Which came first, TikTok or Windows?
Windows came first, by 31 years. Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0.
Side by side
| TikTok | Windows | |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 2016 | 1985 |
| Date | — | 1985-11-20 |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | ByteDance launched Douyin in China; TikTok followed abroad in 2017. | Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0. |
TikTok
The app launched in China as Douyin in September 2016 and internationally as TikTok in 2017. What made it global was the 2018 acquisition and merger of Musical.ly, a lip-sync app that had launched in 2014 and already had a large Western user base — so part of TikTok is two years older than TikTok. Douyin and TikTok remain separate apps on separate infrastructure.
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, TikTok or Windows?
- Windows, by 31 years — 1985 against 2016.
- When did TikTok start?
- 2016. ByteDance launched Douyin in China; TikTok followed abroad in 2017.
- When did Windows start?
- 1985. Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0.
Related pages
- Microsoft or Windows? Microsoft
- Apple or Windows? Apple
- the internet (ARPANET) or Windows? the internet (ARPANET)
- the internet (ARPANET) or TikTok? the internet (ARPANET)
- email or Windows? email
- email or TikTok? email
- the Macintosh or Windows? the Macintosh
- the Macintosh or TikTok? the Macintosh
- Windows or the World Wide Web? Windows
- Windows or YouTube? Windows
- Python or Windows? Windows
- Python or TikTok? Python
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)