1983 Review of Microsoft Windows

Are you curious about the origins of the ubiquitous Windows Operating System? Sure you know about Windows 3.1, but what about earlier iterations of the OS? Nathan’s Toasty Technology has posted a December 1983 issue of Byte magazine with a review of Windows 1.0. The review has been transcribed into text and has some great accompanying scans. Be ready to be shocked, but this is how it all began:

The open approach and the presentation of Microsoft Windows as an extension of MS-DOS 2.0 will help attract the horde of programmers necessary to assure acceptable execution speeds on the IBM PC. Just as enough programmers working long enough on different approaches have made the Apple II perform feats that once seemed incredible, enough programmers working long enough on enough different approaches will make applications run fast under Microsoft Windows on ordinary hardware. Even if this judgment proves mistaken, Microsoft’s policy of openness and low pricing will have made possible a major experiment in mass-market software. For many software authors as well as users, this will be the first chance to test an approach to the user interface that has hovered just beyond reach for several years.

1983 Review of Microsoft Windows via Nathan’s Toasty Technology