Videos of COMDEX 1983 (More Early Windows!)

Post by **TheWindowsXPGuy** » Sun May 13, 2012 2:10 pm

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VNS8TE4XhU
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrgwliaIYTQ
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnDRw8-caxU

The third part shows a pre-release of Windows, but it's not this:

So there you have it folks, the COMDEX demo is not Interface Manager, rather, it's the one I posted screenshots of a while back.

Pics from the demonstration:

I want this

Post by **vizerous** » Sun May 13, 2012 11:21 pm

Wow, that's the very same version, described in '84 PC World, nice! Thanks for the video!

Post by **The Distractor** » Sun May 13, 2012 11:37 pm

Nice find.
Now I wonder if there are videos of BETT'85 somewhere. (A Windows 1.0 beta for the RM Nimbus PC-186 was demonstrated there)

Post by **WinPC** » Mon May 14, 2012 2:32 am

Well, I looked at the video, and above the display was the "Microsoft Windows" product name, so by this point, the project had already been renamed from "Interface Manager" to "Windows", so the earlier release must be earlier than Fall/Early Winter (September-December) 1983.

Post by **TheCollector1988** » Mon May 14, 2012 7:46 am

I bet this is the first beginning of DR1 of Windows 1.00.

Post by **The Distractor** » Mon May 14, 2012 5:09 pm

Could be DR1, but it may be a later DR.

Post by **TheWindowsXPGuy** » Mon May 14, 2012 6:56 pm

This is a preliminary logo for Windows 1.0 from COMDEX 1983:

As you can see, the name was already changed from "Interface Manager" to "Windows".
There are screenshots of Interface Manager from an old BYTE Magazine from December 1983, but the question still remains, when was that build made? My guess is 1982 or early 1983.

These are the screenshots of that:

Post by **jimmsta** » Tue May 15, 2012 2:08 am

Given the fact that the date shown for Comdex in '83 was November 23, 1983, and the screenshots from BYTE have Basic dated May of 1983, I'm going to deduce that the build of IM/Windows shown to BYTE was from May of '83, and the Comdex build was a later version (*Especially since the 'session' bar doesn't appear in the BYTE screenshots, but is shown throughout the demo at Comdex. Also, the earlier build has the arrows at the bottom right corner of every window, whereas the build shown at Comdex has all the window controls 'pop-under' the title bar. Edit: Also, note that the Window menu controls were separate from the individual windows in the BYTE preview, but at Comdex, individual windows had individual menu controls.

This to me shows that the re-branding to Windows included several interface changes in a short amount of time.

Very interesting stuff. Well worth the solid hour of video linked in the OP.

Post by **vizerous** » Tue May 15, 2012 3:20 pm

and the screenshots from BYTE have Basic dated May of 1983, I'm going to deduce that the build of IM/Windows shown to BYTE was from May of '83

Isn't a BASIC-86 is a standalone program? What it is has to do with Windows? The only thing about we can deduce is that that photo made after May 1983.

Post by **linuxlove** » Tue May 15, 2012 4:42 pm

vizerous wrote:Isn't a BASIC-86 is a standalone program? What it is has to do with Windows? The only thing about we can deduce is that that photo made after May 1983.

BASIC-86 was shown in the BYTE screenshots, though I'm guessing it's showing that you can run DOS programs within Windows.

Post by **TheWindowsXPGuy** » Wed May 16, 2012 7:57 pm

Interface Manager for the Zenith Z100, has support for color video cards:

Interface Manager on an Apple II!

Yes, I know I call it Interface Manager. I'm not sure if this is a build of Interface Manager, but it probably is.

Post by **z180** » Thu May 17, 2012 9:04 am

The last machine is an Apple IIe with an MS expansion card containing PC ICs.
I have read from an Apple Mac team member, that at the time MS was working on Office, they asked Apple a lot of questions about the GUI code and private stuctures and routines.

Post by **German** » Thu May 17, 2012 10:34 am

May be build on video - Windows Code Name "1" Developer Release 2? On some screenshots wrote "Microsoft II"

Post by **TheCollector1988** » Thu May 17, 2012 10:39 am

Windows Codename 1 = lol

Post by **z180** » Fri May 18, 2012 11:44 am

That is not DR1.
DR 1-5 and the alpha, beta and premiere are seen as official SDK releases to interested parties.
IMHO this was shown before DR 1 until someone proves that it was handed out at Comdex.

A alpha build of GEM was also presented at the same time and went RTM in feb 1985.
I have only found GEM 1.1 no earlier release.

Post by **ultrawindows** » Fri May 18, 2012 8:46 pm

Unveiled Windows 1.0 at Comdex (november 1983)
The Windows page of the Fall Comdex 1983 Microsoft marketing handout.

Post by **TheWindowsXPGuy** » Sat May 19, 2012 8:41 pm

ultrawindows wrote:Unveiled Windows 1.0 at Comdex (november 1983)
The Windows page of the Fall Comdex 1983 Microsoft marketing handout.

If you look closely, you can see a DOS prompt open in those screenshots. I've tried opening a DOS prompt in DR5, this is what I get:

Just wondering, can you get DOS programs to work in DR5?

Post by **rthdribl** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 2:33 am

Hello
I am making some little private research about Windows 1.0(pretty amateurish one, but hey - it's just a hobby). I am aware that I'm bumping an old thread, but this topic is highly interesting to me, so I decided to give it a try. Maybe someone will contribute

TheWindowsXPGuy wrote:There are screenshots of Interface Manager from an old BYTE Magazine from December 1983, but the question still remains, when was that build made? My guess is 1982 or early 1983.

I'd like to point out that BYTE is not calling the program from screenshots "Interface Manager", but "Windows". Of course, the name could be changed after the screenshots were made, but I doubt it. Also, the build from COMDEX is newer than the build from BYTE, that's certain. http://toastytech.com/guis/win19832.html

(In fact, Microsoft's own standard window has changed since these photos were taken. The latest version provides a question mark on the right part of the title bar. Selecting the question mark brings help information. If you put the cursor on the title itself, it is replaced by little pictures that represent what you can do with the window. The new version also includes a status line at the top of the screen and an area for icons at the bottom.)

You can see the question mark on Comdex photos. At least I guess so.
So the build from BYTE is already called Windows(made after may, but before November, I think) and it's older than the Comdex build(and obviously than DR5). Also, BYTE writes in a manner that suggests they received a copy. My question is whether the version from BYTE is a "Developer Release"(and if it is - which one) or not.