Comparing the UI of Windows 1.x and Vista apps


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I have this pack of Windows 1.0 apps that were converted to Windows 3.x EXEs, and compared them with their modern day counterparts:

windows10appsinvistamm2.th.jpg

Windows 1.0 apps (running in Vista)

(note: Paint's toolbar is messed up)

windowsvistaappsga4.th.jpg

Windows Vista apps

It's nice to see what 20 years can do to UI design. Of course, four of those applications have had the same UI for 10 years. Alas.

(side note: At last, older applications don't fall back to the classic window borders, as is with the case in XP.)

Wouldnt the OS run better without all this legacy code? I dont think anyone still uses a program from windows 3.1, why do they still work?

I can write some code in Qbasic, convert it into EXE, and it will work just fine. It doesn't matter how old the EXE is, and it has nothing to do with the OS having "legacy code".

within 40 years we'll probably have a 3d OS that you can see everywhere around you, that you can hear, that you can feel, and that you can use wherever you are because it's built in in our brains or something :p

Wouldnt the OS run better without all this legacy code? I dont think anyone still uses a program from windows 3.1, why do they still work?

No not really.

DOS, Win 3.x, and non-Win32 Win9x apps run in a Virtual Machine called "Windows On Windows". It's just so transparent that you don't really notice.

  • 1 month later...

No not really.

DOS, Win 3.x, and non-Win32 Win9x apps run in a Virtual Machine called "Windows On Windows". It's just so transparent that you don't really notice.

Um - except the "8 NTVDM.EXE" in the taskbar - that must be a bug - NTVDM's shouldn't be grouped like that.

Does anyone have a copy of windows 1.0 or 2 or 3 or 3.1? - I'd like to test it on a new pc - I don't think ms will sue for piracy on that!

Does anyone have a copy of windows 1.0 or 2 or 3 or 3.1? - I'd like to test it on a new pc - I don't think ms will sue for piracy on that!

Windows 1.0's boot disk is on the same site I got those Windows 1.x -> 3.x applications from. (Not too sure if linking to this old stuff is illegal. Please remove this link if need be.)

Edited by rm20010
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