Windows 1.0 and the Applications of Tomorrow is a mini-keynote (and exercise in retro-computing) delivered at DevConnections on November 7, 2005. Included is a full explanation of all the "magic tricks" involved in the presentation.
November 2005 marks the 20th anniversary of the official introduction of Windows 1.0 at Fall Comdex in Las Vegas. (The version number of that first release was actually 1.01; the files are dated November 15, 1985.) It seemed suitable to celebrate that anniversary. I could have done a straight narrative history, but I thought it might be more fun to pretend as if it were actually 1985, and that I was trying to “sell” Windows as an application platform to a group of programmers.
Of course I would want to actually run Windows 1.0 and demonstrate its features in front of the audience, and because I would be addressing programmers, I thought it necessary to compile and a Windows application as well. The talk instantly shifted into an exercise in retro-computing.
You can now watch the video I made of Charles Petzold's Keynote at DevConnections in Las Vegas.