There are many areas in the line of operating systems from Microsoft where the products' evolution can be evaluated. And there have been many evolving stages across a 21 years Windows history. One aspect that closely reflects the evolution of the Windows operating systems is the Boot screen.

Windows 1.01 was released in November 20, 1985. It was Microsoft's first product designed as an operating environment. No elements of design, except maybe the first "O" in Microsoft, just plain text. Windows 3.1 succeeded version 3.0 and was released in 1992. It features the Windows Logo and the "O" from Microsoft has returned to normal.

Windows 95 was made available on August 24, 1995. The internal codename of the operating system was Chicago and it combined MS-DOS and Windows. The Windows 95 Boot screen introduced the clouds image. Windows NT 4.0 RTMed on July 29, 1996 and was a 32-bit OS designed for workstations and servers.

Remember Memphis? It was the codename for Windows 98. The operating system was released on June 25, 1998, an update, Windows 98 Second Edition was launched on May 5, 1999.

With Windows 2000 (Win2K), Microsoft turned its face to the corporate environment. Windows 2000 hit the shelves on February 17, 2000. Windows Millennium Edition shipped just seven months after Windows 2000. It was the first time Microsoft had integrated Windows Media Player in its operating system.

On October 25, 2001, Microsoft introduced Windows XP, codenamed Whistler. On August 6, 2004 Microsoft released Windows XP SP2, codenamed Springboard. Windows Server 2003 followed in the line of Windows 2000 Server.

And last but not least: Windows Vista. With two separate Boot screens. One with a scrolling bar and the other with the Vista logo associated with the 4 second long start-up song.

Images courtesy of Long Zheng from IStartedSomething.