Windows 1.0 Celebrates 24th Birthday on Nov. 20

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As Microsoft continues to tout the release of Window 7, the company is quietly celebrating the 24th birthday of Window 1.0. On Nov. 20, 1985, Microsoft released Window 1.0 (technically 1.0.1). In what some would call typical Microsoft style, Windows 1.0 was released two years later than expected.

Windows 1.0 was hardly the first PC-based GUI at the time. Both VsiCorp and Digital Research, Inc. were on the market before Windows 1.0. And of course, there's Apple, who believed Windows was a little too similar to their Mac software. In 1988, Apple sued Microsoft violating copyrights in the Macintosh user interface. Lawsuits aside, Microsoft would eventually dominate the market.

Of course, it's also become the target of derision. As the latest ad from Apple will tell you, the system has been plagued with problems from the start.