What is the earliest know beta of a Microsoft OS

[Dragondemonlord]

I was just wondering what is the earliest know beta of a Microsoft Operating system
The earliest beta I can find is Windows 3.1 Build 026 Beta

[TheWindowsXPGuy]

There's Windows 1.00 Development Release 5 from 1984, which is on the FTP.

[James]

earliest Windows beta? Gotta be something like COMDEX 1983 build.

[comeburstingtheconcrete]

It's a shame no one has actually been able to get the COMDEX build, as far as I know. If they have, well, that'll be amazing.

So yeah, if you're actually looking for a really early beta, you can't get earlier than Windows 1.00 Development Release 5. No one's been able to find any earlier ones, even though they almost certainly existed at some point.

[NHL fan]

The earliest Windows build leaked like the others said is Windows 1 Development Release 5

[john11]

So we haven't got any betas of DOS?

[DeFacto]

So we haven't got any betas of DOS?

The first confirmed beta of DOS is that of DOS 5.0... MS-DOS was more of a "quickfix" type of a product; if there were problems, Microsoft/IBM simply patched them in a new version and released it to OEMs. As said, that changed a bit with DOS 5.0, which had an extensive beta testing program, just like Windows 3.0. We got some MS-DOS 5.0 betas on the FTP, but sadly no Windows 3.0 betas leaked, probably due to very strict NDA that covered it.

[john11]

So we haven't got any betas of DOS?

The first confirmed beta of DOS is that of DOS 5.0... MS-DOS was more of a "quickfix" type of a product; if there were problems, Microsoft/IBM simply patched them in a new version and released it to OEMs. As said, that changed a bit with DOS 5.0, which had an extensive beta testing program, just like Windows 3.0.

Ok, so it was a completely different type of development cycle back then. Interesting.

[DeFacto]

Well, that's what I assume anyway. No pre-DOS 5.0 betas ever surfaced and there are no references of any beta tests either... This is also evident from the many minor revisions of DOS 1.X-4.X. Some were bugfix releases, while others were specific OEM adaptations. If there were betas and beta testing, there would be less bugs that had to be fixed later in new minor release.

[Dragondemonlord]

Thanks everyone I will get Windows 1 Dev release 1 when I get access to FTP

[DeFacto]

Thanks everyone I will get Windows 1 Dev release 1 when I get access to FTP

Developer Release 1 is not on the FTP, if that's what you mean. It's not publicly leaked eather...

[Dragondemonlord]

Sorry I was reading what people said and misunderstood.

[DeFacto]

Sorry I was reading what people said and misunderstood.

No problem... We only have DR5, Alpha and Beta. Obviously, earlier DPs exist but none was found so far (there is a DR3 floating around but it's just mislabeled DR5).