Today marks the 30th anniversary of arguably the
single most important release in the history of the
personal computer – Windows 1.0.
As Windows nears its fourth decade, it does so at a
pivotal time for the company as Microsoft looks to
repeat the glory days when it could turn up more-
than-fashionably late to the party and still be one
of the hip kids on the block.
Even though Windows 1.0 was widely lampooned as
vaporware – we'll get back to that later – it did
what it set out to do – make personal computing
affordable for the masses.
When Microsoft released Windows 1.0 it did so at a
time when the market was made up of a few
expensively priced competitors.
Bill Gates had a cunning plan to dethrone the likes
of Apple and IBM. The strategy, to come in with a
low priced product, had a successful future ahead
of it. Aggressive pricing put Windows at the head
of the growing personal computer market.