Windermere Lake, northwestern England. Located in the southeastern Lake District, it is the country’s largest lake, 10.5 mi (17 km) long and 1 mi (1.6 km) wide; its area is 6 sq mi (16 sq km). It has a maximum depth of 219 ft (67 m). Part of the Lake District National Park, it is a popular tourist centre.
Windhoek \'vint-,huk\ Town (pop., 1997 est.: 169,000), capital of Namibia. It is located in the central part of the country, in an area origi¬ nally settled by African peoples. In 1890 the site of the present town was claimed for the German government. In 1915 South African forces occu¬ pied it and initiated their claim to the country, then known as South West Africa. When Namibia became independent in 1990, Windhoek became its capital. It is the country’s main commercial and transportation centre.
Windischgratz \,vin-dish-'grets\, Alfred, prince zu (b. May 11,
1787, Brussels, Austrian Netherlands—d. March 21, 1862, Vienna, Aus¬ tria) Austrian field marshal. He entered the Habsburg imperial army as an officer (1804) and rose through the ranks to become military commander for Bohemia (1840). In the Revolutions of 1848, he suppressed the Czech rebels in Prague and crushed the insurrection in Vienna, where he was noted for his harsh military rule. Appointed field marshal (1848), he occu¬ pied Budapest in 1849 and drove the Hungarian rebels beyond the Tisza River. Although he was given supreme command of all imperial troops outside Italy, his gifts as a commander were mediocre, and differences with his brother-in-law, the Habsburg prime minister, prince zu Schwarzenberg, resulted in his recall (1849). Thereafter Windischgratz retired to Bohemia.
windmill Machine for harnessing the energy of the wind using sails mounted on a rotating shaft. The sails are mounted at an angle or are given a slight twist, so that the force of wind against them has two components, one of which, in the plane of the sails, causes rotation. Like waterwheels, windmills were among the original prime movers that replaced human beings as a source of power. Their most important traditional use was for grinding grain, though in certain areas their use in land drainage and water pumping was equally important. Windmill use became increasingly wide¬ spread in Europe (particularly the Netherlands) from the 12th century to the early 19th century, but thereafter slowly declined. Interest in wind¬ mills for generating electric power revived in the 1970s. See also wind POWER.
window Opening in the wall of a building for light and air, and some¬ times for framing a view. Since early times, the openings have been filled with stone, wooden, or iron grilles, with panes of glass or other translu¬ cent material such as mica or, in East Asia, paper. A window in a verti¬ cally sliding frame is called a sash window: a single-hung sash has only one half that moves; in a double-hung sash, both parts slide. A casement window swings open on hinges attached to the upright side of the frame. Awning windows swing outward on hinges attached to the top of the frame; hopper windows swing inward on hinges attached to the bottom of the frame. Large, fixed (nonoperating) areas of glass are commonly called picture windows. A bay window (see oriel) is an exterior projec¬ tion of a bay of a building that also forms an interior recess, providing better light and view than would a window flush with the building line. See also Diocletian window; rose window; shoji.
Windows Family of software products developed by Microsoft Corp., mainly for personal computers and workstations, that began as a graphical
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
2066 I windpipe ► Windward Islands
wind chill (°C) = 13.12 + 0.62157"- 11.37(V' 016 ) + 0.39657(l/ 016 ) 7 = air temperature (°C) V - wind speed (kph)
Fahrenheit
calm 40
35
30
25
20
15
5
36
31
25
19
13
7
10
34
27
21
15
9
3
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13
6
0
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30
24
17
11
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S. 30
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-5
in
nd
CD
cn
28
21
14
7
0
-7
S 40
27
20
13
6
-1
-8
45
26
19
12
5
-2
-9
50
26
19
12
4
-3
-10
55
25
18
11
4
-3
-11
60
25
17
10
3
-4
-11
temperature (°F)
10
1
-4
-7
-9
-11
-12
-14
5
-5
-10
-13
-15
-17
0
-11
-16
-5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35 -40
22 -28 -34 -40 -46 -52 -57
28 -35 -41 -47 -53 -59 -66
19 -26 -32 -39 -45 -51 -58 -64 -71
22 -29 -35 -42 -48 -55 -61 -68 -74
21
-27
-34
-41
-48
-55
-62
-69
-76
-82
22
-29
-36
-43
-50
-57
-64
-71
-78
-84
23
-30
-37
-44
-51
-58
-65
-72
-79
-86
24
-31
-38
-45
-52
-60
-67
-74
-81
-88
25
r32
-39
-46
-54
-61
-68
-75
-82
-89
26
-33
-40
-48
-55
-62
-69
-76
-84
-91
wind chill (°F) = 35.74 + 0.62157- 35.75(I/ 0 ' 6 ) + 0.42757( V ° 16 )
7 = air temperature (°F) V = wind speed (mph)
frostbite times 30 minutes H 10 minutes | 5 minutes
Source: U.S. National Weather Service; Meteorological Services of Canada
Matching a specific air temperature (columns) with a wind speed (rows) will show the wind chill equivalent and the approxi¬ mate time to frostbite.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, INC.
user interface and developed into an operating system. Version 1.0 (1985) provided a graphical user interface, multitasking, and virtual memory man¬ agement; it ran on top of MS-DOS and was supported on Intel-based per¬ sonal computers. Version 3.1 (1992) sold over 3 million copies in its first two months and helped establish Microsoft’s dominance of the operating- system market for microcomputers. Windows 95 and Windows 98 (named for the years of their release) continued its success. Windows NT (1993), which can run on RISC-based computers as well as traditional Intel-based systems, is a high-end version of Windows intended for more powerful personal computers, workstations, and servers. Windows CE (1996) is an embedded operating system for palm PCs and other handheld devices. Microsoft continues to release new versions of its operating system: Win¬ dows 2000 for corporate-oriented computers, Windows Me (2000) for consumer-oriented computers, and in 2001 a version for both environ¬ ments, Windows XP. Today Windows runs on more than 90% of all per¬ sonal computers.
windpipe See trachea
Windsor City (pop., 2001: 208,402), southern Ontario, Canada. Located on the southern bank of the Detroit River, opposite Detroit, Mich., U.S., it was settled by French farmers shortly after 1701, when a fort was estab¬ lished at Detroit. It was known first as “the Ferry” and later as Richmond
before it was renamed in 1836. With its strategic location opposite Detroit, it became an industrial cen¬ tre, an important railway terminus, and a busy port in Great Lakes ship¬ ping. Its manufactures include motor vehicles and parts, foods and bever¬ ages, and medicines. It is Canada’s leading port of entry from the U.S.