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Microsoft released both a server and a desktop version of Windows NT. Technically the two versions were nearly identical, and their price points enabled organizations to standardize on a single OS from the desktop to the server. User-training requirements were reduced because of the similarity between the interfaces of NT and Windows 3.1.

Existing 16- and 32-bit Windows programs that didn't try to access hardware directly were compatible with the Intel version of the OS, so a huge base of pre-existing applications were available from day one. But Windows NT was born with a silver spoon in its mouth: Microsoft designed NT to run not just on Intel chips, but also on Alpha and MIPS processors. When version 3.51 shipped in 1995, Microsoft added the PowerPC chip to its stable of platforms. NT's portability plan hedged bets but never developed into a commercial success.

Until the release of NT, Microsoft's "strategy" for networking was an application called LAN Manager, which ran in character mode on top of IBM's OS/2. But this offering wasn't able to compete with Novell's juggernaut, NetWare, which was already running in real mode on Intel's 386 processor, and was dominating the file- and print-server space.

Microsoft and IBM were courting each other, and OS/2 was their love child--so LAN Manager made some sense at the time, even if the marketplace didn't get it. When the romance ended, Microsoft struck out on its own with NT.

Windows NT was an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to operating systems. Not only did Microsoft include file and print services--despite behind-the-scenes, unsuccessful negotiations between Novell's Ray Noorda and Bill Gates to leave these services out--but Microsoft also had a valid application-server strategy and a legion of eager third-party developers lining up to ensure success. (Rumor has it that during Noorda's failed negotiation attempts with Gates, he got angry and hung up on Gates, ending any hope Noorda had of retaining a nearly exclusive lock on file and print services.)

During the second half of the decade, Microsoft released only two updates to NT--versions 3.51 and 4.0, which shipped in May 1995 and July 1996, respectively. From July 1996 until February of this year, Microsoft was content to release service packs for NT 4.0 while working on its often-delayed Windows 2000. But NT continued to gain ground in the server and desktop market during this long hiatus. Some would argue that NT 3.51 was the best version of NT released during the decade. With NT 4.0, Microsoft moved the graphics subsystem, among other components, from Ring 3 to Ring 0 to speed execution. The trade-off for speed was unprotected access to kernel memory space--and thus greater potential for instability.

Thanks to NT, the technology world acquired the phrase "blue screen of death" (BSOD). The phrase, which became popular with Microsoft's detractors, referred to NT's annoying habit of performing a panic stop when least expected, with white type on a blue screen attempting to explain the cause of the sudden halt to all program execution. As a testament to NT pervasiveness, one imaginative developer has created a BSOD screensaver (www.sysinternals.com/bluescrn.htm). While we're sure Microsoft is not amused, we're equally certain the company can take solace in NT's market dominance during the past decade.