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Anniversary coming August 2015!


BlackListedB

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August 24th will be 20 years since Microsoft Windows 95 first entered the World's sub-conscious.

 

It maybe a bit early to title the thread before the event and then it passes with much fan-fare as expected, and will appear titled incorrectly then!? haha

Anyway, I was just stumbling on this factoid as I explored various computer retro articles online and pondering the new Windows 10. 20 years in the making of the modern desktop GUI!

 

"pronounced Goo-ey" 

 

...Well, I noticed too, it's January 24th, so it's the right day to post this! haha ;:~lp

Edited by BlackListedB
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Windows incorporated Internet Exporer as it's web-browser default, defacto, most know this caused an Anti-Trust lawsuit to break up Microsoft's monopoly, which was somewhat successful, however, it's chief competition, Netscape still fell to the wayside. Firefox, Opera, and Google Chrome proved you could compete against Bill Gates' empire and actually keep a healthy competition going. AMD sadly could not compete with the original 1960s Intel, but because they were more brash as upstarts, they won awards for their innovation and are still leaders in the Technology Hall of Fame. They competed with Intel in much the same way others competed with Apple and Microsoft. It always felt like someone could lay claim to the PC end, but not really.

 

The earliest companies to try and make headway would include Compaq before being eaten up by Hewlett Packard. The old Packard Bell some might remember, not to be confused by! hahaha

Mine was an eMachine, Trigem, founded in the late 90s, they actually broke historical ground with brand new PCs priced at $600USD! This with a track record of few complaints and repairs. Ones I did observe related to the low end PSUs or power supplies, which are rather universal on the low end. As well, DVD and CD ROM failures, though included with a PC are not specifically made by that company, but they get the reputation for the shoddy product inclusion just the same.

 

I think had products been tested when they were made, before going out in the market, things like failure rates could have been managed better, a PC makers' reputation often hinged on how low complaints about service were and how well that service was executed.

 

Speaking of the START menu, overwhelming PC user displeasure did result in the evolution of Windows 10 we're seeing, More robust MS OS desktop in the conventional, non-touchscreen area, while retaining Windows 8 multi platform and appending new changes there as well, if they meet user experience concerns, will bode well for Microsoft Post-Bill Gates

I'll add that Apple really pioneered virtually all the concepts for the home computer, Windows included, so I had a bit of disdain over the rather obvious theft of ideas, but Apple and Bill Gates were paying attention to what was going on in computer R and D and put those ideas into their respective products, The 'mouse' technology dates back even further then 1970 for example!

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...Do Tell! I bought a number of laptops not to mention the desktops I took in or built in the last six or so years, the main goal was dual and quad core, graphics support key being the Express port and it's advancement.

 

I wound up backtracking a bit, and the funny thing is the first set of laptops I got were Toshiba's MMX Pentium 90Mhz ones, still two batteries for them that work perfect. Toshiba transferred to Pentium 3 in that time, using the same batteries oddly (I assume a series of Pentium IIs also used them)

My earliest IBM PS/Note was a 486 processor Intel. The speed and HDD along with memory capacity were astoundingly low, so you might be wary of even using Windows 95's impressive GUI on it, I can't recall exactly, but I think the HDD was only 800MB!!!

 

CS410 model maybe? Toshiba Satellite with lacking touchpad, one of the earliest touchpad laptops I ever came across was actually Acer's first foray into manufacture, having taken over the line for Texas Instruments in Europe and Asia, eventually TI opted not to fight a legal battle and Acer took over full products from Texas Instruments, I mentioned this before I'm sure, but Acer still uses Extensa and Travelmate names for different series notebooks, but they didn't come up with those names! TI did! haha

 

Here's an interesting sidebar about the firm known formerly as Silicon Graphics, Their Workstations have powered forward the current CGI revolution started around the time of Lucas and Star Wars, where his vision was to provide a technical workshop for movie makers, advancing all the arts of movie making.

Worth your time reading up on this stuff..

 

http://www.hpcwire.com/2008/10/30/sgi_returns_to_visual_roots/

Edited by BlackListedB
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