Windows 1.01 was released by data-analytics-id=”inline-link” href=”https://www.tomshardware.com/tag/microsoft” data-auto-tag-linker=”true” data-mrf-recirculation=”inline-link” data-before-rewrite-localise=”https://www.tomshardware.com/tag/microsoft”>Microsoft 40 years ago. It was the software company’s first commercially released WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointer)-driven shell, laying the foundations for the family of shells and operating systems marketed under the data-analytics-id=”inline-link” href=”https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/california-man-sues-microsoft-for-discontinuing-windows-10-says-company-is-doing-this-to-monopolize-the-generative-ai-market” data-mrf-recirculation=”inline-link” data-before-rewrite-localise=”https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/california-man-sues-microsoft-for-discontinuing-windows-10-says-company-is-doing-this-to-monopolize-the-generative-ai-market”>Windows brand. However, the operating system faced far superior competition at launch, stifling uptake for about eight years when version 3.X landed.
Running atop of DOS, a trait that would continue for several revisions, 1985’s Windows 1.01 had…
