Believe it or not Windows is 21 years old on 20th November 2006. When it was launched in 1985 the PC bazaar was almost out of it’s infancy, and whatever you may anticipate of Microsoft it is amazing what they Bill Gates & Co accept congenital in such a almost abbreviate time.
Windows has been through abounding iterations back Windows 1.0 hit the shelves 21 years ago, with the latest and a lot of avant-garde (and apparently the a lot of expensive) Vista due to be launched anon afterwards 5 years of development.
In honour of Windows altogether and to bless it’s advancing of age, actuality are 21 things you never knew about Windows, Microsoft and Bill Gates:
1. Windows 1.0 was appear on 20th Nov 1985 and the accouterments requirements were 256KB of RAM, DOS 2.0 and two billowing drives, two years late.
2. The retail bulk was $100, which is account about $177 in today’s money – the aforementioned as Windows XP Home.
3. Microsoft beatific out a columnist kit featuring a duster and washcloth to advertise the barrage of Windows 1.0, a abounding two years afore the artefact was launched.
4. If Bill Gates had got his way, he would accept alleged it “Interface Manager”. 21 years later, I don’t anticipate Interface Manager Vista, or Vista Interface Manager would accept had the aforementioned ring to it….
5. When Vista was launched Microsoft were David angry Goliath, and had to action abounding cloister battles:
“We weren’t badinage that we bet the absolute aggregation on it,” Gates recalls. “The aberrant affair was we were a abundant abate aggregation at the time. We were aggressive to authorize this belvedere with companies beyond than ourselves.”
6. Windows 1.0 was alone out for two weeks afore it had to be patched to fix bugs (sound familiar?).
7. Windows crashes an estimated 25m times a day.
timeline_DOS.gif8. Windows 1.0 included a ample bulk of utilities that are still allotment of Windows today – Calendar, Notepad, Terminal, Calculator, Clock, Windows Write and Windows Paint, Control Panel, and the Reversi game.
9. Abutment for Windows 1.0 was weak, and even Microsoft’s own apps didn’t abutment it. In fact, Excel and Word didn’t plan with Windows until 1987 and 1989.
10. Windows 3.1 was the aboriginal abiding release, which led to abounding accouterments manufacturers preloading it on their computers. This accepted to be a above axis point in Windows history and apple domination.
11. Windows 3.1 (Pre-release name Janus) was appear in March of 1992. In its aboriginal few months on the shelf it awash over 2 actor copies (including upgrades). The Windows 3.1x OSs were groundbreaking for their time and they paved the alley for today’s avant-garde Microsoft environments.
12. Between 1986 and 1996 Microsoft’s banal soared hundredfold and it was estimated that Microsoft had created 10,000 millionaires by 2000.
post_59416_1106163459_thumb.jpg13. Bill Gates earns $250 every second, $20m a day and $7.8BN a year.
14. If Bill drops a thousand dollar bill, it’s not account his while to aces it up, as he’ll accomplish the aforementioned bulk in the time it takes him to aces it up.
15. If Bill Gates was a country, he would be the 37th richest country in the world.
16. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the weathiest organisation for accommodating grants with assets of approx $65Bn.
17. Erik Noyes from Charles Schwab came up with the byword Blue Screen of Death “BSoD” in 1991.
18. Bill Gates denticulate 1590 on his SAT. Paul Allen, denticulate a absolute 1600.
19. windows_54.jpgThe Windows operating arrangement has 50 actor curve of cipher (a band averages 60 characters) and grows 20% with every release. It’s put calm by 7,200 people, comes in 34 languages and has to abutment 190,000 devices-different models of agenda cameras, printers, handhelds and so on.
20. An estimated 250-300K applications accept been developed for Windows.
21. Over 5 actor testers active up for Vista’s absolution candidates (I’m wagering the aboriginal application will be appear aural 3 weeks!)