Windows 3.0 represented a turning point in the evolution of PC compatibles when machines capable of a good graphical interface (and all of the peripherals involved) had become low cost enough for mainstream users. A Turning Point for PCs in the Battle Against Macs That visual flair helped make Windows 3.0 so massively popular. For the first time, Windows matched (and arguably surpassed) the visual fidelity of Mac OS, which most considered the benchmark GUI of the time. Overall, the cleanly-executed Windows 3.0 interface felt crisp and professional, with detailed icons, well-thought-out window arrangements, and nice fonts. They included simulated highlights and shadows that gave the illusion of depth, and as a result, most people referred to the buttons as being “3D.” It seems amazing today, but Windows 3.0’s buttons represented serious eye candy for a PC graphical interface at the time. Windows proved a boon to multi-node BBSes at the time as well, allowing multiple instances of DOS-based BBS software to run easily on one machine. What kind of MS-DOS applications were people running in 1990? Thanks to backward compatibility, anything and everything, from Lotus 1-2-3 to Captain Comic. In Windows 3.0, users could run multiple MS-DOS applications simultaneously, which felt like magic at the time. When it came to multitasking MS-DOS programs (which many people still used frequently), Windows 1.0 and 2.0 served basically graphical application launchers. Windows 3.0 included advanced memory management that let it use large amounts of RAM, allowing both larger programs and true cooperative multitasking for the first time. (Now it’s a weird pay-to-play parody of itself, but that’s another topic entirely.) Better Memory Management and True Multitasking While Microsoft dropped Reversi in Windows 3.1 (in favor of Minesweeper), Solitaire shipped with Windows all the way up to Windows 7. Windows 3.0 also included the game Reversi with every copy. Microsoft used Kare’s card graphics all the way up to Windows XP, finally replacing them in Vista. She also designed many icons for Windows 3.0. Solitaire featured card faces designed by Susan Kare, who had previously designed many graphical elements and fonts for the Macintosh. And of course, it was also a great way to kill time between tasks in the office. With its detailed cards (and amusing card backs), Solitaire proved an able example of Windows’ graphical capabilities. The famous partnership first came together in 1990 when Microsoft shipped its first-ever version of Solitaire with Windows 3.0. The Debut of Microsoft Solitaireīy now, Solitaire is so heavily associated with Windows that it’s hard to picture the two apart. Today, File Explorer serves as both the main interface and the file manager of Windows 10. If you did want to manage files in Windows 3.0, you needed to launch a separate application called File Manager. Users could easily find and launch applications while being mostly shielded from accidentally messing up its file-based underpinnings. Compared to MS-DOS by itself, or Windows 2.0’s MS-DOS Executive shell, Program Manager provided a very non-intimidating interface. Compared to that, the “large” 16-color icons in Windows 3.0 felt like a revelation, bringing icon detail matching expensive color Macintosh computers to relatively inexpensive PCs.Īlso, Program Manager was easy to use. In Windows 3.0 that job was held by Program Manager, which was also the main interface (shell) for Windows.Īs a shell, Windows 2.0 had used MS-DOS Executive, which was basically a glorified list of files with no support for application icons. In today’s Windows, the Start Menu provides a quick and easy way to organize and launch installed applications. RELATED: PCs Before Windows: What Using MS-DOS Was Actually Like The New Program Manager Here are some of the elements that came together to make both Windows 3.0 unique and successful. Third-party application support followed, and Microsoft cemented its PC market operating system dominance. Unlike previous versions of Windows, it proved to be a hit, selling over 10 million copies. It allowed multitasking of both MS-DOS programs and specially written Windows applications. Then came Windows 3.0 in 1990, another GUI shell that ran on top of MS-DOS. Neither Windows 1.0 nor Windows 2.0 proved successful in the market.
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