What is Windows Shell
The most visible and recognizable aspect of Microsoft Windows. The shell is the container inside of which the entire graphical user interface is presented, including the taskbar, the desktop, Windows Explorer, as well as many of the dialog boxes and interface controls. In Windows Vista, a new compositing glass-like user interface called Windows Aero has been shown., The Windows shell is the main graphical user interface in Microsoft Windows. The Windows shell includes well-known Windows components such as the Taskbar and the Start menu. The process that hosts the Windows shell is Explorer.exe. The Windows shell is not a “shell” in the usual sense of the term, and the word here is used more generally.
Windows 1.0 and 2.0: Early UI
Just after the IBM PC was marketed (August 1981), a project named “Interface Manager” started. It was renamed as “Windows” because the programmers often referred to zones called “windows” on the display screen. Rowland Hanson, the head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that the name Windows would be a more appealing name to consumers. The first Windows pre-version was presented in November 1983. It used Word for DOS-like menus at the bottom of the screen. The first released version, Windows 1.01, released in November 1985, used pull-down menus like the early Macintosh System 1.x (Microsoft licensed GUI elements from Apple). The shell was a file manager (not a program manager) called “MS-DOS Executive”. Applications could be launched from the MS-DOS Executive which minimized itself. The minimizing (called “iconing”) was done by transforming the window into an icon which was placed at the bottom of the screen, in a special minimized windows zone. The maximizing (called “zooming”) could extend the window over the minimized window zone. Windows could not be overlapped, but they were instead “tiled”. As a result, two windows could not be “zoomed” at the same time.
Windows 2.0 was an interface-based release. New window controls were introduced with this release, along with the “minimize” and “maximize” terminology. Windows could be overlapped and the minimized window icons could be moved freely on the desktop.
Windows 3.x GUI
Windows 3.x, NT 3.x: The first revolution
Windows 3.0, introduced in May 1990, inherited the OS/2 GUI. The new “Program Manager” was a simple “front end” where the “groups” and icons had no relation to the actual file system. A background could be put on the desktop, and the window controls were redesigned. The buttons were all 3D in appearance but the windows weren’t. The Windows 3.0 operating system was a success. Later versions of Windows 3.x introduced screensavers.
The new operating system from Microsoft, “Windows NT”, featured the same GUI in the first version (3.1), like Windows 3.1x, although the color scheme was inherited from Windows 3.1, not the 3.0 version. However, at least from Windows NT 3.51 and up featured an earlier version of GUI from Windows 95, and include OpenGL.
Windows 95
Windows 95 GUI
In Windows 95, the shell was redesigned. The taskbar was introduced, with an area consisting of buttons representing open windows, a digital clock, a “notifications area” for background processes and system notifications, and the Start button, which harbored the replacement for Program Manager, the Start menu. The desktop now linked to a folder, and also contained several system folders – My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and the Recycle Bin. The shell was now managed by Windows Explorer, which also served as the file browser, replacing File Manager.
Windows 95C, 98: “Nashville”
The growing popularity of the World Wide Web caused Microsoft to release its own browser, dubbed “Internet Explorer” which was based on technology licensed from Spyglass. In early 1996, Netscape announced that the next release of its browser, Netscape, would completely integrate with Windows and add a new shell, codenamed “Constellation”. Microsoft started working on a similar Internet Explorer release, codenamed “Nashville”. Internet Explorer 4.0 was redesigned and resulted in two products: the standalone IE4 and the Windows Desktop Update which replaced the Windows shell with a new “Active Desktop” shell. The Windows Desktop Update added rich shell functionality into earlier Windows 95 versions such as the Quick Launch bar on the taskbar, ability to minimize windows by clicking their button on the taskbar, Back and Forward navigation buttons and an address bar in Windows Explorer and HTML-based folder customization. Future Windows releases, like Windows 95C (OSR 2.5) and Windows 98 integrated Internet Explorer 4 and Active Desktop in the shell. Read More – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Shell
