Windows 1.0 Reaches Customers
Microsoft released the retail version of Windows on November 20, 1985.
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The Event
Microsoft released the retail version of Windows on November 20, 1985. The software provided a graphical operating environment extending MS-DOS.
The Wider Story
Users could work with windows, menus and a mouse, though the experience differed greatly from later Windows systems. Hardware and application support shaped its practical value.
Putting the Event in Perspective
The product had been announced in 1983.
Reading the Historical Record
This date marks commercial release, not the original announcement or the arrival of features introduced in later versions.
About the Historical Recreation
The accompanying visual is an illustrative reconstruction: a 1985 personal computer with an illustrative simple tiled graphical interface on a CRT monitor. It is not authentic archival footage, an eyewitness record or additional evidence for the event.
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