25 Years Ago the most significant Windows operating system was launched

[mercalia]

On August 24, 1995, Microsoft held what's likely to go down in history as its biggest Windows launch in history with Windows 95.

A moments silence pls


https://www.zdnet.com/article/twenty-five-years-ago-today-microsoft-launched-windows-95/?

[Pebble]

Steadily went downhill ever since

[Paulatic]

I might still have a bootleg copy of that on floppy discs somewhere in a box.
Seem to remember you had to format the disc to 1.78 rather than 1.44 to make it work.

Bring bad "bad command or file name" that’ll sort the younguns out

[[XAP]Bob]

Steadily went downhill ever since

Let’s be fair, Win2k was the pinnacle.

Then again I haven’t actually used windows since then, I remember XP being rather a disappointment and haven’t used it since.

Only one job has made an exception to that in (insert large number here) years... and even then my primary machine was Linux, I just had to use windows for certain systems.

[Cyril Haearn]

Using a computer is like being in a submarine

The problems start when one opens the windows

[mumbojumbo]

When | went round dockyard on Navy Days a sailor told me that first submarines were fitted with blinds so matelots could read at night without detection,and that the only people permitted to clean them were scuda divers.He was joking because my dad used to clean them in dry-dock on overtime.

[francovendee]

Windows gets a lot of stick but since I started using a PC it's always been windows and I can't say I've had many problems. Ones that I've had were sorted. My wife loves her Macbook but has had an equal share of irritations with the operating system.

[pete75]

Steadily went downhill ever since

Let’s be fair, Win2k was the pinnacle.

Then again I haven’t actually used windows since then, I remember XP being rather a disappointment and haven’t used it since.

Only one job has made an exception to that in (insert large number here) years... and even then my primary machine was Linux, I just had to use windows for certain systems.

I've used Linux a lot at work. It's ok but not as robust as the other operating systems I've used , Solaris and VME. Windows is best for desktop users though with mouse, graphics, menus etc as opposed to command line interface on Linux/Unix type stuff. Unforgiving for people who don't know what they're doing - type in rm -rf / as root and it goes away and does it.

[Pastychomper]

I've used Linux a lot at work. It's ok but not as robust as the other operating systems I've used , Solaris and VME. Windows is best for desktop users though with mouse, graphics, menus etc as opposed to command line interface on Linux/Unix type stuff. Unforgiving for people who don't know what they're doing - type in rm -rf / as root and it goes away and does it.

Agreed on the unforgiving nature, but how many desktop Linux distributions require the user to use the CLI these days? Even Slackware boots to a GUI by default, and that's considered one of the harder ones because it still uses the CLI for maintenance tasks.

[[XAP]Bob]

Depends what you install, but installing linux is certainly faster than windows, and getting software and updates is easier as well (assuming it's in the relevant repository).

Windows still just about has the edge for gaming, but the only things really keeping people on it are:

- Familiarity
- Excel (and I say excel rather than office, because actually excel is the only one that is genuinely hard to replace)

The fact that the aggressive licensing policies over the years have made it nigh on impossible to just buy a computer - you are always buying windows, whether you intend to use it or not.

Be interested to know how many people use different OSs nowadays:
- iOS (Distantly related to BSD) takes a big slice of the "online" presence figures
- Android (linux base) takes another huge slice
- ChromeOS (linux base) is a smaller
- Windows users do still exist of course
- MacOS (derived from BSD) users also still exist
- I imagine that BSD/Solaris/various other posix OSs, and non-posix OSs make up a tiny fraction

[Pastychomper]

MS are still doing the old Embrace, Extend, Extinguish to keep Windows relevant for gaming, as I found out this week to my miffage.

FWIW I use 100% Windows 7 at work and 100% Linux at home (in the form of a Slackware box and an Android 'phone). Tried playing with OpenBSD once, but I made a silly mistake and bricked the old laptop I was using.

[pete75]

I've used Linux a lot at work. It's ok but not as robust as the other operating systems I've used , Solaris and VME. Windows is best for desktop users though with mouse, graphics, menus etc as opposed to command line interface on Linux/Unix type stuff. Unforgiving for people who don't know what they're doing - type in rm -rf / as root and it goes away and does it.

Agreed on the unforgiving nature, but how many desktop Linux distributions require the user to use the CLI these days? Even Slackware boots to a GUI by default, and that's considered one of the harder ones because it still uses the CLI for maintenance tasks.

Have only used Red Hat Linux and that was all command line - nothing wrong with that and I prefer it for system admin etc and it's easy enough to write shell scripts to automate tasks, do system admin, run processes etc. Used mainly for running Oracle databases which it didn't do quite as well as Solaris. Also used it on one box for running a suite of Cobol programs previously running on a an ICL VME machine. They did what they did very well and were also easy to maintain so no point in rewriting them in some other language. Quite pleased about that - had written the whole lot in 1988 and they're still running 32 years later.

[kwackers]

Windows still just about has the edge for gaming, but the only things really keeping people on it are:

- Familiarity
- Excel (and I say excel rather than office, because actually excel is the only one that is genuinely hard to replace)

And all the other software that simply won't run on anything else (or does but is a poor version).

IMO Windows has a nice smooth but bloated feel to it.
Linux is like a homemade sports car, lively, a bit rough round the edges and you have to stop and pick the flies out of your teeth occasionally.

Ultimately though the question is really about will the software you require run on it.

[Manc33]

Microsoft are thieves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft ... on#Private

[kwackers]

Microsoft are thieves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft ... on#Private

Where there a hit there's a writ.