Microsoft “Test” Software 1993 Promotional for Windows
Posted by DrRockBoognish@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 34 comments
I came across this box at a garage sale. I haven’t found a copy similar to this on-line. It’s in incredibly good shape with unopened packaging for the discs. The person I purchased it from was a relative of a computer engineer. He had multiple book cases of vintage software. Was this for in-house production, or was it for market consumption? The tag shows “Promo and Team:N3.
PorcupineShoelace@reddit
Yep, we used it. Not just at MS but in the test labs at several companies. My career was Software Testing. I was on the Redmond campus 20yrs ago.
It was mostly record/playback/logging.
MS Test > Visual Test. Also Mercury Winrunner > Quick Test Pro (QTP)...IBMs Rational Robot...Segue SilkTest, etc.
Those were the days when armies of testers were thought to be replaceable by automation. Just like AI is doing.
Ultimately it was an expensive boondoggle that required armies of test code developers AND test framework TESTERS! sigh. Humans will work twice as hard to work 25% less hard.
Ornery-Practice9772@reddit
what did this programme do?
voxadam@reddit
Test, obviously.
^/s
MechanicalTurkish@reddit
They use it to run Aperture Science testing facilities.
Ornery-Practice9772@reddit
test what?
voxadam@reddit
KingLim1@reddit
Wow! Talk about a trip down memory lane…
I used this at my new job for my first customer engagement in 1995. My boss gave me the manual on Friday and told me to meet the customer on Monday! I was already conversant with VB, so it was just understanding how the extensions work.
It uses a variant of Visual Basic for scripts, with pretty cool extensions. It can tell you which UI element the mouse or current focus is over and allow the test script to ”click” a button or input text data.
The project I worked on needed to migrate data (CSV file) into a Windows app which has no import capability. Wrote a simple script to read each line in the CSV file and simulate a user performing data entry into the app.
Thanks for the nostalgia!
SamirD@reddit
Sounds like it could still be usable today for data migration. :)
KingLim1@reddit
Haha, yes. I think most of its features are now baked into the Visual Studio.
SamirD@reddit
Nice.
Ornery-Practice9772@reddit
interesting
dualboot@reddit
It looks like it was likely sold to an employee in the employee store on campus at Microsoft.
It looks like they cut the employee number tag from the front of the box.
CaptainJeff@reddit
Ah! This was a commercial product, that later became Visual Test.
It's a software development testing automation tool, that Microsoft developed and then sold to Rational to become part of their development tooling suite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Test
jerynowa@reddit
test once repeat as necessary good advice even today
Suturb-Seyekcub@reddit
I have never heard of this software. Wow!
couchmaster518@reddit
It was a great resource for automation, not just for testing.
Nate_bs@reddit
https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-test/20 It was probably not meant for home use.
flama12333@reddit
the 3.5 inch disk are not dumped. only the 5.25 inch
InsaneGuyReggie@reddit
WinImage will fix that.
flama12333@reddit
Unless the disk content is the same. One question: Are you new to preservation?
tpimh@reddit
Yes, the files are probably the same, so the installations from 5.25" and 3.5" would be identical. Still the images would be different, and it's best to preserve both.
NotAMotivRep@reddit
So you want identical content that resolves to two different hashes. Got it.
flama12333@reddit
do you known about preservation such dumping eeprom, disk etc?.
and difference if is the same or not by checking checksum?
anothercatherder@reddit
Every home computer user should be obligated to write test suites for their software they're developing. It should be a requirement to own a computer at home, in fact.
flama12333@reddit
except the 3.5 disk version
Lurking_all_the_time@reddit
OMG - there is a trip down memory lane...
I used that software (or another version of it) when contracting in Microsoft in the late 1990s.
Testing one of the early versions of IE and internet mail.
wvenable@reddit
Someone please ship this back to Redmond, they need it.
EuphoricPenguin22@reddit
Funny that we sort of expect test frameworks to be gratis/libre software for every platform nowadays. I suppose it makes sense they would've been fairly novel big box software at some point.
LocalH@reddit
Assemblers, compilers, and linkers were once big buck items. Microsoft's MACRO-80 assembler originally sold for $300
NefariousnessOne2728@reddit
I had forgotten all about that.
ctfTijG@reddit
Put it on Archive.org!
jakobair@reddit
I'm here for an update.
astroaxolotl720@reddit
lol this box and the shrink wrap gave me that new software and software computer store vibes at the same time time lol
rhythmmchn@reddit
1993 is the last time they used it.