Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft,[2] and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products. During development it was referred to as Windows 4.0 or by the internal codename Windows Chicago.
Windows 95 was intended to integrate Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows products and includes an enhanced version of DOS, often referred to as MS-DOS 7.0. It features significant improvements over its predecessor, Windows 3.1, most visibly in the graphical user interface (GUI). There were also major changes made at lower levels of the operating system.
In the marketplace, Windows 95 was a major success, and within a year or two of its release had become the most successful operating system ever produced. It also had the effect of driving other major players in the DOS-compatible operating system out of business, something which would later be used in court against Microsoft. Some three years after introduction, Windows 95 was succeeded by Windows 98.
User interface
The basic elements of the interface introduced in Windows 95 -- including the taskbar, Start button and menu, and the Windows Explorer file manager -- remain fundamentally unchanged in later versions of Windows, such as Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7, more than a decade later. The word "Start" was dropped from the button in Windows Vista in 2006, with the company preferring to label the button with the Windows logo ("Start" is still present as a tooltip and in the classic GUI mode).
When released for Windows 95, Internet Explorer 4.0 came with an optional shell update known as Windows Desktop Update that changed the user interface significantly. That update gave Windows 95 (and Windows NT 4.0) features that would become the graphical user interface of Windows 98.
Technical improvements
Windows 95 included support for 255-character mixed-case long filenames and preemptively multitasked pseudo-protected-mode 32-bit applications. Whereas earlier versions of Windows are optional "DOS extending shells" requiring an MS-DOS or MS-DOS compatible operating system (usually sold separately). Windows 95 incorporated MS-DOS into a consolidated operating system, which was a significant marketing change. The release of Windows 95 also marked wider acceptance of Plug and Play standards on the IBM PC platform.
Long file names
32-bit File Access is necessary for the long file names feature introduced with Windows 95 through the use of the VFAT file system. It is available to both Windows programs and MS-DOS programs started from Windows (they have to be adapted slightly, since accessing long file names requires using larger pathname buffers and hence different system calls). Competing DOS-compatible operating systems released before Windows 95 cannot see these names. Using older versions of DOS utilities to manipulate files means that the long names are not visible and are lost if files are moved or renamed, as well as by the copy (but not the original), if the file is copied. During a Windows 95 automatic upgrade of an older Windows 3.1 system, DOS and third-party disk utilities which can destroy long file names are identified and made unavailable (Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows indicated that the upgrade program was itself a computer virus). When Windows 95 is started in DOS mode, e.g. for running DOS programs, low-level access to disks is locked out. In case the need arises to depend on disk utilities that do not recognize long file names, such as MS-DOS 6.x's defrag utility, a program called LFNBACK for backup and restoration of long file names is provided on the CD-ROM. The program is in the \ADMIN\APPTOOLS\LFNBACK directory of the Windows 95 CD-ROM.
32-bit
Windows 95 followed Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with its lack of support for older, 16-bit x86 processors, thus requiring an Intel 80386 (or compatible).
The introduction of 32-bit File Access in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 meant that 16-bit real mode MS-DOS is not used for managing the files while Windows is running, and the earlier introduction of the 32-bit Disk Access means that the PC BIOS is not used for managing hard disks. This essentially reduces MS-DOS to the role of a boot loader for the protected-mode Windows kernel. DOS can be used for running old-style drivers for compatibility, but Microsoft discourages using them, as this prevents proper multitasking and impairs system stability. Control Panel allows a user to see what MS-DOS components are used by the system; optimal performance is achieved when they are all bypassed. The Windows kernel uses MS-DOS style real-mode drivers in Safe Mode, which exists to allow a user to fix problems relating to loading native, protected-mode drivers.
Release
Beta
Several Windows 95 betas were released before the final launch.
Build 58 introduced a Start menu prototype. It divided the functions of the Windows 95 Start menu up into three buttons. Future Chicago builds combined these three into the Start button still recognized today.
Build 58 included a new File Manager, Chicago Explorer, which remained relatively unchanged in the initial version of Windows 95 and in Windows NT 4.0. Build 58 still included Program Manager as found in Windows 3.1, although this application was supplemented by the new desktop and taskbar/Start menu designs.
This build also introduced shortcuts (Chicago referred to them as Links) and native right click functionality, which Windows 3.1 lacked. It also introduced long file name support.
Prior to the official release, the American public was given a chance to preview Windows 95 in the Windows 95 Preview Program. For US$19.95, users were sent a set of 3½" floppy diskettes that would install Windows 95 either as an upgrade to Windows 3.1x or as a fresh install on a clean computer. Users who bought into the program were also given a free preview of The Microsoft Network (MSN), the online service that Microsoft launched with Windows 95. The preview versions expired in November 1995, after which the user would have to purchase their own copy of the final version of Windows 95.
Final
Rolling Windows 95 was released with great fanfare, including a commercial featuring the Stones song "Start Me Up" (a reference to the Start button).[3] It was widely reported that Microsoft paid the Rolling Stones between US$8 and US$14 million for the use of the song (from the 1981 album Tattoo You) in the '95 advertising campaign. According to sources at Microsoft, however, this was just a rumor spread by the Stones to increase their market value, and Microsoft actually paid a fraction of that amount.[4] A 30 minute promotional video, labelled a "cyber sitcom", featuring Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry, was also released to showcase the features of Windows 95. Microsoft's US$300 million dollar advertising campaign featured stories of people waiting in line outside stores to get a copy.
In the UK, the largest computer chain PC World received a large number of oversized Windows 95 boxes, posters and point of sale material, and many branches opened at midnight to sell the first copies of the product, although these customers were far fewer in number than publicity had suggested.[citation needed]
In the United States, the Empire State Building in New York City was lit to match the colors of the Windows logo. In Canada, a 300-foot banner was hung from the top of the CN Tower in Toronto. Copies of The Times were available for free in the United Kingdom where Microsoft paid for 1.5 million issues (twice the daily circulation at the time).
The release included a number of "Fun Stuff" items on the CD, including music videos of Edie Brickell's "Good Times, Bad Times"[5] and Weezer's "Buddy Holly".
Internet Explorer
Windows 95 originally shipped without Internet Explorer, and the default network installation did not install TCP/IP, the network protocol used on the Internet. At the release date of Windows 95, Internet Explorer 1.0 was available, but only in the Plus! add-on pack for Windows 95, which was a separate product. The Plus! Pack did not reach as many retail consumers as the operating system itself (it was mainly advertised for its add-ons such as themes and better disk compression) but was usually included in pre-installed (OEM) sales, and at the time of Windows 95 release, the web was being browsed mainly with a variety of early web browsers such as Netscape (promoted by products such as Internet in a Box).
Windows 95 OEM Service Release 1 was the first release of Windows to include Internet Explorer (Codenamed O'Hare) with the OS, including version 2.0. While there was no uninstaller, it could be deleted easily if the user so desired. The included version switched to Internet Explorer 3 when it came out. The installation of Internet Explorer 4 on Windows 95 (or the OSR2.5 version preinstalled on a computer) gave Windows 95 active desktop and browser integration into Windows Explorer, known as the Windows Desktop Update. The CD version of the last release of Windows 95, OEM Service Release 2.5 (Version 4.00.950C), includes Internet Explorer 4, and installs it after Windows 95's initial setup and first boot is complete.
Only the 4.x series of the browser contained the Windows Desktop Update features, so anyone wanting the new shell had to install IE4 with the desktop update before installing a newer version of Internet Explorer. The last version of Internet Explorer supported on Windows 95 is Internet Explorer 5.5 which was released in 2000. Windows 95 shipped with Microsoft's own dial-up online service called The Microsoft Network.