Windows · Reference
Microsoft Windows 1985 ඉඳලා තියෙනවා — Windows 1.01 මුලින්ම public එකට ආපු කාලේ ඉඳලා. දශක හතරකට පස්සේ ඒක current release එක වන Windows 11 දක්වා evolve වෙලා. මේ ගමනේදී, එක එක major version එකකුත් feature updates හරහා දෙන sub-versions හැදුවා — මුලින් අවුරුද්දකට දෙපාරක්, දැන් අවුරුද්දකට වරක්.
අවුරුදු ගානක් තුළ releases එච්චර ගොඩක් නිසා, මොකද කවදද ආවේ කියලා track කරගන්න එක ලේසි නෑ. මේ SoftwareKey.lk reference එකෙන් full Windows timeline එක දාලා, එක එක version එකේ headline change එක summarize කරලා, releases ඒවායේ ප්රධාන technical families තුනට group කරලා lineage එක follow කරන්න ලේසි කරනවා.
Windows Version History
පහත table එකේ හැම major Windows release එකක්ම, ඒකේ codename, year, current support status, සහ ඒක introduce කරපු වඩාත්ම significant change එක list කරලා. ("Currently Supported" එකෙන් 2026 ජූනි වන විට status එක පෙන්නනවා.)
| Name | Codename | Year | Supported | Key highlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 1.01 | Interface Manager | 1985 | No | First consumer Windows; introduced the MS-DOS Executive |
| Windows 1.0x | — | 1986–87 | No | Minor updates; added IBM driver support |
| Windows 2.0x | — | 1987 | No | Overlapping, resizable windows; ran multiple DOS apps; 386 enhanced mode |
| Windows 2.1x | — | 1988–89 | No | Better processor support, AppleTalk, faster printing |
| Windows 3.0 | — | 1990 | No | New colorful graphical user interface |
| Windows 3.1 | — | 1992 | No | More stable and faster; Workgroups added native networking |
| Windows NT 3.1 | Razzle | 1993 | No | First Windows with a 32-bit architecture |
| Windows 3.11 / 3.2 | Snowball | 1993 | No | 32-bit networking and file access; Simplified Chinese edition |
| Windows NT 3.5 / 3.51 | Daytona | 1994–95 | No | Winsock and TCP/IP; interoperability with Windows 95 |
| Windows 95 | Chicago | 1995 | No | Overhauled GUI and plug-and-play support |
| Windows NT 4.0 | Shell Update Release | 1996 | No | Introduced system policies |
| Windows 98 / 98 SE | Memphis | 1998–99 | No | Cosmetic UI refresh, deep web integration; SE shipped IE 5.0 |
| Windows 2000 | NT 5.0 | 2000 | No | NTFS 3.0, Encrypting File System, dynamic disks |
| Windows ME | Millennium | 2000 | No | Home-focused; IE 5.5 and Windows Movie Maker |
| Windows XP | Whistler | 2001 | No | Faster, more stable, intuitive UI, better hardware support |
| Windows XP Media Center / x64 | Freestyle / Anvil | 2002–05 | No | Media Center editions; Professional x64 edition |
| Windows Vista | Longhorn | 2007 | No | Reworked GUI, Windows Search, new networking/audio/display stacks |
| Windows 7 | — | 2009 | No | Touch & handwriting, virtual hard disks, faster boot, DirectAccess |
| Windows 8 | — | 2012 | No | Major touch-first UI redesign optimized for tablets |
| Windows 8.1 | Blue | 2013–14 | Yes (legacy) | Start button restored, four-app snap, boot to desktop; Bing search |
| Windows 10 (1507–21H1) | Threshold–Vibranium | 2015–21 | No | Unified UI, Edge, Sandbox, WSL, Chromium Edge over many updates |
| Windows 10 21H2 | — | 2021 | No | Wi-Fi 6E support, passwordless Windows Hello for Business |
| Windows 10 22H2 | — | 2022 | No (EOL Oct 2025) | Final Windows 10 feature update; minor UI and servicing changes |
| Windows 11 21H2 | Sun Valley | 2021 | No | Redesigned UI, widgets, Teams integration, centered taskbar |
| Windows 11 22H2 | Sun Valley 2 | 2022 | No | Spotlight desktop, new Media Player, live captions, Android subsystem |
| Windows 11 23H2 | Sun Valley 3 | 2023 | Yes | Copilot AI, dynamic lighting, native 7-zip/RAR, taskbar improvements |
| Windows 11 24H2 | — | 2024 | Yes | New platform base; Copilot+ PC features, Wi-Fi 7, LTSC/IoT releases |
| Windows 11 25H2 | — | 2025 | Yes | Latest annual update; lightweight enablement package over 24H2 |
මුල් rows සමහරක් සමීප minor releases කිහිපයක් කෙටිකමට group කරලා. නිශ්චිත support dates වලට, SoftwareKey.lk's Windows lifecycle guides බලන්න.
Windows Families තුන
හැම Windows release එකක්ම technical lineages තුනෙන් එකකට අයිතියි. මේ විදිහට group කරන එකෙන් සම්පූර්ණ hierarchy එක ගොඩක් පැහැදිලි වෙනවා.
| DOS-based | Windows 9x | Windows NT |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 1.0x | Windows 95 | NT 3.1 |
| Windows 2.0x | Windows 98 | NT 3.5 / 3.51 |
| Windows 3.0 | Windows ME | NT 4.0 |
| Windows 3.1x | Windows 2000 | |
| Windows XP / Vista | ||
| Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 | ||
| Windows 10 / 11 |
Modern Windows NT line එක Windows 2000 එකේ ඉඳලා හැම release එකකම — අද Windows 11 ඇතුළුව — foundation එක.
In Summary
1985 සරල DOS shell එකේ ඉඳලා අද AI-assisted Windows 11 දක්වා, Microsoft හැම step එකේදීම functional, cosmetic, සහ architectural change හරහා Windows reshape කරලා — ඒකෙන් ගොඩක් Windows Insider Program එකේ public testing හරහා refine වුණා. උඩ tables වලින් දිග, සමහරවිට confusing Windows family tree එක එක බැල්මකින් navigate කරන්න ලේසි වෙයි.
ඔබේ device එක run කරන්නේ කොයි Windows version එකද, ඒක තවම supported ද කියලා දැනගන්න ඕනද? SoftwareKey.lk support team එක්ක කතා කරන්න, නැත්නම් තව guides වලට softwarekey.lk එකට යන්න.
