5 ms·

Every once in a while Microsoft still does something exactly right. And it makes me wistfully sad for all of the missed opportunities. Yes, I was one of those

Every once in a while Microsoft still does something exactly right. And it makes me wistfully sad for all of the missed opportunities. Yes, I was one of those who did an all-nighter outside a store waiting for win95.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
mixmastamyk 13y ago
Re: 95, turns out it was easy to just get on to the beta list. Reminds me of a funny story... Summer of '95, I was sitting at the weekly roundtable meeting of our IT department (at an R&D lab I used to work), and explaining to the boss that I could get my hands on a new beta of it from a friend so we could kick the tires. The whole team seemed interested and leaned in. "So," the boss says, "Who is your friend... he must be some VIP at a big operation, eh?" "Nope," shaking my head. "Well, who?" asks the boss. "He's a high-school student." "BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAahahah...."
- yuhong 13y ago
  Personally it reminds me of the MS OS/2 2.0 fiasco, which I hate quite a lot. This is partly because it is why it took until Win95 for 32-bit programming to become popular, not to mention that the tactics MS used to attack OS/2 got worse and more unethical as Chicago/Win95 got delayed. See my blog post: http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2012/12/about-ms-os2-20-fiasco-px00307-and-dr.html http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2012/12/about-ms-os2-20-fiasco-...
  - hnriot 13y ago
    MS OS/2 2.0??? 2.0 was long after the split with MS, I think you mean IBM os/2. Also 32 bit programming had been around for a long time before Microsoft got around to it. Os/2 had protected mode 32 bit in 1992, and PC hardware had been running 386 based 32 but unix variants since the mid 80's. even before that the 68000 had been running unix in 32 bit. Just because the win32 programming crowd didn't get to play with 32bit (and the joys of thunking) until '95 doesn't mean it was popular for a long time before.
    - yuhong 13y ago
      I linked to the original MS OS/2 2.0 SDK announcement at the beginning of the blog article: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1989-12-29-m3974.html http://www.os2museum.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1989-...
- DannyBee 13y ago
  Apparently I was not the only high school student on the 95 beta. I wonder now if i was the only one to crash our entire novell network by trying to use Microsoft's version of the novell client.
  - mistermann 13y ago
    I used to crash a Novell network by doing design changes on MS Access tables with lots of rows.
drivebyacct2 13y ago
Even worse is when Windows 8 comes with some very interesting developments that give Microsoft a way forward from the ancient mess of Win32 via AppX. And AppX and WinRT enable a developer to write apps for Windows in ANY language that has an RT projection. And ANYONE can write an RT projection. And it comes with a default-unprivileged security model. And it's at least as well integrated with SkyDrive, etc as Google is with Drive and Apple is with iCloud. Sadly, it's all hidden under Metro apps and the "Microsoft" name...
nivla 13y ago
>I was one of those who did an all-nighter outside a store waiting for win95. I remember coming across a picture from that day [1] and thinking to myself how similar the excitement is to the modern day product release from Apple. Yes Microsoft has become the company everyone loves to hate but I think they were considered cool or hip back then. [1] http://i.imgur.com/4Ng1ELA.jpg http://i.imgur.com/4Ng1ELA.jpg
smegel 13y ago
Not me, I was an OS/2 holdout for a year or so. Superior networking you see.
WayneDB 13y ago
Actually, they do a lot right. That's why 9 out of 10 businesses on the planet use their operating system.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

mixmastamyk 13y ago

Re: 95, turns out it was easy to just get on to the beta list. Reminds me of a funny story... Summer of '95, I was sitting at the weekly roundtable meeting of our IT department (at an R&D lab I used to work), and explaining to the boss that I could get my hands on a new beta of it from a friend so we could kick the tires. The whole team seemed interested and leaned in. "So," the boss says, "Who is your friend... he must be some VIP at a big operation, eh?" "Nope," shaking my head. "Well, who?" asks the boss. "He's a high-school student." "BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAahahah...."

yuhong 13y ago
Personally it reminds me of the MS OS/2 2.0 fiasco, which I hate quite a lot. This is partly because it is why it took until Win95 for 32-bit programming to become popular, not to mention that the tactics MS used to attack OS/2 got worse and more unethical as Chicago/Win95 got delayed. See my blog post: http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2012/12/about-ms-os2-20-fiasco-px00307-and-dr.html http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2012/12/about-ms-os2-20-fiasco-...
- hnriot 13y ago
  MS OS/2 2.0??? 2.0 was long after the split with MS, I think you mean IBM os/2. Also 32 bit programming had been around for a long time before Microsoft got around to it. Os/2 had protected mode 32 bit in 1992, and PC hardware had been running 386 based 32 but unix variants since the mid 80's. even before that the 68000 had been running unix in 32 bit. Just because the win32 programming crowd didn't get to play with 32bit (and the joys of thunking) until '95 doesn't mean it was popular for a long time before.
  - yuhong 13y ago
    I linked to the original MS OS/2 2.0 SDK announcement at the beginning of the blog article: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1989-12-29-m3974.html http://www.os2museum.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1989-...
DannyBee 13y ago
Apparently I was not the only high school student on the 95 beta. I wonder now if i was the only one to crash our entire novell network by trying to use Microsoft's version of the novell client.
- mistermann 13y ago
  I used to crash a Novell network by doing design changes on MS Access tables with lots of rows.

drivebyacct2 13y ago

Even worse is when Windows 8 comes with some very interesting developments that give Microsoft a way forward from the ancient mess of Win32 via AppX. And AppX and WinRT enable a developer to write apps for Windows in ANY language that has an RT projection. And ANYONE can write an RT projection. And it comes with a default-unprivileged security model. And it's at least as well integrated with SkyDrive, etc as Google is with Drive and Apple is with iCloud. Sadly, it's all hidden under Metro apps and the "Microsoft" name...

nivla 13y ago

>I was one of those who did an all-nighter outside a store waiting for win95. I remember coming across a picture from that day [1] and thinking to myself how similar the excitement is to the modern day product release from Apple. Yes Microsoft has become the company everyone loves to hate but I think they were considered cool or hip back then. [1] http://i.imgur.com/4Ng1ELA.jpg http://i.imgur.com/4Ng1ELA.jpg

smegel 13y ago

Not me, I was an OS/2 holdout for a year or so. Superior networking you see.

WayneDB 13y ago

Actually, they do a lot right. That's why 9 out of 10 businesses on the planet use their operating system.