[Microsoft] '''[http://http://windows.microsoft.com%|%Microsoft Windows]''',
also known simply as  [Windows], is a proprietary operating system.



** See Also **

   [dde]:   

   [COM]:   the '''C'''omponent '''O'''bject '''M'''odel

   [embedded]:    

   [TWAPI]:   provides direct high-level access to Win32 [API]'s

   [Task Dialog]:   

   [exe]:   

   [resolver]:   

   [storage]:   

   [tkvideo]:   

   [How to compile Tcl and related C extensions on Windows]:   

   [Services under Microsoft Windows NT]:   



** Description **

Windows has evolved over the years, and its feature set has changed
dramatically.  This Wiki has a fair amount of information on the subject of
[Microsoft Windows and Tcl] and [Microsoft Windows and Tk].

[RS]:  Interfacing to [Windows/CE], recently renamed [PocketPC], is something
of a special case - but great fun!



** Versions **

Major versions of Windows include:

   [Windows 95]:   

   [Windows 98]:   

   [Windows Vista]:   

   [Windows Aero]:   

   [Windows Mobile 2003]:   

   [Windows CE]/[Windows/CE]:   

   Windows ME:   

   Windows NT:   

   Windows 2000:   

   Windows 2003:   

   Windows 7:   

   Windows 8:   



** Security Issues **

Windows has the vulnerability profile typical of many closed-source
applications, although it has improved in recent years.



** Other Windows API Implementations **

Microsoft is no longer the only provider of the platforms implementing the
Windows API: just by far the most dominant. There's also [Wine] (providing
support for Windows apps on platforms like [Linux], [FreeBSD] and [BeOS]) and
[ReactOS] (providing an alternative Windows compatible operating system).

[peterc] 2008-06-13: [getWindowsAPIVendor] is a small but handy proc for
detecting which win32 code base your app is really running on: [Wine],
[ReactOS] or Microsoft Windows. This can be used for tuning your app or
informing the user of support/non-support.



** Windows Programs **

  [Microsoft Access%|%Access]:   a [relational database] system

  [Excel]:   a spreadsheet program

  [PowerPoint]:   a [presentation program]



** Tcl/Tk Programs **

Various Tcl/Tk programs provide Windows-specific functionality

   [Windows Inspection Tool Set]:   a [GUI] program that provides various views of Windows components

   [Word reaper]:   to extract the plain text from a word document via [DDE].



** UNC name from Drive Letter **

[RS] 2005-09-21: 

This windows-specific procedure parses the output of ''net use'' and returns
the remote name as a forward-slashed UNC path, or `{}` if something went wrong:

======
proc net_use drive {
  if ![catch {exec net use $drive} res] {
     foreach line [split $res \n] {
        if {[set pos [string first \\ $line]]>0} {
            return [file norm [string range $line $pos end]]
        }
     }
  }
}
======

======none
% net_use h:
//kstbf05/SuchRich$
======



** Windows and Unix **


   [cygwin]:   

   [http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/%|%unxutils]:   outdated






** What's Wrong with Windows  **

   heavy processes:   On other operating systems, creating new processes is inexpensive, but on windows there's so much overhead to process creation that it's avoided, and threads are used instead, even where shared`
!!!!!!

!!!!!!
teletype text
!!!!!!

!!!!!!
` process space is undesirable. 




<<categories>> Category Operating System | Category Windows