Windows 3.x and Windows NT - 1991

[linuxlove]

I had originally wanted to post this in the thread about NT 1991 but since there's so much other stuff in this post not related to NT 1991, I decided to post here.

The video has been split into four parts; here's part one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuMeqcuT ... re=related

I've watched it and here are the highlights with some of my comments thrown in. You'll have to watch all the parts to understand what they are really talking about.

A look at Windows 3.1

Looks like Windows 3.1. I don't know if this was the default color scheme or if it was customized to look like this.
The icon highlights:

• There's a book icon right next to Notepad in the Program Manager
• WinPopUp is running
• Dr. Watson is also running, but look at its icon: Instead of a doctor with a stethoscope, it's a picture of a pipe.

It could just be me but the File Manager looks somehow different. Note the presence of network drives.


I haven't had much experience with Dr. Watson. Maybe this dialog is different in later compiles? The window title is "Dr. Watson's Clues".


Here is Dr. Watson's version: 0.73. Looks like the path in this dialog is C:\BILL\drwatson.log?


Windows for Pen Computing
These all look chroma keyed to me.


Windows NT...





Windows with Multimedia Extensions

This has nothing to do with the Multimedia Extensions but what version of Word is that? It's obviously an early version.


The Multimedia Bookshelf for Windows. Predecessor to Microsoft Encarta?
Bill later says that the PC is a Tandy Multimedia Computer.


While a CD-ROM drive is nothing special, I find the old caddy style drives neat.




Multimedia Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony. Watch the videos to see all the screenshots.


Networking/Servers

Lots of monitors.


Bill about to log into the World Wide Sales system. Two things I want to point out:

• WWSales connects to an SQL server
• The server's name appears to be "Viking"

What sales information would you like to view?


A look at sales information for July? 1991. Based on the appearance of the File Manager icon, I'm guessing this is Windows 3.0.



A couple pictures of some IBM AS/400 systems.



And some pictures of DEC VAX 9000-series machines.


I'm assuming this is also a VAX.


Some server racks; nothing special.


More servers. Bill says these are PC-based servers... Bet you we're getting closer to seeing NT 1991. Bill also says that most of these machines are running OS/2, yes OS/2.

Windows NT


The top image is from the video. The bottom one is a picture of our recent NT 1991 leak. I think this build is older than our leak since in the Pen Windows demo it shows February 1991. Interestingly, in the WWSales demo, it looks like the sales reports are from July 1991. Either way, those months are earlier than December 1991.



File Manager from the video and from our NT 1991 leak. In the video, it appears the path is C:\nt\mstools\samples\?????; guessing from mstools I think the SDK has been installed.


Several things I'd like to point out here. There are two instances of Win Bez running (brought to you by the GDI Group and one rogue NetUI dude), an instance of the Multithreaded Demo and a couple of command prompts.
There's something more than that. Look at the top of the picture. You see that desktop string? This implies that the copy of NT 1991 shown in this video is a check-debug build. From what I can make out, the string reads:

Code: Select all

NT 32-bit Windows [NTOSBLD] v1.125

Windows NT Build 125? Some people say that January 1991 had NT Build 162, so maybe the build demoed here is NT Build 175? The more I look at this picture, the more I think NT Build 175 it is.

[WinPC]

A look at Windows 3.1

Looks like Windows 3.1. I don't know if this was the default color scheme or if it was customized to look like this.
The icon highlights:

• There's a book icon right next to Notepad in the Program Manager
• WinPopUp is running
• Dr. Watson is also running, but look at its icon: Instead of a doctor with a stethoscope, it's a picture of a pipe.

First of all, this build is of Windows 3.1x, and as much as I would normally state that it is indeed one of the early Janus builds (Build 34e or earlier), the only difference here is that WinPopup is running in the background, possibly indicating that early builds of Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (codenamed "Sparta") were compiled along with the "Janus" builds, and that Windows for Workgroups 3.1 was released later in 1992, even despite being developed alongside Windows 3.1, not to mention that I have NEVER seen a Windows 3.1x build that had WinPopup included apart from the Windows for Workgroups 3.1x builds.

Second, the early Dr. Watson pipe-smoking icon is the one used by the versions of Dr. Watson included in some of the earliest of the Windows 3.1x builds, among which are Janus Build 26 and Build 34e, both of which are available here on BetaArchive.

Finally, as for the book icon, that's HyperGuide, an online Windows manual included with Windows with Multimedia Extensions 1.0 (version 3.00a), indicating that Windows 3.1 could have also been developed in two versions, a standard release, and an updated version of Windows with Multimedia Extensions, and that the two were later merged by Build 61d.

It could just be me but the File Manager looks somehow different. Note the presence of network drives.

The File Manager seen in this screenshot is the same as the File Manager seen from Janus Build 26 onwards, the only difference is that the color scheme was slightly customized.

I haven't had much experience with Dr. Watson. Maybe this dialog is different in later compiles? The window title is "Dr. Watson's Clues".

The Dr. Watson's Clues dialog box was seen at least as recently as Chicago Build 78, and had remained exactly the same up to that point. Also, the screenshot I'm referring to also has a document open that mentions TrueType, which was among the new features included with Windows 3.1.

Here is Dr. Watson's version: 0.73. Looks like the path in this dialog is C:\BILL\drwatson.log?

If I remember correctly, I remember seeing Dr. Watson version 0.73 in a build of Windows, however, I don't remember which build it was.

Windows for Pen Computing
These all look chroma keyed to me.


Windows NT...

From seeing these screenshots, it would appear as if Windows for Pen Computing 1.0 was already in development by 1991, if not even 1990.[/quote]

Windows with Multimedia Extensions

This has nothing to do with the Multimedia Extensions but what version of Word is that? It's obviously an early version.


The Multimedia Bookshelf for Windows. Predecessor to Microsoft Encarta?
Bill later says that the PC is a Tandy Multimedia Computer.


While a CD-ROM drive is nothing special, I find the old caddy style drives neat.




Multimedia Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony. Watch the videos to see all the screenshots.

This is most likely the released version of Windows with Multimedia Extensions 1.0 (version 3.00a).

Networking/Servers

Lots of monitors.


Bill about to log into the World Wide Sales system. Two things I want to point out:

• WWSales connects to an SQL server
• The server's name appears to be "Viking"

What sales information would you like to view?


A look at sales information for July? 1991. Based on the appearance of the File Manager icon, I'm guessing this is Windows 3.0.

Could this possibly be the precursor to what eventually became Windows for Workgroups 3.1, codenamed "Sparta"? If this is indeed related to advanced network support within Windows 3.x, it's possible that even as early as 1990, the networking features for "Sparta" were already in development.

Windows NT


The top image is from the video. The bottom one is a picture of our recent NT 1991 leak. It appears that the build of NT 1991 in the video may be older or newer than our copy of NT 1991 but not by much.

This is obviously an earlier build, since Windows NT 3.2 Build 239.1, which is the build that we have from December 1991, uses the same icons as that of the early Janus builds, yet two of the icons seen in the build that you released a screenshot of are earlier than the early Janus builds that we have, since the Command Prompt and NotePad (also note the capitalized "P" in "NotePad") are from Windows 3.0, or are at least the same as in Windows 3.0, yet there are no Windows 3.0 icons in Windows NT 3.2 Build 239.1, which is the build that was released here.[/quote]

Several things I'd like to point out here. There are two instances of Win Bez running (brought to you by the GDI Group and one rogue NetUI dude), an instance of the Multithreaded Demo and a couple of command prompts.
There's something more than that. Look at the top of the picture. You see that desktop string? This implies that the copy of NT 1991 shown in this video is a check-debug build. From what I can make out, the string reads:

Code: Select all

NT 32-bit Windows [NTOSBLD] v1.125

Windows NT Build 125? Hmm...

If Daniel's post in the "Windows NT 1991 Pre-release" topic is correct, and Build 162 was from January 1991, then assuming that the build number is indeed Build 125, this would most likely place this build in late 1990, or at least the Fall of that year.

And that's it. Now stop looking at these pictures and go watch the videos!

I hope that I've cleared everything up, or at least helped to explain the screenshots that you have provided, not to mention that knowing that both, the standard Windows 3.0 and Windows with Multimedia Extensions 1.0 (version 3.00a) were in use at the time of the development of the early Windows 3.1x builds, I wouldn't be at all surprised if I'm right in stating the likely possibility that there were also seperate versions of Windows 3.1x, the standard Windows 3.1, alongside the updated Windows with Multimedia Extensions, and that the two were later merged.

[louisw3]

wow thanks for the screen caps! Those 'pc servers' are Compaq 386/486 servers, The system pro! I used to have one.... They even had a dual 386 model!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_SystemPro

20GB of storage.. lol that'd be some good sized array!

[betaluva]

i see NT 32-bit Windows [NTOSBLD] v1.175 in the screen capture,not 1.125

[SpiralVortex]

not to mention that I have NEVER seen a Windows 3.1x build that had WinPopup included apart from the Windows for Workgroups 3.1x builds.

The RM build of Windows 3.1 had winpopup included - one of my friends got into a lot of trouble for sending a somewhat obscene message to "*". This would have been in September 1992, before WfW was released.

Then again, the RM builds of Windows 3.1 were heavily customised and had lots of WfW-era stuff integrated due to their close linkage with the (OS/2 1.2 or 1.3) Lan Manager serevers that were used.

The screenshots of Word earlier in the thread are of version 1.0, albeit with one of the toolbars not shown for some reason.

Fun fact: Word for Windows 1 was designed for Windows 2 (note the Windows 2 style control box icon to the left of "file" and the righ-justified Help menu), but would run happily enough on 3.0 and (to a degree) on 3.1. Windows 2 didn't have common controls for combo boxes, so everyone (aside from MS) had to write their own if they wanted them. It turns out, however, that there'd been a combo box control in Windows 2 all along and Microsoft just didn't announce it, or make use of it, until they'd finished that first version of Word.

[linuxlove]

If Daniel's post in the "Windows NT 1991 Pre-release" topic is correct, and Build 162 was from January 1991, then assuming that the build number is indeed Build 125, this would most likely place this build in late 1990, or at least the Fall of that year.

Although in this video, I see February 1991 (Pen Windows) and July 1991 (WWSales) and that would be a later date than January. I'm further convinced that this is NT Build 175.

The screenshots of Word earlier in the thread are of version 1.0, albeit with one of the toolbars not shown for some reason.

Fun fact: Word for Windows 1 was designed for Windows 2 (note the Windows 2 style control box icon to the left of "file" and the righ-justified Help menu), but would run happily enough on 3.0 and (to a degree) on 3.1. Windows 2 didn't have common controls for combo boxes, so everyone (aside from MS) had to write their own if they wanted them. It turns out, however, that there'd been a combo box control in Windows 2 all along and Microsoft just didn't announce it, or make use of it, until they'd finished that first version of Word.

Word for Windows 1.0? I've got a copy of that on original 5.25" media.

[WinPC]

not to mention that I have NEVER seen a Windows 3.1x build that had WinPopup included apart from the Windows for Workgroups 3.1x builds.

The RM build of Windows 3.1 had winpopup included - one of my friends got into a lot of trouble for sending a somewhat obscene message to "*". This would have been in September 1992, before WfW was released.

Then again, the RM builds of Windows 3.1 were heavily customised and had lots of WfW-era stuff integrated due to their close linkage with the (OS/2 1.2 or 1.3) Lan Manager serevers that were used.

Do you have any more information relating to the "RM" builds of Windows 3.1, and what codenames they may have used? Also, what does "RM" stand for?

By the way, do you have any "RM" builds of Windows 3.1 that you could send me?

[louisw3]

I thought "RM" was release to manufacturing, or gold... right?

[ender]

The screenshots of Word earlier in the thread are of version 1.0, albeit with one of the toolbars not shown for some reason.

You mean the ribbon, not the toolbar

[linuxlove]

You mean the ribbon, not the toolbar

The ribbon never became popular was forced on us until Office 2007 that I'm aware of.

[ender]

The second toolbar in Word 1.0 for Windows was called ribbon

[SpiralVortex]

Do you have any more information relating to the "RM" builds of Windows 3.1, and what codenames they may have used? Also, what does "RM" stand for?

By the way, do you have any "RM" builds of Windows 3.1 that you could send me?

RM in this case is Research Machines - they used to have quite an incestuous relationship with Microsoft and were one of the few companies to have complete access to the source code to Windows right back to the Windows 1.0 days.

Sadly I wasn't interested in PCs until I got my first one (back in 1992), meaning I missed much of the early RM stuff. I now know, for example, that we had Windows 2 on the old RM-Nimbus 186 PCs at school before then. It was a custom build of Windows 2, tweaked to work on the special (186) hardware that RM used. All that remains of the RM install of Windows 1.0 is the manual which I have to this day. It has pictures of the RM Nimbus keyboards, RM-specific hardware info and - charmingly - references to "Winchester" drives.

The RM version of Windows 3.1 would boot quite happily over a network and it was very much locked down compared to regular installs of Windows 3.1. Mind you, if you opened a specially-written help file from within WinHelp before you'd logged in - the world was your oyster. I had my special disk which let me play Solitaire right off the network share with no trace! This RM build of Windows 3.1 is the one I mention with Winpopup and it seemed generally similar to WfW 3.1 in terms of its ability to map network drives, connect to network printers etc.

RM's influence with Microsoft seems to have declined over the years. I know they had a custom build of XP which had a few changes made to it aimed at locking things down. These days they support Vista and Windows 7 on their "Community Connect" system.

[SpiralVortex]

The screenshots of Word earlier in the thread are of version 1.0, albeit with one of the toolbars not shown for some reason.

You mean the ribbon, not the toolbar

Well, I'll be damned...

Yes, the main toolbar (the one with font, bold, italic etc) was indeed called the ribbon! I always took the ribbon to be the ruler for some reason.

I know Excel 3.0 mentioned having a "ToolBar". That explains the review I read of Excel 3.0 many years ago making such a big fuss around the word "ToolBar", as until then it looks like MS didn't actually call them toolbars at all!

[linuxlove]

Interesting. I guess the ribbon concept didn't go over to well in 1990.

[WinPC]

Do you have any more information relating to the "RM" builds of Windows 3.1, and what codenames they may have used? Also, what does "RM" stand for?

By the way, do you have any "RM" builds of Windows 3.1 that you could send me?

RM in this case is Research Machines - they used to have quite an incestuous relationship with Microsoft and were one of the few companies to have complete access to the source code to Windows right back to the Windows 1.0 days.

Sadly I wasn't interested in PCs until I got my first one (back in 1992), meaning I missed much of the early RM stuff. I now know, for example, that we had Windows 2 on the old RM-Nimbus 186 PCs at school before then. It was a custom build of Windows 2, tweaked to work on the special (186) hardware that RM used. All that remains of the RM install of Windows 1.0 is the manual which I have to this day. It has pictures of the RM Nimbus keyboards, RM-specific hardware info and - charmingly - references to "Winchester" drives.

The RM version of Windows 3.1 would boot quite happily over a network and it was very much locked down compared to regular installs of Windows 3.1. Mind you, if you opened a specially-written help file from within WinHelp before you'd logged in - the world was your oyster. I had my special disk which let me play Solitaire right off the network share with no trace! This RM build of Windows 3.1 is the one I mention with Winpopup and it seemed generally similar to WfW 3.1 in terms of its ability to map network drives, connect to network printers etc.

RM's influence with Microsoft seems to have declined over the years. I know they had a custom build of XP which had a few changes made to it aimed at locking things down. These days they support Vista and Windows 7 on their "Community Connect" system.

Do you still have any RM builds, or even better, any other beta builds of Windows? I would be very interested in knowing what you have, even if you don't have exactly what I'm looking for.

[jamieostrich]

Offtopic Comment

Do you still have any RM builds, or even better, any other beta builds of Windows? I would be very interested in knowing what you have, even if you don't have exactly what I'm looking for.

darn, there was a windows 3.0 RM build on a school computer i found a few years back. wish id saved it now. Maybe they still have it, ill have to go back one day!

[WinPC]

If either SpiralVortex and/or jamieostrich could find any "RM" builds, or better yet, even any unreleased/unleaked betas of Windows, especially the earlier Windows 3.x builds for this topic, it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Also, Windows for Workgroups 3.1 once went by the codename "Kato" until certain features were removed, leading to the renaming of it to "Sparta", and as such, I would like to know if Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (codenamed "Kato") was already in development during the same time period in which Janus (Windows 3.1) Build 26 and Build 34e were compiled, since I would like to know if "Kato" was the codename for Windows for Workgroups 3.1 during the time in which it was developed alongside the standard release of Windows 3.1 (codenamed "Janus"), if my theory is indeed correct.

I am also wondering if there is any proof for my other theory, which is that it was once planned for Windows 3.1 to be released in two variants, one being the standard Windows 3.1 (codenamed "Janus") and the other being an updated Windows with Multimedia Extensions, since (as I said earlier) the Windows 3.1x build that the YouTube video from Microsoft referred to also seems to have HyperGuide included, from seeing the first screenshot with HyperGuide among the icons in the Main program group.

[lightsleet]

Must HAVE EVERY BUILD SHOWN IN VIDEOS.....

[German]

I needed Wod 1.0 for Windows

[ultrawindows]

I needed Wod 1.0 for Windows

You need it, otherwise you have it ...

[WinPC]

Well, I found out recently that Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (neither "Kato" nor "Sparta") did not start development until 1992, meaning that the Windows 3.1x beta screenshots taken from the Microsoft video could not have been any of the Kato builds, since the styling matches that of the early "Janus" builds, and not of the released Windows 3.1, of which "Kato" and later "Sparta" would have shared the same style.

Anyway, that being said, the only builds of Windows for Workgroups in development at the time were of Windows for Workgroups 3.0, codenamed "Avalanche", which was in developed from 1990-December 1991 when it was canceled, meaning that the only way that can explain WinPopup running in the background is if the build of Windows 3.1x running in the screenshots was installed over an Avalanche build, meaning that an Avalanche build was installed first and later the Windows 3.1x build.

Also, the WinPopup icon shown in the Windows 3.1x beta screenshot is black and white, whereas the WinPopup icon in later builds of Windows for Workgroups 3.x, not to mention Windows 9x, is in full color.

I'm still in question as to whether it was originally planned for Windows 3.1 to be released in two variants, the standard version and an updated Windows with Multimedia Extensions, since the two earlier Janus (Windows 3.1 codename) that we have, Build 26 (May 1991) and Build 34e (June 1991), don't have multimedia support at all, whereas Build 61d (December 1991) has full multimedia support, yet at the same time, the first screenshot of the Windows 3.1 build shown in the Microsoft video shows HyperGuide being among the icons in the Main program group, even though HyperGuide was only included with Windows with Multimedia Extensions.

There was also a planned version of Windows 3.1x that would include more advanced multimedia support, codenamed "Bombay", of which betas were released in November 1992, and was later canceled, however, in my opinion, that doesn't lessen the possibility that it was originally planned for two versions (the standard version and the updated Windows with Multimedia Extensions) of Windows 3.1 to be released in the same way as with Windows 3.00a, even if another version of Windows 3.1x with more advanced multimedia features was also planned later after the two variants of Windows 3.1 would have merged earlier, especially considering the extra multimedia features that would have been dropped from Windows 3.1 as a whole had my theory been correct.

Also, does anyone know the codename of Windows for Pen Computing 1.0, or if it even had a codename at all? I'm asking this since there are obviously beta screenshots of Windows for Pen Computing 1.0 that were taken from the Microsoft video, and I would like to know what codename it had, if it had one.

[Daniel]

Never heard of avalanche and Bombay.... Any sources/proofs for these codenames?

[ultrawindows]

Windows 3.1 Multimedia PC Version (Beta only, released Nov 1992 — codenamed Bombay) Included a media viewer, and the ability to play video files. It was targeted to the new multi-media PC and included sound and video integration with CD-ROM support.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_3.1x

[WinPC]

Thanks ultrawindows, that was also where I saw the "Bombay" codename referenced, though some other people I know of online also mentioned a version of Windows 3.1x with more advanced multimedia capabilities from the fourth quarter of 1992, however, by this time, I had already seen the "Bombay" references, meaning that I had already heard of that version of Windows 3.1x by then.

As for "Avalanche", I also know of some people who claimed to have a build of it, and as such, if you want, I could ask about it, since I know of at least one person of whom has had good contacts with those people.

Also, Daniel, I noticed that you have a Windows codename website - perhaps you could add the "Avalanche" (Windows for Workgroups 3.0) and "Bombay" (Windows 3.1 Multimedia PC version) codenames to the list. At the same time, since you have quite a lot of knowledge regarding Microsoft codenames, do you happen to know the codename for Windows for Pen Computing 1.0? Obviously, there were beta builds of that operating system, since there are screenshots taken from the Microsoft video showing Bill Gates using one of them in his demonstration, apparently from February 1991.

[Daniel]

Haven't checked that Wikipedia page yet, are there any there any references for Bombay? In my opinion Wikipedia isn't such a good source for these kind of things since everyone can add/edit things as he wants...
And for avalanche, I tend to not believe when someone says he owns a build of something we never heard about before or know it exists.. If I see any proofs (and I'm not talking about screenshots, since those can easily be faked -- 3d Tokyo anyone?) I would be happy to add them to my list.