40 Years of Windows

In 1985, Bill Gates demonstrated at Comdex what could be done with the graphical user interface “Windows 1.0” and praised how much it “oriented itself to the natural visual and working habits of humans.”

In Microsoft's history, he is quoted as saying: “Windows 1.0 is unique software for demanding users who want to increase their productivity with the PC.” Steve Ballmer played a used car dealer who wanted to sell the graphical overlay of MS-DOS for $99. Click, click! (Buy a mouse)

Windows 1.0 had been announced in November 1983. It was supposed to be released the following year. But that didn't happen. It wasn't until 1985 that Microsoft was able to present a stable interface with some programs. Time was pressing: Bill Gates and his managers knew that IBM was negotiating at Comdex with the company Visicorp about the acquisition of the VisiOn user interface for its PC-DOS, which had been developed by Microsoft, after their development named TopView proved unusable. The effort Microsoft put into the trade fair was correspondingly large. Advertising for Windows was on restaurant napkins and car rental keychains; a bag with Windows advertising was hung on the doors of major hotels every day. Microsoft's advertising chief, Pam Edstrom, is said to have personally delivered the bag to the suite where IBM and Visicorp were negotiating.

Broad Compatibility Promised

The central message of the Windows advertising was a bold promise: Windows 1.0 should be able to run on 90 percent of all (IBM-compatible) PCs and allow users to switch between individual programs without having to close them and then restart them. That sounded good, but it didn't catch on. The soberly stated fact in the Microsoft history cited at the beginning is: “However, the software was not really adopted. It wasn't until Windows 3.0 that Microsoft gained broader acceptance among users.”

Windows 1.0, VisiOn, TopView, GEM from Digital Research, and Mondrian from Dynamical Systems Research—all these attempts to grace the PC with a graphical interface struggled with the weak performance of the IBM-compatible computers of the time. Even Microsoft, where as a DOS developer they had direct access to DOS functions, struggled with insufficient RAM. Thus, employees were instructed to demonstrate Windows 1.0 only with a memory expansion card like the Intel Above Board or the Tecmar Memory Card and with a hard drive to mask the poor performance. Anyone who wanted to start Windows 1.0 on a typical computer with two drives at the time had to swap floppy disks five times before the interface was ready to start. Windows, previously mocked as vaporware, turned out to be a rather sluggish performer.

When Windows was announced in 1983, Gates had promised that Windows would be supplied as an OEM version directly with the purchase of a new PC from the manufacturer. This was not the case, at least not in Germany, where Windows was delivered in version 1.03. Windows cost DM 399, and the mouse, which was actually necessary for operation, cost DM 799. It was originally developed for the word-processing software MS Word. Windows and mouse together cost a bargain DM 900, which was justified by the fact that the introductory offer included MS Write, a complete word processor that would later cost DM 1700 individually. Furthermore, Microsoft Germany advertised that it would deliver Windows with an extensive warranty for hardware and software. Upon closer inspection, the software warranty turned out to be an assurance to replace defective floppy disks. “Microsoft provides no warranty that the program will meet the purchaser's requirements and that it will operate error-free in the selection made by the purchaser and with other programs.”

In c't, Windows 1.0 was presented in 1986. “Those who love dialog boxes and mice don't necessarily have to buy hardware with an 'A' (Atari, Apple, Amiga). The PC will do too...” The presentation ended quite positively: “It remains to be hoped that as many good programs as possible will be (or will become or will be made) runnable under Windows. Write is a start, and the graphics drawing program In-A-Vision is a glimpse into the future.” This glimpse into the future was unique for a long time because the software industry ignored Windows. The second Windows program, Pagemaker from Aldus, appeared in December 1986. Windows was so rarely used then that Pagemaker launched with its Windows version.

Breakthrough

The version of the Excel spreadsheet program for Windows 2.0, ported by Microsoft from Apple in 1987, was finally the program that allowed Windows to take off. For three years, there was no competition for Excel, partly because Lotus had decided to develop its 1-2-3 spreadsheet for OS/2. It is no coincidence that in 1990, Microsoft Excel, not Windows, played the leading role in Bill Gates' Comdex keynote when he spoke about “Information at your Fingertips.” Almost all screenshots of interconnected objects shown in this keynote were Excel spreadsheets—under the new Presentation Manager of Windows 3.0.

Anyone who wants to try out what Windows 1.0 felt like for its birthday will find it here, even if the speed at which the interface starts is not particularly realistic.

(mki)