There's been a lot of talk lately about how Microsoft might be ready to send over
the "Released to Manufacturing" (RTM) build of Windows 11 24H2 to PC makers to have them installed on upcoming desktops and notebooks. 32 years ago this week, a major Windows OS update hit that RTM milestone. It was Windows 3.1, and it turned out to be not only a successful release on its own but it paved the way for the even bigger success of Windows 95 over three years later.
Microsoft had launched Windows 3.0 two years previously, and it turned out to be a big success. The previous versions of Windows were not huge financial successes, as many people thought they were still behind the user interface efforts of Apple's Macintosh OS. However, Windows 3.0 was different, and even
Time magazine said back in June 1990 that "Microsoft seems to have got it right this time." It ended up selling 10 million copies in its first two years,
according to Extreme Tech.
The development of Windows 3.1 was handled under the code name Janus at Microsoft. Some of the new additions and improvements that were included compared to Windows 3.0 included support for the popular TrueType scalable font standard. Multimedia was also a major focus of Windows 3.1, which included support for Windows Media Player and screensavers with the boxed version of the OS. SVGA color support was also included, which meant that it could support more advanced PC monitors that used SVGA.
Let's not forget Minesweeper. It debuted as a free game in Windows 3.1 and became a major time sink at work and home. You can check out
our article on Minesweeper for a more detailed look at its origins as part of the OS.
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