As of today, Windows 95 — the first of the “modern” Microsoft OSes — is a quarter-century old. Happy birthday old friend.
We could, of course, take this opportunity to recount the myriad features of 95 that would become staples of Windowses to come: the huge graphical improvements over 3.1, the start button and task bar, file shortcuts, plug-and-play detection of peripherals. Or we could wax lyrical about how much of my childhood unfolded on a 9 kg CRT monitor displaying the famed “bliss” wallpaper. Despite ending support almost 20 years ago, Windows 95 continues to persist out in the wild (though we don’t advise running it for anything other than maybe a retro gaming PC.)
Scratch all that though. It’s not a birthday party without a song, and Windows 95 happens to have one of the best, composed by the incomparable Brian Eno:
God that feels good to hear again.
Dear reader, may the sound of nostalgia bring you tranquility.