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Windows 3.0

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Windows 3.0
A typical Windows 3.0 workspace
DeveloperMicrosoft
OS familyWindows 3.x
Working stateUnsupported as of December 31 2001
Source modelClosed source
Latest releaseWindows 3.0a / October 31 1990
Kernel typeN/A
LicenseMicrosoft EULA
Official websiteN/A

Windows 3.0 was the 3rd major release of Microsoft Windows, and came out on May 22, 1990. It was the first widely successful version of Windows (see history of Microsoft Windows), enabling Microsoft to compete with Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga on the GUI front.

Features

Windows 3.0 succeeded Windows 2.1x and included a significantly revamped user interface as well as technical improvements to make better use of the memory management capabilities of Intel's 80286 and 80386 processors. Text-mode programs written for MS-DOS could be run within a window (a feature previously available in a more limited form with Windows/386 2.1), making the system usable as a crude multitasking base for legacy programs. However, this was of limited use for the home market, where most games and entertainment programs continued to require raw DOS access.

The MS-DOS Executive file manager/program launcher was replaced with an icon-based Program Manager and a list-based File Manager, thereby simplifying the launching of applications. The MS-DOS Executive was still included as an alternative user interface program. The Control Panel, previously available as a standard-looking applet, had been re-modeled after the one in Mac OS. It centralized system settings, including limited control over the color scheme of the interface. A number of simple applications were included, such as the text editor Notepad and the word processor Write (both inherited from earlier versions of Windows), a macro recorder (new; later dropped), and a calculator (also inherited). The earlier Reversi game was complemented with a card game named Solitaire.

Windows 3.0 was the last version of Windows to advertise 100% compatibility with older Windows applications.

File:Win30BoxedCopySoftware.JPG
A boxed copy of Windows 3.0 in the original shrinkwrap. This boxed copy includes 3.5" floppies (720K version) for DOS systems.

Memory modes

Windows 3.0 was the only version of Windows that could be run in three different memory modes:

  • Real mode, intended for older computers with a CPU below Intel 80286, and corresponding to its real mode;
  • Standard mode, intended for computers with an 80286 processor, and corresponding to its protected mode;
  • 386 Enhanced mode, intended for newer computers with a Intel 80386 processor or above, and corresponding to its protected mode and virtual 8086 mode.

On a 286 or later, Real mode set the CPU to run in real mode, as though it were an Intel 80186, including the limitation that it could only address 1 MB of RAM. The expanded memory scheme was used to utilize any memory the computer had beyond 1 MB. This slowed down the computer significantly, and was used only by users of legacy applications that would crash in protected mode. Windows 3.0 was the last version of Windows that could run in real mode.

Standard mode on a 286 or later switches the CPU to protected mode, and therefore let the CPU directly access up to 16 MB of RAM at once, enabled virtual memory, and used memory protection to make Windows more stable in the event of an application fault. Support for standard mode was dropped in Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

386 Enhanced mode implemented all the benefits of Standard mode, plus 32-bit addressing and paging for faster memory access, plus virtual 8086 mode for safer execution of MS-DOS programs: each of them now ran in a virtual machine. In the previous modes, multiple MS-DOS programs could only be run in full-screen, and only the program currently active was executing; but in 386 enhanced mode, they could be run simultaneously in separate windows.

The Multimedia Extensions

The Multimedia Extensions were released in Autumn 1991 to support sound cards, as well as CD-ROM drives, which were then becoming increasingly available. The Multimedia Extensions were released to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), mainly CD-ROM drive and sound card manufacturers, and added basic multimedia support for audio input and output and a CD audio player application to Windows 3.0. The Multimedia Extensions' new features were not available in Windows 3.0 real mode. Windows 3.1x would later incorporate many of its features.

Marketing

AJ IS A NIGGER. This version of Windows was the first to be pre-installed on hard drives by PC-compatible manufacturers. Zenith Data Systems had previously shipped all of its computers with Windows 1.0 or later 2.x on diskettes but committed early in the development of Windows 3.0 to shipping it pre-installed. Indeed, the Zenith division had pushed Microsoft hard to develop the graphical user interface because of Zenith's direct competition with Apple in the college & university market. Then, two weeks before the product launch, Microsoft succeeded in convincing Dell to pre-load the operating system software as well.

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