(
MINimal
WINdows) The essential elements of the Windows operating system, which manages instruction execution, memory and I/O (also known as the kernel). MinWin can be operated by a command line interface. First released with Windows Vista, MinWin decoupled itself from the user interface so that different user interfaces could be adapted more easily in the future. Windows 8 is a prime example, which was a dramatic departure from the Windows 7 interface. See
Windows 8.