Microsoft Says Goodbye to Windows 3.x - Neatorama

Eighteen years after the launch of Windows 3.x, Microsofit has finally bid goodbye to the software that did much to establish its dominance in the personal computer industry.

The comparison of requirements between Windows 3.x and the latest Vista is remarkable:

Windows 3.x required an 8086/8088 processor or better that had a clock speed of up to 10MHz. It needed at least 640KB of RAM, seven megabytes of hard drive space, and a graphics card that supported CGA, EGA and VGA graphics.
By comparison, the Home Basic version of Windows Vista requires a 32-bit 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 20GB of hard drive space, and a graphics card with at least 32MB of memory.

Link - via Technosailor

Previously on Neatorama: Take a Stroll Down Computing Memory Lane

Good riddance to bad rubbish, as the saying goes!

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The tech specs may have changed but I'm willing to bet that at least some of the archaic Windows 3 code is still in Vista (active or dormant, but probably both).

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Vista will be an utter dog with less than 2GB. Its the above alleged system requirements which ruined Vista's reputation.

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Vista works fine for me... im confused by people bashing the system requirements.. computers keep getting better.. unles you haven't bought a computer in 10 years then you shouldn't have a problem.. and if it has been that long, you need to stop being so cheap... are people really wanting to go back to 640k ram or a 10 mhz computer?? the OS cant be blamed either... has anyone checked the system requirements for recent computer games?? regardless of what Vista adds to what the computer needs... those types of numbers really don't make a difference nowadays. and even then.. most people dont even use their computer to its fullest...

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Ah, the good ol'days. Wait a minute...no they weren't! :o

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What people forget is that Windows 3x, it was tested for no less than 2 years prior to being let out into the public domain, even then there was 1yr in 'beta'.

Can you actually say that with todays software? No!

In saying that, I've converted over to a Mac. I got sick of being tied to MS this, MS that and ActiveX which sucks!

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No sense of history in this group. Windows 3.1, and especially its network enabled version Windows for Workgroups, almost killed Apple. Two never-say-die companies that fight for pride as well as market share have resulted in ever increasing improvements for computers and hence computer users.

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I like anyone who uses old technology.

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I'm pretty sure that Windows 3.x reached EOL (end of life) years ago. Generally versions of Windows have roughly a five year life cycle. That's been stretched out as of late because there was a lot of kvetching when MS tried to EOL 90s era OS's and VB6 applications, but it doesn't go all the way back to Win 3.1.

Here's a link to the MS lifecycle FAQ: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

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Ah yeah, windows 3.1... The first OS I used to go on the Internet. With trumpet winsock, archie, bss... Netscape 1.0, with the gray backgrounds!

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Just 18 years ago? I thought it was older than that.

The funny thing is that Apple's Macintosh System 6 predated Windows 3 by two years, and surpassed Windows 95 in usability. Or maybe that isn't so funny.

I've still got several old Macs that run System 6 & 7; it's good to boot one up every now & then just as a reminder of how far things have advanced.

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As long as I still have my AOL chatrooms and Geocities homepages, I don't mind. Web 0.5 FOREVER.

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Citizens! The cruelty of the old Windows is a thing of the past!
Let a whole new wave of cruelty wash over this lazy land!

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To be specific.. "3.x" was never lauched. 3.0 was, 3.1, etc...

So perhaps this is 18 years after the launch of 3.0?

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