BetaWiki:Featured article/2019-10

Windows 3.0 build 14 is an early version of Windows 3.0 released to independent software vendors (ISVs). It is the earliest leaked and confirmed pre-release version of Windows 3.0, although files that could possibly originate from an earlier compile of this build have been found in build 55. Community member RubyTuesday discovered his neighbor owned this build, and proceeded to dump and share it with the BetaArchive community in 2015.

This early release was distributed on two 1.2MB 5.25" floppy disks, which refer to the build as "Microsoft Windows Pre-Release Version 0.1". It can only run on a 386 or better 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 and Alpha), as well as lack of accessories and applications included in both Windows 2.x and later builds of Windows 3.0.