Windows XP ran on more computers for longer than almost any software in history. Released in 2001, it was still running on 10% of the world's PCs in 2017 — long after Microsoft stopped supporting it.
The Story
Windows XP launched on October 25, 2001 — just six weeks after 9/11 — to little fanfare. Microsoft had been working on it for years, and it represented the merging of two previously separate Windows lines: the consumer-friendly Windows 9x line and the enterprise-grade Windows NT line.
The result was something remarkable: an operating system that was stable, relatively secure (for its time), and actually pleasant to look at. The Luna interface — with its green Start button, blue taskbar, and colorful icons — felt fresh after the flat gray of Windows 2000.
Then there was Bliss: the default wallpaper. A photograph of a green hill in Sonoma County, California, under a vivid blue sky. Taken by photographer Charles O'Rear on Kodachrome film in 1996, it became the most viewed photograph in human history. Billions of people have stared at it while their computer booted up.
XP introduced fast user switching, the Luna visual style, ClearType font rendering, and the Windows Firewall. It was the first Windows to make wireless networking genuinely easy. For millions of people, it was the OS that taught them what computers could do.
Microsoft tried to kill it multiple times. They launched Vista in 2007 — widely considered a disaster. Users revolted and stayed on XP. They released Windows 7 in 2009 — XP users finally, grudgingly, moved on. Some never did. Banks, hospitals, and ATMs were still running XP well into the 2020s.
"I have to confess: I've never actually used a PC."— Brian Eno, composer of the Windows XP startup sound
Key Specs
Fun Facts
"Bliss", the default wallpaper, is an unedited photograph taken in Sonoma County, California in 1996.
Microsoft extended XP's support deadline multiple times due to massive user resistance to upgrading.
The XP startup sound was composed by Brian Eno, who has never owned a Windows PC.
Some hospitals and ATM networks were still running Windows XP in 2023, nearly 22 years after launch.
Legacy
Windows XP was so good that it became a problem — no one wanted to leave. It defined a generation's relationship with computing and remains, for many, the platonic ideal of a Windows operating system.