Windows 95

Windows 95
Version of the Windows 9x operating system
Windows 95 desktop, showing its icons, Start button, taskbar and welcome screen
DeveloperMicrosoft
Source modelClosed source
Released to
manufacturing
July 14, 1995 (1995-07-14)
General
availability
August 24, 1995 (1995-08-24)[1]
Latest releaseOEM Service Release 2.5 (4.0.950 C) / November 26, 1997 (1997-11-26)[2]
PlatformsIA-32
Kernel typeMonolithic
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Preceded byWindows 3.1 (1992)
Succeeded byWindows 98 (1998)
Official websiteWindows 95 (archived at Wayback Machine)
Support status
Mainstream support ended on December 31, 2000 (2000-12-31)[3]
Extended support ended on December 31, 2001 (2001-12-31)[3]

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows products into a single product and featured significant improvements over its predecessor, most notably in the graphical user interface (GUI) and in its simplified "plug-and-play" features. There were also major changes made to the core components of the operating system, such as moving from a mainly cooperatively multitasked 16-bit architecture of its predecessor Windows 3.1 to a 32-bit preemptive multitasking architecture.[a]

Windows 95 introduced numerous functions and features that were featured in later Windows versions, and continue in modern variations to this day, such as the taskbar, the notification area, file shortcuts on the desktop, plug and play driver integration, removal of the requirement to have a separate copy of MS-DOS, the ability to full screen application windows, native internet integration, raising the maximum letters a filename can have from eight to 255, the Windows Explorer, and the "Start" button which summons the Start menu.[1][4] Accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign[1] that generated much prerelease hype,[5] it was a major success[6] and is considered to be one of the biggest and most important products in the personal computing industry.[7][8] Three years after its introduction, Windows 95 was followed by Windows 98. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 95 on December 31, 2000. Like Windows NT 3.51, which was released shortly before, Windows 95 received only one year of extended support, ending on December 31, 2001, the same day as classic versions such as Windows 3.x.

  1. ^ a b c Segal, David (August 24, 1995). "With Windows 95's Debut, Microsoft Scales Heights of Hype". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  2. ^ Thurrott, Paul (October 19, 1997). "Microsoft to release Windows 95 OSR 2.5". Windows IT Pro. Penton. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Microsoft Support Lifecycle". Microsoft. Archived from the original on November 22, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  4. ^ Long, Tony (August 24, 2011). "Aug. 24, 1995: Say Hello to Windows 95". Wired.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  5. ^ Lewis, Peter H. (April 30, 1998). "Windows 98, the Tuneup". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Dookeran, Jason (November 3, 2024). "Windows 95 Turned 29 This Year: What One Of The Best Operating Systems Taught Us". How-To Geek. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  7. ^ Hickey, Matt. "Windows 95 Was The Most Important Operating System Of All Time". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 20, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  8. ^ admin-ectnews (August 31, 2020). "25-Year Anniversary: How Windows 95 Forever Changed Personal Computing". TechNewsWorld. Archived from the original on May 20, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2023.


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