10 Year Anniversary, Windows 95 Remembered

August 24, 1995 was a momentous occasion for the computer industry as Microsoft introduced Windows 95 to the world. The long awaited new operating system not only sparked the explosion of the Internet, but for the first time computers became inspirational tools that would make our lives better. The Windows 95 launch event took place on a 12-acre sports field at Microsoft's Redmond campus. It took 20 days and over 200 people to prepare for the festivities. Bill Gates' address was beamed simultaneously to 43 other events in cities around the world - not an easy feat in 1995.

Over 70,000 people tuned in to watch the launch event live via satellite. The Empire State Building in New York City was even lit up with the Windows 95 logo. Fields in England were also painted with the logo so it could be seen from the air. In Poland, journalists were taken in a submarine to experience "a world without Windows." The launch was a hit! 20 national magazine cover stories, 13,000 newspaper stories, 800 radio news spots and 2,000 television news segments all covered the arrival of Windows 95, which would usher in a new era in computing. Today we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Windows 95. I hope nobody is still using it, but love or hate Windows, I think we can all agree that it was a huge step forward in terms of technology. I'm not sure if computers or the Internet would be the same if it never existed.