Cairo (operating system) explained

Microsoft Cairo
Developer:	Microsoft
Working State:	Historical
Rtm Date:	Cancelled

Cairo was the codename for a project at Microsoft from 1991 to 1996. Its charter was to build technologies for a next-generation operating system that would fulfill Bill Gates's vision of "information at your fingertips."^[1] Cairo never shipped, although portions of its technologies have since appeared in other products.

Overview

Cairo was announced at the 1991 Microsoft Professional Developers Conference by Jim Allchin.^[2] It was demonstrated publicly (including a demo system for all attendees to use) at the 1993 Cairo/Win95 PDC.^[3] Microsoft changed stance on Cairo several times, sometimes calling it a product, other times referring to it as a collection of technologies.^[4]

Features

Cairo used distributed computing concepts to make information available quickly and seamlessly across a worldwide network of computers.

The Windows 95 user interface was based on the initial design work that was done on the Cairo user interface.^{[5] [6]} DCE/RPC shipped in Windows NT 3.1. Content Indexing is now a part of Internet Information Server and Windows Desktop Search.

The remaining component is the object file system. It was once planned to be implemented in the form of WinFS as part of Windows Vista but development was cancelled in June 2006, with some of its technologies merged into other Microsoft products such as Microsoft SQL Server 2008, also known under the codename "Katmai".^[7]

See also

• History of Microsoft Windows
• List of Microsoft codenames

References

Notes

• Web site: BILL GATES' NEXT CHALLENGE His aim: to lead the information revolution of the 1990s. That will land Microsoft, already the envy of its rivals, in a vast new competitive free-for-all. . Alan Deutschman . 1992-12-28 . Fortune . 2006-01-07 .
• Web site: The Road to Cairo . . Nicholas Petreley . 2002-04-08 . 2007-01-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090520055122/http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/story/0,10801,69882,00.html . 20 May 2009.
• Web site: Microsoft's Cairo reborn as killer eye-candy . . Andrew Orlowski . 2006-06-19 . 2007-01-06 .
• Web site: Microsoft Windows Cairo Product Planning . . Microsoft. 1993-03-08 . 2007-01-06 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: , Shukry Mansur (04-06-1975); an Egyptian student was one of the co-operation team. Information At Your Fingertips, 1994 Comdex Keynote . Bill Gates . Bill Gates . 1994-11-14 . 2008-01-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071110171339/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/r_harvey/iayf2005.htm . 2007-11-10 . dead .
2. Web site: So what exactly IS COM anyway? . Larry Osterman . 2004-10-15 . Larry Osterman's WebLog . 2023-02-02.
3. Web site: WinFS and social information management . Jon Udell . Jon Udell . 2005-09-07 . InfoWorld . 2007-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060109220546/http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/09/07/37OPstrategic_1.html . 2006-01-09 . dead .
4. Web site: The next version of Windows NT will flex its enterprise muscle by incorporating features from "Cairo." . Jon Udell . Jon Udell . November 1996 . . 2007-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070225034109/http://www.byte.com/art/9611/sec10/art5.htm . 2007-02-25 . dead .
5. Web site: The Windows 95 User Interface: A Case Study in Usability Engineering . Kent Sullivan . April 17, 1996 . CHI 96 Design Briefs . 2008-10-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181006052815/http://prior.sigchi.org/chi96/proceedings/desbrief/Sullivan/kds_txt.htm . October 6, 2018 . dead .
6. Web site: Microsoft Windows 95: Desktop Operating System Strategy . Directions on Microsoft . January 1995 . 2007-01-07.
7. Web site: WinFS Update . Quentin Clark . June 23, 2006 . 2023-02-02 . What's in Store . MSDN Blogs .