Windows 1.0

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Windows 1.0
(Part of the Microsoft Windows family)
Screenshot
A typical Windows 1.01 desktop.
Developer
Microsoft
Web site: Windows Desktop Products History
Release information
Current version:	1.04 (April 8, 1987) [citation needed]
Source model:	Closed source
License:	Microsoft EULA
Kernel type:	None
Support status
Unsupported as of December 31, 2001.

Windows 1.0 is a 16-bit graphical operating environment released on November 20, 1985. It was Microsoft's first attempt to implement a multi-tasking graphical user interface-based operating environment on the PC platform.

[edit] Features

Unlike later versions, Windows 1.0 offered limited multitasking of existing MS-DOS programs and concentrated on creating an interaction paradigm, an execution model and a stable API for native programs for the future. Due to Microsoft's extensive support for backward compatibility, it is not only possible to execute Windows 1.0 binary programs on current versions of Windows to a large extent, but also to recompile their source code into an equally functional "modern" application with just limited modifications.

Windows 1.0 was often regarded as a "front-end to the MS-DOS operating system", a description which was also applied to subsequent versions of Windows. Indeed, Windows 1.0 was started from MS-DOS, Windows 1.0 programs could call MS-DOS functions, and GUI programs were run from .exe files just like MS-DOS programs. However, Windows .exe files had their own "new executable" (NE) file format, which only Windows could process and which, for example, allowed demand-loading of code and data. Applications were supposed to handle memory only through Windows' own memory management system, which implemented a software-based virtual memory scheme allowing for applications larger than available RAM.

The treatment of Windows 1.0 as a "DOS front-end" fails to take into consideration that it was designed to be just a graphics environment used by applications, rather than a full-fledged operating system. Windows 1.0 included original device drivers for video cards, mice, keyboards, printers and serial communications. Applications were supposed to only invoke APIs built upon these drivers. Given that contemporary graphics support in MS-DOS was extremely limited and given the limited usefulness of the other services, MS-DOS applications had to go to the bare hardware (or sometimes just to the BIOS) to get work done. Therefore, rather than being a front-end to MS-DOS, Windows 1.0 complemented and partially replaced it. The level of replacement would increase in subsequent versions.

Nevertheless Windows 1.0 is a "DOS front-end", as it uses for example the file-handling functions provided by DOS and therefore cannot operate without a DOS environment. Another typical characteristic of a front end is that Windows 1.0 provides functions for applications which they can call, but the implementation of many of these functions will use less complex functions provided by a DOS environment. So Windows at that time was an intermediate between a front-end and an operating system.

[edit] Version history

The boxart of Windows 1.0, the first version Microsoft released to the public. The same boxart was used in other versions, such as 1.01.

The first release version was actually numbered 1.01. It has been rumored that version 1.00 was actually released but quickly pulled due to a severe flaw having to do with keyboard input. However, this rumour has now been fairly conclusively disproven through a number of reliable sources comments on the version history of Windows 1.x. For example, Ben Armstrong's (A program manager for Microsoft's Virtual Machine Technology Team) comments on Windows 1.0:

...few people know that Windows 1.0 was actually never released. Windows 1.0 was the version of Windows that was demonstrated at the '83 Comdex. It would be 14 months until Microsoft eventually released Windows 1.01 - which included some minor bug fixes - to the general public. [1]

Version 1.02, released in May 1986 was international and had editions in several European languages.

Version 1.03, released in August 1986, was US-only, with enhancements making it consistent with the international release. It included drivers for European keyboards and additional screen and printer drivers.

Version 1.04, released in April 1987, added support for the VGA graphics adapters of the new IBM PS/2 computers. At the same time Microsoft and IBM announced the introduction of OS/2 and its graphical OS/2 Presentation Manager, which were supposed to ultimately replace both MS-DOS and Windows.

Windows 1.0x was superseded in November 1987, with the release of Windows 2.0.

[edit] Details

The system requirements for Windows 1.0 constituted MS-DOS 2.0, 256 KB RAM, and 2 double-sided disk drives or a hard drive.

This first version of Windows ran a shell program known as MS-DOS Executive. Other supplied programs were Calculator, Calendar, Cardfile, Clipboard viewer, Clock, Control Panel, Notepad, Paint, Reversi, Terminal, Write, and the command prompt.

One of the interesting aspects of the system were the non-overlapping windows, which were instead tiled. Only dialog boxes could appear over other windows.

Windows 1.0 executables, while having the same .exe extension and initial file header as MS-DOS programs, did not yet contain the so-called MS-DOS stub which prints the "This program requires Microsoft Windows" message and exits when the program is run outside of Windows. Instead, the file header was formatted in such a way as to make DOS reject the executable with a "program too large to fit in memory" error message.

From the beginning, Windows was intended to multitask programs (although this originally only applied to native applications and for many versions the multitasking was non-preemptive), so Windows programs always had their own menu bar rather than switching a single menu bar at the top of the screen like Apple Macintoshes did.

Originally Windows was designed to have the pull-up menus at the bottom of windows, as it was common with the DOS programs of the time; however, this was changed before the first release.

[edit] Competitors on the IBM PC platform

The history of Windows dates back to September 1981, when the project named "Interface Manager" was started. It was first presented to the public in November 10, 1983, renamed to "Microsoft Windows"; the two years of delay before release led to charges that it was "vaporware". The initially announced version of Windows had features so much resembling Macintosh interface that Microsoft had to change many of them: overlapping windows, although supported by the GUI engine, weren't allowed for exactly this purpose. The announcement of Windows' imminent arrival in 1985 probably did not help the sales of VisiCorp's Visi On environment which debuted at the same time. However, even when finally released, Windows 1.0 aroused little interest as well, showing the market was simply not yet ready for a switch-over from MS-DOS.

Another GUI for the PC platform at the time was GEM. It had a nicer look, notably because it copied more aspects from the Macintosh GUI, for example the trash can concept (which Microsoft would in turn copy in future Windows releases) and more generally the desktop interaction. GEM was eventually used as the standard GUI for the Atari's ST range of 68k-based computers, which were sometimes referred to as Jackintoshes as a slurry of thought (the company being run by Jack Tramiel). GEM's resemblance to the Macintosh OS later caused legal trouble to the manufacturer, Digital Research, who were obliged to seriously cripple the desktop's appearance and functionality (applications were not affected).

But GEM was not multitasking, so users had to close one program in order to run another one. Collections of related programs, like GEM Draw, had tricky File menu items like Close (to Edit) to facilitate switching.

An alternative multitasker released shortly before was DESQview, a successor of IBM's failed TopView from 1984. It did not have graphical capabilities initially, but was able to multitask DOS applications in windows as long as they were well-behaved or had a specially written "loader" which could fix them on the fly.

As the result of this heavy competition, Windows gained very little market share — until Aldus PageMaker shipped in January 1987 with a Windows executable. This was the first WYSIWYG desktop publishing program available on the PC platform, and it finally gave people a reason to buy Windows. Later Windows compatible products included Excel and Corel Draw.

[edit] See also

• ViewMAX
• GEOS
• Software Carousel

[edit] External links

• GUIdebook: Windows 1.0 Gallery – A website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces
• Windows 1.0 "teaser" press kit – Microsoft promotion for the original Windows launch in 1983
• Windows 1.0 and the Applications of Tomorrow – by Charles Petzold.
• Windows 1.0 Release History Facts - by Virtual PC Guy (Ben Armstrong)