What is Digg?38 Comments
- mschaef, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Seems that there is a distinct crossover between Win95 and Win3.11 in this build. The last screenshot seems to exhibit elements of both."
So does the internal architecture. The guts of Windows 95 are a slightly evolved version of the combination of DOS 6.22, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and the Win32s extension. There was a lot of publicity about it being a 'complete 32-bit rewrite', but that was really the Windows NT kernel, which had problems with running on small machines and backwards compatibility with all the funky DOS/16-bit windows stuff that folks had been developing since 1985.
If you're interested in the details of the timeline, here are when key bits of functionality were released:
Windows 1.0/2.0 - 16-bit real mode Windows API
Windoes/386 (~1988) - The Windows API was still 16-bit real mode, but it ran on a 32-bit VxD layer. This is the first version of Windows that could natively run 32-bit code, but you had to write a device driver to do it.
Windows 3.0 (1990) - The 32-bit VxD layer is still around, but now the Win16 API can optionallly run in protected mode. This gives Windows apps the ability to access lots more memory. Windows 3.0 has the ability to fall back to entirely real-mode operation on limited hardware.
Windows 3.1 (1991-2) - Real mode operation disappears.
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 - Since Windows/386, the VxD layer is given more and more responsibility. WfWG 3.11 (not WfWG 3.10) contains a 32-bit implementaiton of hte FAT file system. This code, a precursor to the long file name code in Win95 allows Windows apps to completely bypass DOS when accessing the disk.
Win32s - This is a layer atop Windows 3.1 that enables it to run a limited set of Win32 apps. It hooks into the Win16 layer and adds a function, ExecPE, that's a Win32 executtable loader. The Win32 DLL's in this environment are almost entirely composed of 'thunks' that translate Win32 calls into their Win16 equivalents.
Windows 95 - This version extends the 32-bit FAT code to support long file names. It also starts implementing some lmited set of the Win32s calls using 32-bit code in the VxD layer, but the fundamental pieces of the architecture are the same as before.
There's a lot of mythology around this set of kernels, but even as late as Windows ME, DOS and 16-bit Windows code played an enormous role in the basic operation of the OS. - acontorer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I was working there at the time. It was great to see the work going into the UI.
Much of it had initially been shown on a Microsoft video, "Information at Your Fingertips," shown by Bill Gates during his Comdex speejd in November 1990. ( http://www.proudlyserving.com/archives/2005/05/information_at.html has some info on it, though not the actual video. ) The UI in that video was a mock-up, and it was certainly exciting to see parts of it become real in Chicago.
It's more exciting, though, to realize that the dreams of total information connectivity, so exciting but fanastic in that video, have now become daily reality. In other words, Microsoft was right about what would happen.
That was a cool place to work. - ericpp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"It looks like you want to reboot!!!!!" http://toastytech.com/guis/c73reboot.gif
- josh7066, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Google Cache http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:oa8gIWQbMXgJ:toastytech.com/guis/chic58.html+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a
- Elxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://toastytech.com.nyud.net:8090/guis/chic58.html
Right there, since both the site and Google cache seem to be dead. - modpancake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The real question becomes: Where can I get it?
- Barnstormer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That summer? Obviously I meant the next year. I don't remember a lot of the early nineties.
- Sintax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0LMAO @ the It looks like you want to reboot!!!
btw... i think windows codename snowball was the funniest of them all, i'd like to get a copy of that i think it was an alpha or beta of Win 1.0 lol - jeff1943, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The website has other information about GUIs. Pretty awsome.
+digg - blasterman95, on 12/06/2007, -0/+0Sintax, Snowball was Windows For Workgroups 3.11.
Toastytech is an awesome site. - Barnstormer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I got to play with beta that summer. Although 9x had a lot of good things going for it, I was amused at how many UI defaults I had to change to get a useable system. Some of them are still defaults today.
- habu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wow has windows come along way.
- leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Seems that there is a distinct crossover between Win95 and Win3.11 in this build."
yes, and windows seem to minimize to icon block things instead of into the taskbar.
+digg for sure. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0yah, a friend of my dad's was in the one of the test groups for the "chicago" build... he strangely enough lived in a suburb of chicago... i saw this back when it was brand new...
- bobothn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0now just need a torrent of it. i have windows 1.0 - vista just no chicago.
- Mathiias, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is a nice site with a pretty good history of GUI OS's... too bad there's no download links.
- clabbergrrl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I am so sick of this "design" nonsense. "Designers" are just failed artists whose sole effect is to junk up perfectly good interfaces with their "self expression". You're not an artist. Get over it. I don't want menu items to be rearranged or moved around or "redesigned" any more than I want the buttons on my telephone moved around or "redesigned". E.g. I don't want the buttons on my phone to be all different sizes or arranged in some so-called "creative" pattern. I don't want that on a web page or a desktop, either.
- votamli, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Holy *****, I am too old.
I remember back in the day, when I got Chicago - the installation consists of over 80 1.44mb Over DISK! 80! Chicago was a godsend over Win3.1 for Workgroups, but the beta crashed a bit - skipping the "Bluescreen of Death", going straight to a DOS-prompt.
I still have thoes disks, I can never get myself to throw them away.
JChronkite: "I don't agree, or it didn't matter with XP and especially the upcoming release of Vista which looks great with the new MacOS enhancments :)"
You have to compare Win95 v. Win3.1, then compared Vista to WinXP. The change to Win95 was HUGE compared to Vista. This was the dawn of plug-n-play and all kinds of crazy technologies like DirectX and all that. Win95 was also when the crappy IE browser first appear, which couldnt handle frames or tables (one of the two). So seriously, its a big change. - matt.rubin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i don't know about u guys but longhorn looks great and i think lots of effort was put into that...
- Rosewood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well, considering MS has spent quite a bit of money giving grants to human factors programs all over the country, including the one at Wichita State University, for hardware and software design studies I have to say "No" to the author of this so called article.
Maybe one day on digg an article will get posted by the first and only guy to write an article like this and do actual research! - scsikool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Nice site. I liked the OS/2 stuff. That's was the operating system Microsoft should have stuck with instead of splitting with IBM. It's everything Windows wishes it was and more. And -NO- registry!
- geomon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Seems that there is a distinct crossover between Win95 and Win3.11 in this build. The last screenshot seems to exhibit elements of both.
- drbroccoli, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"wow has windows come along way."
You missed the point. No, it hasn't. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1So slow... slashdot effect after 35 diggs?
(Flame in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2..) - boicraig, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0its very slow
- astrosmash, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0You can really see the influence of NeXTSTEP in these shots, in the dock/taskbar thing and buttons.
- foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0this was the last time shell was used! it wasn't until win 98 that explorer (ie, basically) was used! windows 1.0 and 2.0 looked like crap! 3.1 was okay, but it was nothing like mac os at the time! finder kicked ass! although, now i have to say i like the whole "explorer" thing over finder. meh. they have their ups and downs.
also, "It looks like you want to reboot!!!!!" LMAO!!!!! m$ luvs !!!1!11oneoneone's!!!1!11 :P - monzsca, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This web site has been dugg about 37 times.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I defecated on my windows CDs.
- mynameisob3l, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0"Chicago is unique as it was really the only time in Windows history that Microsoft seems to have put significant effort and design research in to the Windows user interface. "
sounds like some linux or mac geek is all upset because their stupid OS isn't # 1. - starmanjones, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0ha... well, i hate for everything to be a competition between microsoft and apple but... lets get real. bill wanted nothing to do with a GUI... until... ya you know its true. and just for the record... by 1990 apple had real plug and play networking in every mac... thats... 6 years.
i can give microsoft some credit for being the dictator that kept all the peons in line but vision is just not one of the microsofts assets. or did bill buy that too? - citrusfizz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0umm problem loading page
- jcronkhite, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I'm not diehard Microsoft here, but the author seems to think "Chicago is unique as it was really the only time in Windows history that Microsoft seems to have put significant effort and design research in to the Windows user interface". I don't agree, or it didn't matter with XP and especially the upcoming release of Vista which looks great with the new MacOS enhancments :)
- Acill, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0OS X is still #1 in my book no matter what the official count is.
- ZekeSulastin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0"lol coral cache is t3h only cache out there no othrs R n33d3d" ... ARGH. I'd like to see someone submit a story to digg about an alternative cache that's easily linkable and uses Port 80 so it isn't blocked by most corporate firewalls worth a damn!!!
On that note, site = *****, maybe later ... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0HAHHAHAHAHA And there are differences in pics here??? IHAHAHAHAH in fact what much has changed from then to now (winxp) except a few colors and "gloss" In other words sos, from micro$oft, just another polished turd.
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