[Mystery solved] Microsoft Teases Launch Of ‘Windows 1.0’

[steven36]

Users taken off-guard as Microsoft rolls out 1980s-era logos and imagery across its Windows social media accounts

 

 

Microsoft has launched a video teasing the launch of “Windows 1.0” on social media, causing users to wonder what might be in store.

 

“Introducing the all-new Windows 1.0, with MS-Dos Executive, Clock, and more,” Microsoft said on Twitter.

 

The video features a 1980s pop soundtrack that plays as Windows logos from the present day back to 1985, the year of Windows 1.0’s launch, scroll past.

 

The 1985 logo curiously resembles the current Windows icon, with a flat array of squares in the same light blue tone as is used today.

 

 

‘Gnarly’

In responses to users’ queries, Microsoft administrators on Twitter used 1980s slang terms such as “gnarly” and “stoked”.

 

Microsoft posted the video on its official Windows Twitter account and on the Windows Instagram account, after deleting all its past Instagram posts.

 

It is also using the 1985 logo on the Twitter and Instagram accounts, while the Twitter account features a 1980s-style promotional image.

 

Microsoft declined to fill users in on its plans for the “launch”, telling them only to “stay tuned” and to “wait for updates”.

 

A number of industry watchers, however, noted that this week sees the debut of the third season of the popular Netflix television programme Stranger Things, which is set in 1985, the year of Windows 1.0’s launch.

 

The programme’s previous seasons, taking place in 1983 and 1984, have been structured around 1980s-style science-fiction imagery and pop culture references, with the show’s creators disclosing that the upcoming series incorporates references to the 1985 film Back to the Future.

 

 

Reversi.exe

Windows 1.0’s premiere in the same year may therefore also be featured.

 

The Windows news site Windows Central also speculated that Microsoft may be preparing to open source Windows 1.0, as it has done with MS-DOS and the Windows Calculator, both of which are hosted on Microsoft-owned GitHub.

 

Microsoft’s comments on Twitter made repeated references to the game Reversi, which was included with Windows 1.0, something onlookers said may be a further reference to Stranger Things, with its pair of ordinary and “Upside Down” universes.

 

Reversi typically features pieces in inverse colours, such as black and white.

 

 

Source

 

 

[Karlston]

So, in 34 years all Microsoft has done is move the Windows version decimal point one place to the right.  

[flash48]

Interesting article.  Anyone who would like to download Windows 1.0 prior to the 'official release'  can go here:

 

Site: https://the-eye.eu
Sharecode: /public/Operating Systems/Microsoft Official/

 

You can also get every version of DOS.

[Karlston]

Sharecoded direct link to "illegal materials" .

 

 

[BimBamSmash]

Ain't that a nostalgic sight. Can't say I remember the ad itself but the OS? The dreaded HIMEM.SYS file that would go lost if system hadn't been properly shut down? Floppy Disks? Those bulky PCs and CRTs? Those gray/white mechanical keyboards? Oh man. Good times!

[shorty6100]

Maybe they can get Microsoft Bob and the XP dog out of mothballs for built in search or whatever. Sign me up!

[Karlston]

Mystery solved (topic title edited)...

 

Microsoft releases Windows 1.11 throwback app as a Stranger Things tie-in

Mystery solved: Microsoft's classic software tease is all about the Netflix show.

Enlarge / Eleven and the gang face down weird dangers yet again in the third season trailer.

YouTube/Netflix

If you were one of the many people confused and curious about Microsoft’s apparent time-traveling social media blitz last week, wonder no more. As several astute fans guessed, the retro throwback was part of a collaboration with Netflix in support of Stranger Things, which just released its third season. The show is set in the year 1985, the same year that Microsoft released Windows 1.0.

 

The partnership has three elements. The first follows up on the many tweets from Microsoft’s social media crew that the original iteration of the Windows software would be launching. Microsoft has launched a PC app called Windows 1.11, which uses some of the original programs to give a rough overview of some of the new season’s plot points. Uncover clues in Paint, play an ASCII dungeon crawler, and watch clips from the show very roughly as they might have looked on a computer of that era.

 

 

In addition to the app, Microsoft is taking its Netflix tie-in off the screen. The company is hosting a series of STEM-focused summer workshops at several of its Microsoft Store locations beginning July 20. There are two options for the Camp Know Where sessions. Rule the Arcade will teach game design and coding, and participants will create a playable video game. Strange-ify Your World is based on Microsoft’s mixed reality tools, with participants inventing their own tales of friendship and teamwork in a mini-movie. The final component of the tie-in is a prize package. It includes a collectible arcade cabinet themed on Stranger Things 3, a new Xbox One X, and a year-long membership to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

 

Microsoft introduced Windows 1.0 to build on how users could interact with MS-DOS on a computer. It got a mixed reaction at launch, and Microsoft has continued to hit new highs and new lows with the following iterations of its operating system. Its current form, Windows 10, is reportedly on 700 million devices around the world and is the fastest-growing version of the platform to date.

 

 

 

Source: Microsoft releases Windows 1.11 throwback app as a Stranger Things tie-in (Ars Technica)

 

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