Microsoft Windows 1.0, released in November 1985, was Microsoft's first effort to implement a multitasking graphical operating environment on the PC platform.

Unlike later versions, Windows 1.0 offered limited multitasking of existing MS-DOS programs and concentrated on creating an interaction paradigm, an execution model and a stable API for native programs for the future. Twenty years later, it is not only possible to execute Windows 1.0 binary programs on current Windows XP to a large extent, but also to recompile their source code into a functional "modern" application with limited modifications.

Although Windows 1.0 (and many subsequent releases) is often considered as a "front-end to the MS-DOS operating system", it was neither a Norton Commander nor a DESQview. From the very beginning it had its own segmented-executable file format for applications, which allowed demand-loading of code and data, and its own memory management, which implemented a software-based virtual memory scheme which allowed to run applications larger than available RAM. Quite naturally, Windows 1.0 already included original device drivers, for video adapters, mouse, keyboard, printers and serial communications. At the time, graphics support in MS-DOS was limited to being able to make a hardcopy of the screen on Epson-compatible printers.

Version 1.0 was announced by Microsoft in November 1983, two years before the release, becoming infamous for being a never appearing vaporware. This probably did not help the sales of VisiCorp's Visi On environment. However, even when finally released, Windows 1.0 aroused little interest, showing the market was simply not yet ready for a switch-over from MS-DOS.

Version history

The first release version was actually numbered 1.01.

Version 1.02, released in May 1986 was international and had editions in several European languages.

Version 1.03, released in August 1986, was US-only, with enhancements making it consistent with the international release. It included drivers for European keyboards and additional screen and printer drivers.

Version 1.04, released in April 1987, added support for the VGA graphics adapters of the new IBM PS/2 computers. 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Windows 1.x was superseded in November 1987, with the release of Windows 2.0.

Details

This first version of Windows ran a shell program known as MS-DOS Executive.

Microsoft Windows 1.01

One of the interesting aspects of the system were the non-overlapping windows, which were instead tiled. Only dialog boxes could appear over other windows.

Windows 1.0 executables, while having the same .exe extension and initial file header as MS-DOS programs, did not yet contain the so-called MS-DOS stub which prints the "This program must be run under Windows" or similar message and exits when the program is run outside of Windows. Instead, the file header was formatted in such a way as to make DOS reject the executable with a "program too large to fit in memory" error message.

From the beginning, Windows was intended to multitask programs (although this originally only applied to specially-written applications and for many versions the multitasking was non-preemptive), so Windows program always had their own menu bar rather than switching a single menu bar at the top of the screen like Apple Macintoshes did.

Competitors

Another GUI for the PC platform at the time was GEM. It had a nicer look, notably because it copied much more from the Macintosh GUI, notably the trash can, and more generally the desktop interaction. Atari ST 68k-based computers running GEM were sometimes called Jackintoshes as a consequence (see Jack Tramiel). This resemblance later caused legal trouble to the manufacturer, Digital Research, who was obliged to seriously cripple the desktop appearance and functionality of the product.

But GEM was not multitasking, so users had to close one program in order to run another one. Collections of related programs, like GEM Draw , had tricky File menu items like Close (to Edit) to facilitate switching. GEM was merely a GUI toolkit for applications rather than an integration environment like Windows.

An alternative multitasker released shortly before was DESQview, a successor of IBM's failed TopView from 1984. It did not have graphical capabilities initially, but was able to multitask DOS applications in windows as long as they were well-behaved or had a specially written "loader" which could fix them on the fly.

See also

• ViewMAX
• GEOS
• Software Carousel