# Windows 1.0 is 30 years old



## qubit (Nov 21, 2015)

Yes, I remember it the first time round. 

*On November 20, 1985, Microsoft unveiled its graphical operating system.*

*Windows 1.0 offered a new way to navigate a PC, clicking a cursor on various boxes rather than scrolling through lines of text in order to navigate data and applications. While arguably less efficient than a command line, the graphical user interface (GUI) was more intuitive and easier for novice users to manage.*

*Running Windows 1.0 required a PC running DOS 2.0 as well as two double-sided floppy disk drives, 256K of memory, and a new-fangled device known as a "graphics card." Windows worked with some DOS apps, while others would just run in full-screen mode.*

*Windows 1.0 was not exactly a stirring success. PC users accustomed to the command-line interface of DOS weren't yet sold on a GUI, and only about 500,000 copies were sold in the first couple of years.*

*It took until the early 90s for Windows to catch on, but when it did, the OS became synonymous with the PC and made Microsoft one of the most successful and powerful companies in the world for the next two decades.*

www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/20/windows_1_dot_0_is_30_years_old


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 21, 2015)

only 4yrs younger than me  and also a winter child uhuhu ...


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## Toothless (Nov 21, 2015)

10 years older than me, wow. And I thought I aged badly.


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## qubit (Nov 21, 2015)

Toothless said:


> 10 years older than me, wow. And I thought I aged badly.


Oh yeah dude, you look terrible in your avatar.


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## R-T-B (Nov 21, 2015)

But remember kids, the future is OS/2...  Windows is just a great way to get ready for the transition...

Oh wait, Billy had other ideas!


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## AsRock (Nov 21, 2015)

HAHA, UNIX is older and people still use it today, unlike Win 1.0 which was kinda crap anyways but made life more visually interesting.



R-T-B said:


> But remember kids, the future is OS/2...  Windows is just a great way to get ready for the transition...
> 
> Oh wait, Billy had other ideas!



Yeah they they been giving away ipads to kids in some of our schools lol.  And to be honest the dam thing has me disliking Apple even more than before.

But kids don't think of it and get used to Apple crap and after all they don't pay for it so they don't care at all.


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## Jetster (Nov 21, 2015)

I remember DOS 6.22 and no windows. I still have the Menu program where you have to fill out the .exe path to open a program.  Then 3.11. Never saw Windows 1


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## Easy Rhino (Nov 21, 2015)

I never got to use 1.0. but I did learn on an Apple IIe which was an amazing machine.


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## dorsetknob (Nov 21, 2015)

Dos 4 and win 3   what an experience on a 286 and 1 mb mem

Still got the install disks................................


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## happita (Nov 21, 2015)

It was the Pentium 133Mhz that opened my eyes into the computing world as I knew it as Windows 3.1. But before that I had played on my cousin's Cyrix 486 that ran at 33Mhz which at the time seemed fast 

Man, how long we have come since then. Back in Windows's inception, if Microsoft operated on the premise to become the most visually stimulating OS, it's amazing how far it's come to make it a feast for the senses.


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## puma99dk| (Nov 21, 2015)

lol nor i feel old, it's 2 yrs older than me wth


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Nov 21, 2015)

Tandy Deskmate Was the first Os I played with on a Tandy T1000.


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## NdMk2o1o (Nov 21, 2015)

4 years younger than me!

Here's an interesting read about OS/2 with some references to Windows 1.0 as well if you care for it 

http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/11/half-an-operating-system-the-triumph-and-tragedy-of-os2/


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## Easy Rhino (Nov 21, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Tandy Deskmate Was the first Os I played with on a Tandy T1000.



We had the same machine! It was amazing and the desktop was hilariously terrible to navigate.


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## erocker (Nov 21, 2015)

I couldn't stand Windows at first. Why would I need this clunky visual garbage with the simplicity of DOS?! Even then with Windows 3.1 (Where it got good?) DOS shell was my friend. Though, once mice became popular that helped a lot.


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## Norton (Nov 21, 2015)

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:


> Tandy Deskmate Was the first Os I played with on a Tandy T1000.



That was on my Mom's first PC 

First Windows I started with was Windows 95 and before that was DOS with batch file menus and XTree Gold 

* this is an example- NOT something I actually ran:


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## GoldenX (Nov 21, 2015)

Wow, I'm still using XTree Gold for a clipper software, to transfer files to a zip drive, in a PC with a Pentium MMX 200MHz and 64MB of RAM.


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## brandonwh64 (Nov 22, 2015)

I had a packard bell with a 386 CPU with 4MB of ram running DOS 5.0! I bought doom from walmart and tried to play it and well it was like playing crysis on a single core celeron HAHA


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## stinger608 (Nov 22, 2015)

brandonwh64 said:


> I bought doom from walmart and tried to play it and well it was like playing crysis on a single core celeron HAHA




 I actually bought a Diamond Monster 3DFX video card due to that exact reason.  

Man I wish I could find a copy of Windows 1.0 to add to my collection.


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## Disparia (Nov 22, 2015)

Started with 3.11 WFW and DOS 6.22 on a Pentium 75 so I never had the pleasure of the earlier Windows. Learned to use both rather well, with specialized DOS boot disks for specific games as well as management tasks that were handled better by the command line. There were also some good Windows games out at that time too, including one of my all time favorites: Castle of the Winds. Every now and then I still play through the two stories.


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## 64K (Nov 22, 2015)

I also went from MS DOS to Windows 3.11



stinger608 said:


> Man I wish I could find a copy of Windows 1.0 to add to my collection.



You can but it will be very expensive

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-New-uno...101413?hash=item235c94a765:g:ZhAAAOSw5ZBWJlT1


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## dorsetknob (Nov 22, 2015)

64K said:


> I also went from MS DOS to Windows 3.11
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Bill must be running short of a Bob or too ( Bob an old english slang word for a shilling which in itself is old english currency)
for him to be offloading old Stock


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## stinger608 (Nov 22, 2015)

64K said:


> You can but it will be very expensive




Yea I have seen them for sale as well. $900 is flat insane. 

I had actually found one on another forum that the seller wanted $200 shipped and I thought that was crazy.


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## GoldenX (Nov 22, 2015)

Torrecough, cough cough.
$900??!!


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## Divide Overflow (Nov 22, 2015)

This makes me feel old!   I remember Windows 1.0  It was clunky and I recall preferring Norton Commander once a mouse became more commonplace.  Mastery of the command prompt really made you feel like you had control of things though.


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