The
advent of Windows 95 meant a boom for the desktop PCs. Then, with an
easier and more immersive graphical user interface, Bill Gates aimed to
make PC a household device and change the world. It wasn’t the first version of Windows and people had seen many other iterations before. But, Windows 95 had an extraordinary impact on people and Windows 95 still has a cult fan following.
Windows 95 introduced the Start Menu- a feature absent in Windows 10-
that became the chief reason for the failure of Windows 8. Today, we
all know that the Start Button is the heart and soul of a Windows OS
that navigates you through programs and various commands. All the
subsequent versions of Windows carried this button, except Windows 8.
On its website, Microsoft writes about Windows 95:
This
is the era of fax/modems, email, the new online world, and dazzling
multimedia games and educational software. Windows 95 has built-in
Internet support, dial-up networking, and new Plug and Play capabilities
that make it easy to install hardware and software. The 32-bit
operating system also offers enhanced multimedia capabilities, more
powerful features for mobile computing, and integrated networking.
Talking about the other fancy promotions, the Empire State Building
and Toronto’s CN Tower were lit up in Microsoft colors. If you think
this was enough, let me remind you of the rumored $8 million paid to the
Rolling Stones for allowing “Start Me Up” to be used as the soundtrack
to its television ads.
To run Windows 95, you needed a PC with a 386DX or higher processor
(486 recommended) and at least 4 MB of RAM (8 MB of RAM recommended).
Upgrade versions were available for both floppy disk and CD-ROM formats,
with availability in 12 languages.
Along with Windows 95, there came the Internet Explorer, which became the first web browser for many people.
Now the PCs were more affordable, as well as they became a household
device. Thanks to the hard work of Windows engineers and Bill Gates, in
1998, Microsoft became world’s biggest company.