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Next up, BeOS, please! I think it's the plain blue background of Window 95 that made me jump to that idea. Windows95 base look holds up really nicely vs versio

Next up, BeOS, please! I think it's the plain blue background of Window 95 that made me jump to that idea. Windows95 base look holds up really nicely vs versions that came between 95-10.

digi_owl 10y ago
Windows 98 holds up better in modern terms, and there you had things like USB support build right in.
- frik 10y ago
  IE4 brought a shell upgrade to Win95 (new desktop, taskbar and explorer) for free, then it is looks and behaves like Win98 (except for the default USB support, only Win98 SE was better than Win95 of all Win9x releases).
- mhd 10y ago
  Was 98 the first one with gradients in the window bar? I remember being quite disappointed when the toolbar buttons went all flat, as I felt that was offering a consistent UI (button -> 3D look) on the altar of design. But I think that came with one of the Office versions first. (QA was horrible back then, if you had a Windows applications, you had to cross-check it with every ofice/OS permutation, as both wreaked havoc on your UI dlls).
  - laumars 10y ago
    95 didn't support title bar gradients natively, but it was trivially easily to add support for it into your application manually. If I recall correctly, it was only one win32 API. I used to love hacking about with the Win32 Apis in the old days. I wrote all sorts of neat tricks like turning the start button into a paddle for a weird desktop-based game of Breakout.
    - userbinator 10y ago
      turning the start button into a paddle for a weird desktop-based game of Breakout. I've done a bit of fun "repurposing" of the Win32 controls too, and that is something I'd definitely love to see --- probably along with quite a few others on HN.
      - coderdude 10y ago
        It exists in a hundred different uploads on Planet Source Code's VB6 section. Go nuts. https://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/default.asp?lngWId=1 https://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/default.asp?lngWId=1 I was an obsessive VB6er.
        laumars 10y ago
        Oh wow. That's a blast from the past. I don't think I've been on that site since the 90s. I still have an unclaimed prize ticket for winning best submission one month. It's a pity the owner never gave the UI more love as that site had the member base long before StackExchange et al but it just failed to compete. Even now, it still looks like a 90s site and that's not even the same design it had in the 90s.
      - laumars 10y ago
        Sadly I don't think I have the source for it any more - I've been running Linux since XP was released and this was long before then. The core logic was quite easy though; just grab the hWnd of the start button and use the usual Win32 APIs to move the thing about. What took longer to write was the ball and blocks you needed to smash. The game wasn't pretty though. But it was thrown together when I was at college and should have been writing course work. In fact, I'd be surprised if it would even still play on modern Windows.
- Nexxxeh 10y ago
  USB, AGP and P6 support were in 95 OSR 2.5. For my money, 95 OSR 2.5 was better than 98 (until 98SE came out). Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95#Editions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95#Editions

Next up, BeOS, please! I think it's the plain blue background of Window 95 that made me jump to that idea. Windows95 base look holds up really nicely vs versions that came between 95-10.

digi_owl 10y ago

Windows 98 holds up better in modern terms, and there you had things like USB support build right in.

frik 10y ago
IE4 brought a shell upgrade to Win95 (new desktop, taskbar and explorer) for free, then it is looks and behaves like Win98 (except for the default USB support, only Win98 SE was better than Win95 of all Win9x releases).
mhd 10y ago
Was 98 the first one with gradients in the window bar? I remember being quite disappointed when the toolbar buttons went all flat, as I felt that was offering a consistent UI (button -> 3D look) on the altar of design. But I think that came with one of the Office versions first. (QA was horrible back then, if you had a Windows applications, you had to cross-check it with every ofice/OS permutation, as both wreaked havoc on your UI dlls).
- laumars 10y ago
  95 didn't support title bar gradients natively, but it was trivially easily to add support for it into your application manually. If I recall correctly, it was only one win32 API. I used to love hacking about with the Win32 Apis in the old days. I wrote all sorts of neat tricks like turning the start button into a paddle for a weird desktop-based game of Breakout.
  - userbinator 10y ago
    turning the start button into a paddle for a weird desktop-based game of Breakout. I've done a bit of fun "repurposing" of the Win32 controls too, and that is something I'd definitely love to see --- probably along with quite a few others on HN.
    - coderdude 10y ago
      It exists in a hundred different uploads on Planet Source Code's VB6 section. Go nuts. https://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/default.asp?lngWId=1 https://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/default.asp?lngWId=1 I was an obsessive VB6er.
      - laumars 10y ago
        Oh wow. That's a blast from the past. I don't think I've been on that site since the 90s. I still have an unclaimed prize ticket for winning best submission one month. It's a pity the owner never gave the UI more love as that site had the member base long before StackExchange et al but it just failed to compete. Even now, it still looks like a 90s site and that's not even the same design it had in the 90s.
    - laumars 10y ago
      Sadly I don't think I have the source for it any more - I've been running Linux since XP was released and this was long before then. The core logic was quite easy though; just grab the hWnd of the start button and use the usual Win32 APIs to move the thing about. What took longer to write was the ball and blocks you needed to smash. The game wasn't pretty though. But it was thrown together when I was at college and should have been writing course work. In fact, I'd be surprised if it would even still play on modern Windows.
Nexxxeh 10y ago
USB, AGP and P6 support were in 95 OSR 2.5. For my money, 95 OSR 2.5 was better than 98 (until 98SE came out). Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95#Editions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95#Editions