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Windows 2.0

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Windows 2.0
Version of theMicrosoft Windowsoperating system
Logo of Microsoft Windows 2.0x versions
Screenshot of Microsoft Windows 2.0
DeveloperMicrosoft
OS familyMicrosoft Windows
Source modelClosed source
Released to
manufacturing		December 9, 1987;36 years ago(1987-12-09)
Latest release2.03 / December 9, 1987;36 years ago(1987-12-09)
LicenseCommercial software
Preceded byWindows 1.0(1985)
Succeeded byWindows 2.1(1988)
Support status
Unsupported as of December 31, 2001

Windows 2.0is a major release ofMicrosoft Windows,a family ofgraphicaloperating systemsforpersonal computersdeveloped byMicrosoft.It wasreleased to manufacturingon December 9, 1987, as a successor toWindows 1.0.

The product includes two different variants: a base edition for 8086real mode,and Windows/386, an enhanced edition fori386protected mode.Windows 2.0 differs from its predecessor by allowing users to overlap and resize application windows, while theoperating environmentalso introduceddesktop icons,keyboard shortcuts,and support for 16-colorVGA graphics.It also introducedMicrosoft WordandExcel.

Noted as an improvement of its predecessor, Microsoft Windows gained more sales and popularity after the release of the operating environment, although it is also considered to be the incarnation that remained awork in progress.Due to the introduction of overlapping windows,Apple Inc.had filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in March 1988 after accusing them of violating copyrights Apple held; in the end, however, the judge ruled in favor of Microsoft. The operating environment was succeeded byWindows 2.1in May 1988, while Microsoft ended its support on December 31, 2001.

Release versions

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Theoperating environmentcame in two different variants with different names andCPUsupport.[1][2]The basic edition supported thevirtual 8086 modeof the80386microprocessor.[3]Despite its configuration, the variant was fully operational on an8088or8086processor, although thehigh memory areawould not be available on an 8086-class processor;[4][5]however,expanded memorycould still be used.[6][7]IBM'sPS/2 Model 25,which had an option to ship with a "DOS 4.00 and Windows kit" for educational markets, shipped Windows with 8086 hardware.[8][9]The basic edition would be later renamed toWindows/286with the release ofWindows 2.1in 1988.[4]

The other variant, namedWindows/386,was available as early as September 1987,[10]pre-dating the release of Windows 2.0 in December 1987.[11][12]It was much more advanced than its other sibling.[13][14]It introduced aprotected modekernel, above which theGUIand applications run as a virtual 8086 mode task.[15][16]: p.2 The variant had fullypreemptive multitasking,[7][16]: p.2 and allowed severalMS-DOSprograms to run in parallel in "virtual 8086" CPU mode, rather than always suspending background applications.[17]With the exception of a few kilobytes of overhead, each DOS application could use any available low memory before Windows was started.[18]Windows/386 also providedEMS emulation,[19]using the memory management features of the i386 to make RAM beyond 640k behave like the banked memory previously only supplied by add-in cards and used by popular DOS applications.[19]There was no support for disk-basedvirtual memory,so multiple DOS programs had to fit inside the available physical memory.[20]Users could run more applications on the 386 version.[21]

Neither of these versions worked withDOS memory managerslikeCEMMorQEMMor withDOS extenders,which have their own extended memory management and run in protected mode as well.[22]This was remedied in version 3.0, which is compatible withVirtual Control Program Interface(VCPI) in "standard mode" and withDOS Protected Mode Interface(DPMI) in "386 enhanced" mode.[23][24]Microsoft ended its support for Windows 2.0 on December 31, 2001.[25][26]

Features

[edit]
Aldus Pagemaker 3.0 on Windows 2.0

Unlike its predecessor, Windows 2.0 allows the user to overlap and resize application windows.[27][28]It has also introduceddesktop icons,keyboard shortcuts,and the terminology "minimize" and "maximize", as opposed to "iconize" and "zoom" which was used inWindows 1.0.[29]Support for 16-colorVGA graphics,EMS memory, and new capabilities of the i386 CPU in some versions were also added.[30]Windows 2.0 is the last version of Windows that ran solely onfloppy disks.[31]

The operating environment is shipped with fifteen programs,[32]and it also introduced the GUI based programsMicrosoft WordandExcel,to compete against the then-reigning competitorsWordPerfectandLotus 1-2-3.[27]Software such as theAldus PagemakerandCorelDRAWwere also developed for Windows 2.0.[33][27]It is also the first Windows version to integrate theControl Panelandprogram information files.[34][35]

The Windows API functions are largely handled by KERNEL.EXE, USER.EXE, and GDI.EXE. These files along with device drivers, printer drivers being the exception, are combined by the Windows setup program into WIN200.BIN and WIN200.OVL.[36]: 507–508 The system files WINOLDAP.MOD and WINOLDAP.GRB are used to run MS-DOS programs.[36]: 509 

IBM licensed Windows'sGUIfor OS/2 asPresentation Manager,and the two companies stated that it and Windows 2.0 would be almost identical.[37]

System requirements

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The official system requirements for Windows 2.0 include the following.

Minimum system requirements
Windows 2.01[3][38] Windows 2.03[38][39]
CPU 8088processor (80286or80386recommended)
RAM 512 KB of memory
Storage Two double-sided floppy disk drives or a hard disk
Video EGA or VGA adapters
OS MS-DOS3.0 or higher
Mouse A Microsoft-compatible pointing device is recommended, but not required

Windows 2.0 was dependent on the DOS system andrandom-access memorywas restricted to a maximum of 1MBdue to running inreal mode.[35]

Reception

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Windows 2.0 is considered to be an incremental improvement of its predecessor, but still awork in process.[27][40]Due to its improvements, Microsoft Windows gained more popularity after its release and its interface was considered to be easier to manage.[41]Stewart Alsop II predicted in January 1988 that "Any transition to a graphical environment on IBM-style machines is bound to be maddeningly slow and driven strictly by market forces", because the GUI had "serious deficiencies" and users had to switch to DOS for many tasks.[37]CNETconsidered that Windows 2.0 "wasn't much better than Windows 1.0".[42]BYTEmagazine listed the variant as among the "distinction" winner of the BYTE Awards in 1989, describing it as a "serious competition for OS/2" as it "taps into the power of the 80386".[43]

The operating environment cost $99.[44]Sales of Microsoft Windows reached one million in 1988, and by January 1990, it had reached less than two million, although Windows 2.0 was not widely used.[45][46]It was succeeded byWindows 2.1,which was released in theUnited StatesandCanadain May 1988.[47]

[edit]
Main article:Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.

On March 17, 1988,Apple Inc.filed a lawsuit againstMicrosoftandHewlett-Packard,accusing them of violating copyrights Apple held on the Macintosh System Software.[48][49]Apple claimed the "look and feel"of theMacintosh operating system,taken as a whole, was protected bycopyrightand that Windows 2.0 violated this copyright by having the same icons.[50][51][52]The judge ruled in favor of Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft on all but 10 of the 189 graphical user interface elements on which Apple sued, and the court found the remaining 10 GUI elements could not be copyrighted.[53]

References

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