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Industry observers note that at midnight, many computer shops across the US opened their doors to sell the first Windows 95 floppy discs at “Midnight Madness” events. Windows 95 sold like hot cakes right from the start—in the first seven weeks alone, Microsoft sold 7 million copies. Just over 31 years ago, on August 24th, 1995, Microsoft began selling Windows 95 in the US.
According to the latest update, microsoft’s then-CEO Bill Gates had also dug deep into his marketing bag of tricks to ensure that Windows 95 would be a success, supposedly spending a whopping $12 million on the license to use the Rolling Stones song “Start Me Up” in a commercial:.
Industry observers note that in the UK, meanwhile, Microsoft bought out the entire print run of London’s The Times to mark the arrival of Windows 95. Moreover, to present the fresh programs to 2,500 guests, Microsoft flew TV star Jay Leno to the Microsoft campus in Redmond.
In a fresh development, this all made Windows PCs the ideal tech industry machines. Windows 95 also allowed several programs to run concurrently, which is known as preemptive multitasking. The operating system’s strengths included a fresh graphical user interface with its Start menu, taskbar, and buttons for minimizing, maximizing, and closing windows; convenient “Plug & Play” functionality; and impressive tech industry and multimedia interfaces.
The report highlights that also, Windows settings began being stored in the registry instead of being shoved into various INI files. The fresh operating system boosted devices sales and spurred the development of 32-bit apps, and it also made longer file names possible.
Industry observers note that iT experts lamented legacy issues such as DOS, which was still included in Windows 95, as well as numerous security vulnerabilities and a susceptibility to crashes that gradually dampened the enthusiasm of many users. Indeed, the infamous Blue Screen of Death was simply part of the Windows 95 experience. However, Windows 95 didn’t escape criticism.
Industry observers note that to this day, it’s still fondly remembered—perhaps through rose-tinted glasses—as one of the most memorable and iconic Windows ever. None of it, of course, detracted from the commercial success of Windows 95.
As part of the ongoing story, further reading: A visual walk down Windows history.
In a fresh development, this article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.
As part of the ongoing story, he has been writing on almost all IT topics for around 25 years, covering everything from news to reviews and buying guides. Hans-Christian Dirscherl began his IT life with Autoexec.bat and config.sys, Turbo-Pascal and C, Sinix and Wordperfect.