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MINGWM10 LINK LIBRARY

The early development of Bitcoin was marked by a blend of innovation and utilization of existing tools. One such tool was the mingwm10.dll file, a link library used in the initial version of Bitcoin software. This file is a part of MinGW, a minimalist development environment for native Microsoft Windows applications.

MinGW provides a collection of freely available and freely distributable Windows specific header files and import libraries, supplementing the standard GCC libraries and toolchains. The inclusion of the mingwm10.dll file in the Bitcoin v0.01 ALPHA software indicates that the Bitcoin software was built using MinGW and that it was intended to be run on Windows systems.

This file underscores the importance of the Windows platform in the initial distribution and adoption of Bitcoin software. As we continue to explore this version of Bitcoin, we will see how these technical decisions, both big and small, shaped the evolution of Bitcoin.