Windows Turns 30 Today

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How many of you were around for the launch of Windows 1.0 on November 20, 1985?

The PC revolution started off life 30 years ago this week. Microsoft launched its first version of Windows on November 20th, 1985, to succeed MS-DOS. It was a huge milestone that paved the way for the modern versions of Windows we use today. While Windows 10 doesn’t look anything like Windows 1.0, it still has many of its original fundamentals like scroll bars, drop-down menus, icons, dialog boxes, and apps like Notepad and MS paint.
 
i was only, i think the only important to me was TMNT, Thundercats, GI joe, and Voltron.
 
Doesn't look a day over 25, in fact its looking like 2yrs old now with the minimalist colors and sharp edged windows of Win 8.
 
I remember reading in the newspaper about Windows 95 I was confused untill I started playing Quake in 1996 what the fuss was about.
 
Now when you say "around"....do you mean at the launch or alive during the launch? lol.
I actually had an interest in computers at that age...but our school had mainly Apple 2E's at the time....so we only had things like > Choplifter and Aztec to play. I believe the 1st version of Windows had like 13 (install) floppy discs....bleh.
 
I was 5 years old.

I didn't care about computers yet.

When I did start caring, 3 or 4 years later, I was entirely into DOS, didn't care about Windows. Didn't even use Windows at all until 3.11
 
I was 3, and I didn't get into computers until I was 8 so I don't remember Windows coming out. I remember Windows 3.1 and the ever more exciting Windows for Workgroups 3.1.1 (with networking).
 
Remember all too well. Even though I shipped DOS games up through DOS6.0 my first Windows game was on Windows 2.0 - BattleChess. A root canal with pain enhancers and lemon juice mouthwash was more fun to do.
 
Yeah I was young. We had a Commodore 64 and Apple 2+ and TRS 80. I don't think we had PC yet, might have had our IBM PC Jr..., not sure that could have run windows anyways.

I used windows 3.1 a bit for paint/image programs. Windows 95a was something I'd install and uninstall from time to time but I still preferred DOS for most stuff. Windows 95b and onwards though had me. Windows 98 had me finally using windows explorer for file operations instead of opening command prompts all the time :)
 
Remember all too well. Even though I shipped DOS games up through DOS6.0 my first Windows game was on Windows 2.0 - BattleChess. A root canal with pain enhancers and lemon juice mouthwash was more fun to do.

I remember thinking battlechess was super cool :)
 
Remember all too well. Even though I shipped DOS games up through DOS6.0 my first Windows game was on Windows 2.0 - BattleChess. A root canal with pain enhancers and lemon juice mouthwash was more fun to do.

I only played the dos version of BattleChess, but I pestered my parents so long to get me that game.
 
Wow; I didn't realize that windows first hit the year after I got out of high school.
In 1985 I was working in a hot, sweaty tire shop during the day and going to school at night.
 
I was five and a half. We had a Commodore and an Atari 2600. Eventually we had a Macintosh SE and then various other Macs and finally PCs. I don't remember my first exposure to Windows but I certainly wasn't using it at the beginning.
 
Everyone in this thread is so damn old!

Damn straight! To be fair though, I was just about to turn 2 at the time, and I don't think we ever had Windows on the PCjr...that had to wait until I was 4 and we got our 386. I still have (and use) software we bought for it. Great stuff, glad DOSBox exists to run it.
 
Everyone in this thread is so damn old!

People who are older than you are why you have access now to the things that you do (that is, things like the Internet, cell phones, tablet computers, game systems)...So be thankful for those who came before and show some respect ;)
 
Windows 1.0 wasn't very useful. About the only thing we ran on it was Pagemaker.

It wasn't until windows 3.0 that it really became useful.
 
Everyone in this thread is so damn old!

Well it's either that or dead.

Was a senior in high school at the time. We had a computer lab with PCs and Macs and we installed this on a couple of the PCs. Was kind of cool but Windows before 3.0 sucked overall
 
We prefer experienced :D

All that experience I have with Dos 2.0, Windows 1.0, EMS memory, Corvus Omninet, Arcnet, Netware 286, and Apple II's and III's, really comes in handy now days :)
 
Sometimes old people are cool, but most of the time they just yell at me and chase me off their front yard while waving a cane. :mad: Anyhow, call me back when Vista is 30 years old because then I can be like, "I remember when I first started using computers and all we had were magnetic drives on these stupid SATA connectors and we liked it that way!"
 
I was in college, and the only computer thing I did was play games on my dad's Commodore 64. I thought I was pretty cool. Didn't start using PCs until 1989, and didn't use Windows (3.1) until 1993. Until the late 90s all I cared about personally was Commodore Amigas.
 
I'm trying to find quotes that could characterize leadership. Of these, I most agree with Gates.
"Your most unhappy customer is your greatest source of learning."
-Bill Gates

"Just avoid holding it in that way."
Steve Jobs

"Our industry does not respect tradition - it only respects innovation"
Satya Nadella

"Focus is the key. You can only do so many things well , and you should cast aside everything else."
"in the long arc of time you are only relevant if customers love you"
Tim Cook
 
I was a field repair tech for Computers Etc. in Chicago at the time. Don't remember installing it for any of our clients at the time.

Windows 2.0 seemed more like a real product.
 
I was around, but being 7 months old, I still had quite some time before I even knew what a computer was, let alone windows.
 
Was too busy figuring out my C64 and playing Bard's Tale, Adventure Construction Set, and Phantasie to worry about yuppie business machine software like Windows.
 
I was in college, and the only computer thing I did was play games on my dad's Commodore 64. I thought I was pretty cool. Didn't start using PCs until 1989, and didn't use Windows (3.1) until 1993. Until the late 90s all I cared about personally was Commodore Amigas.

Kinda the same; Started in the early 80s with 8 bit machines; but wasn't till the early 90s I finally had a job making enough money to afford a "compatible" PC. That was 486DX 33Mhz. That thing was $2500. Everyone told me I was a fool for spending that kind of money on what they considered a "toy". I'm so glad I never listened to those idiots. (family)

I self trained on computer hardware, software, programming, etc, and all that lead me to where I am now.
If I listened to my family I would be emptying a slop bucket in the back of a restaurant or something like that.
 
Kinda the same; Started in the early 80s with 8 bit machines; but wasn't till the early 90s I finally had a job making enough money to afford a "compatible" PC. That was 486DX 33Mhz. That thing was $2500. Everyone told me I was a fool for spending that kind of money on what they considered a "toy". I'm so glad I never listened to those idiots. (family)

I self trained on computer hardware, software, programming, etc, and all that lead me to where I am now.
If I listened to my family I would be emptying a slop bucket in the back of a restaurant or something like that.


Hear hear! I was never detailed and disciplined enough for programming, but my hobbyist interest got me into IT through the back door in 1998, been paying the bills ever since.
 
Wow!! I remember my fist computer was a 486/66 Packard "HELL" with 4MB of memory, a Diamond Speedstar graphics card with 2MB of video ram, I think a 20MB HD, a Sound Blaster 16 I think and a CRT monitor that weighed 150LB!! Never forget it to this day with the Windows 95 "start me up" commercial!! I spent many a night/morning chain smoking fixing that damn thing!! LOL!!:p:D
 
I was busy trying to be Marty Mcfly on my Valtera skateboard. Plus Norton Commander did what I needed.
 
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