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Microsoft Is Teasing Windows 1.0 and Other 1980s Software (arstechnica.com) 67

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Either Microsoft is gearing up for a very odd promotional effort or somebody on the Windows team has hijacked a functioning time machine. Yesterday, the company posted a video boasting an "all-new Windows 1.0" to its social channels. It even went so far as to completely wipe all its previous posts from the Windows Instagram account, so all you'll find is the clip of its logos over the years. The video scrolls from the simplicity of Windows 10 through the pixellated rainbow flag of Windows XP and Windows 95. Whatever the situation is, the stunt is giving Windows' social media managers a chance to load their replies to confused tweets with throwbacks, from Back to the Future gifs to all the jargon that was once the epitome of cool.
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Microsoft Is Teasing Windows 1.0 and Other 1980s Software

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    Perhaps this throwback to the '80s has something to do with Stranger Things season 3 dropping tomorrow?

    • Pretty sure that was the abominable snowman, dude.
      The mindflayer wasn't shipped until Windows 3.1.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      It has to be, but Windows 1.0 wasn't released until November 1985 and Stranger Things S3 is set in summer 1985. But I'm still betting on it being a Stranger Things S3 tie-in - we know that one of the major plot points of S3 involves them hanging out at a mall, so I'm betting there's going to be a Radio Shack or some other bit of 80s nostalgia where the characters buy a copy of Windows 1.0 several months early.

    • That's a great point. I bet you nailed it, because STS3 is all about late 80's nostalgia.

  • by RickyShade ( 5419186 ) on Wednesday July 03, 2019 @03:58PM (#58869128)

    They need to compete with Linux somehow.

  • ....but you cannot get there from here.

    Linux has a glass cutter.

  • by ptaff ( 165113 )

    Windows: delivering a genuine 1984 experience in 2019.

  • They even removed it from their official timeline and pretend it didn't exist....

  • It's the day before Independence Day and we're just dialing it in.
  • Should fit right in with this campaign.

    • by Archfeld ( 6757 )

      Remember the 1984 add for Apple and the fist MAC computer in which the 'running woman' tossed the hammer at the maxheadroom'ish mockup ? Back when Apple was innovative and not just an electronic fashion accessory ?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

      BTW GO RAIDERS !!!

  • by Anonymous Coward

    They appear to show a version of a Windows logo from v1.0, but I have never seen evidence that there was a logo before v3.0. The logo in the video does appear in other places on the web, but it includes a font that MS has never used. I'm guessing that whoever made the video found some old logo on Google and assumed it must be correct.

    dom

  • by cwsumner ( 1303261 ) on Wednesday July 03, 2019 @04:32PM (#58869314)

    Windows 1.xx has problems, wait for Windows 3.1 that actually works. And it has networking! 8-)

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Windows 1.xx has problems, wait for Windows 3.1 that actually works. And it has networking! 8-)

      Not yet. You need to wait for the 3.11 Workgroups update.

      • Actually, both 3.1 and 3.11 were available in Workgroups and non-Workgroups versions. I believe that Workgroups 3.1 didn't sell very well due to its high price (3.11 was cheaper).

  • It could be Windows 1.0 for Linux, 64-bit edition.
  • Tandy Deskmate 4 lyfe

  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 03, 2019 @04:59PM (#58869456)

    With the whole "modern UX" push that designers have for web pages and applications, Windows 1.0 is very applicable. It has a very flat and simplistic UI that would make material designers jealous. Dialog box buttons look just like material design. Although Windows 1.0 has keyboard shortcuts which few UX designers care about because it isn't "mobile-first" or something.

  • They are resurrecting Windows 1.0/2.0 because Windows 10 has the same look at feel as those OS's. Since Windows 10 sucks - they figure try the OS's it was modeled after! Microsoft has lost all createability for an OS. Next they will model an OS after the Amiga - oh wait that would actually be a great OS.

    • Next they will model an OS after the Amiga - oh wait that would actually be a great OS.

      NT was a pretty great OS until 4.0, when it all went to hell. NT3.51 was rock solid. Microsoft compromised memory security in NT4 in pursuit of graphics performance. It all went to hell even more when they introduced .NET and started using it for portions of the OS.

  • It was dirty as hell and unfunny in the workplace.

    DOS was klunky enough, even though it was maxed out for 640Kb. The good news was that processor speeds were getting better and shit was flying.

    I rejected all versions of Windows until 3.0. I installed it for beta and the goddam file manager refreshed the screen each time I would click anywhere. It was useless as tits on a boar hog.

    When 3.1 came out, I was impressed and rolled it out to those who could handle it. Much as the Registry is the key to being good

    • I've experienced all the desktop versions to date and kicked out Millennium, Vista, and 2000. The 2000 was running on a portable and was kicking my NT server in the ass. It took a few days to find the culprit. One of the new managers brought that piece of shit into my house and I banned that motherfucker.

      I lied and told him, "Sorry, it's just not compatible."

      Hahah. ONE client kicked your NT server's ass and you're blaming it on the client instead of the POS server OS? I wouldn't be bragging about this one.

  • by tgibson ( 131396 ) on Wednesday July 03, 2019 @07:42PM (#58870140) Homepage

    I read that headline as "Microsoft Is Testing Windows 1.0 and Other 1980s Software" and I was thinking, it's about time.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Probably some tie in with Stranger Things

  • Maybe what they're trying to say is it's all the same old bullshit
  • I've seen stranger things, certainly.

Every nonzero finite dimensional inner product space has an orthonormal basis. It makes sense, when you don't think about it.

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