Windows turns 35: it was November 20, 1985

Windows turns 35: it was November 20, 1985
Windows turns 35 in these hours. It was the year 1985. It was November 20. A few hours after the first historic meeting in Geneva between Reagan and Gorbachev, in a world still subject to the shadow of the Cold War, the public debut for version 1.01 of the operating system. Not everyone welcomed it with enthusiasm, pointing the finger first and foremost against the requirements considered too high at the time (256 kB) and the performance not up to the expectations in multitasking management.

35 years Windows, from 1.01 to 10 (and beyond)

Many did not even go down with the interface designed to stimulate the use of the mouse, a little-known pointing device at that time despite the concept already having a couple of decades behind it .



The lack of compatible software and compatibility problems with DOS programs complete the picture. Nathaniel Borenstein, father of the MIME standard at the time leading a team at Carnegie Mellon University, put it this way after witnessing the presentation from Microsoft.

Those guys came with this pathetic and naïve system. We knew they would never go anywhere and get nothing.

Not exactly what happened. The evolution of the platform reaches the present day with Windows 10 (certainly not free from flaws) and looks ahead with the debut now not further away than the 10X edition, passing from intermediate steps not without stumbling as happened with the late approach to the mobile universe.



From the Windows 95 Start menu to the unsuccessful attempt to wink at tablets with Windows 8, passing through the never forgotten XP and Windows 7 edition which, despite the expiry of the official support, still continues to be present today on over 20% of computers in circulation (source NetMarketShare).

A curiosity: last year Microsoft and Netflix collaborated on an advertising campaign for the arrival on the streaming service of the new season of Stranger Things, set in 1985, giving life to what was christened Windows 1.11. Here are some screenshots.