Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
1996, August 24
Windows NT 4.0 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, targeting the data server and personal workstation markets. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 3.51, and was released to manufacturing on July 31, 1996, and then to retail in August 24, 1996, with the Server versions released to retail in early September 1996.
Its most prominent user-facing change was the adoption of Windows 95's user interface, introducing features such as the Start menu and taskbar to the Windows NT product line. It also includes various performance and stability improvements to system-level components, as well as new components such as a cryptography API, DCOM, TAPI 2.0, and the Task Manager, and limited support for DirectX. Over its support lifecycle, NT 4.0 received various updates and service packs offering patches, enhancements to its hardware support, and other new components. Two new editions of NT 4.0 were released post-launch, including a modular variant for embedded systems, and the Terminal Server edition. NT 4.0 was the last version of Windows NT to support RISC processors until the addition of ARM support in Windows RT which is based on Windows 8.
Most editions of NT 4.0 were succeeded by Windows 2000 on December 15, 1999. Mainstream support for Windows NT 4.0 Workstation ended on June 30, 2002, following by extended support ending on June 30, 2004. Windows NT 4.0 Server mainstream support ended on December 31, 2002, with extended support ending on December 31, 2004. Windows NT 4.0 Embedded would be succeeded by Windows XP Embedded; mainstream support ended on June 30, 2003, followed by extended support on July 11, 2006.
