Windows 95 (original) (raw)

summary

Windows 95 is a desktop operating system made by Microsoft that runs on Intel/Cyrix/AMD Pentium and Intel 80x86.

William Neukom, Microsoft’s senior vice president for law and corporate affairs, told U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on December 15, 1997, “Windows 95 puts users back with the Flintstones in terms of operating system function.”

OSdata.com is used in more than 300 colleges and universities around the world

Find out how to get similar high web traffic and search engine placement.

special topics

Intended purpose

server/mainframe: Only very low end servers can run on this operating system.

desktop/workstation: For general desktop use on older hardware.

handheld: not appropriate

real time: not appropriate

Kind of OS: proprietary

Release Date: originally scheduled for release in late 1992, Microsoft was unable to get the work done until the summer of 1995; replaced by Windows 98.

Current Version:

Cost: $109w10

You can get the OEM version of Windows 95 (normally only available with the purchase of a new computer) by purchasing the VirtualPC package.

Hardware Supported: Intel/Cyrix/AMD Pentiumw9, 80486w9

Maximum Number of Processors:

Number of bits:

Kernel: proprietary

POSIX: not supported

Peripherals:

File Systems Supported:

preferred file system: FAT32 (NRWF), VFAT (NRWF)
file systems can read/write: FAT (RW), SMB (RW) (see SMB and firewalls)
file systems read only and can write through optional software: ISO 9660 (Rw), ECD (R), CD (Rw)

Other Systems Emulated:

Graphics Engine:

Text Command Shell: DOS command line

User Interface (graphic):

Graphic Command Shell: Explorere80

Internet Services:

ftp://ftp.eng.auburn.edu/pub/doug/ “bootp-DH2.x” free, patched CMU BOOTP-DD2.4.x server from Doug Hughes of auburn.edu. Supports DHCP, even for Win95 clients. Adds the patches from the Samba mailing list to support PCNFS and Win95 simultaneously. For SunOS 4.x, Solaris 2.x, Linux, and NetBSD servers.

http://www.baynetworks.com/Products/nav/f_netid_3_0.html “NetID” commercial DHCP/DDNS server from Bay Networks that runs on Solaris, HP-UX, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 95; links into Oracle and Sybase, with tools for managing IP addresses.

Security:

“As Windows users are being plagued by computer viruses, spam, buggy software, and Web pop-up ads, some are questioning why the Redmond, Wash.-based software behemoth has failed to integrate security and repair features that could make computers less prone to problems.
“ ‘Microsoft has added lots of bells and whistles to Windows to protect their operating system franchise over the years, but when it comes to Windows security and reliability, they’ve done comparitively little until recently,’ said Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a Bethesda, Md.-based computer security and training organization.
“ ‘It’s like they are selling faster cars with more powerful engines but leaving off the seat belts and air bags — all those critical things that make customers safe when using their products,’ he added.
“Microsoft’s critics say the reason the company isn’t eager to add security features is simple: Doing so wouldn’t help it fend off competitors whose products could undermine the spread of Windows.
“ ‘You would think there would be money to be made in Microsoft having some kind of more effective antiviral program of their own,’ said Andrew Gavil, an antitrust expert and law professor at Howard University. ‘But virus programs don’t present any threat to their operating system monopoly.’ ” —Los Angeles Times, “Microsoft Runs Into Bundling Dilemma”, March 27, 2004n4

Microsoft falsely claimed that it would make security a company-wide priority in its much publicized 2002 “trustworthy computing initiaitve”. Since then, Microsoft Windows (all versions) has become even more vulnerable to viruses and other internet attacks. Security is a purposely false and misleading marketing slogan at Microsoft.

“Ironically, some experts say, product bundling is partly to blame for Windows’ security woes.
“Lee A. Hollaar, a computer science professor at University of Utah, said the widespread proliferation of the Melissa computer virus stemmed from the tight integration of Microsoft’s Outlook e-mail program with its writing application, Word.
“ ‘The Melissa virus exists only because Microsoft expanded Word documents to contain functions that let it access the Outlook address book’, Hollaar said.
“Similarly, he explained, when the Internet Explorer Web browser was folded into the operating system, it exposed Windows to greater security risks from the Net.’ ” —Los Angeles Times, “Microsoft Runs Into Bundling Dilemma”, March 27, 2004n4

Other:

“Windows 95 is an ‘edifice of bailing wire,chewing gum and prayer.’ ” — The New York Times, August 2, 1995w32

alternatives to Windows

opinion

“Windows machines have advantages, too, such as more configuration options, cheaper up front cost, availability of software, snappier response on window controls, cheaper components, more peripherals.” —Why Monopolies Are Bad, by Jeff Adkinsw77

1.1 MB QuickTime movie of Bill Gates explaining his criteria for selecting the best operating system.

“Microsoft enjoyed its great success not because it had great software but because people were stuck with it. Market domination, not innovation, drove the company’s success,” wrote James Wallace in the book “Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace”, John Wiley &#amp; Sons, September 1997.

Commentary: Quite simply, Windows guarantees more work for the M.I.S. departments — because it computers require far more technical support to do the same work. And when the M.I.S. departments make computer recommendations to management, they tend to look out for their own job security over the best interests of the business. The same reason that many retail stores also push Wintel machines — it guarantees more work for their highly profitable service departments.

Study after study has shown that Macintoshes are less expensive to support and maintain than Wintel machines. Wintel computers typically cost four to 10 times as much in support costs. Even Intel’s own internal study showed that it was costing them four times as much to support Windows machines as it did to support their Macintoshes (yes, Intel used Macintoshes for mission critical work — and since that study they have been expanding their use of Macintoshes).

Independent studies over the years continually show that worker productivity is substantially higher on Macintoshes than on Wintel computers. And the difference is greatest in the creative fields (pre-press, illustration, digital photography, 2-D and 3-D animation, 3-D modelling and rendering, film special effects, broadcast video editting, CD-ROM production, multi-media, music composition and performance, sound editting, and web site production), where the Macintosh is the most prevalent computer (even more than the high end graphics work stations — and Macintosh OS X (formerly Rhapsody) brings the Macintosh to the high end graphics work stations). Macintosh OS X is numerically the most used form of <ahref=".. kind="" unix.htm"="">UNIX, bringing the flexibility, reliability, power, and speed of NeXT’s object oriented frameworks together with some of the ease of use, user interface, and consumer software of the Macintosh.</ahref="..>

BeOS and OS/2 also offer excellent desktop alternatives to the Windows family of operating systems. Any of the many free and commercial versions of UNIX offer a better high end operating system than Windows NT. See John Kirch’s article “Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX” at http://www.unix-vs-nt.org/.

Ethics: Bill Gates is a longtime member of the Augusta National Golf Club, the official site of the Masters Golf Tournament. The Augusta National Golf Club refuses to allow any women join their club and for decades refused to allow Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities to join, only relenting in 1990 to allow a few token Black members when facing criminal charges for Civil Rights violations. The only reason that Microsoft hires women and minorities is because of tough federal Civil Rights laws. If you are a woman, Black, Hispanic, Asian, or a member of any other minority group, remember that Bill Gates and Microsoft hate you and only take your money becuase they are forced to by law.

references

†UNIX used as a generic term unless specifically used as a trademark (such as in the phrase “UNIX certified”). UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd.

Names and logos of various OSs are trademarks of their respective owners.

Last Updated: March 27, 2004

Created: August 16, 1998

Click here to skip over the summaries of individual operating systems.

Windows 95 (original) (raw)

summary

OSdata.com is used in more than 300 colleges and universities around the world

special topics

alternatives to Windows

references

further reading: web sites

official web sites

FAQs

user group web sites

further reading: books

further reading: books: administration

further reading: books: internet

further reading: books: enterprise/business

further reading: books: programming

further reading: books: hardware

further reading: books: miscellaneous

geek humor

OSdata.com is used in more than 300 colleges and universities around the world

home page

peer level

Windows 95 (original) (raw)

summary

OSdata.com is used in more than 300 colleges and universities around the world

special topics

alternatives to Windows

references

further reading: web sites

official web sites

FAQs

user group web sites

other related web sites

further reading: books

further reading: books: administration

further reading: books: internet

further reading: books: enterprise/business

further reading: books: programming

further reading: books: hardware

further reading: books: miscellaneous

related software

geek humor

OSdata.com is used in more than 300 colleges and universities around the world

home page

peer level