{"id":689,"date":"2016-10-15T10:20:33","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T15:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/notes.technologists.com\/notes\/?p=689"},"modified":"2025-08-25T12:27:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T17:27:52","slug":"koko-windows-3-0-to-10-and-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notes.technologists.com\/notes\/2016\/10\/15\/koko-windows-3-0-to-10-and-back\/","title":{"rendered":"koko: Windows 3.0 to “10.0” and back"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Genghis Khan and his brother Don
\nCould not k<\/strong>eep o<\/strong>n k<\/strong>eepin’ o<\/strong>n”
\n(1971) “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”<\/a> – Bob Dylan<\/p>\n

Windows 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wrote before<\/a>: “I remember thinking in 1989 that X-Windows was going to be the dominant windowing environment on PCs. I said about as much in \u201cUnix \u2013 The Force Behind Personal Computing?<\/a>\u201d Unix Technology Advisor 2<\/em>, 2 (February 1990). When Michael Dell read what I had written, he gently suggested I take a closer look at Windows 3.0. History<\/a>\u00a0shows Michael was right and I was wrong.”<\/p>\n

Windows 95<\/strong><\/p>\n

For sure the most fun I had with Windows was from ’93 to ’95, working with\u00a0Chicago<\/em> as it progressed toward launch. Back then, Windows 95 felt graceful and easy to use, comparable to Mac OS, even incorporating some of the flexibility of X-Windows with TweakUI<\/em>. I used the test builds on my primary computers and promoted Windows 95 to developers and customers. Though not part of Microsoft, I felt included, even by Brad Silverberg, leader of the project.<\/p>\n

Windows 10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through spending lots of times with most of the Windows releases since then, none felt particularly\u00a0fresh and fun. Until now. July 2015 I just barely signed up for Insider<\/a>\u00a0before the initial release, but did have a little early access experience.\u00a0In spite of the privacy allegations and real problems, Windows 10 has been fun again for me. I have 10 or 10 with the Anniversary Update (Version 1607, still self-reporting as “10.0.14393” as of Build 14393.222) on almost all of my Windows machines, including some originally shipped with\u00a0Vista. Overall, I’ve probably worked with a couple dozen Windows 10 machines.<\/p>\n

\"trust_no_one_tagline\"<\/a><\/p>\n