Written by:
2009/01/30 10:58 AM 

On the 1st of November 2008, Microsoft officially stopped issuing licenses for the software that made its début in 1990.

Windows 3.x was very popular as they were the first of Microsoft’s operating systems that had a Graphical User Interface, AKA GUI. Microsoft maintained support for Windows 3.x until the end of 2001. It has lived on as an embedded operating system until 1 November 2008 - mostly used on some of the Virgin Atlantic and Quantas long haul flights to power the in-flight entertainment systems.

Original Windows 3.1 specs

The specs of Windows 3.1 are something to look at with greed and envy.

• 8086/8088 process, XT or or better that had a clock speed of up to 10MHz.
• At least 640KB of RAM
• 7 megabytes of hard drive space,
• Graphics card that supported CGA, EGA and VGA graphics.

Vista Specs.

Compare that with Vista specs, and you're amazed.

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
  • WDDM Driver
  • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
  • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
  • 32 bits per pixel

I remember the hit it had, as well as the difficulty it caused. Learning to use the mouse as a serious input device. I remember seeing people use two hands on their mice in an effort to gain control. What about the graphical games like solitaire. Few people know that solitaire was actual a game which was meant to help with the honing of your mice skills. I got my wife, to start playing solitaire to perfect her mouse skills. Some thing that I regretted later on as she became totally addicted to the thing.

What are your memories of Windows 3.x? Good or bad. Will you miss it?

Windows 3.x. Rest in peace.

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