Windows turns 35

Windows 1.0. © Microsoft.

Announced in 1983 by Bill Gates, the Windows graphical interface for MS-DOS was born on November 20, 1985. At the time, Microsoft sought to satisfy a growing hunger for mouse-driven, multi-window graphical interfaces, a revolutionary novelty that was popularized by Apple’s Macintosh computer. Back in 1985, running Windows 1.0 required two 5¼-inch floppy drives or a hard drive (expensive and rare at the time), 192 kilobytes of RAM minimum, and a graphics card. You’d have to fork out USD99 to purchase the 4-disquette installation box (USD240 in today’s money). Windows 1.0 received a mixed reception. Most critics thought that the platform had potential, but that the first version wasn’t up to snuff, due to hardware requirements, poor performance when executing several applications simultaneously, and the fact that Windows encouraged mouse-driven navigation, a relatively new concept at the time (one that still has its detractors). Since then, much water has flowed under the bridge, and Windows has become a robust operating system that dominates the market. Happy birthday, Windows!

⇨ The Verge, Tom Warren, “Windows turns 35: a visual history.”