> Windows 1.0 in 1985 did not have...overlapping windows.
Actually Windows 1.0 did have overlapping windows.
They just weren't the default style for application windows.
But there were popup windows that overlapped other windows on the screen. These were typically used for dialog and message boxes, for example the End Session message box midway through that filfre.net article.
There was nothing stopping anyone from using a popup-style window for their application, and adding a titlebar so you could move it around on the screen. It just wasn't the custom, and people would think your app was weird if it did that. And on a typical system of the day (no GPU!), dragging your window around on the screen would perform rather poorly.
I had read that Digital Antiquarian piece a few months back and had remembered about the "sub windows" that an app could have. But I had thought they were scoped to just be on top of the window for the app that spawned it, and couldn't leave that "tile."
However, you are totally right. This image right here clearly shows it overlapping another application's tiled window.
Actually Windows 1.0 did have overlapping windows.
They just weren't the default style for application windows.
But there were popup windows that overlapped other windows on the screen. These were typically used for dialog and message boxes, for example the End Session message box midway through that filfre.net article.
There was nothing stopping anyone from using a popup-style window for their application, and adding a titlebar so you could move it around on the screen. It just wasn't the custom, and people would think your app was weird if it did that. And on a typical system of the day (no GPU!), dragging your window around on the screen would perform rather poorly.