Windows 2.0 is a 16-bit Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 GUI

Graphical user interface

In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...

-based operating environment

Operating environment

The operating environment in engineering describes the circumstances surrounding and potentially affecting something that is operating. For example electronic or mechanical equipment may be affected by high temperatures, vibration, dust, and other parameters which comprise the operating...

 that was released on December 9, 1987 and is the successor to Windows 1.0

Windows 1.0

Windows 1.0 is a 16-bit graphical operating environment, developed by Microsoft and released on 20 November 1985. It was Microsoft's first attempt to implement a multi-tasking graphical user interface-based operating environment on the PC platform. Windows 1.0 was the first version of Windows...

. With Windows 2.1x

Windows 2.1x

Windows 2.1x is a family of Microsoft Windows graphical user interface-based operating environments.Windows/286 2.10 and Windows/386 2.10 were released on May 27, 1988, less than a year after the release of Windows 2.0...

 in 1988, Windows 2.0 was supplemented by Windows/286 and Windows/386. Windows 2.0, Windows/286 and Windows/386 were superseded by Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0, a graphical environment, is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, and was released on 22 May 1990. It became the first widely successful version of Windows and a rival to Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga on the GUI front...

 in May 1990, but supported by Microsoft for fourteen years until December 31, 2001.

Application support

The first Windows versions of Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...

 and Microsoft Excel ran on Windows 2.0. Third-party developer support for Windows increased substantially with this version (some shipped the Windows Runtime software with their applications, for customers who had not purchased the full version of Windows). However, most developers still maintained DOS

DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

 versions of their applications, as Windows users were still a distinct minority of their market.

There were some applications that shipped with Windows 2.0. They are:

• CALC.EXE
• CALENDAR.EXE
• CARDFILE.EXE
  Cardfile
  Cardfile is a personal information manager that was distributed with Microsoft Windows starting from the original version 1.01 until Windows NT 4.0 Server. Cardfile is also included with Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition, but has to be installed manually from the installation CD-ROM....
  
  
• CLIPBRD.EXE
  ClipBook Viewer
  ClipBook Viewer is a utility included in Microsoft Windows that allows users to view the contents of the local clipboard, clear the clipboard or save copied and cut items...
  
  
• CLOCK.EXE
• CONTROL.EXE
• CVTPAINT.EXE
• MSDOS.EXE
• NOTEPAD.EXE
• PAINT.EXE
• PIFEDIT.EXE
  Program Information File
  A PIF, or Program Information File, defines how a given DOS program should be run in a multi-tasking environment, notably to avoid giving it unnecessary resources which could remain available to other programs. TopView was the originator of PIFs which were inherited and extended by DESQview and...
  
  
• REVERSI.EXE
• SPOOLER.EXE
  Spooling
  In computer science, spool refers to the process of placing data in a temporary working area for another program to process. The most common use is in writing files on a magnetic tape or disk and entering them in the work queue for another process. Spooling is useful because devices access data at...
  
  
• TERMINAL.EXE
  Terminal (telecommunication)
  In the context of telecommunications, a terminal is a device which is capable of communicating over a line. Examples of terminals are telephones, fax machines, and network devices - printers and workstations....
  
  
• WRITE.EXE
  Windows Write
  Microsoft Write is a basic word processor that came with Microsoft Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, and the Windows 3.x series. Throughout its lifespan it was minimally updated, and is comparable to early versions of MacWrite...
  
  

Legal conflict with Apple

On March 17, 1988, Apple filed a lawsuit against Microsoft

Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.

Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, 35 F.3d 1435 was a copyright infringement lawsuit in which Apple Computer, Inc. sought to prevent Microsoft Corporation and Hewlett-Packard from using visual graphical user interface elements that were similar to those in Apple's Lisa and Macintosh...

 and Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

, accusing them of violating copyrights Apple held on the Macintosh System Software. Apple claimed the "look and feel

Look and feel

In software design, look and feel is a term used in respect of a graphical user interface and comprises aspects of its design, including elements such as colors, shapes, layout, and typefaces , as well as the behavior of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes, and menus...

" of the Macintosh operating system

Mac OS

Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...

, taken as a whole, was protected by copyright

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 and that Windows 2.0 violated this copyright by having the same icons.

Features

Windows 2.0 allowed application windows to overlap each other unlike its predecessor Windows 1.0

Windows 1.0

Windows 1.0 is a 16-bit graphical operating environment, developed by Microsoft and released on 20 November 1985. It was Microsoft's first attempt to implement a multi-tasking graphical user interface-based operating environment on the PC platform. Windows 1.0 was the first version of Windows...

, which could display only tiled windows. Windows 2.0 also introduced more sophisticated keyboard-shortcuts and the terminology of "Minimize" and "Maximize", as opposed to "Iconize" and "Zoom" in Windows 1.0.

External links

• GUIdebook: Windows 2.0 Gallery – A website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces
• ComputerHope.com: Microsoft Windows history
• Microsoft article with details about the different versions of Windows