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Windows 1.0 is a 16-bit graphical Operating Environment released on November 20 1985 . It was Microsoft 's first attempt to implement a Multi-tasking Graphical User Interface -based Operating Environment on the PC platform. FEATURES Windows 1.0 offers limited multitasking of existing MS-DOS programs and concentrates on creating an interaction Paradigm (cf. Message Loop ), an execution model and a stable API for Native programs for the future. Due to Microsoft's extensive support for Backward Compatibility , it is not only possible to execute Windows 1.0 Binary programs on current versions of Windows to a large extent, but also to recompile their Source Code into an equally functional "modern" application with just limited modifications . Windows 1.0 is often regarded as a "front-end to the MS-DOS Operating System ", a description which has also been applied to subsequent versions of Windows. Windows 1.0 is an MS-DOS program. Windows 1.0 programs can call MS-DOS functions, and GUI programs are run from .exe files just like MS-DOS programs. However, Windows .exe files had their own "new executable" (NE) file format, which only Windows could process and which, for example, allowed demand-loading of code and data. Applications were supposed to handle memory only through Windows' own memory management system, which implemented a software-based Virtual Memory scheme allowing for applications larger than available RAM . Windows 1.0 was designed to be a full-fledged operating system, rather than just a graphics environment used by applications. Windows 1.0 includes original Device Driver s for video cards, a mouse, keyboards, printers and serial communications. Applications were supposed to only invoke APIs built upon these drivers. Given that contemporary graphics support in MS-DOS is extremely limited and given the limited usefulness of the other services, MS-DOS applications have to go to the ''bare hardware'' (or sometimes just to the BIOS ) to get work done. Therefore, rather than being a front-end to MS-DOS, Windows 1.0 complements and partially replaces it. The level of replacement increases in subsequent versions. Nevertheless, Windows 1.0 is a "DOS front-end" in that it uses, for example, the file-handling functions provided by DOS and therefore can not operate without a DOS environment. Further, Windows 1.0 provides functions for applications which they could call, but the implementation of many of these functions uses less complex functions provided by a DOS environment. So Windows 1.0 is an intermediate between a front-end and an operating system. VERSION HISTORY The first release version is actually numbered 1.01. It has been rumored that version 1.00 was actually released but quickly pulled due to a severe flaw having to do with keyboard input. However, this rumor has now been fairly conclusively disproven through a number of reliable sources comments on the version history of Windows 1.x. For example, Ben Armstrong's (a program manager for Microsoft's Virtual Machine Technology Team) comments on Windows 1.0: ...few people know that Windows 1.0 was actually never released. Windows 1.0 was the version of Windows that was demonstrated at the '83 Comdex. It would be 14 months until Microsoft eventually released Windows 1.01 - which included some minor bug fixes - to the general public. {Link without Title} Version 1.02, released in May 1986, was international and had editions in several European languages. Version 1.03, released in August 1986, was for the US- and international market, 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 1.0''x'' was superseded in November 1987, with the release of Windows 2.0 . DETAILS The system requirements for Windows 1.0 constituted MS-DOS 2.0, 256 KB RAM, and 2 double-sided disk drives or a hard drive. Windows 1.0 runs a Shell program known as MS-DOS Executive. Other supplied programs are Calculator , Calendar , Cardfile , Clipboard viewer, Clock, Control Panel , Notepad , Paint , Reversi , Terminal , and Write . Windows 1.0 does not allow overlapping windows. Instead all windows are '' Tiled ''. Only dialog boxes can appear over other windows. Windows 1.0 executables, while having the same .exe Extension and initial file header as MS-DOS programs, do not contain the so-called ''MS-DOS stub'' which prints the "This program requires Microsoft Windows" 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 native applications and for many versions the multitasking was Non-preemptive ), so Windows programs always had their own Menu Bar rather than switching a single menu bar at the top of the screen like Apple Macintosh es did. Originally Windows was designed to have the pull-up menus at the bottom of windows, as it was common with the DOS programs of the time; however, this was changed before the first release. Windows 1.0 was supported by Microsoft for sixteen years , until December 31 2001. Windows 1.0 was the longest supported operating system of the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. COMPETITORS ON THE IBM PC PLATFORM The history of Windows dates back to 's Visi On environment which debuted at the same time. However, even when finally released, Windows 1.0 aroused little interest as well, showing the market was simply not yet ready for a switch-over from MS-DOS. Another GUI for the PC platform at the time was GEM . It copied more aspects from the Macintosh GUI , for example the Trash Can concept (which Microsoft would in turn copy in future Windows releases) and more generally the desktop interaction. GEM was eventually used as the standard GUI for the Atari's ST range of 68k -based computers, which were sometimes referred to as Jackintosh es (the company being run by Jack Tramiel ). GEM's resemblance to the Macintosh OS later caused legal trouble for the manufacturer, Digital Research , who was obliged to seriously cripple the desktop's appearance and functionality (applications were not affected). GEM is not multitasking, so users have to close one program in order to run another one. Collections of related programs, like GEM Draw , have tricky File menu items like ''Close (to Edit)'' to facilitate switching. 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 is able to multitask DOS applications in windows as long as they are well-behaved or have a specially written "loader" to fix them on the fly. As the result of this heavy competition, Windows gained very little market share — until Aldus PageMaker shipped in January 1987 with a Windows executable. This was the first WYSIWYG Desktop Publishing program available on the PC platform, and it finally gave people a reason to buy Windows. Later Windows compatible products included Excel and Corel Draw . Other such shell programs include Norton Commander , DOS Shell , and DOS Menu (in MS-DOS version 4.0). SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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