Windows 10 arrived this week, and PCMag concluded that it "seems destined to win the hearts of all of those who were averse to Windows 8, bringing back familiarity and a bounty of new capabilities." Since the upgrade is free for those on Windows 7 and 8.1, making the leap "is a no-brainer for most," we said.

Microsoft has said this will be the "last" version of Windows 10. No, the OS is not going away. Redmond will likely just switch to a more frequent update schedule, releasing new features as they're ready rather than bundling them into a brand-new OS. It makes sense, but are we ready to stick with Windows 10 forever?

Here at PCMag, we're quite familiar with the OS, having played with and reviewed the various incarnations for almost 30 years. You can take a trip down memory lane and read our reviews of Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 Update on PCMag.com. But for older versions, going back to Windows 1.0, you'll need to dig into the archives of the PC Magazine print edition.

To save you the trouble, we perused back issues (now digitized on Google Books) to find Windows coverage dating back to 1986. What did we think of Microsoft's OS when it first landed? Did we know Vista was doomed from the start? Check out the slideshow to find out.


1. February 1986 PC Magazine's PC Magazine still predicted that “Windows is the face DOS will wear in the future.” The first version of Windows, 1.01, arrived in late 1985, but it was not the only OS in town. "Window War!" screamed February 1986 cover , which compared Redmond's OS to GEM Desktop, TopView, and DESQview. While Windows now has more than 90 percent of OS market share, 30 years ago, it was an “alternative” operating environment that “strains the limits of current PC hardware.” Butstill predicted that “Windows is the face DOS will wear in the future.”

2. February 1991 PC Magazine With the advent of Microsoft Windows 3.0, everything has changed, said in 1991 , pointing to an “enormous” range of applications and availability on a number of DOS-based devices. This issue offered up 35 tips for making the most out of the new OS, from desktop customization and setting up successful DOS sessions to fine-tuning memory setup and hard disk.

3. April 1992 PC Magazine “Windows is a lot like life: Just about the time you think you’ve got it under control, it changes, and there’s always something new to know,” said in 1992 with the release of Windows 3.1. We had a few “un-documented” tips that weren’t in any manuals (hello, pre-Internet era!) to help readers finish work sooner and give them more time to play Minesweeper.

4. September 1995 PC Magazine By 1995, was “convinced that the days of MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 are numbered.” Helping see them out was Windows 95, which took elements from earlier operating systems to create a “compelling” experience (if you had at least 8MB of memory and an extra 60MB of hard disk space). It wasn’t perfect, but 20 years ago, Windows 95 was “the best choice for most PC users.”

5. September 1995 It was comprehensive enough, though, to warrant an entire guide in the fall of 1995.

6. October 1995 And just in case you didn’t get the memo, our October 1995 issue once again covered Windows 95 and the powerful features that are “well hidden or downright tough to negotiate.”

7. September 1996 PC Magazine staffers worked on.) Network administrators need love, too, and in this 1996 issue , we looked at Windows NT 4.0, which we thought was a “great tool” that warranted “a close look.” (This issue, meanwhile, also included a roundup of the best CD-ROMs, which 30 (!)staffers worked on.)

8. September 1997 Windows 98 would change the face of computing, we said in September 1997, specifically the new user interface and browser. At the time, the OS was still in beta, codenamed Memphis, but we tinkered with it (and IE 4.0) in PC Labs. "Internet integration is by far the most visible change" in the OS, we said. "The overriding innovation is the browser's integration into the Windows desktop."

9. June 1998 PC Magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Michael Miller, By June 1998,Editor-in-Chief, Michael Miller, provided a full rundown of Windows 98's features, including the new interface, cooler multimedia, laptop-related enhancements, developer tools, better hardware support, faster performance, and improved system diagnostics.

10. August 1998 It was not until August 1998, however, that we published our first official Windows 98 test results. At the time, we found performance upgrades to be "minor and limited to certain areas," among other things. "Windows 98 is not our 'dream' OS," we concluded, suggesting that Microsoft focus on stability, networking, ease of use, and multimedia.

11. November 1998 By the end of 1998, we got a preview of NT 5.0, Microsoft's "most ambitious operating system yet," Miller said at the time. "On the workstation side, NT 5 promises more stability, better device support, and the ability to run more smoothly on portable computers," he wrote. "On the server side, it promises, even more; in particular, a completely revised directory system." We'd have to wait for a full version, though.

12. February 2000 When NT 5.0 was formally launched, it was renamed Windows 2000 . Miller found that the upgrades would please business users, but warned that it was not for home users. "Many Windows games still write directly to the hardware and won't run under Windows 2000," he said. It was also a major hassle to upgrade from Windows 98 to Windows 2000.

13. May 2001 For home users, Windows XP was the answer. "It's a new experience," we said in May 2001 . "This is the Microsoft operating system I've been waiting for all these years," Miller said. Perhaps that's why almost 12 percent of global Windows users are STILL using XP 14 years later.

14. October 2001 XP had its formal debut in the fall of that year, and Miller said it was Microsoft's most stable OS ever (while acknowledging that that was "faint praise"). Still, it was the "first OS that combines the stable core from Windows 2000 with the ability to run most Windows 95/98 applications."

15. September 2004 By 2004, XP was still kicking, but needed an upgrade. While we waited for Vista (then codenamed Longhorn), we got XP Service Pack 2 , which was a "long-overdue and necessary improvement to Windows security."

16. September 2005 It would be another year before we had a hands on with Vista . Miller wondered if it was the future of desktop computing, while discussing some of the things that Microsoft would not include in the OS because of delays.

17. May 2006 This issue was a "Special Windows Exposé." New EIC Jim Louderback said Vista "will greatly enhance your Windows experience." Why should you try it out? For one thing, it's "more fun," we concluded.

18. January 2007 We dug a little deeper in January 2007 for a full Vista guide , as well as a look at Office 2007.

20. January 2009



Perhaps fittingly, this was actually the final print version of PC Magazine, which switched to an all-digital format thereafter. Redmond redeemed itself with Windows 7, an OS that many people are still using today, thanks to the lackluster response to Windows 8. "All in all, the new system is impressive," PCMag's Michael Muchmore said at the time Perhaps fittingly, this was actually the final print version of, which switched to an all-digital format thereafter.

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