Opening up 30 years of Windows (images)

It's been almost 30 years since Bill Gates and Microsoft launched the first version of Windows 1.0, which provided a graphical user interface for computing. It's since been used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Microsoft opened the latest chapter in the story of this venerable operating system this week when it released a test version of Windows 8 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Microsoft Windows 1.0, seen here, was released in November 1985. Unfortunately for Microsoft, it failed to inspire--especially when compared with the more user-friendly graphical user interface developed by Apple for the Macintosh.