4 ms·

Funny how the early Windows OS did not even use a graphics mode but used ascii symbols to render windows.

lelanthran 5y ago
It looks like a graphics mode to me (https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win101 https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win101) when looking a the icons that are displayed (the pencil icon at that link especially), even while the windows look like they are done with ascii characters. [EDIT: Also, buttons had rounded corners. HTH did Apple get a design patent on rounded corners?]
- hulitu 5y ago
  I always thought that windows 1.0 was ugly, maube because i've seen black and white screenshots. But this looks good compared to windows 10.
  - mananaysiempre 5y ago
    Windows 10 sniping aside, Raymond Chen commented on the flat-3D-flat fashion cycle in the Windows UI back in 2004[1], though the motivation for the current iteration is probably better explained by its authors[2]. I can’t even say I disagree with their points, it’s just that the result kind of sucks. (Anything is better than the 4-colour-CGA Windows ≤ 3.x interface, though.) [1] http://bytepointer.com/resources/old_new_thing/20040728_291_the_evolution_of_mascara_in_windows_ui.htm http://bytepointer.com/resources/old_new_thing/20040728_291_... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20111129024938/http://kruzeniski.com/2011/how-print-design-is-the-future-of-interaction/ https://web.archive.org/web/20111129024938/http://kruzeniski...
- HellDunkel 5y ago
  You are right. Guess i did not look close enough..
mananaysiempre 5y ago
Windows always ran in graphical mode AFAICT[1], it’s just that the system font was monospace (Fixedsys), as every 3.x porting guide and even Petzold ≤ 5th ed. mentions. Apparently IBM’s TopView (released in 1985, same as Windows 1.0) was a text-mode windowing environment with preemptive(!) multitasking, but I can’t find much about it (seems that it was designed to run existing DOS applications, thus didn’t do virtual memory and ended up too memory-hungry for the time?). [1] See, e.g., http://toastytech.com/guis/win1x2x.html http://toastytech.com/guis/win1x2x.html
- rbanffy 5y ago
  And ASCII is a 7-bit code. There is no provision for line drawing characters. People often confuse ASCII with the PC's character ROM, but ASCII is a different animal.

It looks like a graphics mode to me (https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win101 https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win101) when looking a the icons that are displayed (the pencil icon at that link especially), even while the windows look like they are done with ascii characters. [EDIT: Also, buttons had rounded corners. HTH did Apple get a design patent on rounded corners?]

hulitu 5y ago
I always thought that windows 1.0 was ugly, maube because i've seen black and white screenshots. But this looks good compared to windows 10.
- mananaysiempre 5y ago
  Windows 10 sniping aside, Raymond Chen commented on the flat-3D-flat fashion cycle in the Windows UI back in 2004[1], though the motivation for the current iteration is probably better explained by its authors[2]. I can’t even say I disagree with their points, it’s just that the result kind of sucks. (Anything is better than the 4-colour-CGA Windows ≤ 3.x interface, though.) [1] http://bytepointer.com/resources/old_new_thing/20040728_291_the_evolution_of_mascara_in_windows_ui.htm http://bytepointer.com/resources/old_new_thing/20040728_291_... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20111129024938/http://kruzeniski.com/2011/how-print-design-is-the-future-of-interaction/ https://web.archive.org/web/20111129024938/http://kruzeniski...
HellDunkel 5y ago
You are right. Guess i did not look close enough..

mananaysiempre 5y ago

Windows always ran in graphical mode AFAICT[1], it’s just that the system font was monospace (Fixedsys), as every 3.x porting guide and even Petzold ≤ 5th ed. mentions. Apparently IBM’s TopView (released in 1985, same as Windows 1.0) was a text-mode windowing environment with preemptive(!) multitasking, but I can’t find much about it (seems that it was designed to run existing DOS applications, thus didn’t do virtual memory and ended up too memory-hungry for the time?). [1] See, e.g., http://toastytech.com/guis/win1x2x.html http://toastytech.com/guis/win1x2x.html

rbanffy 5y ago
And ASCII is a 7-bit code. There is no provision for line drawing characters. People often confuse ASCII with the PC's character ROM, but ASCII is a different animal.