Windows 3.1 WinWorld/Ī mere two years later, another OS update appeared, upgrading Windows to one of its most iconic versions, 3.1. Another notable feature of Windows 3.0 is that it’s the version that saw the first appearance of the classic desktop game Solitaire. More importantly, as PCMag notes, it featured “multitasking DOS programs,” which may have contributed to Windows’ surge in popularity. Windows 3.0 came out in 1990 and offered 256 color support. This version of Windows is widely considered to be the start of Windows’ worldwide popularity as a desktop OS. Microsoft’s next major milestone came with its release of Windows 3.0. The first Windows versions of Word and Excel also made their debut with Windows 2.0. This version of Windows included such notable features as overlapping windows, resizable windows, keyboard shortcuts, and support for VGA graphics. Just two years later, in 1987, the technology company released Windows 2.0. It wasn’t long before Microsoft released a successor to its first GUI-enhanced OS. According to Microsoft, it also featured the ability to multitask applications and “transfer data between programs,” a first for a Microsoft OS.ĭon’t let the bare-bones aesthetic of Windows 1.0 fool you - as The Verge notes, Windows 1.0 also came with a number of programs, including Windows Write, Windows Paint, a clock, a calendar, a notepad, a file manager, a cardfile, a terminal application, and even a game called Reversi. At the time of its release, Windows 1.0 cost $99 and introduced many computer users to drop-down menus, icons, and dialogue boxes. Now, they could carry out tasks and browse their own files by just pointing and clicking on icons and menus. The use of Windows 1.0 as a GUI meant that MS-DOS users didn’t have to manually enter text commands just to complete basic tasks. Windows 1.0 debuted in 1985 and was designed to be a GUI to be used in conjunction with MS-DOS. The evolution of Windows Windows 1.0 WinWorld/
While Microsoft was late to the GUI party by about three or four years, it was able to sell its first version of Windows at a much more affordable price than its competitors, giving it a significant advantage. The first one ever was introduced by Xerox in 1981, and it was known as the Star. While the Lisa was the first commercial computer with a GUI, it still wasn’t the first computer ever with a GUI. According to Wired, Apple released “the first commercial computer with a graphical user interface” in 1983. Two other companies got there first: Apple and Xerox. Windows wasn’t the first GUI created to solve issues like having to navigate via text commands, though. Windows 1.0 was created to be a graphical user interface (GUI) to be placed on top of MS-DOS, which made PCs that ran MS-DOS easier to navigate - it’s easier to look at a screen and click an icon to open a program than it is to type several commands just to complete the same task.
Windows, at least in 1985, wasn’t so much a brand new OS as it was a solution to the complications that an OS like MS-DOS presented.
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Unlike even the first version of Windows, navigating your PC with MS-DOS was time-consuming, required the manual input of text commands to get anything done, and didn’t allow for multitasking (the ability to run multiple programs at once). In fact, before Windows ever came along, PCs were run by another OS known as MS-DOS. Windows might seem like it’s been around forever, but it hasn’t.
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