Is Windows 1.00 Premiere Edition real?

edited December 2014 in Software
For various reasons I was comparing the binaries of different Windows 1.x versions, and noticed that the Windows "Premiere Edition" downloadable from here seems to have no code difference between Windows 1.01. The only differences are in the resources and logos where "Premiere Edition" and "Version 1.01" occur, and resource/exe bytes that relate to the different size strings.

It is documented here that Microsoft released a limited "Premiere Edition" of Windows prior to 1.01: http://technologizer.com/2010/03/08/the ... f-windows/

Premiere Edition was apparently not sold in stores, only released to specific personnel (OEMs, developers), and in modern terminology might be considered a "release candidate". It is also documented that 1.01 contained some major bug fixes over the Premiere Edition.

So if there were some major bug fixes (memory management, according to the above), then why are the core files (kernel, user, drivers, etc) 100% identical? It seems unlikely that Microsoft would turn around and release 1.01 a couple months later with only string changes.

Anyway, I haven't seen the authenticity of the "Premiere Edition" challenged anywhere. I Haven't looked over every single byte, and I apologize if I am wrong, but it seems possible that this could be a very clever fake.

The sad thing is that if it is a fake, then it has put a damper on finding the real deal.

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