Part 1 Timeline Journey of Windows 1 to 10 the story of 31 years

Part 1 Timeline Journey of Windows 1 to 10 the story of 31 years
The story of Windows 10 How Windows 10 Evolved and became a service

In short History of Microsoft Dos

1-Microsoft buys the rights for QDOS from Seattle Computer Products (SCP) for $25,000 on July 27, 1981.
2-MS-DOS 1.0 was released August, 1981.
3-MS-DOS 1.25 was released August, 1982.
4-MS-DOS 2.0 was released March, 1983.
5-Microsoft introduces MS-DOS 3.0 for the IBM PC AT and MS-DOS 3.1 for networks.
6-MS-DOS 3.2 was released April, 1986.
7-MS-DOS 3.3 was released April, 1987.
8-MS-DOS 4.0 was released July, 1988.
9-MS-DOS 4.01 was released November, 1988.
10-MS-DOS 5.0 was released June, 1991.
11-MS-DOS 6.0 was released August, 1993.
12-MS-DOS 6.2 was released November, 1993
13-MS-DOS 6.21 was released March, 1994
14MS-DOS 6.22 was released April, 1994


Year 1985 – Windows 1
November 20, 1985

Microsoft Windows 1.0 was initially sold for $100.00.

The original Windows 1 was released in November 1985 and was Microsoft’s first true attempt at a graphical user interface in 16-bit.

Windows 1 ran on top of MS-DOS, which relied on command-line input.

Windows 1 introduced people to using mouse.
To help users become familiar with using mouse Microsoft included a game, Reversi
that relied on mouse control, not the keyboard, to get people used to moving the mouse around and clicking onscreen elements.

Microsoft first presented Windows to the public on November 10, 1983.Requiring two floppy disk drives and 192 KB of RAM, Microsoft described the software as a device driver for MS-DOS 2.0.

Year 1986
Windows 1.02 released in May 1986, was an international release.
Windows Version 1.03, released in August 1986, included enhancements that made it consistent with the international release. It included drivers for European keyboards and additional screen and printer drivers.
Windows 1.04

Version 1.04, released in April 1987, added support for the new IBM PS/2 computers, although no support for PS/2 mice or new VGA graphics modes was provided.
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 1.0 was officially declared obsolete and unsupported by Microsoft on December 31, 2001.

Year 1987 – Windows 2
Released - December 9, 1987
Windows 2.0 (codenamed Nixa) is a 16-bit Microsoft Windows GUI-based operating environment that was released on December 9, 1987

Microsoft Windows 2.0 was sold for $100.00.

Windows 2.0 allowed application windows to overlap each other unlike its predecessor Windows 1.0, which could display only tiled windows.
Windows 2.0 also introduced more sophisticated keyboard-shortcuts and the terminology of "Minimize" and "Maximize", as opposed to "Iconize" and "Zoom" in Windows 1.0.
The basic window setup introduced here would last through Windows 3.1.

Windows 2.0 was the first Windows version to integrate the control panel.

New features in Windows 2.0 included VGA graphics (although 16 colors only).
Windows 2 was the last version of Windows that did not require a hard disk.

The Windows 2.x EGA, VGA, and Tandy drivers notably provided a workaround in Windows 3.0 for users who wanted color graphics on 8086 machines (a feature that version normally did not support). EMS memory support also appeared for the first time.

The first Windows versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel ran on Windows 2.0

Below is the list of software which shipped with the Windows 2 OS
1-Calc.exe – a calculator
2-Calendar.exe – calendaring software
3-Cardfile.exe – a personal information manager
4-Clipbrd.exe – software for viewing the contents of the clipboard
5-Clock.exe– a clock
6-control.exe – the system utility responsible for configuring Windows 2.0
7-cvtpaint.exe - Converted paint files to the 2.x format
8-Msdos.exe – a simple file manager
9-Notepad.exe– a text editor
10-Paint.exe– a raster graphics editor that allows users to paint and edit pictures interactively on the computer screen
11-Pifedit.exe – a program information file editor that defines how a DOS program should behave inside Windows
12-Reverse.exe – a computer game of reverse
13-Spooler.exe – the print spooler of Windows, a program that manages and maintains a queue of documents to be printed, sending them to the printer as soon as the printer is ready
14-Terminal.exe– a terminal emulator
15-Write.exe– a simple word processor

On March 17, 1988, Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, accusing them of violating copyrights Apple held on the Macintosh System Software.
Apple claimed the "look and feel" of the Macintosh operating system, taken as a whole, was protected by copyright and that Windows 2.0 violated this copyright by having the same icons. The judge ruled in favor of Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft in all but 10 of the 189 patents that Apple sued for. The exclusive 10 could not be copyrighted, as ruled by the judge.

Year 1988 –
Windows/286 2.10 and Windows/386 2.10 were released on May 27, 1988, less than six months after the release of Windows 2.0.
These versions can take advantage of the specific features of the Intel 80286 and Intel 80386 processors.
A hard disk was required for the first time to install Windows.

Windows/286 was fully operational on an 8088 or 8086 processor. Windows/286 would simply not use the high memory area since none existed on an 8086-class processor

Windows/386 was much more advanced than its predecessor. It introduced a protected mode kernel, above which the GUI and applications run as a virtual 8086 mode task. It allowed several MS-DOS programs to run in parallel in "virtual 8086" CPU mode, rather than always suspending background applications

Windows/386 also provided EMS emulation, using the memory management features of the 80386 to make RAM beyond 640k behave like the banked memory previously only supplied by add-in cards and used by popular DOS applications.

Year – 1989
On March 13, 1989, Windows 2.11 was released in Windows/286 and Windows/386 editions, with some minor changes in memory management, AppleTalk support and faster printing and updated printer drivers.

Windows 2.11 was supported by Microsoft until December 31, 2001

Year 1990 –  Release Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0, a graphical environment, is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, and was released on May 22, 1990. It became the first widely successful version of Windows and a rival to Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga on the GUI front

Windows 3.0 succeeds Windows 2.1x and includes a significantly revamped user interface as well as technical improvements to make better use of the memory management capabilities of Intel's 80286 and 80386 processors. Text-mode programs written for MS-DOS can be run within a window (a feature previously available in a more limited form with Windows/386 2.1), making the system usable as a crude multitasking base for legacy programs. However, this was of limited use for the home market, where most games and entertainment programs continued to require raw DOS access.

The official system requirements for Windows 3.0 –
A-8086/8088 processor or better
B-384 KB of free conventional memory (real mode), 1 MB (Standard Mode), or 2 MB (Enhanced Mode)
C-Hard disk with 6-7 MB of free space
D-CGA/EGA/VGA/Hercules/8514/A/XGA graphics and an appropriate and compatible monitor
E-MS-DOS version 3.1 or higher
F-Microsoft-compatible mouse is recommended.

Windows 3.0 was the only version of Windows that could be run in three different memory modes:

Real mode, intended for older computers with a CPU below Intel 80286, and corresponding to its real mode;
Standard mode, intended for computers with an 80286 processor, and corresponding to its protected mode;
386 Enhanced mode, intended for newer computers with an Intel 80386 processor or above, and corresponding to its protected mode and virtual 8086 mode

Real mode primarily existed as a way to run Windows 2.x applications. It was removed in Windows 3.1x.

Standard mode was used most often as its requirements were more in-line with an average PC of that era – a 286 processor with at least 1 MB of memory. Since some PCs (notably Compaqs) did not place extended memory at the 1MB line and instead left a hole between the end of conventional memory and the start of XMS, Windows could not work on them except in real mode. Standard mode was still widely used on 386 PCs as many only had 1-2 MB of memory and used the 386SX chip (a cut-down version with a 16-bit data bus), so they could not run Enhanced mode well

386 Enhanced mode was a 32-bit virtual machine that ran a copy of 16-bit Standard mode, and multiple copies of MS-DOS in virtual 8086 mode

Windows 3.0 was the first version to be pre-installed on hard drives by PC-compatible manufacturers. Zenith Data Systems had previously shipped all of its computers with Windows 1.0 or later 2.x on diskettes but committed early in the development of Windows 3.0 to shipping it pre-installed

Standard retail and OEM distributions of Windows 3.0 were on high density 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB floppy disks. A 720 KB version was also offered, and a 360 KB edition could be ordered from Microsoft. Fully installed, Windows 3.0 used 5 MB of hard disk space.

Windows 3.0 had a software update which was never released that increased the speed of the floppy disk drive. By the time it was ready to be launched, a new version of Windows was released.

Year 1990
Windows 3.0a
In December 1990, Microsoft released Windows 3.0a.
This version contained an improved ability to move pieces of data greater than 64KB (the original release could only manipulate one segment of RAM at a time).
It also improved stability by reducing Unrecoverable Application Errors (UAEs) associated with networking, printing, and low-memory conditions.
This version appears as "Windows 3.00a" in Help/About Windows system dialogs.

Year 1991 –
Based on Windows 3.0a, Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions 1.0 was released in October 1991 to support sound cards (like the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro), as well as CD-ROM drives, which were then becoming increasingly available.

This edition was released to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), mainly CD-ROM drive and sound card manufacturers, and some PCs came preloaded with it. This edition added basic multimedia support for audio input and output, along with new applications: Media Player, CD audio player, more advanced Help format, screen savers, and a new clock.

These new features were integrated into Windows 3.1x.

Microsoft developed the Windows Sound System sound card specification to complement these extensions. The new features were not accessible in Windows 3.0 Real Mode.

The MME API was the first universal and standardized Windows audio API. Wave sound events played in Windows (up to Windows XP) and MIDI I/O use MME. The devices listed in the Multimedia/Sounds and Audio control panel applet represent the MME API of the sound card driver.

MME lacks channel mixing, so only one audio stream can be rendered at a time. MME supports sharing the audio device for playback between multiple applications starting with Windows 2000, up to two channels of recording, 16-bit audio bit depth and sampling rates of up to 44.1 kHz with all the audio being mixed and sampled to 44.1 kHz.

Following its decision not to develop operating systems cooperatively with IBM, Microsoft changes the name of OS/2 to Windows NT.

Year 1992 – Windows 3.1

Windows 3.1 (originally codenamed Janus), released on April 6, 1992, introduced a TrueType font system (and a set of highly legible fonts), which effectively made Windows a viable desktop publishing platform for the first time. Similar functionality was available for Windows 3.0 through Adobe Type Manager (ATM) font system from Adobe.

Windows 3.1 Multimedia PC Version (Beta only, released Nov 1992 – codenamed Bombay) included a media viewer, and the ability to play video files. It was targeted to the new multimedia PC and included sound and video integration with CD-ROM support.

Windows 3.1 was designed to have backward compatibility with older Windows platforms. As with Windows 3.0, version 3.1 had File Manager and Program Manager, but unlike all previous versions, Windows 3.1 cannot run in real mode. It included Minesweeper as a replacement for Reversi (though Reversi was still included in some copies).

Windows 3.1 dropped real mode support and required a minimum of a 286 PC with 1 MB of RAM to run. The effect of this was to increase system stability over the crash-prone Windows 3.0.

True type font support was added, providing scalable fonts to Windows applications, without having to resort to using a third-party font technology such as Adobe Type Manager.

Windows 3.1 included the following fonts:
Arial, Courier New, Times New Roman, and Symbol (a collection of scalable symbols) in regular, bold, italic, and bold-italic versions.

True type fonts could be scaled to any size and rotated, depending on the calling application.

In 386 Enhanced Mode, windowed DOS applications gained the ability for users to manipulate menus and other objects in the program using the Windows mouse pointer, provided that DOS application supported mice.

Windows' own drivers couldn't work directly with DOS applications; hardware such as mice required a DOS driver to be loaded before starting Windows.

Icons could be dragged and dropped for the first time, in addition to having a more detailed appearance. A file could be dragged onto Print Manager icon and the file would be printed by the current printer, assuming it was associated with an application capable of printing, such as a word processor. Alternatively, the file could be dragged out of File Manager and dropped onto an application icon or window for processing.

Windows 3.1's calendar saves its files ending with. Cal.

Windows 3.1 also introduced Windows Registry, a centralized database that can store configuration information and settings for various operating systems components and applications.

Windows 3.1 was the first version of Windows that could also launch Windows programs via Command.com while running Windows.

While Windows 3.0 was limited to 16 MB maximum memory, Windows 3.1 can access a theoretical 4 GB in 386 Enhanced Mode. (The actual practical ceiling is 256 MB.
However, no single process can use more than 16 MB

Windows 3.1 for Central and Eastern Europe –
A special version named Windows 3.1 for Central and Eastern Europe was released that allowed use of Cyrillic and had fonts with diacritical marks characteristic of Central and Eastern European languages. Microsoft introduced its own code page (Windows-1250) and supported its use in violation of many countries' ISO standards (e.g., the official Polish code page is ISO-8859-2, which was ignored by Microsoft but is supported by contemporary Internet Explorer versions). Similarly, Microsoft also released Windows 3.1J with support for Japanese, which shipped 1.46 million copies in its first year on the market (1993) in Japan.

Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (originally codenamed Winball and later Sparta), released in October 1992, is an extended version of Windows 3.1 that features native networking support.

It comes with SMB file sharing support via NetBIOS-based NBF and/or IPX network transport protocols and introduces the Hearts card game and VSHARE.386, a VxD version of Share.exe
(a terminate-and-stay-resident program).

Internet Explorer 2 through Internet Explorer 5 were released for Windows 3.1
Year 1993 –
Microsoft Windows NT 3.1 was released July 27, 1993.
Microsoft Windows 3.11, an update to Windows 3.1 is released November 1993.

Windows 3.11 was released on November 8, 1993. It did not add any feature improvements over Windows 3.1; it only corrected problems. Microsoft replaced all retail versions of Windows 3.1 with Windows 3.11 and provided a free upgrade to anyone who currently owned Windows 3.1.

Windows for Workgroups 3.11

Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (originally codenamed Snowball) was released on August 11, 1993, [and shipped in November 1993.
It supported 32-bit file access, full 32-bit network redirectors, and VCACHE.386 file cache, shared between them. WFW 3.11 dropped standard mode support and requires a 386 machine to run.

A Winsock package was required to support TCP/IP networking in Windows 3.x. Usually third-party packages were used, but in August 1994, Microsoft released an add-on package (codenamed Wolverine) that provided TCP/IP support in Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

Wolverine was a 32-bit stack (accessible from 16-bit Windows applications via WinSock Thunk), which gave it superior performance to most of the third-party TCP/IP Windows stacks available. However, it was only compatible with Windows for Workgroups 3.11, and lacked support for dial-up.

Wolverine stack was an early version of the TCP/IP stack that would later ship with Windows 95, and provided an early testbed for the 16-to-32-bit compatibility layer that was crucial to Windows 95's success.

Following the release of MS-DOS 6.22 in 1994, WFW 3.11 largely replaced Windows 3.1 for OEM installations on new PCs due to its improved capabilities and greater stability.

Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was released February, 1994.

Year 1993 – Windows 3.2
On November 22, 1993, Microsoft released a Simplified Chinese version of Windows for the Chinese market.
A year later, an update was released, which identified itself as Windows 3.2.
Thus, Windows 3.2 is an updated version of the Chinese version of Windows 3.1.
The update was limited to this language version, as it fixed only issues related to the complex writing system of the Chinese language.

Windows 3.2 was generally sold by computer manufacturers with a ten-disk version of MS-DOS that also had Simplified Chinese characters in basic output and some translated utilities.

Video for Windows was first introduced in November 1992 as a reaction to Apple Computer's QuickTime technology which added digital video to Macintosh. Costing around $200, [the software included editing and encoding programs for use with video input boards. A runtime version for viewing videos only was also made available.

Originally released as a free add-on to Windows 3.1 and Windows 3.11, it then became an integral component of Windows 95 and later.
The technology introduced a file format designed to store digital video, Audio Video Interleave (AVI). The technology provided an application programming interface that allowed Windows software developers to add the ability to play or manipulate digital video to their own applications. Lastly, it included a suite of software for playing and manipulating digital video


Windows 3.1x was given limited compatibility with the then-new 32-bit Windows API used by Windows NT by another add-on package, Win32s. There was a rumor that Microsoft did not want to increase any mainstream Windows 3.1x version to something like "Windows 3.2" because it could be confused with the Win32 API or otherwise distract consumers from upgrading to a "real 32-bit OS" like the then-upcoming Windows 95 was, though Windows NT 3.1 and 3.5 were both 32-bit operating systems that looked similar in appearance. A game called FreeCell was included for testing the new Win32s functions.

Year 1993 –
The number of licensed users of Microsoft Windows now totals more than 25 million.

To entice game manufacturers to move from DOS to Windows, Microsoft provided a first attempt at high-speed graphics and animation capabilities for Windows 3.1x, introduced in September 1994.

Windows' GDI capabilities were originally designed with static images in-mind, allowing only for write-only graphics calls.

WinG provided a device-independent interface to graphics and printer hardware, and allowed programs to have both read and write capabilities to the WinGDC (WinG device context).

Windows 3.1x introduced new possibilities for applications, especially multimedia applications. During this era, Microsoft developed a new range of software that was implemented on this operating environment, called Microsoft Home, Microsoft Bob being one of the programs.

Windows 3.1 and WFW 3.11 quickly replaced DOS as the platform for application software on PC compatibles. Multimedia software (especially games) proliferated, although many games continued to run on DOS until Windows 95.

Program Manager was included in all versions of Windows from version 3.0 until Windows XP Service Pack 1. A non-operable icon library named progman.exe is included in Windows XP Service Pack 2, and the file was removed entirely from Windows Vista.

If Program Manager is started under Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later, it does not appear to run, but when a. grp file created for Windows 3.1 is processed, it converts. grp file contents to a Start Menu folder.

Microsoft began a television advertising campaign for the first time on March 1, 1992.
The advertisements, developed by Ogilvy & Mather, were designed to introduce a broader audience to Windows.

Windows 3.1 was shipped worldwide on April 6, 1992, and reached three million sales two months later.
The year of Windows 3.1's release was successful for Microsoft, which was named the "Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S." by Forbes magazine, while Windows became the most widely used GUI-based operating environment.

Windows 3.1 found a niche market as an embedded operating system after becoming obsolete in the PC world.

On July 9, 2008, it was announced that Windows for Workgroups 3.11 for the embedded devices channel would no longer be made available for OEM distribution

On July 14, 2013, Linux kernel 3.11 was officially named "Linux for Workgroups" as a tongue-in-cheek reference to "Windows for Workgroups 3.11".

Windows NT 3.1
Release Date - July 27, 1993
The first version of Windows NT was Windows NT 3.1 and was produced for workstations and server computers. It was intended to complement consumer versions of Windows (including Windows 1.0 through Windows 3.1x) that were based on MS-DOS. Gradually, the Windows NT family was expanded into Microsoft's general-purpose operating system product line for all personal computers, deprecating the Windows 9x family.

"NT" was formerly expanded to "New Technology" but no longer carries any specific meaning. Starting with Windows 2000,
"NT" was removed from the product name and is only included in the product version string
NT was the first purely 32-bit version of Windows, whereas its consumer-oriented counterparts, Windows 3.1x and Windows 9x, were 16-bit/32-bit hybrids. It is a multi-architecture operating system. Initially, it supported several CPU architectures, including IA-32, MIPS, DEC Alpha, PowerPC and later Itanium. The latest versions support x86 (more specifically IA-32 and x64) and ARM. Major features of the Windows NT family include Windows Shell, Windows API, Native API, Active Directory, Group Policy, Hardware Abstraction Layer, NTFS, BitLocker, Windows Store, Windows Update, and Hyper-V

Windows NT 3.1 was the first version of Windows to use 32-bit flat virtual memory addressing on 32-bit processors. Its companion product, Windows 3.1, used segmented addressing and switches from 16-bit to 32-bit addressing in pages.

NTFS, a secure file system, was created for NT.
Windows NT also allows for other installable file systems; starting with versions 3.1, NT could be installed on FAT or HPFS file systems.

Windows NT 3.1 – Workstations and Server
Microsoft Windows NT 3.5 was released September 21, 1994. - Workstations and Server
Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 was released May 30, 1995. -  Workstations and Server

Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 was released July 29, 1996. –
Workstation, Server, Server Enterprise Edition, Terminal Server, Embedded
Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptively multitasked, graphical operating system, designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was part of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996.
It is a 32-bit Windows system available in both workstation and server editions with a graphical environment similar to that of Windows 95.
Windows NT 4.0 is the last major release of Microsoft Windows to support the Alpha, MIPS or PowerPC CPU architectures. It remained in use by businesses for a number of years, despite Microsoft's many efforts to get customers to upgrade to Windows 2000 and newer versions.

Windows NT 4.0 was the last release in the Windows NT line to be branded as Windows NT although Windows 2000 carried the designation "Built on NT Technology".

Windows NT introduced its own driver model, the Windows NT driver model, and is incompatible with older driver frameworks. With Windows 2000, the Windows NT driver model was enhanced to become the Windows Driver Model, which was first introduced with Windows 98, but was based on the NT driver model.

Windows Vista added native support for the Windows Driver Foundation, which is also available for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and to an extent, Windows 2000.

On November 7, 2015, Orly Airport near Paris, France, had a major computer glitch that interrupted its operations for some time. The newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné later revealed that the glitch happened in an essential meteorological system called DECOR, which at the time of the incident still ran on Windows 3.1 – 23 years after the operating system's release and 14 years after Microsoft ceased to support it. The French Transportation Minister promised to have the system replaced by 2017, but the secretary general of the French air traffic controller union expressed his skepticism.

Windows 3.x was superseded by the release of Windows 95 in August 1995. Microsoft officially dropped support for all 16-bit versions of Windows on December 31, 2001.

Microsoft Windows/386 or Windows 386 is introduced December 9, 1987 and is initially sold for $100.00.

Microsoft Windows/286 or Windows 286 is introduced June, 1988 and is initially sold for $100.00.

Microsoft Windows 3.0 was released May, 22 1990. Microsoft Windows 3.0 full version was priced at $149.95 and the upgrade version was priced at $79.95.

Then Started the Era of Windows 95,98 which ended with Windows 10 as Windows 10 has now become a service.


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Tuesday, August 2, 2016

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