As noted previously, Windows 1.0 finally arrived in November 1985, two years after it was first announced. Described by Microsoft as an “operating environment” for MS-DOS, Windows provided a mouse-driven GUI under which traditional DOS applications, as well as new Windows applications, could run side-by-side in tiled windows.

The initial version of Windows didn’t offer overlapping application windows in deference to Apple, though individual Windows applications could display their own overlapping sub windows for dialog boxes and the like. But even in its earliest and most basic incarnation, Windows provided still-modern features like a system-wide clipboard by which applications could share data, display-independent graphics capabilities, broad driver support for graphics cards and printers, and more.