Key takeaways
- Windows 95 introduced many features still used today, like the Start menu and plug-and-play compatibility.
- The operating system had a unique charm and character that later versions of Windows seemed to lose.
- Even though modern Windows offers many more features, nostalgia and memories of Windows 95 still hold a special place in our hearts.
Have you seen anyone port thousands of Windows 98 applications to Windows 95 by implementing .NET in Windows 95? If not, you might be tempted to think, “Why put so much effort into an old operating system?” The author of this exploit said that he did it because Windows 95 was very dear to him and strongly influenced his decision to go into computing. And for that, I can understand why he did what he did.
However, it also got me thinking about Windows 95 and the influence it had on my own path. And then it got me thinking about the influence of Windows 95 not only on my life, but on Microsoft’s future designs as a whole. So here are a few reasons why, almost 30 years later, Windows 95 still means a lot to me.
Many Windows firsts arrived with Windows 95
Modern Windows owes a lot to its predecessor
When you look at everything Windows 95 introduced to the ecosystem, you realize just how much the operating system has given us in modern Windows. Have you used the Start menu recently? You have Windows 95 to thank for that. What about desktop and trash icons? Yeah; these also appeared in 1995. And while previous editions of Windows had a file manager, Windows 95 was the one that gave us File Explorer.
All these features we still use today. Of course, they are very different now; take the Windows 95 Start menu and compare it to Windows 11, for example. But many features that seem to have “always been” on Windows debuted on Windows 95. Would Windows be as popular as it is today without the innovations that 95 brought? It’s impossible to say, but it certainly wouldn’t be the same operating system we have today.
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Windows 95 introduced plug-and-play
Finally, no more juggling CDs
Source: Anker
Do you know what else Windows 95 did? The introduction of plug-and-play. These days it’s very easy to assume that computers always understood exactly what you were plugging in the moment you added a new device, but in the past things were very different. Old-school veterans will remember the drivers on the disks that came with your hardware, which contained all the drivers needed to make the device work. If you didn’t have the disk, you wouldn’t be able to install the drivers and your device simply wouldn’t work.
If plug-and-play had never become a thing, I can’t imagine how many times I would have to manually install a driver just to get a USB device to work. Luckily, I don’t have to do that; If I want to plug in a new webcam, microphone, or something else via USB, I can just do that and let the computer do all the heavy lifting. And if you weren’t there during the darkest times, believe me; it’s better to have standby driver disk libraries.
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Windows 95 had a lot of character
Something that later editions of Windows seemed to lose
So maybe it’s nostalgia talking, but I really liked the look and feel of Windows 95. It had a very charming and fun feel, from the little system sounds to the way you would explain the whole existence of Clippy. Later versions of Windows would eventually phase out this cool style and replace it with a more modern look; Windows Vista introduced a sleek, glass-like Aero theme, and from there, our operating systems felt more professional.
But let’s be honest; Could a Windows login chime rival the iconic Windows 95 jingle? Or does any of the current error sounds have even an iota of character compared to its older brother? I really don’t think so, and it’s a side of Microsoft that I still miss, even though Windows has grown up from its youth and behaves more like an adult.
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Windows may look different today, but it will still pay homage to Windows 95
Do I miss Windows 95? Of course. Do I want to go back to using it as my daily machine? Probably not. After all, even though we’ve left Windows 95 behind us, the kinds of things modern Windows could do today would have blown away someone from the ’90s. But there are still the nostalgia glasses and font memories that keep me bring back to the operating system, a kind of charm that Windows 10 or 11 don’t really have. And as someone who spent a lot of time porting thousands of applications to Windows 95 just because they could, I like to think I’m not the only one who feels this way.
