Windows Operating System (1985)
Microsoft first started developing the Interface Manager (later renamed Microsoft Windows) in September 1981. While the first prototypes used Multiplan and Word-like menus at the bottom of the screen, the interface was modified in 1982 to utilize pull-down menus and dialogues, as used on the Xerox Star.
On November 10, 1983, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Microsoft Corporation officially announced Microsoft Windows, a next-generation operating system that would supply a graphical user interface (GUI) and a multitasking environment for IBM computers. This was after the release of the Apple Lisa, and prior to Digital Research announcing GEM, and DESQ from Quarterdeck and the Amiga Workbench , or GEOS/GeoWorks Ensemble, IBM OS/2, NeXTstep or even DeskMate from Tandy. Windows assured an easy-to-use graphical interface, device-independent graphics and multitasking support. The development was held up several times, however, and the Windows 1.0 arrive at store shelves in November 1985. The selection of applications was thin, however, and Windows sales were moderate.
Windows Version 1.0
Windows 1.0 package, included: MS-DOS Executive, Calendar, Cardfile, Notepad, Terminal, Calculator, Clock, Reversi, Control Panel, PIF (Program Information File) Editor, Print Spooler, Clipboard, RAMDrive, Windows Write, Windows Paint.
Microsoft Windows version 1.0 was viewed as buggy, rough, and sluggish. This bumpy start was made sorrier by a threatened lawsuit from Apple Computers. In September 1985, Apple lawyers warned Bill Gates that Windows 1.0 infringed on Apple copyrights and patents, and that his corporation had stolen Apple's trade secrets. Microsoft Windows had similar drop-down menus, tiled windows and mouse support. Bill Gates and his head counsel Bill Neukom, chose to make an offer to license features of Apple's operating system. Apple concurred and a contract was drawn up. The key to this is: Microsoft wrote the licensing agreement to include use of Apple features in Microsoft Windows version 1.0 and all future Microsoft software programs. As it turned out, this move by Bill Gates was as intelligent as his decision to purchase QDOS from Seattle Computer Products and his persuading IBM to let Microsoft keep the licensing rights to MS-DOS.
Windows 1.0 fluttered on the market until January 1987, when a Windows-compatible program called Aldus PageMaker 1.0 was brought out. PageMaker was the first WYSIWYG desktop-publishing program for the PC. Later that year, Microsoft released a Windows-compatible spreadsheet called Excel. Other popular and functional software like Microsoft Word and Corel Draw helped advance Windows, yet, Microsoft recognized that Windows required further development.
Windows Version 2.0
Microsoft Windows version 2.0 came out in December 1987, and evidenced somewhat more popular than its predecessor. A great deal of the popularity for Windows 2.0 came through its inclusion as a "run-time version" with Microsoft's new graphical applications, Excel and Word for Windows. They could be operated from MS-DOS, executing Windows for the length of their activity, and shutting down Windows upon exit.
Microsoft Windows incurred a major boost about this time when Aldus PageMaker came out in a Windows version, having previously run exclusively on Macintosh. Some computer historians date this, the introduction of a significant and non-Microsoft application for Windows, as the start of the success of Windows.
Versions 2.0x used the real-mode memory model, which held it to a maximum of 1 megabyte of memory. In such a form, it could run under a different multitasker like DESQview, which used the 286 Protected Mode. Subsequently, two new versions were published: Windows/286 2.1 and Windows/386 2.1. Like preceding versions of Windows, Windows/286 2.1 used the real-mode memory model, but was the first version to support the HMA. Windows/386 2.1 had a protected mode kernel with LIM-standard EMS emulation, the predecessor to XMS which would at last shift the topology of IBM PC computing. All Windows and DOS-based applications at the time were real mode, running over the protected mode kernel by using the virtual 8086 mode, which was new with the 80386 processor.
Apple's Lawsuit Over Windows
After Versions 2.0 and beyond were released, Apple began filing suit against IBM for various copyright infringements. In their defense, Microsoft claimed that their licensing agreement actually afforded them the rights to use Apple features. Apple claimed that Microsoft had encroached on 170 of their copyrights. After a four-year court case, Microsoft won. The courts stated that the licensing agreement gave Microsoft the rights to use all but nine of the copyrights, and Microsoft later convinced the courts that the other nine copyrights shouldn't be covered by copyright law. Bill Gates asserted that Apple had acquired ideas from the graphical user interface developed by Xerox for Xerox's Alto and Star computers.
On June 1, 1993, Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court of Northern California ruled in Microsoft's favor in the Apple vs. Microsoft & Hewlett-Packard copyright suit. The judge granted Microsoft's and Hewlett-Packard's motions to dismiss the last remaining copyright infringement claims against Microsoft Windows versions 2.03 and 3.0, as well as HP NewWave.
What would have occurred if Microsoft had lost the lawsuit? Microsoft Windows might never have become the predominant operating system that it is today and we might all be using MAC's to connect to the High Speed Internet.