25 years ago: Microsoft changed the game with the launch of Windows 95

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: Last week marked the 25th anniversary of the consumer launch of Microsoft Windows 95, arguably one of the most important and influential operating systems in computing history. It was the first version of Windows that really targeted mainstream consumers, and Microsoft’s marketing efforts made sure to drive that point home.

The company put together a television commercial featuring The Rolling Stone’s “Start Me Up” (referring of course to the Start button) and even produced a 30-minute Windows 95 video guide starring Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry of Friends fame (it was the mid-90s, after all).

Needless to stay, the promos worked.

When it launched on August 24, 1995, it was widely considered to be the computer industry’s biggest ever product launch. It was an event, not all that different from early iPhone product launches, with people lining up hours in advance to get their hands on a copy.

Windows 95 doesn't register on market share charts these days but during its heyday, it was quite popular.

Microsoft reportedly shipped a million copies within the first four days. IDC said that by mid-July 1999, Windows 95 was installed on 57.4 percent of desktops the previous year and was continuing to outsell Windows 98.

Found is a TechSpot feature where we share clever, funny or otherwise interesting stuff from around the web.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/86605-microsoft-changed-game-launch-windows-95.html

 

[TheBigT42]

Hell ya is was popular...No more messing with Dos NIC, Mouse, and CD ROM drivers and praying that there was enough base memory to load Windows 3.11. No more configuring IRQ settings to fix conflicts.

Being a Support Desk / Jr. System Admin at the time....I LOVED Win95

 

[Uncle Al]

There was one very BIG issue with 95 when it joined the internet crowd. It could not differentiate between windows so when AT&T came out with their solution, you had to de-install your old system to install their internet system .... if you weren't very careful you would de-install the old system, then the system would crash because it didn't automatically switch windows back to the install routine. In Cincinnati alone they lost millions of dollars because of that little error. I was fortunate enough to be the one to discover it and offer a solution, which they eagerly accepted and granted me 10 years of free internet service. You can bet they don't do that any longer!!!

 

[ruddevil]

Where was I... Oh yeah playing TTD most of the time. Great memories. Windows 95 was great too, but I kept exiting to DOS to play my games back then.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Lulz I still had an Apple II, not even a PC or Mac.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

One of my friend's mom's had windows 3.1 on a computer.

The first windows I ever personally used was 95.

Seeing the difference was amazing.

 

[bexwhitt]

I was still fully in the Amiga camp then.

 

[MarkHughes]

I was still fully in the Amiga camp then.

Same, Right up until 2004.

 

[0dium]

Hell ya is was popular...No more messing with Dos NIC, Mouse, and CD ROM drivers and praying that there was enough base memory to load Windows 3.11. No more configuring IRQ settings to fix conflicts.

Being a Support Desk / Jr. System Admin at the time....I LOVED Win95

Even w98 sometimes had problems with IRQs

 

[TheBigT42]

Even w98 sometimes had problems with IRQs

Not like DOS where you had to manually set the IRQ with jumpers for all the add-in cards. You also had to know what IRQ each serial / parallel port used.

 

[Bamda]

I was a computer sales person and MS gave all employees at my work a free copy. It was a good day for sure. I loved Win95.

 

[Mugsy]

I still have my original Win95 Upgrade CD in box with manual.

A lot of people didn't know all you had to do for a FULL install of Win95 using the (cheaper) upgrade CD was to simply create an empty directory "c:\WIN".

The release of Internet Explorer 3 altered the GUI into the more familiar Windows interface we know today. A big improvement. Unfortunately, I lost my IE3 CD long ago. It's really needed it you want a usable install of Win95.

 

[lazer]

One of my friend's mom's had windows 3.1 on a computer.

The first windows I ever personally used was 95.

Seeing the difference was amazing.

I used computers when you needed two floppies, one for the OS and one for the program.
Then came 3.11, which was great since you did not need floppies for the OS, but crashed so frequently. Then came 95 which was better, then 98 which was even better.

Unfortunately after that MS flubbed a few, like 2000 and Vista. but win7 was and is the best. Of course we don't mention the mess of win8. Now with win(lose?)10 there is a screw up with each update.

 

[Mugsy]

Unfortunately after that MS flubbed a few, like 2000 and Vista. but win7 was and is the best. Of course we don't mention the mess of win8. Now with win(lose?)10 there is a screw up with each update.

As a general rule, "every other" version of Windows has been great and the other a mess.

Win95: Great.
Win98: Bad
Win98se: Great.
WinME: Bad
WinXP: Great.
WinVista: Bad
Win7: Great
Win8: Bad
Win9: (Would have been great but they skipped over it.)
Win10: Awful.

If I had the power, I'd rebrand a "Windows 7se" as "Windows 9".

 

[SNGX1275]

I used computers when you needed two floppies, one for the OS and one for the program.
Then came 3.11, which was great since you did not need floppies for the OS, but crashed so frequently. Then came 95 which was better, then 98 which was even better.

Unfortunately after that MS flubbed a few, like 2000 and Vista. but win7 was and is the best. Of course we don't mention the mess of win8. Now with win(lose?)10 there is a screw up with each update.

Maybe you mean Windows ME... Windows 2000 was initially a great business OS, super stable. It later (after 3-4 service packs) became a great consumer OS. The worst thing about Windows 2000 is it was really slow to boot.