Windows On Windows

The YouTube channel on the history & development of #Microsoft #Windows. 📺 Join the Discord @ dsc.gg/wowserv! 👨🏻‍💻 Follow for daily Windows facts. 🤓 #WIMVP

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Last Notes

2024-09-30 17:59:12

Windows 95 (1995) was the last version of Windows available for purchase on 5¼ inch floppy disks. Normally sold on a single CD-ROM, or thirteen 3½ inch floppies, the twenty-one 5¼ disks were mail order only. Each held 1.2MB, vs. 1.68MB in the standard 3½ inch floppy edition. 💾
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2024-09-02 20:08:26

Windows 95 build 222, from 9th November 1994, is one of the few Windows development builds not available in English. While the Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish & Swedish localisations are all similar, the German variant features this unique background image during setup. 🌌🌎👀
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2024-07-09 19:00:44

The Windows 2 April 1987 Build is the earliest known build of Windows 2 (1987). Still using Windows 1’s (1985) colour scheme, it showcases 2’s new window controls & support for overlapping app windows. This replaced the tiled windows in Windows 1 that users had found confusing.
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2024-06-23 20:54:38

Windows 1 Development Release 5 is the earliest available build of Windows, compiled in October 1984. It was part of the so-called Development Release series, intended to help developers design apps for Windows 1 (1985). It includes a selection of sample apps for this purpose.
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2024-06-15 19:07:06

Chess is a wallpaper from Windows 3 (1990). It depicts six chess pieces falling on a chess board. Its author is unknown. In Windows XP builds 2475 & 2486, the Chess user picture is replaced by this wallpaper, possibly caused by an error during the compilation of these builds. ♟️
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2024-05-15 21:34:16

Windows 1 (1985) included an analogue clock app to show users the time. Simply called Clock, a digital mode was added in Windows 3 (1990). In Windows 95 (1995), its function was absorbed into the Notification Area in the new Taskbar. It last appeared in Windows NT 4 (1996). ⏰
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2024-04-22 18:35:40

Windows 95 (1995) introduced a new Windows user interface design, retroactively referred to as Windows Classic. It brought a 3D look & feel, inspired by NeXT's NeXTSTEP operating system (1988-97). Windows Classic served as the default Windows UI design until Windows XP (2001). 🖌️
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2024-03-16 18:28:02

ScanDisk is a program included in Windows 9x - though introduced in MS-DOS 6.2 (1993) - to check and/or repair disk file systems errors. The successor to the simpler Chkdsk (“Check Disk”) utility, it infamously appeared on boot up if the system detected an improper shutdown. 🤕
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2024-03-13 20:54:15

The Browser Choice Screen was a mandatory screen shown to Windows Internet Explorer users in the European Union between March 2010-December 2014. It resulted from the EU ruling the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows gave Microsoft an unfair advantage in the browser market.
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2024-03-12 20:21:54

User account pictures debuted in Windows XP (2001). They are used to represent system users on the Start menu & lock screen. Windows 7 (2009) offered a choice of 37(!) user pictures - more than any other Windows version. Most originated from Getty Images. Which was yours? 👀🤓
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2024-01-31 21:02:20

Hotdog Stand was a colour scheme included in Windows 3.1 (1992). Its primary colours are red (symbolising ketchup) & yellow (mustard). Along with all 3.1 schemes, it was removed in Windows 95 (1995). It does, however, have a cult following. Because…who doesn’t love hotdogs? 🌭
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2023-12-22 18:11:59

Windows NT 4, released on 24th August 1996, brought Windows 95’s (1995) new Start Menu & Taskbar UI to the Windows NT line. Its Start Menu has a unique feature: it shows program groups for all users (i.e. common program groups) & the current user separately in the Programs menu.
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2023-12-20 16:28:59

With Windows 95 (1995) bringing such a radical UI redesign, Microsoft made sure to test it with users. In one phase of testing, novice users were asked to find & open Write in Windows 3.1 (1992). This often took minutes, or users simply gave up. In Windows 95, it took seconds. 👌
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2023-12-16 17:44:51

In 2004, the EU ruled Microsoft had broken European law by “abusing its monopoly to hurt competing video & audio apps”. They fined Microsoft €500m & required them to offer a Windows edition sans video & audio apps. The 1st such edition - Windows XP Edition N - released in 2005.
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2023-11-05 17:07:19

- reply

@npub1gaj…78dz Thank you - I will!

2023-11-05 16:55:08

- reply

@npub1gaj…78dz Sure!

2023-11-03 15:09:00

On 9th January 1998, Microsoft announced the Windows 98 Consumer Beta Preview Program. This let “computer-savvy” Windows 95 (1995) users try out the Beta 3 build of the new OS. A “select list” of users were invited by email & could join the Program for $29.95 plus shipping/tax.
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2023-10-25 17:42:05

Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t a Blue Screen Of Death - its correct name is a Ctrl-Alt-Del Screen. Introduced in Windows 3.1 (1992), it was shown if a user pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del with no unresponsive apps to kill. It was coded by Raymond Chen, with text by Steve Ballmer.
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2023-09-29 15:23:28

Through the early 1980s, Microsoft co-founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates brainstormed ideas for a new product: a graphical “operating environment” that would run on top of their command-based MS-DOS operating system. After many delays, it would release as Windows 1 in 1985. ✨
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2023-09-27 14:21:54

Task Scheduler (formerly Scheduled Tasks) is a Windows service that launches apps, or runs scripts, at specified times or events. ⏰ It was introduced in the Microsoft Plus! software pack for Windows 95 (1995), but has been included in Windows by default since Windows 98 (1998).
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2023-09-26 13:44:12

Spider Solitaire is a card game that debuted in the Microsoft Plus! software pack for Windows 98 (1998). It was included with Windows starting with Windows Me (2000). By 2005, it was apparently the most played game on Windows PCs. Its final appearance was in Windows 7 (2009). 🕷️
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2023-09-23 21:07:35

👴🏻
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2023-09-17 16:08:41

Windows Mobile 2003 was a version of Windows designed for portable, handheld devices. It was the 1st release of Windows Mobile - a rebrand of Windows Pocket PC - & the only one to be named after its year of release. Its UI was inspired by the contemporaneous Windows XP (2001). 🖼
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2023-09-16 13:50:16

Modular Windows was a version of Windows 3.1 (1992) designed for the Tandy Video Information System interactive CD-ROM player. Though Microsoft planned for Modular Windows on other devices later, this didn’t happen. In 1996, it was superseded by Windows CE (later Windows Mobile).
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2023-09-03 15:17:56

Windows XP build 2296 is the beta 1 build of Windows XP (2001). Released on 31st October 2000, it predates XP’s finalised branding & thus visually resembles Windows 2000/9x in many ways. Its setup is clearly based on 9x’s & its login screen on the one seen in Codename Neptune.
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2023-08-28 15:10:04

Windows Thin PC (2011) was a light version of Windows 7 (2009) aimed at business PCs with legacy hardware. It was the successor to Windows Fundamentals For Legacy PCs (2004) - which was based on Windows XP (2001) - & was only available via Microsoft’s Software Assurance Program.
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2023-08-05 00:20:30

Windows 8 “Fast and fun” slide at Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, UK, November 2012.
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2023-07-09 16:38:23

Windows XP build 2210, from 2nd March 2000, is the earliest available build of a 64-bit edition of Windows. Designed for DEC Alpha, it predated Intel Itanium, which XP would eventually support. Its boot screen is notably just Windows 2000’s with “64” crudely spray painted on top.
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2023-07-06 16:31:22

Windows has an undocumented “Emergency Shutdown” feature. Though info is scarce, it existed at least as far back as Windows NT 3.51 (1995). To access it, a user must press Ctrl+Alt+Delete & click Shut Down whilst holding Ctrl. After confirming, the system immediately shuts down.
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2023-07-03 15:29:53

Windows 95 (1995) introduced a new Windows user interface design, retroactively referred to as Windows Classic. It brought a 3D look & feel, inspired by NeXT's NeXTSTEP operating system (1988-97). Windows Classic served as the default Windows UI design until Windows XP (2001). 🖌️
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2023-06-13 14:34:29

Between 2001-2008, consumers could purchase Windows XP: The Official Magazine. This 4-weekly publication - exclusively endorsed by Microsoft - included tips, tutorials, reviews, competitions & software, via an included CD/DVD-ROM. The magazine also had its own website & forum. 📖
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2023-06-07 17:11:10

In early 1997, Microsoft said that Memphis - the codename for the next consumer version of Windows & the successor to Windows 95 (1995) - would ship by the end of that year. 📦 However, the release was delayed. ⏳ If everything had gone to plan, we may have gotten this… 👀
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2023-04-03 00:31:42

👀
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