Windows 1.0 Created 14 years ago2010-03-13 20:27:34 UTC by satchmo

I just read this fascinating article about the birth of the Windows OS.

It's very personal to me, because I just got into computer programming (with BASIC and Pascal) and bought my first computer in 1986 when Windows 1.0 was created.

It's amazing how many Windows applications we still use today--Notepad, Calculator, Paint--already exist in Windows 1.0

In addition, did you know that Gabe Newell personally coded Windows 1.0?

Then it must have been quality. I wish I had been around back then. Loading article now.

One of my program managers, Gabe Newell?now the head of the successful game company Valve?would pound on the software until late into the night and morning hours and then sleep in his office.

That's Gabe- always working to make quality. Even when it hurts.

Well, I knew Gabe was Microsoft's leading coder for many years until he quit and later coded for Valve. The company he now runs.

Still such a shame for that poor shmuk that Bill Gates stole the first prototype of MS-Dos from.

Uh... He co-founded Valve. Of course he runs it.

Sorry, should have worded that differently. I meant, he quit from working for Microsoft to run his own company, which is Valve. I've get a bad cold so my head isn't working right =/

Know what you mean.
Anyway, good article!

And here is the video for Windows 1.0

Yes...finally something I can definitely sink my teeth into....

I can appreciate you enthusiasm satchmo but I but hotdog is absolutely right. Everything you pretty much use was, at some point, stolen from hard working people who never really got any credit. These people worked for Commodore and the machine was the Commodore Amiga. I still have the Amiga 1000 which pretty much is set-up the same way as windows but was released and operational before windows for the pc. Amiga's were multitasking long before IBM's. The operating system was modular as well...funny huh?

I owned one of the very first personal computers....no not the stone tablet. I had a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1. This was put out right after the Pet computer. My dad still has it somewhere. I think I owned an Apple //c after that. I have been pretty anti-Bill Gates for awhile. I finally broke down and bought a pc really not too long ago--bout 10 years.

Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ! or at least a good rip-off artist!

@hotdog: Microsoft bought all rights to 86-DOS for $75,000 in 1981. What exactly was stolen?

@kd: "Anti-Bill Gates"? Nobody cares. Come back when you have an argument that holds water.

I don't especially like Gates but people who believe crap like that really irk me. He didn't get rich by stealing software, he did it by being intelligent and having a bit of luck.

I once saw a documentary in which it was explained that Bill Gates bought the then-named QDOS from some guy for $400, on the very same day he had a meeting with the IBM board to sell it to them. I guess he dropped the Q off it afterwards.

Yes, sorry it wasn't that (I blame my cold not letting me think straight) It was QDOS like DiscoStu said. Some guy wrote it for a project or something. When Bill saw it he bought it off him for a mere amount and that was how Bill got started his multimillion dollar business. I feel sorry for the poor guy who didn't realize what he had.

Oh, and I don't agree that everything was stolen. In fact, I doubt it, but I do know that that's how he got Microsoft started.

Stealing, no. Ripping off, probably.

QDOS is just another name for 86-DOS, which Microsoft paid $75,000 for. Microsoft then started licensing the software out - IBM was one of the companies. The original owners felt ripped off and sued for (and received) a million bucks.

Check Wikipedia, people!

The most talented people don't get rich.

The people with the most street smart and business savvy do.

Look at the story behind the discovery of the DNA double-helix. Watson and Crick put everyone else's data together without doing any of the work themselves. But they're smart for having someone else do the hard work.

That's the law of capitalism. Take it or leave it.

No one would say that Bill Gates is stupid or lazy.

Believe what you want....

Stolen or not Commodore was doing it long before QDOS. Too bad the machines cost an arm and a leg to buy or they would have been stiff competition.

And where exactly did QDOS originate? thin air? funny how similar the operating systems are once it was released for mass consumption. very modular of a sudden too...hmm. I guess you could say that everything was headed in that direction anyways I suppose.

and please don't brush me off like I am an idiot. I have lived through all this stuff. I might not know the fine business arrangements like you do but I remember alot of other things that add up to more than some buyout.

And Bill Gates never had an original idea in his head. All was either bought as you say or he bought the people to make it happen. And the operating system really hasn't "changed" all that much to actually help anyone--just how many copies can we sell for a hundred bucks a pop.

Don't get me wrong...Bill Gates is a great guy.....now.....lol

This discussion isn't going anywhere. I think everyone knows Microsoft haven't done everything clean, but there's no doubt they're intelligent.

Microsoft had its peak, I think, in the late 90' and at the beginning of the last decade.
What they did with Netscape was miserable. No problem. Now they are slowly being killed by the evolution. See Microsoft Encarta. Destroyed by Wikipedia...
The only software that really keeps them alive is Windows, because it's just so popular, and Microsoft Office.

I really believe that Google is going to replace Microsoft within twenty years, or maybe less.

But Google has been innovative in most projects, so the future is brighter.

No, this discussion really is going no where because I don't really think anyone gets it anyways. No offense to any of the fine people here. It's just a conversation, ok? It's ok to talk.

I would just have liked to see what things would have been without Bills Gates and without Microsoft or the isolation that microsoft has created in the office world and the whole personal computer world as a whole. There were alot of other computer choices when this all started and now we are all pretty well forced to buy an IBM and the dreaded software that never works quite the way you want it to--windows 7 is a testament to this and you know it. Why in the world would you make a piece of software that is not backwards compatible?!? Half the people either can't use it or have to go and buy new equipment to make it work. This is counterproductive.

Wouldn't ya all like a world where you actually had a choice again? This is what google is doing--giving you back the choice. Firefox destroyed Internet Explorer and why was this? Cause it gave you the choice to switch to something else-something good.

I think the overall concept for the future is the open source! Bill Gates does not like this cause it does not give him a monopoly on the biz so he constantly fights it with copyrights and lawsuits. Perfectly within his rights but it won't last forever! Anybody ever use Linux? All Open source!

Like I said, Bill Gates is cool.....now...

I still like everyone....lol

I think you may be the one who doesn't get it. The reason Windows is 'counter-productive' is because it is backwards compatible. Microsoft need to (and have needed to for at least 5 years now) drop the entire Windows kernel and write it from scratch. Apple did it, and now they have a much better product. Microsoft need to do the same.

Then you'd need to dump all your software and buy new "new windows generation" apps.

Plus you'd need a virtual box to run HL and Hammer...

I would just have liked to see what things would have been without Bills Gates and without Microsoft or the isolation that microsoft has created in the office world and the whole personal computer world as a whole

I wonder how things would've been without Hitler on the WW2 scene...
That's how life is, the history can't be changed. If Microsoft didn't existed, a man from 6 billion could've still figure out until now a "windows" like operating system.

[EDIT] Btw, I don't want to make a new thread, so I'm giving this piece of information here( it's offtopic sorry):
All HDD companies adhered to a new standard for HDDs: 4 kb sectors instead of 512 bytes. This should improve the efficiency of the HDD with about 10-15% (if I remember correctly), the problem being that Windows XP is not so compatible with this technology. The real problem for XP users is that this technology will gradually be implemented until 2011. So it's implemented as we talk...
I anyway want to switch to Windows 7 by 2012 or 2013...

Actually, it isn't.....fully.....and you know it. Stop arguing with me dude!

Then why and the hell were there so many problems on it's release? Because nobody could get it to work on their older machines. My boss just bought an older computer a week ago and bought windows 7 and couldn't get it to hook to the internet because why? because windows 7 couldn't pick up the older hardware. IT IS NOT FULLY backwards compatible and I will never buy it.

I think you just like arguing with me penguin....lol....it's all good.

And Apple is the far superior product and has been for quite awhile. Too bad I sold mine long ago for this lovely piece of Bill Gates.

And actually, a few other machines had a chance to survive but did not have the capital to continue. Anyone here ever used a commodore Amiga or seen the operating system? Penguin? Since you are all knowing on the subject? I think it really would blow most people away to see how advanced it was for the time and the fact that microsoft didn't have anything like it. Multitasking was not a keyword then but the machine did it with little to no problems. Very modular operating system which makes it easy to swap out, update, and improve parts of the system on the fly. And yes, there was a point and click system way before windows 0.nothing. It's called Workbench and it was the FIRST point and click operating system.

You can all shave the finer points all you want but I know the industry was robbed as a whole when Bill Gates came on the scene and ruined it for everyone by monopolizing the way computers are sold. And god forbid your technology is close to his or he might sue you. So much for collaboration!

You guys think what you want. I guess I am just stuck in my ways! LOL

In a market economy it's rarely enough just to be first.

And Bill Gates never had an original idea in his head. All was either bought as you say or he bought the people to make it happen. And the operating system really hasn't "changed" all that much to actually help anyone--just how many copies can we sell for a hundred bucks a pop.

Yeah. Windows 7 is pretty much Win 1.0 with flashy desktop effects... Or wait.

Then why and the hell were there so many problems on it's release? Because nobody could get it to work on their older machines. My boss just bought an older computer a week ago and bought windows 7 and couldn't get it to hook to the internet because why? because windows 7 couldn't pick up the older hardware. IT IS NOT FULLY backwards compatible and I will never buy it.

It's not realistic for it to have drivers for every piece of hardware ever released. Providing drivers is the responsibility of the manufacturer.

I wouldn't worry about Microsoft or monopoly. I think Google is well position ed to provide a healthy competition for Microsoft.

Have you heard? Chrome OS is going to replace Windows as the dominating OS in the world.

Bullshit, satchmo. It'll never happen.

Chrome isn't even a real OS. It just stores everything on the web and leaves you at the mercy of your internet connection. It's a flop waiting to happen. With the growth in storage and processing power, there is no need for it. Maybe back in the old IBM terminals days, but nowadays, everything can easily be run client-side.

Ahh, but that's short-sighted.

In the future, internet connection would be ubiquitous and nearly 100% reliable. Everything will be wireless, and everything will be transmitting at an extremely high speed.

Twenty years ago, people would never be able to predict the world we live in today, with internet, facebook, YouTube, and everyone owning a mobile phone.

Twenty years from now, the world will be a drastically different place. None of us would recognize it or even imagine it.

Just watch Back To The Future II.

In the future internet may very well be fast and reliable, but nothing is 100% reliable. They would at least need some client side processing ability and memory storage.

Regardless, such a design is a step backwards, not a step forward. Plus, all it takes is one well-coordinated attack on the system and everyone's personal information is compromised.

People like to have something they can physically keep track of. The internet has always been best used for exchanging information, I can't see it ever being more practical to store all your files on a corporate server than in the PC you're accessing said files with. They're my files, I want them here with me; that's the gist of it.
It's nice and futuristic, probably really cheap too, but I feel that it's just an impractical core concept.

^this.

I supposed it would come in handy for multiple computers, though. But really, that's more like an advanced flash drive.

Network Places > Create Network (LAN) > Bridge connection.

I do it.

LAN's no good when you're not within the local area network. Go figure.

LAN: The only reliable way to transfer large files.

The only way I see the internet advancing is towards a more 3D virtual world. And I don't mean like in Second Life, but more virtual reality style. Either with a computer 'room' where your computer surrounds you and you can navigate freely, or even further into the future with implants that allow us to connect our brains with the internet and we control a cyber version of ourself and the internet is another world, much like Second Life, only you are the character you play.

I find the future tends to get influenced by books and movies about the future. It gives people ideas and they invent them. My first thought came from the movie I watched recently 'Gamer' and the second came from a series of Tom Clancy novels. This is just speculation, but I reckon this is what we can expect in the future.

Holodecks are the way to do it- Holodecks connected to the internet.
When that happens, we can have threads be lounges, and 'posts' would be recorded, with the ability to have holograms re-play them.