original
The Fall of Windows: 3.1 and 3.11
To a lot of people, myself included, Windows 'began' at 3 or 3.1[1]. That was a very long time ago and many if not most programs still ran in DOS.
Windows wasn't all that common at the time; nobody really had to use it. It was sold as an environment and an interface through which to do various tasks and "multi-task".
Linux was still in its diapers; Apple and IBM had alternatives. █