{"id":133728,"date":"2015-07-31T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-31T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=133728"},"modified":"2016-02-26T16:14:07","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T14:14:07","slug":"windows-1-0-to-windows-10-from-the-first-to-the-last-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/software\/133728-windows-1-0-to-windows-10-from-the-first-to-the-last-windows.html","title":{"rendered":"Windows 1.0 to Windows 10: from the first to the last Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"

The history of operating systems with graphical user interfaces is filled with anecdotes of Silicon Valley copying one another\u2019s ideas and getting incensed when their stuff gets ripped off.<\/p>\n

Or, as Steve Jobs said<\/a> <\/strong>in an interview in\u00a0Triumph of the Nerds: \u201cPicasso had a saying\u2026 good artists copy, great artists steal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s Windows operating system is often at the heart of such controversy, with history reflecting how Windows came about as a direct result of the company\u2019s work with Apple on the Macintosh.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s nose isn\u2019t clean either, as both it and Microsoft cribbed off the work done by the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre.<\/p>\n

However, hearing Larry Tesler tell the story<\/a><\/strong>, the Xerox PARC meetings were not quite the \u201cpirate raid\u201d they have\u00a0been depicted to be in movies and TV shows.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what the truth is behind the \u201cPrometheus myth of modern computing\u201d, Windows is now a fact of life.<\/p>\n

From Windows 1.0 in 1985<\/strong>, to the launch of Windows 10 today<\/strong>, this is how the world\u2019s most widely-used desktop OS has evolved<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Windows 1.0<\/h3>\n
\"Windows<\/a>

Windows 1.0 screenshot<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Windows 1.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Released to manufacturing<\/td>\n20 November 1985<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
OS requirements<\/td>\nMS-DOS 2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Memory requirements<\/td>\n256K \/ 320K (from 1.03)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Support status<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Unsupported<\/td>\n31 December 2001<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

While Microsoft originally promised that Windows would allow for overlapping windows, this feature didn\u2019t make it to release.<\/p>\n

Instead, all windows were tiled and only dialog boxes could appear over other windows.<\/p>\n

The first few iterations of Windows were also not fully-fledged operating systems, but rather shells that ran atop MS-DOS.<\/p>\n

Windows 2.0<\/h3>\n
\"Windows<\/a>

Windows 2.0 desktop<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Windows 2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Released to manufacturing<\/td>\n9 December 1987<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
OS requirements<\/td>\nMS-DOS 3.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Memory requirements<\/td>\n512K<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Support status<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Unsupported<\/td>\n31 December 2001<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Windows 2.0 added overlapping window functionality, and support for the Expanded Memory Specification.<\/p>\n

The first versions of Microsoft Word and Excel ran on Windows 2.0.<\/p>\n

It also ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS.<\/p>\n

Windows 2.1x<\/h3>\n
\"Excel<\/a>

Excel 2.1c in a Windows 2.1 runtime, via Fun with virtualisation<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Windows 2.1x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Released to manufacturing<\/td>\n27 May 1988<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
OS requirements<\/td>\nMS-DOS 3.0+<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Memory requirements<\/td>\n512K<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Support status<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Unsupported<\/td>\n31 December 2001<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Built to take advantage of the Intel 80286 and 80286 processors, Windows\/286 and Windows\/386 were released just 6 months after the launch of its predecessor.<\/p>\n

Like its predecessors, Windows 2.1 required MS-DOS to run.<\/p>\n

Windows 3.0<\/h3>\n
\"Windows<\/a>

Windows 3.0 desktop<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Windows 3.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Released to manufacturing<\/td>\n22 May 1990<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
OS requirements<\/td>\nMS-DOS 3.1+<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Memory requirements<\/td>\n640K base 256K EMS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Support status<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Unsupported<\/td>\n31 December 2001<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Launched on 22 May 1990, Windows 3.0 could run in three different memory modes<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n