Time Flies -- Windows Turns 30

smstonypoint · Nov 19, 2015

It doesn't seem that long ago, but Windows debuted 30 years ago come tomorrow (11/20). Windows turns 30: a visual history | The Verge provides an interesting visual history.

Back in 1985, Windows 1.0 required two floppy disks, 256 kilobytes of memory, and a graphics card. If you wanted to run multiple programs, then you needed a PC with a hard disk and 512 kilobytes of memory.

Steve

Mendonsy · Nov 20, 2015

AND ... of the thirteen versions documented in that article there were six of them that actually worked fairly well.

MNBobcat · Nov 20, 2015

Of the 13 there were only 3 that I never used. Windows 1, 8 and 10.

Clay45 · Nov 20, 2015

I remember Windows getting started. It is an improvement of the DOSSHELL I recall around DOS v5. I actually purchased Windows 286 (didn't work), Windows 386 (didn't work), IBM OS/2 (didn't work), Windows 3.0 (It worked!) Windows 3.1 (Worked Better!), versions up thru XT & 7. I signed up for W10.0 but have never received it. I suspect its having problems of some kind with my platform because others signed up after me and received their notice and installation while I'm still waiting.

buckeyefarmer · Nov 20, 2015

Thought it was the stupidest thing, and didn't help much. And not an original idea.

Os2 was much better.

Bird · Nov 20, 2015

Clay45 said:
I remember Windows getting started. It is an improvement of the DOSSHELL I recall around DOS v5. I actually purchased Windows 286 (didn't work), Windows 386 (didn't work), IBM OS/2 (didn't work), Windows 3.0 (It worked!) Windows 3.1 (Worked Better!), versions up thru XT & 7. I signed up for W10.0 but have never received it. I suspect its having problems of some kind with my platform because others signed up after me and received their notice and installation while I'm still waiting.

I once bought a computer with IBM OS/2 and promptly dumped it to go to Windows. I've had Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, and now 10. For me, 10 is the best thing since 3.1 so far.

chad22 · Nov 20, 2015

WOW. That's a few years older than me. I'm 27 will be 28 March 8th 2016.

Time sure does fly.

I remember my first computer when I was 13 had windows 98. It was a computer my parents bought at a pawn shop.

I used AOL dial up as my first connection to the net back in 2001.

I also remember having vista on a new computer my parents bought in 2007. That computer was really slow and finally bit the dust a few years later due to a lightning storm. I had forgotten to unplug it and it fried it.

Happy birthday windows.

Hard to believe 2001 has been nearly 15 years ago. It will be 15 years since 2001 Jan 2016.

edit: I just noticed the date I joined. It's been 5 years since joining TBN.

I was 22 years old when I joined. "Hence the 22" at the end of my username.

tcartwri · Nov 21, 2015

I wonder how many non billable hours I spent fixing bugs in NT....

gwstang · Nov 21, 2015

I still remember having to type in CD/ to change directories on the C drive. DOS was run from a giant floppy disc. Fun days until windows came along.

buckeyefarmer · Nov 21, 2015

I still use the CD command

/pine · Nov 21, 2015

tcartwri said:
I wonder how many non billable hours I spent fixing bugs in NT....

The only reason I ever used NT was because it acknowledged multi-processors...nix still rules IMO...!

MossRoad · Nov 21, 2015

Windows is an inelegant pig. The only reason it works these days is because processor speeds have come to the point where they can power through the mush faster than you can notice what a dog it really is. The developer should be ashamed of releasing such a brick. It is a third world operating system supported by first rate marketing.

I really enjoyed working with UNIX systems on SUN Sparc boxes and DEC Alphas a long time ago. Man, 30 years.... where'd they go? :confused3:

MossRoad · Nov 21, 2015

/pine said:
The only reason I ever used NT was because it acknowledged multi-processors...nix still rules IMO...!

NT:
Nice Try
Not Today
Next Time

Jim Shooz · Nov 22, 2015

I notice that Windows 10 has included "Command Prompt" in the start menu. Ping was/still is always useful. There must be a few 'oldies' still around.

Always reckoned that X-Tree Gold was the best in finding out what was going on.

tcartwri · Nov 22, 2015

Wow....x-tree.... I had forgotten about that one

MNBobcat · Nov 22, 2015

gwstang said:
I still remember having to type in CD/ to change directories on the C drive. DOS was run from a giant floppy disc. Fun days until windows came along.

When I started on PCs there was no such thing as a hard drive or a floppy drive. We had to boot from a cassette tape recorder!

My first dial-up was 300 baud.

Mendonsy · Nov 22, 2015

And of course there is all the stuff that preceded the first PC. Loading programs with paper tape through a 110 baud teletype was real fun!

MossRoad · Nov 22, 2015

Yeah, we had a typesetter that had a paper punch tape to load the program. That was in 1987.

Bird · Nov 23, 2015

MNBobcat said:
When I started on PCs there was no such thing as a hard drive or a floppy drive. We had to boot from a cassette tape recorder!

Sounds like my first computer; a Radio Shack "Color Computer" hooked to a 13" RCA color TV I had for a monitor. My Color Computer was 32K; they had just upgraded from the original 16k machines. A cassette tape recorder was used to save any of your work, and the printer used a 4" wide roll of paper and actually had 4 tiny ball point pens that printed on that paper roll.

Gunny · Nov 23, 2015

My first was a Commodore 64 with the cassette drive, hooked to a 13" B&W television (later on I got the external floppy drive). It usually took several hours to type code and trouble shoot for a simple game that took just a few minutes to play.

Still have everything except the TV up in the attic today, stored in the original boxes. I doubt it, but I kept them thinking that someday they may be worth something.