path: root / src / talks / how-windows-came-to-power / index.md

# Windows used to solve problems

[Slides Source]() || [PDF version]()

**Created: 14 October 2022** || **Edited: 10 November 2022**

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# Everything leading up to Windows' success

The (primarily) American perspective

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Presentation by Kamen Mladenov

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Sofia University, Computer Science, Semester III

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## 1980-1987: The era of home computers

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/MOS_6502AD_4585_top.jpg)

**Really cheap**: 25$ per piece, ⅙ the price of the competition  
**Really simple**: 56 instructions, ½ of the Intel 8080

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Commodore-64-Computer-FL.jpg/1920px-Commodore-64-Computer-FL.jpg)  
Commodore 64: Most sold computer at ~17 million units sold

![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/BBC_Micro_Front_Restored.jpg)  
BBC Micro: UK's educational computer, sold ~1.5 million units

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## No user interface: you were the programmer!

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Commodore64_directory_listing_16.png)

"Open" a floppy disk's contents?  
```
LOAD "$",8
```  
List files in a floppy disk?  
```
LIST
```  
Save a file to a floppy disk?  
```
SAVE "myfile",8
```

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## Well, technically there were graphical OSs but ...

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Available graphical OSs were computer-specific, limited and rare

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/GEOS_floppy.jpg)

![](http://toastytech.com/guis/c64gmenu1.gif)

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## IBM joins the fight... kinda

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<br>
Debuted in 1981.  
By 1983 they sold **730,000 units**.  
By 1984 they had amassed **$4 billion in revenue**.  
By 1985 **over half** of American companies with personal computers used it.  
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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Ibm_px_xt_color.jpg/1280px-Ibm_px_xt_color.jpg)  
IBM PC (5150)

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/PC_DOS_1.10_screenshot.png)  
Most common OS was MS-DOS

![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/IBM_4381.jpg/1920px-IBM_4381.jpg)  
IBM mostly did business-oriented mainframes

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## PC-compatibles

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![](https://www.minuszerodegrees.net/oa/IBM_6322509.jpg)

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<br><br>
IBM used **off-the-shelf components** and published **full** technical documentation.  
PC-compatible machines **filled** the market.  
By 1988, MS-DOS software comprised **77% of all sold software**.  
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## Apple's contribution to the GUI world

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Apple popularized the UI, first with the Apple Lisa and then with the Apple Macintosh from 1984

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Apple_Lisa_Computer.jpg)

![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Computer_macintosh_128k%2C_1984_%28all_about_Apple_onlus%29.jpg/1024px-Computer_macintosh_128k%2C_1984_%28all_about_Apple_onlus%29.jpg)  

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# The game is on ... or is it really?

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## Windows didn't really have competition...

Applications made their own graphics

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Wordperfect-5.1-dos.png)

![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Norton-utilities-6.0.png)

![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/DeluxePaint_Screenshot.png)

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VisiCorp, the people behind Visi On, self-destructed. However, the product inspired Windows.

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![](http://toastytech.com/guis/visionall.png)

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"Corporate civil war"  
- Important programmers and staff left  
- It was expensive and required too much resources
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## ... because most were made for non-PC computers ...

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&&font30<br><br><br>GEM tried, but it mostly lived with the Atari computers.&&/font

![](http://toastytech.com/guis/gem11overlap.png)

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&&font30<br><br><br>DeskMate was for the TRS-80&&/font

![](http://toastytech.com/guis/pdmabout.png)

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## ... and some of them were really good!

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Amiga Workbench was for ... the Amiga. RISC OS was for the Acorn line of computers

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![](http://toastytech.com/guis/amiga1filesfolders.png)

![](https://www.nightfallcrew.com/wp-content/gallery/test-of-the-correct-operation-of-a-acorn-archimedes-a420i/IMG_1212.jpg?8f6a0c)

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## Let's talk about UNIX

UNIX was used and created for fancy expensive machines, to do fancy expensive stuff

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/IBM_3090_%281%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)

![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Sun386i_%281%29.jpg/800px-Sun386i_%281%29.jpg)

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## And IBM's lost friendship ...

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OS/2 was 32bit based, so they didn't target the millions of 16bit machines

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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Os2-1.0-prompt.png)

![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/Os2-1.1-desktop.png)

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## ... but people still weren't excited, until 3.0

Byte magazine put the article on the cover, but didn't say much for versions leading up to 3.0

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![](https://ia801509.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/8/items/BYTE_Vol_15-06_1990-06_Windows_3.0/BYTE%20Vol%2015-06%201990-06%20Windows%203.0_jp2.zip&file=BYTE%20Vol%2015-06%201990-06%20Windows%203.0_jp2/BYTE%20Vol%2015-06%201990-06%20Windows%203.0_0000.jp2&id=BYTE_Vol_15-06_1990-06_Windows_3.0&scale=2&rotate=0)

<br><br><br><br>
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/15/Windows_3.0_workspace.png)

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> &emsp; In the meantime, on both technical and strategic grounds, Windows 3.0 succeeds brilliantly. After years of twists and turns, Microsoft has finally nailed this product. Try it. You'll like it.
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## Thank you for your time!
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## Attribution

- Slide 2  
  MOS 6502 processor - [Dirk Oppelt, CC BY-SA 3.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91538)  
  BBC Micro - [Stuart Bradyderivative, Public Domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11672213)  
- Slide 3  
  Commodore Directory listing - [Syp, CC0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60447956)  
- Slide 4  
  GEOS floppy - [Auric, CC BY-SA 3.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29663306)  
  GEOS screenshot - [Nathan Lineback](http://toastytech.com/guis/c64g.html); Used under Fair Use!  
- Slide 5  
  IBM PC photo - [Ruben de Rijcke, CC BY 3.0,](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3610862)  
  IBM 4381 mainframe - [\[Tycho\] talk](http://shansov.net)[, CC0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76415930)  
  PC DOS screenshot - [Remember the dot, Public Domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15830013)  
- Slide 6  
  IBM Technical Reference picture - https://www.minuszerodegrees.net/  
- Slide 7  
  Apple Lisa - [Timothy Colegrove, CC BY-SA 4.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=123322968)  
  Apple Macintosh - [Sailko, CC BY 3.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55033088)
- Slide 9  
  Deluxe Paint screenshot - [By Grabbed with E-UAE. Fair use](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45463614)  
  Word Perfect screenshot - [By Own work, Public Domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19987888)  
  Visi On screenshot - [By MESS, Fair use](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32263530)  
  Norton Utilities screenshot - [By Peter Norton and later Ozzmosis, Public Domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11274398)  
- Slide 10  
  GEM 1.1 Screenshot - [Nathan Lineback](http://toastytech.com/guis/gem11.html); Used under Fair Use!  
  Personal DeskMate screenshot - [Nathan Lineback](http://toastytech.com/guis/pdm.html); Used under Fair Use!  
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- Slide 11 
  Amiga Workbench screenshot - [Nathan Lineback](http://toastytech.com/guis/pdm.html); Used under Fair Use!  
  Acorn Archimedes screenshot - [NightFallCrew](https://www.nightfallcrew.com/25/05/2014/test-of-the-correct-operation-of-a-acorn-archimedes-a420i/); Used under Fair Use!
- Slide 12  
  IBM 3090 photo - [By Norsk Telemuseum](https://digitaltmuseum.org/021016855260/datamaskiner-norsk-data)[, CC BY-SA 3.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110960646)  
  Sun386i photo - [By htomari](https://www.flickr.com/photos/htomari/8861168413/)[, CC BY-SA 2.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107749520) 
- Slide 13  
  OS/2 text mode screenshot - [By Self made, Public Domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93311794)  
  OS/2 1.1 screenshot - [By Self made, Fair use](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65000889)
- Slide 14  
  BYTE Magazine Screenshots - [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/BYTE\_Vol\_15-06\_1990-06\_Windows\_3.0/mode/2up); Used under Fair Use!  
  Windows 3.0 Screenshot - [Uploaded by Tyomitch](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2611871); Used under Fair Use!

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