---
title: "Which came first, Star Wars or Windows?"
description: "Star Wars vs Windows: Star Wars came first, by 8 years — 1977 against 1985. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/star-wars-vs-windows/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Star Wars or Windows?

**Which came first, Star Wars or Windows?: Star Wars**

1977 — 8 years before Windows

Star Wars came first, by 8 years. The first film opened in 32 American cinemas.

## Side by side

|  | Star Wars | Windows |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1977 | 1985 |
| Date | 1977-05-25 | 1985-11-20 |
| Category | media | technology |
| What happened | The first film opened in 32 American cinemas. | Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0. |

## Star Wars

Star Wars opened in May 1977 on fewer than forty screens because the distributor had little faith in it, and it went on to be the highest-grossing film made to that point. Fox let Lucas keep the merchandising and sequel rights in exchange for a lower directing fee, a decision that transferred an extraordinary amount of money. It is eleven years younger than Star Trek.

## 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, Star Wars or Windows?

Star Wars, by 8 years — 1977 against 1985.

### When did Star Wars start?

1977. The first film opened in 32 American cinemas.

### When did Windows start?

1985. Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0.

## Related pages

- [Microsoft or Windows?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/microsoft-vs-windows/)
- [Microsoft or Star Wars?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/microsoft-vs-star-wars/)
- [Apple or Windows?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-windows/)
- [Apple or Star Wars?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-star-wars/)
- [the internet (ARPANET) or Windows?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/arpanet-vs-windows/)
- [the internet (ARPANET) or Star Wars?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/arpanet-vs-star-wars/)
- [email or Windows?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/email-vs-windows/)
- [email or Star Wars?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/email-vs-star-wars/)
- [the Macintosh or Windows?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/macintosh-vs-windows/)
- [the Macintosh or Star Wars?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/macintosh-vs-star-wars/)
- [Windows or the World Wide Web?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/windows-vs-world-wide-web/)
- [Windows or YouTube?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/windows-vs-youtube/)

## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]