and OS/2 all failed because no client software was available. For the Advanced Server, only their own client, the Macintosh and, if only limited, OS/2 were able to connect to the server. Even though the operating system's actual success was only moderate, it had a huge lasting impact. Developers of Unix derivations for the first time strived to standardize their operating systems, and Novell was so concerned about its market share that it bought a Unix vendor. Manufacturers of microprocessors hoped to use the portability of the new operating system to increase their own sales, and thus ports of Windows NT were announced for various platforms, like the Sun SPARC architecture and the Clipper architecture. It was recognized that Windows NT would dominate the desktop market as soon as the hardware became powerful enough to run the operating system at an acceptable speed. Eight years later, Microsoft would unify the consumer-oriented Windows line (which had remained MS-DOS based) with the NT line with the October 2001 release of Windows XP—the first consumer-oriented version of Windows to use the NT architecture. References External links Guidebook: Windows NT 3.1 Gallery – Gallery of UI screenshots of Windows NT 3.1 1993 software Products and services discontinued in 2000 3.1 IA-32 operating systems MIPS operating systems History of Microsoft History of software Products introduced in 1993