Back in the mid 80's computer OS is still primitive. So many OSes are text-based, meaning that if you wanted to use the operating system you need to enter the command to let the OS know what you want. This isn't really practical because many people simply aren't computer experts, most of them possess different expertise.
When the mid 80's came along Microsoft released their new "OS" called windows. It wasn't exactly an operating system because the whole thing needed ms-dos to run. It's more like an operating environment rather than a full-fledged OS. The first version of windows is windows 1.0 and it was a complete dumpster fire because the whole Operating environment flopped, but somehow it's still managed to survive and thrive just because it was made for ms-dos and created by Microsoft.
Now in this same year amiga, the company famous for developing and selling the venerable commode Amiga computer has demonstrated their new OS called the amiga workbench. Now when they demonstrated their OS Microsoft and Apple take notes of the list of features that the amiga workbench currently has, because amiga workbench is a one of the kind OS. Now so many people say that amiga workbench is a 16-bit operating system but really it was a 32-bit Os running on a 16-Bit system.
The reason why some people called the amiga workbench as a 32-bit OS is because it has the ability to do multimedia, something that a 16-Bit operating system could not do. From day one Microsoft has worked from the ground up to improve their OS, Microsoft also watches and take notes about the details of the features from the amiga workbench such as easy to use multi-tasking environment and multimedia capabilities.
amiga workbench truly showed what a computer operating system should have and should be able to do. Multimedia is the crucial component for an OS and both Microsoft and Apple knew about this. It wasn't just Microsoft and Apple, apparently, every big OS manufacturer wanted to get into the sweet multimedia action but the problem is that the technology for doing multimedia is extremely limited and only restricted to amiga since amiga is the company that invented the technology.
while amiga workbench is going in the late '80s every OS manufacturer including the lights of Apple, IBM, and Microsoft is implementing the features from amiga workbench to their own Operating System. Microsoft has finally implemented a multimedia feature into its Windows OS on August 1, 1993, but it still lacked the fundamental multimedia feature that the amiga workbench currently has such as the way to render 3D animation. it's not just the multimedia Microsoft is interested, it's also the tidy multitasking that the amiga workbench is currently having. being able to do multitasking in the easiest way was a luxury, something that the Windows PC owner dreamed of.
amiga workbench is the first-ever PC operating system to have a multitasking OS that is both successful and easy to use. the way you multitask in amiga workbench is when you want to launch multiple programs at once you simply drag down the screen of that program to reveal the workbench desktop and after that, you can go ahead and launch the application, this is something that windows 3.1/3.11 doesn't have. when windows 3.1 came along commodore the parent company of amiga is starting to fall. no longer does the computer market share on the US is dominated by commodore instead the market share can be safely dominated by Microsoft.
Microsoft has been trying to dominate the computer business for decades starting from the 1970s to the late '80s. things were looking good with Microsoft by 1995 they released their newest version of their OS that would solve the multi-tasking problem. Windows 95 introduced the taskbar. the feature that would make it easier for everyone to multitask. this kind of feature isn't new though because the amiga workbench is the first PC operating system to gain this feature. not only amiga workbench has influenced the way Operating System multitask but amiga workbench OS also gives Microsoft and apple an idea to implement a multimedia feature for their OS.
if a computer OS wanted to become attractive outside of computer enthusiast then multimedia capability need to be implemented into the OS. amiga workbench has already had this feature from the go, while Microsoft finally gaining this feature in 1992. the ability to render 2D and 3D graphics, animate in both 2D and 3D, edit a video, edit a picture, view a picture, and view a video is an Operating system luxury.
windows 3.11 has the multimedia capability but it's highly limited due to the fact that computer hardware at that time isn't powerful enough to render those fancy 3-dimensional graphics it even animation, to begin with. when windows 95 came along pc hardware is now ready for multimedia. the launch of windows 95 is extremely exciting, so many people went out and bought Windows 95 PCs. but the truth is... almost the entire multimedia software made for windows is just a port from the amiga workbench.
titles such as Cinema 4D, Lightwave 3D, the video toaster (video editing software), and many others are just a software port. if you search it up on the net you will soon discover that almost every single multimedia software for windows 95 starts its life on the amiga workbench operating system. these kinds of stuff one of the many reasons why Windows 95 is popular. bill gates later on adding a new package for windows 95 called windows 95 plus. now windows 95 plus is basically a multimedia package similar to windows 3.11. although it includes a complete multimedia feature, it also includes a web browser. this things make it clear for every competitor out there to realize that Microsofts a monopoly.