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Windows 3.0

third major release of Microsoft Windows

Key facts

Developer: Microsoft
Os family: Windows
Source model: Closed source
Released to manufacturing: May 22, 1990 ; 36 years ago ( 1990-05-22 )
Final release: 3.00a with Multimedia Extensions / October 20, 1991 ; 34 years ago ( 1991-10-20 )
Kernel type: Monolithic ( MS-DOS )
License: Commercial software
Preceded by: Windows 2.1 (1988)
Succeeded by: Windows 3.1 (1992)

via Wikipedia infobox

Article

Windows 3.0 is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical user shells and operating systems, launched on May 22, 1990. It introduces a new graphical user interface (GUI) that represents applications as clickable icons, instead of the list of file names in its predecessors. 3.00a with Multimedia Extensions added capabilities, such as multimedia support for sound recording and playback, and support for CD-ROMs. This is all unified in Windows 3.1.

Windows 3.0 was the first version of Windows to perform well both critically and commercially, and was considered a major improvement over its previous Windows 2.0 offering. Its GUI was considered a challenger to those used and popularized by the Macintosh. Other praised features are the improved multitasking, customizability, and especially the utilitarian memory management that troubled the users of Windows 3.0's predecessors.