Microsoft revealed Windows 1.0 in November 1983. Windows 1.0 began the Windows franchise that still dominates the desktop PC market today. Here, we look back on Microsoft’s historic announcement of Windows 1.0 40 years on.
Apple Releases the Lisa in Early 1983
In the early 1980s, computer operating systems were command-based ones utilized by entering text commands. However, a GUI (graphical user interface) revolution was brewing in the IT industry. Apple placed itself at the forefront of that revolution by releasing the Lisa in early 1983. That was among the first PCs with a graphical user interface that enabled users to open programs and files with a mouse.
However, the problem with the Apple Lisa was that it was a bit too revolutionary. It was a computer slightly ahead of its time with very high specifications for an early 1980s PC. This made the Lisa prohibitively expensive, with an approximate $10,000 launch price. Most users preferred to stick with somewhat cheaper IBM PCs.
Microsoft Unveils Windows 1.0 at COMDEX
Nevertheless, the Lisa still raised many eyebrows in the IT industry with its revolutionary graphical operating system (the forerunner to the Macintosh). In response to the Lisa (and Visi On graphical OS), Microsoft began its GUI OS project codenamed Interface Manager. Bill Gates announced the development of Windows 1.0 at the Plaza Hotel in New York on June 26, 2025.
When Microsoft announced Windows 1.0, the company said it was a window manager extension of MS-DOS. Microsoft expected Windows 1.0 would expand the MS-DOS software development environment by enabling developers to release more graphically orientated programs. Thus, the first Windows OS was more of an addition to MS-DOS rather than a replacement.
Microsoft showed off the first Windows 1.0 pre-release build at COMDEX (a computer expo trade show) in November 1983. The world first saw a Windows OS on green-tinted monitors 40 years ago. The first Windows platform enabled users to access multiple running programs by clicking icons for them on a bar, which was something like an early taskbar.
Windows 1.0 also came with a few apps users of today are familiar with. Notepad, Paint, and Calc (Calculator) were three programs that came with Windows 1.0 and have remained a part of its OS series ever since. Users could also select Write (a word processor), Clock, Reversi (a board game), Clipboard, and Calendar programs from the MS-DOS Executive shell.
You can see what Windows 1.0 was like on thisIBM PC emulator page. ClickFull Screento maximize that emulator’s window. Try launching some programs from MS-DOS Executive and minimizing them to the program bar by double-clicking on their window title bars. You can switch between the programs by clicking their icons on the bar, much the same as on current-day Windows platforms.
The Windows Revolution Begins… in 1995
Microsoft delayed Windows 1.0’s release with some further modifications and refinements. Thehistory of Windowsbegan when the first public version of Windows 1.0 became available in November 1985, two years after Microsoft had announced it. Microsoft launched Windows 1.0 in the USA with an affordable $99 price tag.
Users weren’t exactly blown away by Windows 1.0 when they got their hands on it. The first Windows OS had somewhat limited software compatibility and performance issues. Many reviews of the time rated Windows 1.0 as a flop. So, most users preferred to stick with MS-DOS commands for the rest of the 1980s.
PCs of the 1980s weren’t quite ready for GUI operating systems. The much heavier system demands of graphical operating systems made performance issues inevitable with the limited hardware of the time. PC hardware needed about seven to 10 years to advance before the Windows revolution truly began in 1995.
Windows finally hit the big time in 1995. Adding the Start menu and a fully-fledged taskbar to Windows 95 (which thishistory of the Windows taskbartells you a bit more about) made all the difference. So, PCs of the mid-1990s were also much better equipped to handle GUI platforms. After that, the Windows OS series took a stranglehold of the desktop PC market, and the world moved on from MS-DOS.
Windows Won the Graphical OS War
Microsoft’s announcement of Windows 1.0 in November 1983 was undoubtedly the start of something huge that eventually made PCs much more accessible. Even though Windows 1.0 didn’t storm stores in the 1980s, it still began what would become the world’s most prominent PC OS series. Bill Gates proclaimed Windows to be the future when Microsoft unveiled its first graphical operating system, and that prophesy turned out to be true.
