26 years have passed since Windows 95 was released. The operating system that meant the break with the past would come to bring new functions to a home computing that was almost in its infancy. Before Windows 95, it’s not like there was nothing, but everything took a lot more work and wasn’t that friendly. What computing was, something worth studying in educational centers or in the business world, becomes universal, easily accessible and available to everyone. Windows 95 came to democratize computing. And after these 26 years, Windows 11 is emerging as the new evolution that will move your computer. On October 5 you can update your equipment with it.
The arrival of Windows 95
The night before it was put on sale, an unusual expectation was generated in many cities in the United States, as well as in other European capitals. You can sense what was about to happen, that users could finally have access to a large number of functions without having to know programming languages. The success that Microsoft had already had with Windows 3.1 and with the version for groups, 3.11, made it very foreseeable that the move would be repeated. So it was, although with a much greater effect. Computers began to enter homes en masse. Was it the beginning of the digital revolution that we are still in? Probably yes.
A TV ad tuned to Start me up , by The Rolling Stones , served as a showcase to show what Microsoft’s new invention of the operating system was. Its window system and that it abandoned the 16-bit architecture and did not return to it, the 32-bit one served as a starting point to make Plug and Play possible. Yes, Windows 95 made it possible to connect thousands of peripherals and thus make it easier for users to use them comfortably and without complex installations. With Windows 95 the foundations were laid for a well-known standard, the USB connection.
Microsoft began to dominate the world of computing at that time, and other operating systems were practically residual. Although Linux emerged in 1994 and MacOS was already a reality, Bill Gates knew how to give the public what they needed. For example, a very friendly interface or hobbies to rest between one task and another. Who has not played a game of Minesweeper ? The famous Recycle Bin was present and prevented users from having the continuous fear of having lost a file forever, it could always be removed from there. The foundations were also laid for what would come a very short time later, the possibility of connecting to the Internet and having remote access to other computers. Does a much older movie like War Games sound to you ?
But in addition, Windows 95 put on the tray a series of programs that still continue to work and that allowed us to work in a different way. Microsoft will launch the Office suite, essential in the development of any task in the academic and business environment. It is still the best-selling and most copied office suite in the world. The play for Microsoft was round.
Windows 95 and its window system provided a very user-friendly interface, which removed all the complications of the old MS-DOS at a stroke. If we wanted to summarize why Windows 95 was so successful, in addition to its predominant nature, it was none other than making the complex easy. In addition, it was a creation with its own entity. Then would come Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows 8, with the same essence from which Windows 95 started. There is no doubt that thanks to Windows, millions of people had the possibility of starting to function in a different way.
