On November 20, 1985, Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0, a then new operating system. Development took two years after the Windows announcement in 1983, leading skeptics to call it “vaporware.”See EDN‘s ...

In honor of Microsoft's 50th anniversary, we've ranked the best Windows consumer operating systems Microsoft has ever shipped, in order from worst to best.

Key features: OK, nothing is ever really dead, as the Start menu gets a second life with Windows 10. Microsoft also provided prime attention to Cortana, its own personal digital assistant.