Windows

Five Windows products are of primary interest to enterprise customers:

• Windows—the Windows client OS for devices with an AMD or Intel x86 or x64 processor
• Windows RT—the Windows client OS for devices with an ARM-based processor
• Windows Phone—the Windows client OS for smartphones
• Windows Server—the Windows server OS for servers with AMD or Intel x64 processors
• Internet Explorer (IE)—the Internet browser.

Customers need to track the status of Windows software and related Windows-based devices in order to plan for the deployment and maintenance of desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and servers as well as the deployment of other server products, such as SQL Server and Exchange Server or the Office desktop suite, which all have dependencies on specific versions of Windows.

The latest releases of the Windows OSs, Windows 8.1 Update, Windows RT 8.1 Update, and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update, continue the trend of a more frequent release cadence (releases every 6 to 18 months). In contrast, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 arrived three years after the previous Windows versions. A faster release pace with fewer features in each release could help Microsoft address issues more rapidly in its OSs, refine the OSs based on customer feedback, and compete better with alternatives in the market. It will also allow Microsoft to incorporate changes driven by the Azure and Office 365 hosted services into Windows Server and vice versa.