BetaWiki:Featured article/2024-12

Some of the new features introduced in Windows 3.00 MDK Version 59; much of which are multimedia-centric.

Windows 3.00 MDK Version 59 is an early build of Windows 3.0 Multimedia Edition, which was shared on 19 December 2016. The operating system is based on Windows 3.00a and implements a series of multimedia features, such as sound drivers, applications, and screen savers. This pre-release version was likely distributed at the Multimedia Developer Conference, held by Microsoft between 27 and 28 November 1990.

The build notably includes support for various device drivers such as joystick-to-mouse input translation, Sound Blaster 1.x/2.0 support, and extended display capabilities. It also emphasizes strongly on audiovisual content, as support for the MIDI and Waveform specifications were implemented alongside a dedicated media player application. Certain applications included as part of Windows 3.00a were also overhauled to take advantage of the new multimedia capabilities, and applications now support emitting sound based on specific system events. A new Control Panel application design was also introduced, and screen savers were added to help prevent screen burn-in on CRT monitors.

The build comes with development tooling and code samples that allow developers to work on Multimedia PC-compatible applications. (Full article...)