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An open encyclopedia of software history
Did you know...
- ...that an updated version of Reversi (normally not preinstalled) is included in the Windows 3.1 Driver Library?
- ...that the IA-64 compile of Windows Server 2003 build 2462 includes login banners for a Personal edition of Windows 2000?
- ...that some builds of Windows 98 and Windows 2000 contained a Show Desktop button on the taskbar, which would be scrapped later until Windows 7 build 6568?
- ...that Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition is the only released version of Windows to use the login screen originating from beta 2 builds of Windows 2000?
- ...that Apple has officially released several developer releases of what would later become Mac OS X for the x86 architecture as a part of its NeXT legacy, and secretly continued to maintain the port until Tiger?
- ...that Windows XP build 2257 supports the ability to render the newly animated boot screen used in later builds?
Featured article
Windows 95 (codenamed Chicago) is a consumer version of Microsoft Windows released by Microsoft in 1995. It is the first major release in the Windows 9x operating system line, and was designed to be the successor of Windows 3.1. It is the first consumer-oriented version of Windows to include Windows Explorer, a move which was followed by its NT equivalent Windows NT 4.0 in 1996. It would be replaced by Windows 98, and Microsoft ended support for Windows 95 on 31 December 2001.
Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows products, and featured significant improvements over its predecessor, most notably in the graphical user interface (GUI) and in its simplified "plug-and-play" features. It improved upon 16-bit Windows by introducing a hybrid 16/32-bit kernel and eliminating the need for an existing installation of MS-DOS, making it a standalone operating system (running alongside MS-DOS). Microsoft focused on improving the usability of Windows with technologies such as Plug-and-Play, long file names (VFAT), the Start menu, an updated desktop, Internet Explorer, Mail, built-in networking, and virtual device drivers. Many of the paradigms introduced with Windows 95 remain in use today.