DOOM 30 岁了，Windows NT 也是，但我们好像并没有走多远
DOOM 计算机历史 Windows NT
![](/data/attachment/album/202312/23/230434sueznjche2mre2ch.jpg)



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> 1983 年和 1993 年之间的变化显著，然而从那时候到现在，变化其实并不大。
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2023 年即将过去，我们来回顾一下三十年前的科技。不只是与今天进行对比，也是和更早的十年前对照。有趣的不是变化有多大：而是变化的速度有多快。


一位澳洲老极客近期指出，距离 id Software 的“最具影响力的恐怖动作游戏”问世，以及它带来的网络“[死亡竞赛](https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/10/doom_turns_25/)”，已经 [三十年](https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/11/doom_30th_anniversary_sigil_wad/) 了。回顾 1993 年的科技，并把它和 1983 年对比一下，真是令人惊叹。仅仅十年的时间，现代计算的大部分技术都诞生了。许多始于 1993 年的重大技术，如今依然是我们依赖的核心。


正如 DOOM 在 1993 年重新定义了电子游戏，Windows NT 也赋予了 PC 操作系统全新的定义。NT 的第一个版本在 DOOM 发布前几个月就 [问世](https://www.theregister.com/2013/08/01/windows_nt_anniversary/) 了，其影响力甚至更为深远。1993 年我们也见证了 [NCSA Mosaic](https://www.theregister.com/2013/04/26/mosaic_20_anniversary/) 的发布，这是最初的 Web 浏览器。Mosaic 的衍生品是 Netscape。起初它开始运营的名字是 Mosaic 通信公司，不知为何，这家公司的首页现在 [仍然存在](http://home.mcom.com/)。后来，Mosaic 公司 [变成](https://www.davetitus.com/mozilla/) 了 Netscape，进而催生出了今日的 Mozilla。1993 年还有一项里程碑式的事件，那就是 [Trojan Room](https://www.theregister.com/2001/03/07/worlds_first_webcam_coffee_pot/) 咖啡壶摄像头的上线，这是有史以来第一台网络摄像头。


1993 年奠定了现代计算的发展方向。一代人的时间过去了，大多数桌面电脑用户仍在使用基于 NT 系统的变体：Windows 11 仍然基于它。而 Mosaic 代码库的最后一部分随着 [IE 11](https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/14/bye_bye_ie/) 的退场已经销声匿迹，但我们仍然在使用间接源于 Mosaic 的 Web 浏览器。


要想了解 1993 年带来的影响有多大，可以将其与早更的十年前做个比较。1983 年，[Camputers Lynx](https://www.theregister.com/2013/03/20/feature_the_story_of_the_camputers_lynx/) 亮相，但它根本无法与 [英国的热销机型](https://www.theregister.com/2013/01/03/charted_1983_home_computer_sales_in_uk/) —— ZX Spectrum、BBC Micro 和 Commodore 64 相抗衡。而就在 Lynx 问世的同一年，另一款价格更昂贵的失败产品也在池塘边面世。虽然数以千计的苹果 [Lisa](https://www.theregister.com/2013/01/18/feature_apple_lisa_is_30/) 最终被扔到了垃圾填埋场，但其精简成本后的继任者 Macintosh，确立了个人电脑的新标准 —— 即便现代 Mac 中几乎找不到初代 Macintosh 的技术影子。


Lisa 之所以失败，部分原因是其售价高达 $9,995，约合今日的 $30,000。确实不菲，但对比一下，[原始版 IBM PC](https://www.theregister.com/2007/11/17/tob_ibm_personal_computer/) 标配硬盘的第一代，即 IBM PC/XT，也是在 1983 年发布的。由于拥有 10 MB（注意，不是 GB）的硬盘，其价格达到了 $7,545，大约相当于今天的 $22,500。这就是为什么像 Commodore 64 这样的 8 位设备在 1983 年的市场中占据主导地位的原因：64 KB 内存、磁带存储，以及一台模拟电视作为显示器，是大多数家庭用户能负担起的全部。Commodore 64 在 1981 年发布时的定价为 [$595](https://www.theregister.com/2012/01/02/commodore_64_30_birthday)。到 1993 年，按通胀计算这个价格约为 [$1,000](https://tools.carboncollective.co/inflation/us/1981/595/1993/)，而这在当时可以买到一台 [486 PC](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-24-fi-5121-story.html)。


### ~~转瞬~~十年变迁


1973 年，微处理器几乎还没有出现。那时还没有英特尔 8080 或 CP/M。我们所认为的 PC 该有的能力需要一台定制的工作站才行，其成本约合今天的 $280,000：[Xerox Alto](https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/16/the_xerox_alto_50_years/)。和其相比，Lisa 看起来还算便宜。另外，1973 年，[以太网](https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/30/ethernet_50th_birthday/) 也诞生了。


在十年之后，一台售价 $10,000 的个人电脑刚刚能够实现单色的图形用户界面（GUI），但很少有人意识到其好处，买的人就更少了。再过十年，到 1993 年，[Windows for Workgroups 3.11](https://www.theregister.com/2008/07/11/microsoft_retires_windows_311_for_workgroups/) 发布，而那时连低配置的 PC 也能流畅运行它。同年，[MacOS 7.1.1](https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/System_7.1.1) 也发布了，任何 1993 年生产的 [Macintosh](https://everymac.com/systems/by_year/macs-released-in-1993.html) 都能毫不费力地运行它。1983 年最畅销的 [电子游戏](https://www.simplyeighties.com/top-5-home-video-games-from-1983.php) 是《<ruby> 吃豆人 <rt>  Pac Man </rt></ruby>》和《<ruby> 大金刚 <rt>  Donkey Kong </rt></ruby>》，十年之后，人们痴迷的是一款网络实时 3D 第一人称射击游戏 —— DOOM。


从 1983 到 1993，计算机世界从 8 位 CPU 和几十 KB 的存储，发展到拥有 MB 存储的 32 位机，并且图形用户界面成为了标准配置。NT 3.1 是首个具有完全抢占式多任务处理和内存保护功能的 Windows 版本，它取代了 Windows 3 和经典 MacOS 的原始而不稳定的协同多任务处理。NT 3.1 也是首个内置 TCP/IP 的 Windows 版本，当时以太网开始成为标准配置，图形网页浏览器也应运而生。浏览器和第一台网络摄像头的出现，是使 [互联网盈利](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJvdGcb7Fs) 的关键所在。


虽然对大多数人来说并不重要，但 Windows NT 的第一个版本已经支持了 [双 CPU](http://www.os2museum.com/wp/nt-3-1-smp/comment-page-1/)，它使用的 [英特尔 MP 标准](https://www.theregister.com/1999/07/01/the_register_is_five_years/)，曾出现在 Compaq SystemPro 中，其首个 386 型号发布于 1989 年。当 [双核芯片](https://www.theregister.com/2004/12/14/intel_dual-core/) 开始面世时，NT 已经做好准备，但实际上，多处理器 PC 并不是在二十世纪九十年代才出现的，它们是 80 年代末期的技术，在 1993 年已经落地并投入使用。


在屏幕图形方面，我们或多或少获得了实时 3D 技术，尽管仍然是通过软件渲染的。OpenGL 标准在前一年获得了批准，Windows 上的“视频”应用也在此时作为 Windows 3 的免费附加组件出现。


### 那么，后来发生了什么呢？


在接下来的十年中，许多较小的部分逐渐到位，但它们的变化更像是演进，而不是变革：是帮助而非突破。Windows 95 使得桌面界面现代化，而现在的大多数工作方式仍 [与那时相同](https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/linux_desktop_feature/)，尽管微软已经作了 [大量努力](https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/03/thank_microsoft_for_linux_desktop_fail/)。在世纪之交，英国开始全面推广 [ADSL 宽带](https://www.theregister.com/2000/04/27/what_the_hell_is_bt/)，让大部分人享受到了快速的互联网。一年之后，[Windows XP](https://www.theregister.com/2001/10/25/winxp_london_launch/) 的问世，终结了基于 DOS 的 Windows 时代。 NT 发布十年后，首款 [64 位 PC 芯片](https://www.theregister.com/2003/04/22/amd_launches_opteron/) 问世。


从那时起……那么，你能说出哪些重大进步吗？在 PC 之前，手机就可以 [听懂口语命令](https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/05/apple_predicted_siri_in_1987/)（尽管我们一度认为这只是个 [噱头](https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/05/iphone_4s/?page=2)）。你的脸可以 [解锁设备](https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/14/is_facial_recognition_good_enough/)，但它们仍然无法读懂你的表情。手势操作仍然只限于触摸板。从 32 位转移至 64 位的进程相当平淡乏味：主要的变化就是你可以拥有更多的内存。计算机变得更小，更节能，运行更安静，拥有更多也更快的存储……仅此而已。


尽管 PC 行业绝不承认这一点，但正如在 [2021 年](https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/28/intels_gelsinger_moore/)，或者说更早的十年前也一样，计算机的速度增长已经不再那么显著。存储设备也如此，最新的耗电大户 [GPU](https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/18/nvidia_flawsuit_4090/) 这类半专用的特定用途芯片也依然如此……不过近来 [苹果芯片](https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/31/apple_m3_cpus_macbook_pro_imac/) 的表现显示，提升图形性能的效率秘诀并不在于在总线末端挂载一个庞大的高热 GPU 群，而是将更小的 GPU 集成到 CPU 芯片中。


现在我们已然走过 21 世纪的四分之一，但在可编程性、交互性或全新的不可预见的技术等方面却没有取得惊人的突破，三十年来，电脑容量和并行处理性能的增长，主要让操作系统和应用程序变得前所未有的臃肿。


Windows NT 3.1 操作系统的最新版本是 Windows 11 ，而 1993 年时它已经具备了 Windows 11 大部分的功能。NT 3.1 能够在两种 CPU 架构（x86-32 和 MIPS）中运行，并拥有用于 DOS、Windows 3、UNIX 和 OS/2 应用程序的子系统…… 这一切都被集成在只有 [50 MB](https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-nt-3x/31) 的 ISO 文件中。而如今的 Windows 11 需要 6 GB 的存储空间。它扩大了 120 倍。如果你认为现在的功能是当初的 120 倍，那么请举手。


*（题图：DA/a10b4730-ce44-48c2-aa61-d630ddca8660）*




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via: <https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/19/windows_nt_30_years_on/?td=rt-3a>


作者： [Liam Proven](https://www.theregister.com/Author/Liam-Proven) 译者： [ChatGPT](https://linux.cn/lctt/ChatGPT) 校对： [wxy](https://github.com/wxy)


OK
# Doom is 30, and so is Windows NT. How far we *haven't* come

## The difference between 1983 and 1993 is vast. Since then, not so much

Comment As we approach the end of 2023, it's interesting to look back at the tech of three decades ago. Not just to compare it to today's, but also to that a decade earlier. The interesting aspect isn't how much has changed: it's how fast it was, and is, changing.

As an Australian vulture noted recently, [it is thirty years](https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/11/doom_30th_anniversary_sigil_wad/) since id Software's "definitive horror slugfest" came out, [complete with network "deathmatches"](https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/10/doom_turns_25/). It is amazing to look back at the tech of 1993 and contrast it with that of 1983. In just ten years, much of modern computing was invented. Several major technologies that debuted in 1993 are still central parts of what we use today.

Just as Doom redefined video games in 1993, Windows NT redefined PC operating systems. The first version came out [just a few months before Doom](https://www.theregister.com/2013/08/01/windows_nt_anniversary/), and it was even more influential. '93 also saw the release of [NCSA Mosaic, the OG web browser](https://www.theregister.com/2013/04/26/mosaic_20_anniversary/). Mosaic's spin-off, Netscape, started under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation, and somehow, that company homepage is [still there](http://home.mcom.com/). Later, Mosaic Corp [evolved into](https://www.davetitus.com/mozilla/) Netscape, and that begat today's Mozilla. Also going online in '93 was the [Trojan Room coffee pot camera](https://www.theregister.com/2001/03/07/worlds_first_webcam_coffee_pot/), the first ever webcam.

1993 set the direction of much of modern computing. Over a human generation later, most desktop computer users still run a variant of NT: it is still the basis of Windows 11. More or less the last fragments of the Mosaic codebase [died with Internet Explorer 11](https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/14/bye_bye_ie/), but we still use web browsers derived indirectly from Mosaic.

To get a sense of how transformative 1993 was, compare it with just one decade earlier. 1983 was the year that the [Camputers Lynx](https://www.theregister.com/2013/03/20/feature_the_story_of_the_camputers_lynx/) appeared, but it had no chance of competing with [the UK's best-selling machines](https://www.theregister.com/2013/01/03/charted_1983_home_computer_sales_in_uk/): the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, and Commodore 64. The same year as the Lynx, another, much dearer flop launched over the pond. But while thousands of the [Apple Lisa](https://www.theregister.com/2013/01/18/feature_apple_lisa_is_30/) ended up in landfill, its ruthlessly cost-cut successor, the Macintosh, set the new norm for personal computers ... even if little classic Macintosh tech remains in modern Macs.

The Lisa flopped partly because it was $9,995, about $30,000 today. A lot, sure, but for comparison, the first version of the [original IBM PC](https://www.theregister.com/2007/11/17/tob_ibm_personal_computer/) to ship with a hard disk as standard, the IBM PC/XT, *also* launched in 1983 – and thanks to its 10 MB (no, not gig) hard disk, it cost $7,545. That's about $22,500 now. This is *why* eight-bit kit like the C64 dominated the 1983 market: 64 kB of RAM, audio cassettes for storage, and an analog TV set for a display was all that most home users could afford. The C64 was [$595 at launch](https://www.theregister.com/2012/01/02/commodore_64_30_birthday) in 1981. By 1993, inflation meant that was [about $1,000](https://tools.carboncollective.co/inflation/us/1981/595/1993/), which by then would get you a [486 PC](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-24-fi-5121-story.html).

### What a difference a ~~day~~ decade makes

In 1973, microprocessors barely existed. It was before the Intel 8080 or CP/M. What we think of as PC abilities required a custom workstation that would have cost the equivalent of $280,000 today: the [Xerox Alto](https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/16/the_xerox_alto_50_years/), which made the Lisa look affordable. Alongside the Alto, '73 was the year [Ethernet was invented](https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/30/ethernet_50th_birthday/).

Ten years later, a $10,000 personal computer could just about manage a monochrome GUI, but few saw the benefits, and fewer still bought them. Ten years after that, [Windows for Workgroups 3.11](https://www.theregister.com/2008/07/11/microsoft_retires_windows_311_for_workgroups/) came out, and by '93 even a low-end PC could run that just fine. 1993 was also the year that [MacOS 7.1.1](https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/System_7.1.1) came out, and any [1993 model Macintosh](https://everymac.com/systems/by_year/macs-released-in-1993.html) could easily handle that. The best selling video games of '83 were [Pac Man and Donkey Kong](https://www.simplyeighties.com/top-5-home-video-games-from-1983.php); a decade later, it was a networked real-time 3D first-person shoot-'em-up.

From '83 to '93, the computer world went from eight-bit CPUs and double-digit kilobytes of storage to 32-bit machines with megabytes of storage, and a GUI as standard. NT 3.1 was also the first version of Windows with full pre-emptive multitasking and memory protection, replacing Windows 3's (and classic MacOS's) primitive and rather unstable *cooperative* multitasking. NT 3.1 was also the first version of Windows with TCP/IP built in, just as Ethernet started to become supplied as standard, and graphical web browsers appeared. The browser, and the first webcam, are [what made the internet profitable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJvdGcb7Fs).

[These days you can teach old tech a bunch of new tricks](https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/14/pc_xt_with_hdmi/)[Want to live dangerously? Try running Windows XP in 2023](https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/24/dangerous_pleasures_win_xp_in_23/)[One person's trash is another's 'trashware' – the art of refurbing old computers](https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/21/pc_officina_positive_trashware/)[The ZX81 finally gets the keyboard it deserves](https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/15/zx_81_mechanical_keyboard/)

It didn't matter much to most people at the time, but that first release of Windows NT [already supported dual CPUs](http://www.os2museum.com/wp/nt-3-1-smp/comment-page-1/), using the [Intel MP standard](https://www.theregister.com/1999/07/01/the_register_is_five_years/), seen in the Compaq SystemPro, the first 386 model of which shipped in 1989. When dual-core chips [started to appear](https://www.theregister.com/2004/12/14/intel_dual-core/), NT was ready, but the real deal is that multiprocessor PCs didn't come along in the Noughties: they are late '80s tech, already working in '93.

In terms of on-screen graphics, we got more or less real-time 3D, although still rendered in software. OpenGL was ratified the previous year, also when Video for Windows appeared as a free add-on for Windows 3.

### Then what happened?

Over the following decade, a lot of smaller pieces fell into place, but they were more evolutionary than revolutionary: helpful, rather than groundbreaking. Windows 95 modernized the desktop interface, and [most still work like it](https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/linux_desktop_feature/), despite [Microsoft's concerted efforts](https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/03/thank_microsoft_for_linux_desktop_fail/). Around the turn of the century, ADSL broadband [started mass rollout](https://www.theregister.com/2000/04/27/what_the_hell_is_bt/) in the UK, bringing fast internet to the masses. A year later, [Windows XP came along](https://www.theregister.com/2001/10/25/winxp_london_launch/) and finally banished DOS-based Windows. Ten years after NT, the [first 64-bit PC chips shipped](https://www.theregister.com/2003/04/22/amd_launches_opteron/).

Since then… well, what big advances can you name? Phones could [understand spoken commands](https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/05/apple_predicted_siri_in_1987/) (even if *The Reg* [thought it was a gimmick](https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/05/iphone_4s/?page=2)) before PCs. Your [face can unlock your devices](https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/14/is_facial_recognition_good_enough/), but they still can't read expressions. Gestures are confined to trackpads. The move from 32-bit to 64-bit has been anticlimactic: mostly, it just means you can have more RAM. Computers are smaller, more power efficient, run cooler, and have way more and way faster storage … and that's about it.

Although the PC industry is in deep denial about it, [as it was in 2021](https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/28/intels_gelsinger_moore/), just as it was [a decade before that](https://www.theregister.com/2011/11/28/future_computing/), computers aren't getting that much faster any more. Storage still is, and semi-dedicated purpose-specific chippery such as [the latest power-guzzling GPUs](https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/18/nvidia_flawsuit_4090/) still are too … although the performance of [recent Apple Silicon](https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/31/apple_m3_cpus_macbook_pro_imac/) shows that the secret to efficient graphics performance isn't hanging a huge hot GPU cluster on the end of a bus, it's integrating smaller ones into the CPU die.

We're nearly quarter of the way through the 21st century, but in place of amazing breakthroughs in programmability, or interaction, or whole new unforeseen tech, three decades of increase in computer capacity and parallelism has mainly enabled unprecedented levels of OS and app bloat.

Windows 11 is the latest version of the same OS that came out as Windows NT 3.1, and in 1993, it did most of the stuff Windows 11 does. NT 3.1 ran on two different CPU architectures (x86-32 and MIPS), it had subsystems for DOS, and Windows 3, and UNIX, and OS/2 apps ... and it fit into a [50 MB ISO file](https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-nt-3x/31). Windows 11 is 6 GB. It's *120 times bigger*. Hands up if you think it has 120 times the functionality. ®

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