Flashback: Brad Silverberg and Bill Gates unveil Windows 95 |
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Flashback: Brad Silverberg and Bill Gates unveil Windows 95
Former Microsoft senior vice president Brad Silverberg, now a venture capitalist at Ignition Partners in Bellevue, takes a trip down memory lane with the folks at Alley Insider to describe what it was like to launch Windows 95. It was 15 years ago today that Microsoft unveiled the historic piece of software, with Silverberg recounting how the launch nearly brought him to tears. Here's a look at Silverberg and Bill Gates on stage:
Silverberg reflected: "What an incredible feeling to see people all over the world, of all shapes, colors, ages, social classes, and occupations -- not just white collar knowledge workers, but everday people, blue collar, kids, grandmas -- running our software. That was our vision when we started the project, and to see it come true, was amazing." Full Alley Insider interview with Silverberg here.
The video above is fun to watch -- not only to see how Gates and Silverberg have aged over the past 15 years -- but also because it reflected a different time in the software business. A time of big product launches.
Of course, the software business has changed quite a bit in the past 15 years with the rise of Google and Apple and a plethora of mobile computing devices like the iPad and iPhone. That prompted CNET's Ina Fried today to ask if Microsoft's operating system has peaked. Fried writes:
At the moment, the Windows business is doing quite well, with Windows 7 selling at an impressive clip. Indeed Windows 7 is selling far faster than Windows 95 did in its early days, though that's as much a testament to how large the PC market is as anything else.
The longer-term question is whether Windows can outpace what I call the generic Web experience. In the coming years, smartbooks, tablets, cell phones, Netbooks and shapes we probably haven't thought of will all be capable of delivering the Web, which is for many people their main use of a PC.
By the way, here's the ad which launched Windows 95.
This montage also has some interesting highlights of the launch, including Jay Leno explaining Windows 95.
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