A quick look at Windows NT

A quick look at Windows NT

I'm assuming that when the blueprint mentions Windows NT it means Windows NT Workstation. At their cores, both Windows NT Server and Windows NT Workstation have the same functionality, so there isn't too much risk in my assumption.

Windows NT is a multithreaded, multitasking operating system that runs its applications in protected mode memory space. This means that an unruly application cannot crash the entire system and a problem with one application can't cause problems in other applications.

Windows NT requires a logon, which then assigns security and control permissions through the user's profile. Windows NT is designed for use in a networked environment and includes support for Internet protocols such as TCP/IP, IPX, and dialup networking. It also works very well in a standalone mode.

Windows NT can run on a wide variety of hardware, because it isolates any unique programming needed to support a specific piece of hardware in what is called the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL).

Windows NT has releases compatible with the Intel x86Architecture, the MIPS RISC architecture, Digital Alpha, and Motorola PowerPC RISC. In comparison, Windows 2000 only runs on the x86 and Digital Alpha platforms, so far.

One area where Windows NT (and Windows 2000) does outperform Windows 9 x is security. The logon sequence begins with the Ctrl+Alt+Del keys, which as you know are typically used to warm start the PC. This prevents a program from spoofing the logon to steal your account name and password. By the way, after you've logged in, the Ctrl+Alt+Del keys display the Windows NT Security dialog box.

Windows NT supports RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) on SCSI drives. RAID is a high availability, high-reliability, and data redundancy feature usually reserved for servers.