Windows 95
| A version of the Windows 9x operating system | |
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Windows 95 desktop, showing its icons and taskbar
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| Developer | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Source model | Closed source |
| Released to manufacturing |
August 15, 1995 |
| General availability |
August 24, 1995 |
| Latest release | OEM Service Release 2.5 (4.0.950 C) / November 26, 1997 |
| Platforms | IA-32 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic |
| License | Proprietary commercial software |
| Preceded by | Windows 3.1x (1993) |
| Succeeded by | Windows 98 (1998) |
| Official website | www |
| Support status | |
| Mainstream support ended on December 31, 2000 Extended support ended on December 31, 2001 |
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Windows 95 (codenamed Chicago) is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released on August 24, 1995, and was a significant improvement over the company's previous DOS-based Windows products.
Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows products. It featured significant improvements over its predecessor, Windows 3.1, 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 co-operatively multitasked 16-bit architecture to a preemptively multitasked 32-bit architecture.
Accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign, Windows 95 introduced numerous functions and features that were featured in later Windows versions, such as the taskbar, the "Start" button and the way the user navigates. It was also suggested that Windows 95 had an effect of driving other major players (including OS/2) out of business, something which would later be used in court against Microsoft.
Three years after its introduction, Windows 95 was succeeded by Windows 98. Microsoft ended support for Windows 95 on December 31, 2001.
The initial design and planning of Windows 95 can be traced back to around March 1992, just after the release of Windows 3.1. At this time, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Windows NT 3.1 were still in development and Microsoft's plan for the future was focused on Cairo. Cairo would be Microsoft's next-generation operating system based on Windows NT and featuring a new user interface and an object-based file system, but it was not planned to be shipped before 1994. However, Cairo would partially ship in July 1996 in the form of Windows NT 4.0, but without the object-based file system, which would later evolve into WinFS.
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