Windows 3.0 build 14

Microsoft Windows v3.0 Debug Release 1.14 is a pre-release version of the Microsoft Windows 3.0 operating system. It was leaked on 2015-01-13. This early release of Windows 3.0 was released to independent software vendors (ISVs) for testing, and was distributed on 1.2MB 5.25" floppy disks. Community member RubyTuesday discovered his neighbor owned this build, and proceeded to dump and shared it with the BetaArchive community. The label on the disks refer to the build as "Microsoft Windows Pre-Release Version 0.1."

This pre-release can be only started on a 386+ machine with a specific version of DOS, as not using the correct version will cause Windows to either crash, or refuse to launch the shell. It is speculated that this release was heavily rushed, on the basis of an improvised batch file installation script (similar to that of Windows 1.0 DR5), as well as lack of accessories and applications included in later builds of Windows 3.0.

Interestingly, this release features a build tag in the bottom right corner of the screen, a feature that only reappeared many years later in pre-release versions of Windows 98. The rest of the branding remains unchanged since Windows 2.1, because the entire shell was ported from that version.

Installation
Windows 3.0 Debug Release 1.14 requires at minimum a 386 processor, with MS-DOS 3.x (COMPAQ's 3.31 release is recommended) installed. The script will alert you that you need to manually add the instruction to load  to your   file. Unlike the final release, this build is started by running the executable. Should the MS-DOS Executive hang, raise the maximum amount of file handles in  (a minimum of 40 is recommended).

Boot Screen
The boot screen of this build says the following: In order for a Windows 2.0 app to be completely compatible with Windows 2.0, IT MUST BE TESTED WITH WINDOWS USING LIM 4.0! The preferred method is to use Windows/386 with EMS enabled. User:InfinityPlus1 speculates that "compatible with Windows 2.0" is a typo of "compatible with Windows 3.0". User:Tau Ceti however speculates that these files were left over from Windows 2.0 tests, as evidenced by some references to Windows 2.x were left unchanged. In fact, the same string can be found in Windows 2.x, so it is indeed most likely a leftover.

Task Manager
This build's control menus contain a reference to the Task Manager as well as the CTRL+ESC keystroke. However, it does not appear to be implemented in this build.