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General discussion

What was the first version of Windows you used?

Nov 11, 2011 6:07AM PST
What was the first version of Windows you used?

-- Windows 3.x
-- Windows 95
-- Windows 98
-- Windows ME
-- Windows NT
-- Windows 2000
-- Windows XP
-- Windows Vista
-- Windows 7
-- Never used Windows

Discussion is locked

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dos based windowing software then win, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1
Nov 11, 2011 8:47AM PST

Actually I first used DOS, then a dos based windowing software from IBM (or was it microsoft) that allowed multiple charactrer based system windows. Then came windows, win 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1 (and OS/2 as the server since there was a 256 (or 1024) open file limit and each login used multiple file opens...
Dr. WC Wiseley

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first windows
Nov 11, 2011 9:30AM PST

The first OS I used was something in the MS DOS line around version 2.11, as I recall. That was back in 1987.

I found Quarterdeck's Desqview to be better than the first Windows I used, which was something like Windows 286, I think. At least it ran several DOS programs concurrently using QEMM to keep stuff afloat.

That Microsoft version made you look for the executable in a window that contained the program installation directory, but in icon form rather than the old /dir format of DOS.

But it was Windows 3.0 that got the ball rolling, for sure.

But for the attitude of IBM, OS/2 would have been the better product.

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On the shoulder of giants
Nov 11, 2011 10:12AM PST

I forgot about quarterdeck's deskview. I guess, for most of us, it is one step, then another, then another. And then there are folks like Steve Jobs who get an idea and push the engineers to develop what he saw in his mind.

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Not in list
Nov 11, 2011 12:10PM PST

My first computer is Apple ][.
My first OS is PC DOS.
My first Windows is Windows 1.0
So all are not in the list.

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Windows 1
Nov 11, 2011 8:09PM PST

I remember Windows 1, although I never actually used it. Found a shrink-wrapped copy of it in my stuff some years back, should have put it on E-bay or something... Happy Until now, however, I've never heard anyone else but you mention that it existed, but it definitely did.

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Oh yeah?
Nov 11, 2011 12:22PM PST

Actually, my first IBM PC booted up to a rom-based Basic interpreter. There was no DOS. Wait a minute, before that I had a Radio Shack TRS80. No wait a minute. Before that I had an Imsai 8080 I built in high school. At every boot-up you had to enter the entire OS, intstruction by instruction, manually, in binary, using a row of switches. Really. Do I win?

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MS-DOS 1.25
Nov 13, 2011 10:03AM PST

But personal computer-wise, yeah I'd say an IMSAI gives you the win.

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And DOS before that ...
Nov 11, 2011 12:28PM PST

... on an IBM PC. The IBM PC XT was a big deal when it came out. I even owned a PC Jr. And there was OS/2 in there 2.
Bob Meyer

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When Windows 95 was king...
Nov 11, 2011 1:40PM PST

Although my family owned a computer before the days when Windows 95 was out, it only had MS-DOS and Microsoft Works, and was used solely for word processing. We did not use Windows at that time.

When Windows 95 came out, we bought a new PC with Windows 95, and then later on we bought a Pentium MMX laptop with Windows 95 OSR2.1. I remember using the Windows disk from that laptop to load Windows 95 OSR2.1 onto all of my family's computers, as those were the good old days before verifying serial numbers and activation.

Windows 95 was probably the greatest technology product of all time, and the reason why tens of millions of Americans bought computers for the first time in their life! Windows 95 made the computer easy and fun to use, reliable, and brought a lot of great new features and functionality. Best of all, Microsoft designed Windows 95 to be compatible with almost any existing computer going back 5 years, which meant that it ran well on 80386 and 80486 systems as long as they had sufficient RAM.

I used Windows 95 until Windows XP was out for a couple years, then switched to XP as my new computers would not have run Windows 95 well, plus they came with Windows XP licenses anyways.

Even though there are probably very few Windows 95 computers still in existence, I am sure that most people have not forgotten about the software which brought everyone to the Internet age.

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Win. 3.11, unless this counts too
Nov 11, 2011 2:14PM PST
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Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Nov 11, 2011 2:45PM PST

Windows for Workgroups 3.11 for me.

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Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Nov 11, 2011 2:49PM PST

I still have a shrink-wrapped copy somewhere in storage.

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(NT) MS-DOS, then Windows 2.x, then Windows 3.x [EOM]
Nov 11, 2011 4:14PM PST
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Been around awhile too
Nov 11, 2011 4:56PM PST

DOS wasn't on the list, but I go back to that too. I admit I started with Wang (the future of business) & my first computer was an Apple ][+, but quickly sold the Apple for something that would run programs. Migrated right into Windows, haven't looked back.

KenHusveg 3.11 WFWG Woo hoo!! Wasn't that a great program? Man I ran a BBS off that OS, with a couple nodes. They said it couldn't be done, but a little PIF twiddling & bam, 2 dial ups & a log in.

Thanks for the memory flash back Lee.

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3.11 WFWG
Nov 12, 2011 2:51AM PST

I quite liked 3.11 WFWG, IMHO the first usable version of Windows. My next favorite version was Windows 2000 Professional.

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Eaerlier Windows Versions
Nov 11, 2011 10:38PM PST

I actually used earlier versions of Windows. Old 1.0 (like everything until XP) was just a DOS application, and I used it for the first time in early 1986. I sure didn't like it. It wasn't really a tool for multitasking; it was a HUGE resource hog, consuming both floppy drives and pretty much all of the addressable RAM, and it crashed every two minutes or so, pretty much every time you tried to use it for anything. Of course, it was running on an old XT, but that old machine ran Wordstar and Lotus 1-2-3 pretty well.

Windows 2 was similarly unusable but added the innovation of desktop icons. Windows 3.x was the first semi-usable Windows O/S, and Windows 9x could actually be usable in business settings if you could teach yourself the habit of frequently saving your work. It wasn't until XP that it became reliable enough to use with confidence.

People badmouth Vista. I love it. Seven is better, but Vista was almost unbreakable, and to me Windows Seven only seems like something that should have been released as a service pack for Vista -- they're about as similar as Firefox 8 is to Firefox 7. I have run a Vista PC with an Intel Core2 Duo E6600 since 2006 and it has only suffered two crashes despite a lot of program compiling, video editing, and game playing -- often simultaneously. When I used XP machines after getting accustomed to Vista, it presented almost the same effect as going back to a 98 machine after becoming acclimated to XP -- clunky, slow and primitive.

I don't know about 8 yet. It looks like it will be a considerably more significant change than XP was over 98, or Vista was over XP, and from what I have seen it appears to be more specifically tailored to touchscreens than keyboards and mice.

Maybe I'm becoming just an old curmudgeon, but I really don't like touch screens on anything bigger than a smartphone.

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Windows came later
Nov 12, 2011 6:34AM PST

The first machine I programmed on was an IBM mainframe back in the late 1970's, followed by numerous mainframes and mini-computers from IBM, HP, DEC, Sperry Univac etc. My earliest recollection of using Windows was back in the mid-late 1980's on a machine running Win 3.x. LOL the survey question made me realize that I've been programming for decades but never actually owned a computer until 7-8 years ago Silly

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Anyone remember GEM?
Nov 12, 2011 8:31AM PST

Windows 2. something and "Gem" desktop were the first GUI applications I used.

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Windows 0.9, would you believe ...
Nov 12, 2011 9:30PM PST

... if memory serves me well. I was still on an 8088 with 640 kb and a Hercules card, and if I am not mistaken Windows displayed a version below 1.0

Something like Wordpad and - most importantly - Solitaire was already there, but I don't think you could get a lot of applications for the platform then - With all that memory, where would you have run them, anyway ...

So - no, I didn't do much with it. And I also didn't do much with Windows 2 (dot something), but with version 3.0 things got started. Drivers for memory management shipped with Windows and made it easier to run more or larger applications. Multiple Dos boxes became a possibility and with version 3.1 networking support became mainstream and one could connect the old computer as a backup station.

Then, suddenly, there was OS/2 as the better option, especially since it could run all Windows applications as well - until Windows 95 appeared and provided a 32 bit interface, which IBM could not support - for copyright reasons. Only then did the virtual monopoly of Windows on desktop computers begin.

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windows7
Nov 19, 2011 2:26PM PST
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Started with DOS
Dec 2, 2011 1:45PM PST

Early windows was just a dos shell. Not well liked. I believe the first non-dos shell was windows 95 where windows was an independant operating system. That was way back so my memory is a little fuzzy.
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Windows version
Dec 9, 2011 12:31PM PST

I've used most versions of Windows except NT but now use Linux more and more., to the extent that I rarely use windows.

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Windows 98
Dec 29, 2011 6:15AM PST

Back when I was younger and still had AOL haha

I don't really remember much of it, but I remember I used 98 for a while before upgrading to Millennium Edition haha