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Gone but not forgotten


modicr

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Hello!

http://www.computerworld.com/action/articl...eNumber=6#win95

The Windows 95 phenomenon was a lot of fuss to make over a steppingstone between 16- and 32-bit computing. The technical aspects of the thing were washed away in a marketing tsunami -- and on the subject of flooding, it cost more to develop than 1995's other bloated headline-grabber, the Kevin Costner film Waterworld.

But we appreciated Windows 95 back then, and we still think of it fondly.

Cheers, Roman

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If anything, I think Windows 95 is notable for representing the last (and perhaps even only) time Microsoft Corporation engaged itself with serious usability research in developing an interface and system around. The development of the OS, when it was in its prototypical "Chicago" stages, is actually rather interesting to follow.

Considering that I use it today, it's kind of ironic to note that I was actually rather resistant to Windows 95 when it was new: I resented how they effectively discontinued DOS as a standalone product and shoved its code under the carpet at a time when I was just beginning to fully grasp the potential of its command-line syntax; some of Windows 95's interface changes (such as new windowing controls) seemed to me to be arbitrary at best; and I disliked how it was resigned to the status of the only OS option available on most consumer-level PCs. Heh; I suppose the lastmost point was a sign of things to come...

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Hello!

If anything, I think Windows 95 is notable for representing the last (and perhaps even only) time Microsoft Corporation engaged itself with serious usability research in developing an interface and system around. The development of the OS, when it was in its prototypical "Chicago" stages, is actually rather interesting to follow.

Considering that I use it today, it's kind of ironic to note that I was actually rather resistant to Windows 95 when it was new: ...

BTW, here is an interesting comment about "desktop UI": http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/article_c...y-Advantage.htm

What should a desktop be? Merely a way to launch programs. No "innovation" is needed. Innovation in desktops has only led to useless eye-candy which increased system requirements. The ultimate desktop GUI was reached when Windows 98 was released, if it had been secure and didn't crash nothing further would have even been needed, except to make a free clone of it. Once Windows 2000/XP came out, the crashing problem was fixed. The security problem will never be fixed in the Windows world, but that has nothing to do with the GUI. Gnome and KDE should congratulate themselves on each having produced an acceptable clone of the Windows 98 GUI, close down shop except for a few bug-fixers, and go over and help WINE actually get more Windows software to run. Software working is what matters, not eye candy.

Best regards, Roman

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Win95 isn't gone, of course.

I've one on a P1 120MHz 40MB Fpm without L2: neither W98se nor Me could replace it. And know what? I've given this machine a Compact Flash "disk" (CF card on a P-Ata adapter), and it's pretty comfortable.

I've another one on a P1 mmx 200MHz 128MB Edo with L2 and a good disk (7200/min 3,5" 80GB/2): boots in 8s, launches Word in <1s.

Both machines have been perfectly stable for >5 years. No maintenance, no Bsod.

Well, I don't surf with them, and all applications are carefully chosen (cheap at eBay since they're old). Ms Office 97, Paint Shop Pro 4, Namo Webeditor 4... This makes for really enjoyable computers.

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Win95 isn't gone, of course.

I've one on a P1 120MHz 40MB Fpm without L2: neither W98se nor Me could replace it. And know what? I've given this machine a Compact Flash "disk" (CF card on a P-Ata adapter), and it's pretty comfortable.

I've another one on a P1 mmx 200MHz 128MB Edo with L2 and a good disk (7200/min 3,5" 80GB/2): boots in 8s, launches Word in <1s.

Both machines have been perfectly stable for >5 years. No maintenance, no Bsod.

Well, I don't surf with them, and all applications are carefully chosen (cheap at eBay since they're old). Ms Office 97, Paint Shop Pro 4, Namo Webeditor 4... This makes for really enjoyable computers.

yea they uesd to make software so much better

now it takes at least 10 secs to load ms office xp LOL but thats on a much powerful computer with vista lol its probloy just vista Lol

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[yea they uesd to make software so much better

now it takes at least 10 secs to load ms office xp LOL but thats on a much powerful computer with vista lol its probloy just vista Lol

Or it's probably your hardware not up to the par for Vista (since you didn't post your pc specs...)

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yea they uesd to make software so much better

now it takes at least 10 secs to load ms office xp LOL but thats on a much powerful computer with vista lol its probloy just vista Lol

I agree with nitro - I get sub 3 second loads of Word 2007 on this older Vista box. It's got Vista SP1, an AMD Athlon 2600, a single 60GB IDE HDD, and 1GB RAM running aero on an ATI x200 POS. If it takes you more than 3 or 4 seconds, unless you're on REALLY old hardware or 512MB RAM, it should NOT take that long to open Word.

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Yes word 2003 starts up for the first time after a cold boot in under one second on my PC with XP. Half a second for the second time.

I been thinking about putting win 95 on an old PC I got lying around and using it for classic windows and DOS FPS like DOOM, quake, wofenstein, UT, quake 2 etc.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I been thinking about putting win 95 on an old PC I got lying around and using it for classic windows and DOS FPS like DOOM, quake, wofenstein, UT, quake 2 etc.

Pretty much all of them run on XP (and vista I think) by now. Just get the one of the new sourceports (like the Doomsday Engine, supports Doom, Heretic, Hexen). Gameplay is unchanged, but with 3D-Support incl. higher resolution and dynamic lighting, in-game setups, quake-style console for all, mouselook etc etc etc....

At least all ID games up to Q2 have been released by id Software and fully refurbished by fans... Highly recommended... :thumbup

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:wacko: Yeah but that sorta defeats the purpose of running an old OS and playing old games in their original form...its good to go back and see what it was like :thumbup

And I loved playing doom 1 on a win 98 system I have lying around. So with win 95 it will be even more classic!

But I may try your suggestions anyway as well as the original games.

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  • 2 months later...
I agree with nitro - I get sub 3 second loads of Word 2007 on this older Vista box. It's got Vista SP1, an AMD Athlon 2600, a single 60GB IDE HDD, and 1GB RAM running aero on an ATI x200 POS. If it takes you more than 3 or 4 seconds, unless you're on REALLY old hardware or 512MB RAM, it should NOT take that long to open Word.

GET word 2003 on ur vishththaaaaa n u will see how much time it takes. Word 2007 wud be taking 0.3 secs on a XP.

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It takes about the same amount of time with Word 2003, and on the same hardware, XP takes about 2.7 - 2.9 seconds (yes, I've timed it with a debugger and a stopwatch). These are same hardware, latest drivers for both XP and Vista, and straight installs, SP and hotfix installs to the latest patch levels for both, and a defrag and a reboot before testing for both.

XP is *not* that much faster when it comes to loading apps, assuming Vista isn't loaded down (as XP would not be). Yes, there's extra process overhead and ASLR (if the process opts in), but these should not add SECONDS to a process start, only milliseconds.

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