Start Me Up: Microsoft's Windows 95 Celebrates Its 25th Birthday

Looking back, though, let’s talk about the launch day specifically. The New York Times has the transcript one of their print articles from the day after. In it, Carey Goldberg writes that, “Microsoft let loose last night with the splashiest, most frenzied, most expensive introduction of a computer product in the industry's history.” According to Goldberg, however, there weren’t as many people getting Windows 95 at a midnight launch, so perhaps that is why those do not happen anymore? It would have been cool for a midnight Windows 10 launch. In any case, I digress. Turning back now to the 24th itself, we can look at the launch party Microsoft threw and the dancing to Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones seen below. It really did seem like an exciting time, even to a person who was not there. I, too, would probably be excited enough to dance on stage if my blood, sweat, and tears went into a project like Windows 95.

In the last 25 years, many things have come and gone, Microsoft has continued to be a tech giant, and Windows 95 lives on in some ways. Today, let’s celebrate what Microsoft did when Windows 95 launched and how it moved the world forward in computing. Though I could not be a part of it (and I wish I could have), it was a tremendous time. As such, here’s to you, Windows 95. Happy Birthday.