14 DAY TRIAL // August 24 2011 is not only the 10th anniversary since Windows XP was released to manufacturing but also the day when Windows 95 turns 16. Six years ahead of the release to manufacturing deadline of Windows XP, Microsoft launched Windows 95, an operating system which it had developed under the codename Chicago.
In addition to the Chicago codename, the Redmond company also referred to Windows 95 as Windows 4.0 internally.
August 24, 1995 was a crucial moment for the software giant’s platform, since Windows 95 started the dominance of Windows.
16 years later, no rival computer platform has been able to even come close to the ubiquity of Windows, with all potential Windows-killer failing to live up to their monikers.
But fast forward 16 years, and Microsoft is pushing Windows to new form factors, while there are voices uttering the eulogy of the PC.
When it announced its upcoming BUILD conference, the Redmond company published this message: “In 1995, Windows changed the PC. BUILD will show you that Windows 8 changes everything.”
Designed as Windows 8 centric event, BUILD is scheduled to take place in September 2011, just a few weeks after the 16th anniversary of Windows 95.
While Windows continues to be kind on the PC, with the personal computer far from death, despite those applauding the post-PC era already, Microsoft is shifting its OS strategy to reflect the evolution of consumers worldwide.
Tailoring Windows 8 to emerging form factors is a key part of reinventing Windows, regardless of how much life PCs still have left in them.
This is the reason for Microsoft’s promise that Windows 8 will change everything, and the software giant should make no mistake about it, the world is indeed watching very close, it’d better deliver.