Windows Chicago Build 50s (Maybe) Screenshots

[ReflectiaX]

On the main Windows 95 page of the BA wiki, there's a picture labeled, "Windows 95 Concept". Well, I've come bearing news about what exactly that picture is, what build it's from, where the screenshot originated, and more!

First off, here is the photo at its full resolution (click on it for full size):



That picture comes from a presentation titled, "Windows Visual Style Guidelines," given at the Win32 Professional Developers Conference from 1993, which was centered around Chicago, Daytona, and Cairo.

Alongside the above image, is another that I suppose hasn't been seen by and large for many, many years (unless it's been posted elsewhere around here and I just didn't see it):



Both of those screenshots follow a slide in the presentation that's titled, "User Customizable Color, Font, And Size Metrics," which seems to encapsulate quite well what we're seeing contrasted between the two shots. Here is a thumbnail of the slides in succession:



Another piece of the puzzle is which build, if any, those screenshots are from. Lucky for us, there is plaintext metadata for images throughout the presentation that can be viewed via a hex editor. The second screenshot is "FLOWER.BMP," while the first is...well, see for yourself:



Elements of those images are indeed consistent with what we've seen in build 58s, so I feel quite confident in suggesting that those two images are from build 50s.

As for where I obtained the presentation these shots are from, well:



Christmas is just around the corner, so plan on this disc and a whole lot more to be made available to you soon.

EDIT: After a bit of feedback below, I'm not exactly sure where these screenshots fall in the context of a build number. But it's an interesting development so far either way!

[Windows OS]

Nice.

[johnlemon647]

nice find ReflectiaX

[OltScript131]

Very nice find !
Yesterday, I found this video, a novelty too, about a more recent build in a presentation : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq9aRqlWQMg

[LangsamSpieler]

Very interesting because the old Windows 3.1 close dialogue aren’t there, it is the new from Chicago 81

[LangsamSpieler]

Very nice find !
Yesterday, I found this video, a novelty too, a more recent build and interesting : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq9aRqlWQMg

Earlier we did have screenshots from this Build, and we did know it was between 81 and 99, thanks to battler, that he did leak 90c, because that is the Build what are the unconfirmed Screenshots and they are the same thing if you do place the taskbar to the bottom.

[Overdoze]

Elements of those images are indeed consistent with what we've seen in build 58s

I can't see how you came to that conclusion. Here's why:

If you look at the window titlebar, there's the standard close button on the right (and no minimize/maximize buttons) that only appeared later between builds 73 and 81, and the system box on the left is replaced with the window icon. 58s (and 73) still has the system box inherited from Windows 3.x on the left and no close button on the right. Control Panel looks different than in 58s, where it's still called controls.sys (and later CONTROLS in 73 and 81), here it is neatly labeled "Control Panel". This change also didn't happen until after build 81. As far as Control Panel icons/applets go, the Modem icon seen in the screenshots is first seen in 73, 58s still has an older one called "Modems". The Programs folder link on the desktop has a different icon than both 58s and Usability testing builds from early 1993, where it's just a plain folder icon. Lastly, the File Cabinet icon is gold/yellow in these screenshots, despite the fact that it's gray in 58s and Usability Testing builds.

I made the above comparissons just by looking at screenshots of 58s. I could probably find some more details that don't match if I actually installed the build myself.

PDC 1993 was held in December 1993, 4 months after build 58s was made and released, and thus, even more time after 50s. Builds in the 7x were from November/December time period, though. And since so many things I've written above only appeared in 73 or later, I'm just not sold on this being 50s, when even 58s is so different and looks like they've reverted half of the changes from 50s.

So I'm going either with these still being just mockups based on a mixture of builds ranging from 58s to 7x, or the less likely option (at least IMHO), that this is 50s but it was some special advanced UI prototyping build.

EDIT: So I installed 58s to look for more inconsistencies, and here they are:

The menu in the Control Panel window is different from the one in 58s and Usability Testing builds. It actually resembles the menu from 73 and later a bit more. In the status bar, it says "43 Objects, 562 K". 58s and Usability testing builds would say "43 Files in Folder" and don't include the size. The scrollbar in the folder view is horizontal, but it's vertical in both 58s and Usability testing builds, as well as later builds. It's also missing the Parent Folder icon. The tree view on the left shows some special folders under the system partition, but these are absent from 58s.

The third screenshot looks a bit closer to 58s, though it's still not quite what it should be. As far as the three characters in the metadata go, those could just as easily stand for anything else or nothing at all. Not very a very solid foundation for your theory.

[ReflectiaX]

Elements of those images are indeed consistent with what we've seen in build 58s

I can't see how you came to that conclusion. Here's why:

...

Perhaps I was a bit hasty in that statement, then! You bring up valid points. I was primarily focusing on the taskbar when I said "elements"; didn't make it much farther than that before making the statement.

The third screenshot looks a bit closer to 58s, though it's still not quite what it should be. As far as the three characters in the metadata go, those could just as easily stand for anything else or nothing at all. Not very a very solid foundation for your theory.

Fair criticism; however, my reasoning for concluding 50s, was formulated with additional information that I didn't write in the post--namely that every single image in this slide deck is named something meaningful/relevant to what the picture is about. Also, every picture is sourced from the same directory: C:\PRESENT\

None of them are "1.BMP", which makes sense when thinking about this from the perspective of an organized person building this slide deck. So, a full desktop shot being named 50s seemed to correlate to a build (what with that build number presumably having been compiled by that time and the letter 'S' trailing the number as per convention).

As you stated in part, my line of thinking was that 50s could possibly have been a UI build of sorts. Or it could have just been the base build the screenshot was taken from, and then other elements of the shot were composited in. Or something else, perhaps--maybe just the background was in the build or something, lol.

Overall, I of course cannot conclude with any amount of certainty that those shots are indeed from build 50s. You've pointed out copious examples of why that would be inconsistent with the time frame based on what we have available to us. But given my reasoning above, I'm just not quite convinced that a desktop shot titled "50s.bmp" is whimsical or irrelevant. But, again, for all I know, it could be a fat-finger in the file name, a newer screenshot or mock-up image that was used in place of what WAS a screenshot of 50s (perhaps this presentation began as an older internal one with mock-ups and, for ease of updating the slide deck, they used a different shot but kept the same filename), or meaningless altogether.

[Overdoze]

The taskbar indeed looks like it was lifted straight from a 5x build, sans the system clock in the bottom right. But that's where the similarities end, it seems.

You can find similar cases in CHISTYLE.DOC, which is included with 58s and is dated 7th July 1993. It contains several portions of the screen with UI elements that only appeared after 58s, which seems to contradict the date of the document. And then there's this. Comparing the material mentioned (your images, CHISTYLE.DOC images and the images from that study), you'll see several elements they have in common, for example, yellow File Cabinet icon, "World" icon instead of "Network", etc. The case study images are confirmed as mockups, though.

It's obvious the Chicago (and Cairo, I guess?) team did lots and lots of UI brainstorming, prototyping and testing in late 1992 and early 1993, trying to find the best formula. So it's sometimes hard to determine what is merely an image mockup, what was a Visual Basic/whatever usability test and what was actually implemented in a build. The only solid thing we have at the moment is the Usability Testing video, which proves that at least some of the concepts they made back then (improved file management, improved desktop, taskbar, etc.) were later implemented in the OS itself, since those builds are visually very similar to 58s.

Interesting stuff nonetheless, so thanks for posting about this.

[xelloss]

For some reason, 50S.BMP uses the nonstandard spelling "disc" where FLOWER.BMP uses "disk". I wonder why.

[johnlemon647]

Now we know which build on Screenshot of BetaArchive wiki Windows 95 page. There is hope we can find real Windows 95 Beta Build 40.

[_Ken_]

Interesting bit of history regarding chicago.

Code: Select all

According to Apple lore, the company was calling 7.5 "Mozart" after the famous composer. This was 1995, and Apple heard its competitor was working on the Windows 95 system, codenamed "Chicago." After learning of Microsoft's name, Apple employees reportedly changed their code name to be "Capone" after the infamous Chicago gangster to strike fear into the hearts of Microsoft.

Source

[Brave]

Wondering if chicago build was a throwback to the SCOunixware style of desktop.

[carlaum1]

Well, I think the "50s" name on the bitmap is, in fact, the Plus! theme. "Flower" follows the same pattern, is just a reference for the theme used on the desktop.

[DiskingRound]

I cannot ignore the possibility that 50s is a misspelling of 58s. Also, there is no way this could be the Plus! theme, because build 50 is from early 1995 and this is from mid-1993.