemptive multitasking. And network operating systems are, of course, multi-user. Although recent developments of conventional systems (Windows ME, XP and later) are also multi-user.