Microsoft releases the Windows 95 operating system - August 24th, 1995

Published Aug 24, 2023, 9:00 AM

On this day in 1995, Microsoft launched its revolutionary Windows 95 operating system.

This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a show that believes there's no time like the present to learn about the past. I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, we're looking at a milestone in the history of personal computing. The day when a tech company launched a new piece of software and forever change the way we work and play on our computers. The day was August twenty fourth, nineteen ninety five, Microsoft launched its revolutionary Windows ninety five operating system. The long delayed, much anticipated release was marked by midnight launches at electronics stores worldwide. It was a costly piece of computer software, with each box of installation discs priced at two hundred and ten dollars or just over four hundred dollars in today's money, but the high cost of entry was no deterrent to sales. Microsoft sold seven million copies of Windows ninety five in the first five weeks alone, and went on to sell forty million units by the end of its first year. The products, swift and sweeping, embraced by the public, secured its place as the most popular operating system in the world. In the early nineteen nineties, Microsoft was at the top of the heap in the still growing market of computer software. It had nearly eighteen thousand employees and boasted roughly six billion dollars in sales. In nineteen ninety Its Windows three point zero operating system had introduced the world to a new graphical user interface, one where applications were presented as clickable icons instead of as a list of file names. Then, in nineteen ninety two, the company released Windows three point one, which added new personalization options as well as multi media staples such as screensavers. It would take three years for Microsoft to release the successor to Windows three point one, but the company pulled out all the stops to make sure the weight was worth it. Executives even went so far as to commission music legend Brian Eno to create a short piece of music to play when the operating system started up. The result was a six second track known as the Windows Sound. Take a listen. Brian Eno took the assignment very seriously, producing eighty four pieces in total. Ironically, though, he composed all of them on a Mac, later admitting quote, I've never used a PC in my life. I don't like them. Borrowing features from its competitors, including Macintosh, Windows ninety five was designed to make computers more accessible to the everyday user. One of its most notable additions in that regard was the now famous Start menu, which was accessed through an ever present button in the bottom left corner of the screen. Clicking it would bring up a handy list of all the various programs installed, and should you wish to run more than one of them simultaneously, there were new multitasking features to make that easier than ever. These included the now familiar minimize and maximize window buttons, as well as a taskbar at the bottom of the screen so that users could quickly switch between running programs. And since it was a thirty two bit operating system, Windows ninety five was also faster, smoother, and more responsive than its sixteen bit predecessors. The increased memory capacity also allowed it to support long file names up to two hundred and fifty characters, and while that may not sound like a flashy feature today, it was a massive upgrade from the eight point three character limitation of Windows three point one. The operating system also came bundled with the Microsoft Network or MSN as well as the Internet Explorer web browser, two applications which served as many people's introduction to email and the Internet. Another major selling point of Windows ninety five was the inclusion of plug and play functionality. This allowed the computer to automatically detect and install hardware such as a keyboard, mouse, or monitor, instead of the user having to locate and install the right driver for each device from a disc. Features like that greatly streamlined the set up process for personal computers, making them more user friendly than ever before. As a result, Windows ninety five became the runaway leader of the OS marketplace, overtaking rivals like IBM and Apple, although the latter would return with a vengeance when it released OS X a few years later. For the time being, though, all eyes were on Microsoft, and the company's latest offering was one of the most hotly anticipated products of the year. Windows ninety five went on sale at midnight on August twenty fourth, and tech geeks all over the world braved long lines at their local stores to be among the first to try it out. New Zealand was the first country to reach the worldwide release date, and nineteen year old Jonathan Prentiss of Auckland is believed to have been the first person on Earth to purchase the new software package. Of course, the launch day celebration extended well after the midnight release. Later that day, Microsoft chairman and co founder Bill Gates gave a presentation at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. He was introduced in typically corny fashion by the then host of The Tonight Show, Jay Leno, and was then joined on stage for a demonstration by the entire Windows ninety five development team. The event, which included a campus carnival, was attended by five hundred journalists, two thousand industry guests, and nine thousand Microsoft employees, roughly half of the company's sizeable workforce. The New York Times referred to Windows ninety five's launch day hype as quote the splashiest, most frenzied, most expensive introduction of a computer product in the industry's history, and that was no exaggeration either. Microsoft had spent three hundred million dollars on the marketing campaign, which included such stunts as lighting up the Empire State Building in the Windows color scheme red, green, blue, and yellow. The company also touted the OS's new start button by airing round the clock TV commercials featuring the Rolling Stones start me Up, which was not cheap to license. Windows most infamous promotional tool, however, was a baffling hour long instructional video that included a so called cyber sitcom starring Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry from the hit show Friends. Copies of that VHS tape are a little hard to come by today and command a disturbingly high price in good condition, But thankfully the whole thing has been preserved online in all its awkward, dated glory. Here's the taste. So this is where the magic happens. Hunt the ground zero personal computing, the nerve center of the world's biggest software company. I mean, the atmosphere resonates with anticipation of mythical achievement. Mythical achievement right now would be an unshewed number two pencil. Honey lash soon. But if you want the job, spend some time. Look at a Windows ninety five. What do you know about the system? Well, I dabble with the old Windows a little bit, can you? Oh, I'm still a mastering palm sweety. Why don't you sit in a Bill's terminal Bill Gates Computer, Microsoft officially ended its support for Windows ninety five in late two thousand and one. By that point, the company had already released a number of additional Windows iterations, with plenty more still to come, but due to the changing nature of the industry and the rise of Apple, none of those operating systems were introduced with nearly as much pomp and circumstanced as Windows ninety five, the os that made computing mainstream. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's show, consider keeping up with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find us at TDI HC Show. You can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can get in touch directly by writing to This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day in History Class