Windows 1.0

1985 · Windows

Microsoft's first Windows, from November 1985. It ran on top of MS-DOS and let you point and click instead of typing commands.^{1, 2}

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Released: 20 November 1985¹
Runs on: Top of MS-DOS^{2, 3}
Needed: 256 KB of memory, two floppy drives and a graphics card¹
Next version: Windows 2.0, December 1987¹

Why it was made

MS-DOS worked well, but many people found its typed commands hard to understand.¹ Windows was Microsoft's answer to the Macintosh and its graphical screen.² Instead of typing, you moved a mouse to point and click.¹ Bill Gates called it "unique software designed for the serious PC user".^{1, 3}

Close-up of the top of a Windows 1.0 screen: a blue title bar reading 'MS-DOS Executive', a yellow menu bar with File, View and Special, drive icons A and C with C selected, the path C:\WINDOWS, and file names in columns, with NOTEPAD.EXE highlighted under the mouse pointer. — Illustration · not a screenshot Close-up of our drawing: the MS-DOS Executive, where you picked files and programs with the mouse instead of typing their names. See the real screen

What it looked like

Windows 1.0 had drop-down menus, scroll bars, icons and dialog boxes, and you could switch between programs without closing them.¹ Its windows could not overlap: they sat side by side, like tiles.² It came with Paint, Notepad, Calculator, a calendar, a card file, a clock and a game called Reversi.¹

Illustration · not a screenshot Our drawing of Windows 1.0 on a color (EGA) screen: the MS-DOS Executive on top, Clock and Calculator tiled below, and Notepad, Paint and Reversi shrunk to icons along the bottom. See the real screen

Key moments

1983 Microsoft announces Windows. It takes two more years to finish, and some skeptics call it "vaporware".¹
1985 Windows 1.0 ships on 20 November.¹
1987 Windows 2.0 comes out on 9 December, and now windows can overlap.¹