Microsoft Windows turned 40 yesterday, marking four decades of crashes, breakthroughs, and the OS that reshaped personal computing.
On November 20, 1985, Microsoft began shipping a product that looked more like an ambitious experiment than the foundation of a global computing empire. Windows 1.0, positioned as a graphical layer on top of MS-DOS, arrived in stores with modest hardware requirements — a graphics card and 256KB of RAM — and a goal that seems almost quaint today: make the command line easier to use. Few could have known that this early “Interface Manager,” as it was originally called, would grow into the most widely used operating system family on the planet.
The earliest Windows releases were simple, even clunky by modern standards, but they introduced ideas that reshaped personal computing. The first version brought tiled windows, a mouse-driven interface, and small built-in utilities. Windows 2.0 followed in 1987 with overlapping windows, keyboard shortcuts, and support for improved graphics. It was Windows 3.0 and 3.1, however, that truly broke through. Launching in 1990 and 1992, these versions delivered a 3D-styled interface, the Program Manager, VGA support, and a slate of games — Solitaire, Minesweeper, Hearts — that became cultural icons. Millions of copies were sold, and in some places, these systems are still running decades later.
By the mid-1990s, Windows had moved far beyond being a DOS add-on. Windows 95 marked a cultural moment in tech history: a global launch event, the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” and the debut of the Start menu, taskbar, long file names, and Plug & Play. It also arrived with a fair number of crashes, including the infamous blue screen Bill Gates encountered while demonstrating a Windows 98 beta in 1998. But that didn’t stop adoption. Windows 95 sold more than seven million copies in its first few weeks and firmly established Windows in homes, schools, and offices.
The late ’90s and early 2000s brought rapid diversification. Windows 98 embraced the early web with built-in Internet Explorer and USB support. Windows 2000 standardized corporate computing. Windows Me attempted — and largely failed — to push multimedia features. All of this culminated in Windows XP, released in 2001 and still remembered fondly thanks to its stability, revamped interface, and broad software support. Even today, a small number of machines stubbornly run XP despite the security risks.
Not every step was smooth. Windows Vista in 2007 introduced the Aero interface but struggled with performance and compatibility. Windows 7 followed in 2009 and quickly became one of Microsoft’s most beloved releases, laying groundwork for cloud-connected services. Windows 8 attempted a touch-first reinvention with tiles and full-screen apps, but user backlash pushed Microsoft to rethink its strategy.
Windows 10 arrived in 2015 as a unified platform spanning PCs, tablets, Xbox, and IoT devices. It restored familiar interface elements, introduced Edge and Cortana, and adopted the Windows-as-a-Service update model — sometimes with chaotic results, such as the notorious 1809 update. Windows 11 continues the story, shifting design language, tightening hardware requirements, and evolving toward the era of the AI-powered PC.
From a graphical shell for DOS to an operating system family used by billions, Windows has been shaped by crashes, breakthroughs, redesigns, and a surprising number of hidden Easter eggs. Forty years later, the journey that began with a 256KB interface has become one of the most influential stories in computing history.
