A graphical user interface developed by Microsoft, used as an operating system (or, in early versions of Windows, an interface between the user and DOS) on IBM-compatible computers. Like the Macintosh operating system, Windows allows the user to interact with the computer via icons and mouse-based clicking and pointing on screen, rather than the cryptic and at times complex text utilized by DOS and other CLI-based operating systems. Windows and Windows-based machines are the most widely used personal computers, and a wide variety of applications are available to run on Windows. The most important early version of Windows was version 3.1, which is still widely used and is favored by many over the newer Windows 95, a major overhaul of the Windows operating system.
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