The first video of the Windows interface (1983)

Dan Bricklin, co-author of the first VisiCalc spreadsheet program, loved to make videos. Thirty years ago, it was a strange hobby, because you had to carry a bulky video camera with you everywhere. However, thanks to Bricklin, we now have the opportunity to see rare recordings, such as the presentation of a Mac computer by Steve Jobs in 1984.

Another video was recorded at the COMDEX computer show in November 1983. Dan Bricklin walked between the stands and filmed everything. If you rewind to 6 minutes 55 seconds , you can see the Microsoft booth and a demonstration of the Windows graphical interface. The video was made two years before the official release of Windows 1.0, which took place on November 20, 1985!


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Nowadays, it is assumed that the Windows graphical interface is copied from the Mac OS. Many forget that Microsoft announced a graphical shell for MS-DOS before Apple introduced the first mac on January 24, 1984. Microsoft simply could not finish work on this system until November 1985.


Presentation of the first "Mac" January 24, 1984

In the archives, you can find an article in InfoWorld magazine dated November 21, 1983, which tells about the official announcement of the Windows graphical shell. The article cites some Microsoft employees, including the vice president of marketing for Steve Bulmer. Initially, Microsoft planned to release the first version of Windows until April 1984.

For more on Windows development, see the memoirs of Tandy Trower , who worked at Microsoft from 1981 to 2009 and led the Windows 1.0 project. He became the fifth leader of this project, the four previous managers did not master the task.


Microsoft employees at a meeting with PC World journalists in late 1982 or early 1983 are discussing MS-DOS 2.0. Second right - Thandy Mower