is a version of the
Microsoft Windows Graphical User Interface -based
Operating Environment that superseded
Windows 1.0 . Windows 2.0 was said to more closely match Microsoft's pre-release publicity for Windows 1.0 than Windows 1.0 did.
Windows 2.0 allows windows to overlap each other, unlike
Windows 1.0 , which could only display tiled windows. This limitation was imposed due to lawsuits from
Apple Computer (although some argue that dialog boxes and drop-down menus constitute overlapping windows).
Windows 2.0 also introduced more sophisticated keyboard-shortcuts and the terminology of "Minimize" and "Maximize", as opposed to "Iconize" and "Zoom" in Windows 1.0.
The first Windows versions of
Microsoft Word and
Microsoft Excel run on Windows 2.0. Third-party developer support for Windows increased substantially with this version (some shipped the Windows Runtime software with their applications, for customers who had not purchased the full version of Windows). However, most developers still maintained DOS versions of their applications, as Windows users were still a distinct minority of their market.
Windows 2.0 was supplemented by
Windows/286 and
Windows/386 in 1988. Windows 2.0, Windows/286 and Windows/386 were superseded by
Windows 3.0 in May 1990.
