The History of Microsoft WinPad - The 1992 Tablet OS You’ve Never Heard Of

Back in 1992, Microsoft began the development of a tablet version of Windows called WinPad. Its goal was to be a completly new way to interact with Windows computers. Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way, as the project was killed off 2 years later. Discover the full story, and how Microsoft used what they learned from WinPad in today's retrospective video!

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[MichaelMJD]

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy today's video. If you found this interesting, be sure to give it a like and get subscribed. I upload new videos every week on this channel!

[stormblade]

Winpad, a technology that was too early for it's own good.
Great video

[francia]

Watching it on a Surface Pro 2 with Windows 8.1 Pro, and it's amazing how, after 5 years of continuos use, it still feels so snappy, and man, the interface of Win8 on a tablet like that really shines (at least for me)

[JonathonV]

This is so advanced for 1992! My first PC barely ran Windows 3.1 (couldn't handle the system requirements of Windows 95) and had no network capability at all, so I remember what technology was like then; the fact that there was an OS designed for touchscreen technology at that time really impresses me.

(I grinned with nostalgia when the setup utility read from the A: drive … how long has it been since anyone had an A: drive?!)

[Lofote]

5:20 Outlook was far from being released, in fact even Windows NT is still one year in the future, and Exchange Server 4 years in the future, so this is faaaar future talk. Back then what you see here, that was based on "Microsoft Mail", which was a very bad file-based mailsystem for very small companies (not even with internet access).

[gaycommodorebuyera]

Awesome video man super informative and I learned a lot of things I didn’t know

[douglaslane]

2:30 The Windows XP background is 9 years older than Windows XP itself... how long were they planning Windows XP?

Edit: Nevermind, I'm just an idiot

[nxtfighter]

I didn't even know that this OS existed. Great video!

[mr.nobody]

I'm littrelly addicted to ur channel...

[Synergiance]

didn't appear until windows 8? I think not, remember Windows XP Tablet PC Edition? those features were in vista, and 7 as well

[intelDX]

interesting to see the 95 style GUI with 3D bottoms and gray skin :)

[BilisNegra]

Really insightful travel back to yet another thing I did not know the existence of. I'm currently, since months ago, maybe last year, unwanting to subscribe to any more channels (at least not with notifications) since I just don't have the time to watch more than what's already in my feed... But this was such a mind blower... Guess you had me, though you're actually making watching time limitations worse for me.

[Locutus]

Really good video, I think one of your best so far. :)

[MegaManNeo]

They could have used NT as a base and at least bypass the issue with the 16bit OS.
The battery problem however is something we probably still suffer from today 😅

[Astinsan]

This os was used in manufacturing and in multi department processing. In manufacturing they were used as a checklist like in the auto industry the area supervisor would make sure every trim piece was installed and secured correctly through a checklist. If any issues were present after scanning the vehicle the task was sent to qc to correct and return to the line.

How do I know this? Purchased old equipment from postoffice and auto companies.

The win95 tablet os was more interesting. Never saw it anywhere but home depot for inventory control and price stickers. They used it from 1996-2007. New system is wince based.

[omni-shadow-topiaakaconrad]

in a similar style as this there was windows for pen computing that also was installed over windows 3.1 on the grid laptop in the early days of windows 3.1 that had similar feature then the winpad had

[evgkirov]

Saw WinPad application in Windows 95 video on Michael MJD channel. Googled it. Stumbled across this video on the same exact channel.

[lactobacillusprime]

I actually used a Windows tablet during one of my summer jobs in a big warehouse back in the day. Can't remember what version of Windows it actually was. Must have been a 9x - type Windows and not the 3.xx version shown here.

[BionicTenshi]

Talk about the unborn Microsoft Cairo!!! :D

[georgeh]

Did this support handwriting or just hand printing? The Apple Newton supported cursive handwriting, although with just about as many recognition errors as in this video. I think the Newton also recognized cursive text interspersed with shapes and freeform sketches. The WinPad seems like Microsoft's failed, less capable attempt to compete with the Newton. In the end, it was probably a good thing WinPad failed before reaching market as the Newton was not very successful.