Windows 1.0 Review - Blast from the Past - Byte 1983

Windows 95, 98, XP, Vista, Windows 7... so many versions of the most popular operating system of all times: Microsoft's Windows.

But... do you remember how all this started? Where were you back in 1983 when it all began?

Things were quite different back then. Windows was just one more program running on top of DOS 2.0, and computers had dual 5.25" floppy drives (each capable of holding 360Kb of data) and computers had about 256KB of Ram (go on, laugh all you want :)

However, in those old text console days, Apple was already pushing forward with its Lisa, and MS couldn't afford to be left behind - hence, Windows 1.0 was born, allowing you to mix text and graphics in freely resizable windows.(All this makes me remember just how much the Amiga was an amazing achievement when it popped up just a couple of years after this.)

Check out what they say in the conclusion of their review:

It is natural to wonder whether Microsoft Windows ability to run in limited memory and off floppy disks will result in noticeable delays during execution. Even Lisa with its megabyte of memory and 68000 microprocessor frequently asks the user to wait. Is the ease of use worth the waiting? Will Microsoft Windows somehow ingeniously avoid the problems of these delays?

Can you believe that? They worried about having to wait for the computer... while we now live in an era where computers spend most of their time waiting for us. That alone is enough to show anyone just how much things have evolved. :)


Read more about it in Windows 1.0 review made by BYTE as it was done back in December 1983.