Windows Family vs Windows Server Family

We've been using Microsoft Windows since our childhood and we know there are several kinds of editions and versions in the Windows family.

The operating systems of Windows family are classified into two types,

• Client Operating Systems.
• Network Operating Systems.

Client Operating Systems

The following operating systems come under Client Operating Systems,

• Disk Operating System (DOS)
• Windows 95
• Windows 98
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP (includes XP1, XP2, XP3)
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7 (includes Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate etc.)
• Windows 8 (includes Windows 8.1)

These are designed for delivering standard consumer experience. They can be installed on a standalone computer as well as in a network infrastructure. They can work only as clients and cannot offer any services to other clients if they are installed in a network infrastructure. They are referred as lightweight operating systems and can run even with a minimal hardware configuration. Their license costs are less when compared to that of Network Operating Systems. They are designed with more graphics for the end users.

Network Operating Systems

The following Windows operating systems come under Network Operating Systems,

• Windows Server 2000
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Server 2003 R2
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2012 R2

These are designed only to be installed in a network infrastructure. Once installed in a network they can run and provide services to the clients. The difference between Network and Client operating systems are, Active Directory Services can be installed on network operating systems. The Active Directory Services authenticate all the clients in a Windows Domain Network and provide services to them. Through Active Directory, they define security policies and other authorities to all the clients present in that domain. These operating systems need high end hardware configuration like more number of processors, high amount of physical memory. Unlike Client Operating Systems they have minimal graphics in their user interface. These operating systems concentrate on background process mostly to ensure better services to the clients. Their license costs are more than that of client operating systems. These are used in professional production environments.