Since Mike Nash announced in the Vista Team Blog that the next version of Windows is to be officially called “Windows 7,” some people have been wondering how they came up with this number. To find out, let’s take a brief look back at past versions of Windows and their numbered release sequence.
Windows 1.0 – December 20, 1985
Rowland Hanson, head of marketing at Microsoft, was the person who actually named the product “Windows.” Due to Apple patent restrictions, Windows could only appear “tiled” (without overlapping) and there was no “trash can.” This was later resolved by a licensing agreement between Microsoft and Apple. Most folks saw Windows 1 as an unnecessary extension of MS-DOS. A friend working at IBM in Atlanta brought me an early copy of Windows 1.0 to look at, and we both thought it was a curiosity. I installed it and deleted it the same day.
Computer enthusiasts around this time were busy typing in little “debug scripts” from PC Magazine to make tiny little programs that did something useful in DOS.
Windows 2.0 – December 9, 1987
This version added a strange hybrid mode for Excel and Word for Windows. Although both versions ran under MS-DOS, they could start Windows and execute as a graphical application. I was happily learning the shift-F functions of WordPerfect in DOS at the time, and Windows 2 slid right by me.
Windows 3.0 – May 22, 1990
This was the first version that was recognizably what we would call Windows today. My friend at IBM brought it to me, and we discussed it for some time. I never purchased it because he was extolling the virtues of IBM’s forthcoming OS/2, which I used for some time after. (OS/2 “Warp” got me on the Internet for the first time.) My buddy warned me about Windows 3.0, “It’ll take over your computer.” That was prescient.
Windows 3.x included Program Manager, File Manager, and Print Manager. A revised development environment was supposed to make it easier to code for Windows. A side trip was “Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions” sold with a sound card and CD-ROM as an add-on. This became the basis for Microsoft’s first concept of a “Multimedia PC.”
About this time, VGA (virtual graphics array) graphics first introduced by IBM on their PS/2 PC lineup had supplanted the earlier EGA (enhanced graphics array) pioneered on the original IBM PC-AT. Most people looked at Windows 3.0 for the first time using a 640 x 480 screen resolution, although a few lucky souls had XGA (extended graphics array) and looked at Program Manager in 1024 x 768. (XGA proved amazingly durable. I bought an extravagant 13-inch “multi-sync” monitor to use with an 8514/A graphics card in my Microchannel-based PS/2 Model 70. Fifteen years later, I bought a 15-inch IBM ThinkPad notebook also with a 1024 x 768 screen.)
Windows 4.0 – August 24, 1995 - Windows 95, 98, 98 Second Edition, and Millennium
All of these versions started an underlying layer of MS-DOS before Windows itself could load.
Windows 95 used a special mode of the 80386 processors called “Enhanced Mode.” This brought (theoretical) two-gigabyte memory addressing and virtual memory, which was the ability to use parts of memory that were non-contiguous (i.e., scattered around in the memory map).
Windows 98 added USB support and integrated Internet Explorer into the OS. This was a decision that had long-reaching repercussions. United States vs. Microsoft was the first of the lawsuits.
Windows 98 SE brought Internet Connection Sharing, fixed some stability problems, and was probably the most stable version of Windows to date.
Windows Millennium Edition introduced System Restore, improved Internet, and multimedia features. Windows ME was as unstable as 98 SE was stable, and it earned the moniker “Windows Mistake Edition.” PC World put Windows ME fourth in their list of the twenty-five worst tech products of all time.
Windows ME was also the last version of Windows to be based on MS-DOS
Next: Windows 5 (Windows 2000 and Windows XP), Windows 6 (Vista), Internal/External Numbering, and Further Reading
