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The Secret Origin of Windows

Posted by Soulskill on from the sounds-like-a-comic-book-character dept.

harrymcc writes "Windows has been so dominant for so long that it's easy to forget Windows 1.0 was vaporware, mocked both outside and inside of Microsoft — and that its immediate successors were considered stopgaps until OS/2 was everywhere. Tandy Trower, the product manager who finally got Windows 1.0 out the door a quarter century ago, has written a memoir of the experience. (He thought being assigned the much-maligned project was Microsoft's fiendish way of trying to get rid of him.) The story involves such still-significant figures as Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Ray Ozzie, and Nathan Myhrvold; Trower left Microsoft only in November of 2009 after 28 years with the company."

13 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. To be fair... by gad_zuki! · · Score: 5, Funny

    they also had Ballmer doing crazy commercials at that time. It was destined to do badly.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGvHNNOLnCk

    1. Re:To be fair... by j_presper_eckert · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm so confused! This goes against everything that me and millions of others were taught. I was so *sure* that Windows had its origin in a golden, seductive ring of incalculable power...or was it a tower in Redmond topped by a lidless eye of flaming malice?

      --
      Can't stop the Beta? Time to evacuate to ##altslashdot at webchat.freenode.net - Slashcott in effect.
    2. Re:To be fair... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Do the maths? Only one math is needed, a single division, and that's not really a math at all, just an arithmetic.

    3. Re:To be fair... by bertoelcon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Every custom compile is essentially a fork.....dead-end forks, but forks none-the-less.

      So Gentoo then?

      --
      Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
    4. Re:To be fair... by Fred_A · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't forget that Microsoft saves a ton of money by not shipping Windows 7 on floppy disks.

      True, I did ask to get it on 1600 floppies since my DVD drive was busted and they wouldn't even reply to my polite email. Typical Microsoft.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
  2. Re:Isn't it still vaporware? by calibre-not-output · · Score: 4, Funny

    Actually the product's quality has declined quite a bit since the golden days of Windows 1.0 - now it's bloated vaporware. No wonder they've decided to invest in the cloud.

    --
    Nothing lasts forever but the certainty of change.
  3. 25 years and only 7 versions? by coofercat · · Score: 3, Funny

    1985: Windows 1.0
    2010: Windows 7

    1 release every 3.5 years? At that sort of rate you'd think they'd be completely bug free ;-)

    PS. Article is in 3 pages that will take you about 3.5 years to read, and another 3.5 regretting.

    1. Re:25 years and only 7 versions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You forgot Microsoft Bob

    2. Re:25 years and only 7 versions? by quercus.aeternam · · Score: 2, Funny

      You know, I just realized that Windows 7 being the 7th version of Windows isn't too far from the truth: Assuming we only look at major home versions (skipping NT and 2000), I see 8. I'm left wondering which OS they skipped.

      Perhaps they merged 95 with 98 or Vista with 7? On second thought, it's definitely ME. There is no way that thing ever existed, kind of like MS Bob...

      Windows 1
      Windows 2
      Windows 3
      Windows 95
      Windows 98
      Windows ME
      Windows XP
      Windows Vista
      Windows 7

      Actually, we know that it's based off of the NT tree, leaving us with:

      Windows NT 3.x
      Windows NT 4
      Windows 2000 (NT 5)
      Windows XP (NT 5.1)
      Windows Vista (NT 6)
      Windows 7 (NT 6.1)

      Well, that's not quite as productive as I had hoped, but I think you see the point: There is definitely a reason that MS chose to call Windows 7 "Windows 7".

      I just have no idea as to what it is.

  4. Re:Isn't it still vaporware? by spazdor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Vapor... cloud... HA!
    ICWUDT

    --
    DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
  5. MS-DOSS by tepples · · Score: 4, Funny

    DOSSHELL

    And all the Mac-tards at the time would say "I thought DOS had only one S."

  6. Re:Anyone remember reversie? by schon · · Score: 2, Funny

    the 286's the military had no clue what to do with

    I find it hard to believe that the Navy couldn't recognize a boat anchor when it saw one.

    /me ducks :)

  7. Re:Destined to do badly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sounds like that Vegas trip didn't go so well....