Windows 95 Is Unveiled to the Public, 1995

From The Washington Post, August 25, 1995.

It's here.

After years of development, months of delays, and a lavish $300 million public relations and advertising bids, Microsoft Corp's Windows 95, the most eagerly awaited and spectacularly hyped product in history--finally hit stores yesterday.

The festivities got an official kick off with a Windows 95 demonstration at company headquarters yesterday in Redmond, Wash., hosted by the world's richest man, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, and co-hosted by "The Tonight's Show's" Jay Leno. Parts of the event, which featured costumed jugglers and jesters, were televised live via satellite to launch events and retail outlets across the country.

About 100 million personal computers, roughly 80 percent of the market, now use a Windows based operating system, the software that translates key strokes and mouse movements into commands that control the machine's hardware. Analysts predict that by the end of the year, roughly 30 million users will pay the $90 sticker price for Windows 95--remarkable numbers considering that the software's added power and flexibility have been available in rival offerings from International Business Machines Corp and Apple Computers Inc. for years. In addition, most computers will have to invest in added memory and other upgrades to take advantage of Windows 95's enhancements. . . .

Attorney General Janet Reno provided the only bump in the raucous and widely anticipated arrival of Windows 95. At her weekly Thursday morning meeting with reporters, Reno reiterated that the Justice Department would continue to investigate whether packaging Microsoft's new on-line service, Microsoft Network, with Windows 95 violates antitrust laws. . . .

Retailers across the country held midnight madness sales so that consumers who couldn't wait until morning could buy and boot up in the wee hours.

Computer City SuperCenters Inc., the Fort Worth-based computer chain, reported that 50,000 customers showed up at outlets nationwide, though it would not give sales figures. A manager at the Computer City store in Rockville said that by midnight about 150 people were poring over the Windows 95 boxes. "At 11 p.m. it was pretty quiet and we were thinking, 'What are we doing here?'" said Manager Bob Baxandell. "An hour later, customers were arguing with us about at what point midnight actually was going to occur."

Retailers used a variety of tie-ins to lure buyers, including free long-distance telephone service offers and airline ticket discounts. A CompUSA store in Philadelphia took a more brazen approach by hiring waitresses from a nearby Hooters sports bar to help attract customers.

The unveiling ceremony in Redmond was a tightly managed event that Cecil B. De Mille would have been proud to stage--complete with star power from Jay Leno and a supporting cast of several thousand partners, customers, and journalists. Bill Gates grinned as an enormous "Start" icon rose slowly above the stage, accompanied by the pounding beat of the Rolling Stones' raunchy hit, "Start Me Up." After Gates introduced the crowd to Windows 95's 450 designers--who were sitting in a pair of bleachers near the stage--attendees streamed across the lawn and into a number of theme pavilions housing products from Microsoft and more than 100 other companies. Leno was on hand to serve as the typical, non-expert user--and to lighten up what would have otherwise been a dry, hour-plus product demo. Leno's definition of "multitasking": A computer that "is able to keep track of all of OJ's alibis at once."