When Windows 95 debuted all those years ago, it was revolutionary. It introduced many of the features we still use today, including a desktop, taskbar and Start button. Consumers lapped it up, and it sold some seven million copies in the first five weeks, buoyed by the multimillion-dollar hype. Microsoft spent an estimated $300 million promoting the OS, which included some $12 million for the rights to use the opening chords of the Rolling Stones song "Start Me Up" as its theme tune.
We’ve looked at how the operating system might look on
Mobile and
Desktop if it was released today, but if you want to actually try out the original again (or for the first time if you came into Windows more recently) you can do so by installing a new app that runs on Windows, macOS, or Linux. Created by Slack developer Felix Rieseberg, it’s available in the form of an electron app. Most things work exactly as you’d expect them to, including WordPad, FreeCell, Calculator and Media Player, although you can’t currently browse the web with Internet Explorer sadly. It opens but pages don't load. You can lock or unlock your mouse inside the virtual OS by tapping Esc.
It’s a 128MB download and you can get it for
Windows,
macOS, or
Linux now.
Despite being a fully functioning operating system running in a window, it doesn’t require too much in the way of system resources.
