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Happy 15th, Windows 95!
Yes, 15 years ago I was in my university dorm ogling a friend's just-purchased copy of the 95 Upgrade, wondering how awesome my DX2/66 would be once I had replaced my factory-original Windows 3.11. Similarly fond-but-geeky memories of playing Doom deathmatches over our null modem cable also come rushing back...
It's actually pretty impressive (or depressing, perhaps?) that the Windows interface introduced in 95 remained pretty much the same all the way up until the release of Vista. Windows 95 also marked a big leap forward for PCs as a gaming platform, heralded the introduction of USB support, and also spawned a generation of BSOD-related headaches.
Ahh, memories! Share your Windows 95-related ones in the comments!
[Seb's note: I just checked the Doom Wiki page, and this is what it says: "In late 1995, Doom was estimated to be installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft's new operating system Windows 95, despite million-dollar advertising" campaigns for the latter."]
[via TechRadar]
Comments
14
Subscribe to commentsRohan RoyAug 24th 2010 12:12PM
Ahhh, Windows 95... I remember buying my 2nd computer with Windows 3.11 pre-installed, but anxiously waiting as the upgrade came in the mail. I was looking forward to all the new games. Windows 3.11 was miserable since I knew what Windows 95 was like and it was like buying a new computer with way old software (even though it wasn't that old... It just seemed like it.)
David LevineAug 24th 2010 12:27PM
I remember when my sister upgraded her Packard Bell PC from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95. For a period of time, I preferred Windows 3.11, but I eventually warmed up to Windows 95.
KingDeb8rAug 24th 2010 12:42PM
My fond memory was trying to get it installed on my 2nd hand PC with 4Mb ram and a 486 50Mhz processor with 50Mb hard drive!
Did not go well ended up getting a new machine on credit just for Windows 95, USB and CD ROM! Sad!
KingDeb8rAug 24th 2010 12:43PM
How far things have come!
I'm now on Windows 7 with a Quad core Intel Core i7 with HT and 8GB ram and 2Tb disk space! LOL
PanhandlerAug 24th 2010 12:58PM
"Welcome to Egghead! How can I help you?"
Win95 will always remind me of those 6 months working retail.
kaslingsAug 24th 2010 1:54PM
hey, wait a minute, I didn't think the first version of windows 95 supported USB, it wasn't until service pack 2 came out that USB was supported:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253756/EN-US/
Lee MathewsAug 24th 2010 1:55PM
...which is still Windows 95, right?
But yes, it was part of SR2
SunyiNyufiAug 24th 2010 2:25PM
Good old Win 95. I still see it when I go to my grandma's place, because we bought her some cheap PC, so she can play Solitaire, Free Cell and such on it, and so we can show her photos without having to print them out. And everytime something "goes wrong" I have to fix it of course. Though Win 95 is so stable, it rarely has any problems, it's user error most of the time :D
jeff.siegelAug 24th 2010 4:08PM
The best Windows OS. Ever. I learned my second most important lesson about computers when I bought a new machine because it had Windows 98, and I had not yet learned not to trust Microsoft.
EatmoldAug 24th 2010 2:48PM
Good old Windows 95....
Last year I went on a support call for a printer not working, I couldn't beleive my eyes when I saw the offending article connected to a Windows 95 PC! Out in the wild, in a commercial environment.
Eliot RochaAug 24th 2010 4:08PM
Well, before i can get Win95 for my 486dx2, i was working in 3.1 with this:
http://www.calmira.de/screenshots/pcfreak1.htm
Calmira is a Shell, nice shell, for the ones can't get Win95/98 work on Old PC....
Ah, the old times.. LOL
ChrisSskAug 24th 2010 4:25PM
Windows 95 was my first Microsoft operating system on my 2nd computer. Before that I had a Macintosh LC with System 6
I remember I bought a new Apricot pentium PC, it had 100Mhz CPU, 8MB of RAM and 800MB hard drive and came with Windows 95
MarkyB86Aug 24th 2010 6:46PM
I always thought this was the best MS had to offer. I used it till 2004 then linux.
EddieAug 24th 2010 7:07PM
- So how do i boot to dos...?
= not sure, you can shutdown to dos...
- i dont want to do that, i just want to run doom.exe, i've got a new wad pack, its even got some simpsons addons!!