Windows 95 Usability Testing Builds

The Windows 95 Usability Testing Builds (codenamed Microsoft Chicago) are a series of unreleased builds that are shown in a video demonstrating the usability testing process of Windows 95 from early 1993 (most likely January), which makes them the earliest confirmed builds of Windows 95.

The video was released in 2012 on MSDN Blogs as part of a post on Windows UI evolution and Windows 8 user experience. Despite the very low quality of the video and similarity to the much newer build 58s, some visual differences can be observed. It is generally believed that both of these builds are earlier than build 34.

'''PLEASE NOTE: The information below is based on observations from the video and speculation by the author of the article. Therefore, it should be treated as such, rather than fact.'''

First build
The first half of the video showcases the first of the unknown builds, running what appears to be some kind of interactive tutorial (some have noticed it greatly resembles the old Windows 3.1 Tour) about using the new shell as well as the graphical user interface in general. The most obvious difference spotted here are the Start button icons, which look rather different than in build 58s. Instead of the Windows logo, there is a computer icon, while help icon is a simple question mark at this point. The search icon is very distorted, so it's hard to tell if it's different than the one in later builds or not.

Another difference is the Recycle bin name - apparently, it was called "Wastebasket" in this build. The same name is also used in some concepts or mockups of Chicago usability testing. The status bar in the Explorer (called File cabinet in pre-beta) window also says "2 Files in Folder", whereas in build 58s it says "2 Objects in Folder" for example. The menu bar at the top of the window is also slightly wider than in build 58s and the second unknown build later in the video. There appears to be no icon in the Explorer window title bar unlike in later builds, though full directory path is displayed. However, this feature can also be enabled in build 58s and later. The volume label for the C: system partition is not displayed and instead of the drive icon that was introduced later, it has the same folder icon as normal folders. The system partition is also the root of the folder tree in both builds - this was later changed so that File cabinet was the root (basically looking like an early version of "My Computer").

There is a strange, bright-grey line at the very bottom of the screen that could be part of the taskbar, but neither the second build or 58s have it. Both words in the name "File Cabinet" appear to be capitalized, which is also not the case with other builds. Desktop icon text has no background color unlike in the other build, but it's impossible to tell if this feature is present yet disabled. Last visible difference is lack of ">>" after "File Cabinet" name on the desktop. This can mean two things: either File cabinet on the desktop is not a link, or links did not have ">>" added to their names in this build yet. The Programs folder also lacks this, which is the same as in build 58s but not the other build in the video.

File cabinet icon color (either gold from Windows 3.1x or grey from later Chicago builds) cannot be determined as it is selected and thus highlighted throughout the entire first half of the video. Because footage of the person conducting these tests is covering the lower right corner of the screen, it is impossible to tell if the system time is displayed in the taskbar like in later builds.

An interesting observation is that the tutorial instructs you to close applications via the "File" menu and not the close button sitting just above it.

Second build
The second build appears closer in appearance to build 58s, with some minor exceptions. The title bar now only contains the folder name, like build 58s and not the full path as in the first build. Again, this feature can be enabled in build 58s. The close button on the left is also apparently different from the standard Windows 3.1x one used in all builds up to 81. It almost seems as if there is, in fact, a folder icon in place of the standard horizontal line on the close button (see the Conclusion section below for more information about this). The status bar still says "Files" instead of "Objects", but the menubar at the top is now the same width as in build 58s.

Wastebasket has been renamed to Recycle bin and the word "cabinet" in "File cabinet" is no longer capitalized. The file cabinet is now only a link (as determined by the ">>" following the name), like in build 58s. Desktop icon text now has a grey background color. There is an additional folder link seen on the desktop, called "Personal>>". According to  (dated 1993-05-20) from build 58s, this folder is created by the shell by default. After opening a folder in a new window, the new window doesn't display the menu bar nor the status bar, which is not the case in build 58s.

Aside from the above and the Start menu icons, this build appears rather similar to build 58s.

Conclusion
A summary of the above reveals that the second build appears closer in appearance to build 58s than the first one. The only minor inconsistency is the apparent change of the close button to the application icon in the second build and then back to original in build 58s. However,  document mentioned above also discusses the evolution of the close button and even shows screenshots/concepts, in which the close button features the application icon as seen in the video.

It's also worth noting that Recycle bin apparently also changed names several times during development. It's called Wastebasket in the concepts and first usability testing build, then it's renamed to Recycle.bin in the second build, then once again to Wastebasket during Beta 1 stage and finally back to Recycle bin in Beta 2. This remains it's official name in English to this day.