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        FGAZ 18-09                   Page 2                   11 Apr 2022   
      
      
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        Happy birthday, Windows 3.1!   
      
        From: https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/07/windows_3_1_30/?td=rt-3a   
      
        Happy birthday Windows 3.1, aka 'the one that Visual Basic kept   
        crashing on'   
      
        30-year-old software that first introduced Windows Registry and killed   
        Real Mode   
      
        Richard Speed Thu 7 Apr 2022 // 12:00 UTC   
      
        ----------------------------------------------------------------------   
      
        Time flies whether you're having fun or simply trying to work out   
        which Registry change left your system hopelessly borked, and before   
        you know it, Windows 3.1 is turning 30.   
      
        Windows 3.1 was more than a user interface refresh of the preceding   
        Windows 3.0. Arriving on April 6, 1992, and still on MS-DOS, the   
        operating environment brought forth support for TrueType fonts,   
        introduced the Windows Registry and dropped support for older silicon.   
        Windows 3.1 insisted on 80286 or above, finally sticking a knife in   
        the heart of the Real Mode that was still supported in Windows 3.0.   
      
        As well as a visual update (although nothing compared to what was   
        coming a few short years later with Windows 95) multimedia support was   
        improved and Microsoft introduced a concept called The Registry.   
      
        The Windows Registry was (and remains) a database of settings hidden   
        within the environment, ostensibly intended to replace or complement   
        the .INI configuration files scattered throughout the environment both   
        by Windows and applications targeting the platform. It is a handy   
        database, but one that has become considerably more complex in the   
        intervening 30 years.   
      
        Windows 3.1 also increased the maximum memory available: when running   
        in 386 enhanced mode, the limit was a mighty 256MB, up from the weedy   
        16MB of Windows 3.0 (although care needed to be take with the version   
        of the HIMEM.SYS driver.   
      
        The requirement to run in Standard or 386 Enhanced Mode also made   
        things a good deal more stable, although the elephant-on-a-traffic   
        cone nature of Windows perching on DOS meant there remained plenty of   
        opportunities for sudden crashes.   
      
        Windows 3.1 sold very well, with an appealing user interface and   
        consumer-friendly multimedia features. It did, however, have a   
        relatively short life. Networking shortcomings would be at least   
        partially addressed by a quick-fire succession of Windows for   
        Workgroups releases, taking the version number to 3.11 by 1993 and   
        also dropping Standard Mode. Windows 95 turned up shortly after,   
      
      
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