Which came first, Google or Windows?
Windows came first, by 13 years. Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0.
Side by side
| Windows | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1998 | 1985 |
| Date | 1998-09-04 | 1985-11-20 |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park. | Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0. |
The date used here is the incorporation, 4 September 1998. Two others compete: the research project called BackRub began at Stanford in 1996, and the google.com domain was registered on 15 September 1997. Google itself has celebrated its birthday on four different September dates over the years, which is a fair indication that no single one is correct. It is younger than Amazon, eBay and Netflix.
Windows
Windows 1.0 shipped in November 1985, twenty-two months after the Macintosh, and it was not an operating system — it was a graphical shell running on top of MS-DOS, and remained so until Windows NT in 1993 and the consumer transition with Windows XP in 2001. Version 1.0 could not even overlap windows: they tiled, because Apple's legal position on overlapping windows was unresolved.
Common questions
- Which came first, Google or Windows?
- Windows, by 13 years — 1985 against 1998.
- When did Google start?
- 1998. Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park.
- When did Windows start?
- 1985. Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0.
Related pages
- Microsoft or Windows? Microsoft
- Apple or Windows? Apple
- Apple or Google? Apple
- the internet (ARPANET) or Windows? the internet (ARPANET)
- the internet (ARPANET) or Google? the internet (ARPANET)
- email or Windows? email
- email or Google? email
- the Macintosh or Windows? the Macintosh
- Windows or the World Wide Web? Windows
- Windows or YouTube? Windows
- Python or Windows? Windows
- Java or Windows? Windows
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)