Happy 31st Birthday Windows 1.0 -- Bill Gates Introduced in 1983

[Brink]

Today marks the 31st birthday of Windows 1.0. On November 10, 1983, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates unveiled Windows 1.0 to the world. This operating system required only two floppy disks and 192KB of RAM in order to function. Windows 1.0 would ship to consumers for $99 only two years later after its unveiling.

Windows 1.0 wanted to change the way we used computers, during a time when most computers were text based. Windows 1.0 had a graphical user interface, which was a radical shift from the norm, and was met with a lot of hesitation from users and critics (sound familiar?).

Windows 1.0 came with several programs which we still use to this day -- including Calculator, Calendar, Clipboard Viewer, Clock, Notepad, Paint, Reversi, Cardfile, Terminal, and Write. Windows 1.0 had an amazing interface at the time, having all windows tiled, rather than overlapping. This meant only dialog boxes could appear over other windows.

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[strollin]

I remember installing Win 1.0 and thinking how useless it was. The graphics were very primitive. I couldn't afford any Windows apps at the time and there were very few apps that were Windows "aware". Windows really wasn't viable until around Win 3.1, IMO.

It certainly has come a long way in 31 years!

 

[andrew129260]

crazy awesome. I have it in a VM and I am amazed at how much windows has changed over the years.

 

[Berton]

My first computer was in '92 and had MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1 in a Hewitt-Rand black tower running an AMD 386-40MHz CPU with 4MB RAM and 120MB HDD. It also had WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows. First upgrade was to 8MB RAM then next was a 210MB HDD. With a Panasonic DotMatrix printer the setup cost nearly $3000.00, quite different from today.

 

[andrew129260]

My first computer was in '92 and had MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1 in a Hewitt-Rand black tower running an AMD 386-40MHz CPU with 4MB RAM and 120MB HDD. It also had WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows. First upgrade was to 8MB RAM then next was a 210MB HDD. With a Panasonic DotMatrix printer the setup cost nearly $3000.00, quite different from today.

WOW. That is crazy

 

[strollin]

In 1984 my first computer, an IBM PC, had a 4.77Mhz 8088 cpu, 256K of RAM, IBM DOS 2.1, 2 360K floppy drives and a 4-color CGA (Color Graphics Adapter) video card and monitor. I also purchased, "Personal Editor" software, a pack of floppy disks and an 80 cps dot matrix printer. This package retailed for $4,000 but with my IBM employee discount, I paid a mere $2,500. This computer would never be able to run Windows 1.0, let alone Windows 10.

For many years, a new PC cost in the vicinity of $3,000. Every year your $3,000 bought a more powerful computer but the price stayed about the same. Eventually the price of a new computer started dropping and hovered at $2,000 for a long time. I remember how exciting it was when a new computer could be purchased for less than $1,000. http://www.cnet.com/news/the-secret-history-of-the-sub-1000-computer/

You young guys really can't fathom how far things have really come.

 

[RoasterMen]

Windows 3.1 Is the only OS that caught the attention of the people

 

[matts6887]

I remember our families first pc that we got. It was back in like 94 or 95 i think. It had windows 3.1 on it and that was the start of the pc use for us. It was a Compaq computer. Dont recall the specs on it though as it was so long ago.

 

[Iain]

I remember installing Win 1.0 and thinking how useless it was. The graphics were very primitive. I couldn't afford any Windows apps at the time and there were very few apps that were Windows "aware". Windows really wasn't viable until around Win 3.1, IMO.

It certainly has come a long way in 31 years!

Did a Windows 2.0 ever exist?

BTW, my first PC in 1993 had Windows 3.0, which wasn't LAN aware. A third party network driver was available, IIRC. Also, my first laptop in 1995, ran Windows 95 and cost £3,500.

 

[Berton]

my first PC in 1993 had Windows 3.0, which wasn't LAN aware.

Yeah, my Win3.1 in '92 had the same problem but I finally went with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 when it came out. One big thing i liked with 3.1 and later was better Font management/use.

I just remembered, I have a Compaq 386-16MHz laptop in my storage shed with MS-DOS 5 and Windows 3.1.