Microsoft Teases Launch Of ‘Windows 1.0’
Users taken off-guard as Microsoft rolls out 1980s-era logos and imagery across its Windows social media accounts
Microsoft has launched a video teasing the launch of “Windows 1.0” on social media, causing users to wonder what might be in store.
“Introducing the all-new Windows 1.0, with MS-Dos Executive, Clock, and more,” Microsoft said on Twitter.
The video features a 1980s pop soundtrack that plays as Windows logos from the present day back to 1985, the year of Windows 1.0’s launch, scroll past.
The 1985 logo curiously resembles that used for Windows 10 today, with both featuring an array of four quadrilateral shapes in a similar light blue tone.
‘Gnarly’
In responses to users’ queries, Microsoft administrators on Twitter used 1980s slang terms such as “gnarly” and “stoked”.
Microsoft posted the video on its official Windows Twitter account and on the Windows Instagram account, after deleting all its past Instagram posts.
It is also using the 1985 logo on the Twitter and Instagram accounts, while the Twitter account features a 1980s-style promotional image.
Microsoft declined to fill users in on its plans for the “launch”, telling them only to “stay tuned” and to “wait for updates”.
A number of industry watchers, however, noted that this week sees the debut of the third season of the popular Netflix television programme Stranger Things, which is set in 1985, the year of Windows 1.0’s launch.
The programme’s previous seasons, taking place in 1983 and 1984, have been structured around 1980s-style science-fiction imagery and pop culture references, with the show’s creators disclosing that the upcoming series incorporates references to the 1985 film Back to the Future.
Reversi.exe
Windows 1.0’s premiere in the same year may therefore also be featured.
The Windows news site Windows Central also speculated that Microsoft may be preparing to open source Windows 1.0, as it has done with MS-DOS and the Windows Calculator, both of which are hosted on Microsoft-owned GitHub.
Microsoft’s comments on Twitter made repeated references to the game Reversi, which was included with Windows 1.0, something onlookers said may be a further reference to Stranger Things, with its pair of ordinary and “Upside Down” universes.
Reversi typically features pieces in inverse colours, such as black and white.
