Latest news with #retro
Fast Company
7 hours ago
- Fast Company
Windows 95's look and feel are more impressive than ever
Every so often, Microsoft design director Diego Baca boots up an old computer so he can play around with Windows 95 again. Baca has made a hobby of assembling old PCs with new-in-box vintage parts, and so his office has become a kind of shrine to Windows history. Still, Windows 95 stands out, he says, because of how easy it made computing for everyone. Many of its foundational concepts, such as the Start menu and taskbar, are still core parts of Windows today. 'Windows 95 introduced a lot of these really clear, really durable metaphors of how computing could be simpler for customers,' Baca says. He's not alone in finding ways to appreciate Windows 95 again. Almost 30 years after the operating system's release on August 24, 1995, you can run a fully functional version as an app on your computer (even if it's a Mac), make Windows 11 look like Windows 95 with third-party software, or follow countless TikTok tutorials on giving your iPhone a Windows 95 aesthetic. There are YouTube playlists with nothing but remixes of the Windows 95 startup sound —famously composed by Brian Eno —and there's an entire musical subgenre that uses Windows 95 aesthetics as a visual component. Some of this is just cheap retro nostalgia. But the people who worked on Windows 95—and those who still appreciate it—offer another explanation: It really was designed to be simpler, and it succeeded just as people were buying PCs for the first time. When we look back now, it's a reminder of how computers primarily served their users, not the other way around. Taking design seriously Windows 95 succeeded in part because it was the first Microsoft operating system that actually put designers in charge of the design. Under pressure to compete with the user interface of Apple's Macs, Microsoft assembled a design team and made usability testing a big part of the development process. 'It was the first time at Microsoft that the design of the product wasn't completely driven by the engineers,' says Virginia Howlett, who led the Windows 95 design team. 'It was a real team effort between research and design and engineering.' A painter by training, Howlett had joined Microsoft as a print designer and consultant on computer-based training software. But she wanted to get involved with Windows after seeing version 1.0, which launched in 1985 as an add-on for MS-DOS and didn't prove to be a hit. The smattering of colors in odd places—for instance, bright red scroll bars that drew attention away from the actual content—left her aghast. 'Windows 1.0 was this massive missed opportunity,' she says. 'It just sort of hurt me so badly how poorly it was designed.' In 1990, Microsoft shipped Windows 3.0, the first version to catch on in a big way. Howlett and her team contributed to it and 1992's Windows 3.1, but in a limited role that basically involved designing icons and color schemes. In Windows 95, by contrast, the designers were directly involved with figuring out the best way to do things and how to present them to users. 'In Windows 3.1, we were helping with how it looked. In Windows 95, we were helping with how it worked, as well as how it looked,' Howlett says. Meanwhile, improvements in PC hardware allowed Windows 95 to pull off some new tricks. It was designed with 800-by-600-pixel resolution screens in mind—up from the earlier video graphics array (VGA) standard of 640 by 480—and by default it supported a color palette of 256 colors, up from 16 in Windows 3.1. Those advancements helped Windows 95's designers give the system a more three-dimensional look. 'We used shadows and edges to note all the boundaries,' says Chris Guzak, a Microsoft engineer who worked on integrating much of the design work into Windows 95. 'When those show up in the interface today, you're, like, 'That's old.' But then, it was such a cool thing.' The limitations of mid-1990s computers had an impact as well. Windows 95's default color scheme—all royal blues, medium grays, and the occasional splash of teal—stemmed from the restricted color palette available with graphics cards of the era, and the lack of animations relative to modern computers reinforced a sense of quickness and simplicity. 'I think because of this minimalism, and really minimal animation, it was a lot quieter of an interface compared to what we have today,' says Suzan Marashi, who worked on the Windows 95 user interface team. Competing with Apple The motivation to make Windows 95 more approachable came in large part from Apple, which had licensed parts of its own graphical user interface to Microsoft for Windows 1.0, but sued over additional elements that Microsoft added in later versions. Apple eventually lost the case, but Guzak recalls 'a heightened sense of competitiveness' from Microsoft's leadership at the time. 'There really was a sense that we needed something that people could use, that would be accepted, that people could figure out,' he says. Many people were still in the process of learning to use a computer: Even in October 1995, a Times Mirror Center study reported that only 36% of U.S. households owned personal computers. This was also a time when Microsoft was approaching its peak as a consumer-centric company. It spent $300 million on marketing for Windows 95, encouraged retailers to hold launch parties, and had Jay Leno host its own enormous and well-publicized launch event on its Redmond, Washington, campus. Friends actors Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry even starred in a video guide to showcase the operating system's new features. Consumers lined up at computer stores at midnight to get their hands on the new operating system, presaging the later day-one frenzies over early iPhones. Paul Thurrott, an author and a longtime technology reporter who covered Microsoft, says all these factors came together at just the right time. Apple's own software had started to stagnate—the Mac interface was still largely black and white at the time —and even Mac enthusiasts begrudgingly acknowledged that Microsoft's designs were catching up. 'I think that was the version where they actually had something that made more sense than the Mac did from a UI perspective,' Thurrott says. Reliving the old days Re-experiencing Windows 95 today is easy. Just download the Windows 95 Electron app on any Windows, Mac, or Linux machine, and you can use a version of the classic operating system that runs entirely inside its own app window. Felix Rieseberg, a software developer who currently works on the Claude AI desktop apps for Anthropic, first released the Windows 95 app in 2018, mostly to demonstrate what's possible with web technologies. But over the years, he's updated it with new features, including a way to transfer files to and from your actual computer and a version of Internet Explorer that loads old versions of websites from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. While Rieseberg says the app was originally supposed to prove a point about the power of JavaScript, it also winds up saying something about how modern software has devolved. The Windows 95 app's Start button pops up instantly when you click on it instead of requiring a split second to appear, and the preloaded version of Excel loads faster than the one that runs on Windows 11. 'It's remarkable how much you can do inside the JavaScript of [the Windows 95 app] in a way that feels very quick,' he says. 'Especially with Word and Excel, it's very powerful in there, and it covers so much of what people want to do in their life.' Rieseberg has no way of tracking how many people use the Windows 95 Electron app, but notes that it has more than 22,000 stars on GitHub. That puts it in the top 1,000 GitHub projects of all time. 'I get a lot of emails from people saying thank you, which is, of course, funny because I'm full-time working on software, on big apps with millions of users,' he says. 'And this little weekend side project has gotten more thank-you notes than anything else I've ever done.' The software maker Stardock has noticed a similar response with its WindowBlinds and Start11 programs, which allow people to customize modern Windows menus and windowing systems. Both offer a 'Classic' theme, which in tandem can approximate the feel of using Windows 95 on a modern PC. Brad Sams, Stardock's vice president and general manager, says that the announcement of its classic theme is a top driver of traffic to WindowBlinds's product page and of subsequent sales. 'The market has responded exactly how we would expect for that kind of nostalgia,' Sams says. 'The simplicity of Windows 95, the basic color scheme, the very direct navigation modeling . . . people just enjoy a simpler experience, and I think that's what's driving some of this, right?' The next 30 years Three decades later, Microsoft has reasons to be thinking about Windows 95 again. For one thing, Windows 11 was an attempt by Microsoft to bring some simplicity back. The company stripped down the Start menu with a new design—albeit one that longtime users bristled at—and it continues to move more menu items out of its old control panel and into a more modern Settings menu. 'Windows 11 is in many ways as close as we've gotten to 95 from a simplicity perspective,' Thurrott says. But now, Microsoft also believes it's building some new foundations for Windows around AI, not unlike how Windows 95's designers established the patterns that we still use today. Marcus Ash, Microsoft's corporate vice president of design and research for Windows and Devices, describes it as an effort that spans the entire company. 'We look at AI as Microsoft's opportunity to talk to our customers, learn from them, and build a Microsoft-like model for how this is shaping up—and Windows is the delivery vehicle,' Ash says. It's a lofty goal, but in some way it underscores why people appreciate Windows 95. The modern Windows experience—and the experience of all major computing platforms—is one in which you're constantly on guard against the company that made it. If you're not careful, Microsoft might replace your default browser and search engine with its own. If you don't opt out of AI features in Office, you might wind up paying extra, whether you use them or not. Even just playing solitaire—one of the original, simple joys of classic Windows versions—now means getting constantly bombarded with ads. While the idea of Microsoft inventing a new foundation for computing was once exciting, now it's also a bit unnerving. Windows 95's design reminds us that computers, even when they were less sophisticated, were at least unquestionably on your side. Those who design software now are likely familiar with the term ' dark pattern,' which refers to all the ways that software can get you to act against your best interests. Howlett, the Windows 95 designer who's since gone back to her roots in painting, says she'd never even heard of it. 'It was a kinder, gentler time—before we were trying to manipulate people,' she says.
Top Gear
19 hours ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Old School Rally scratched our ‘90s arcade racing itch... then promptly disappeared
Gaming A retro rival rally game with ticks in all the right boxes - except availability Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading As much as we love to get to grips with modern-day greats like EA WRC (RIP) and the DiRT Rally series (also RIP), when we think rally games, there is a corner of a foreign field that is forever SEGA Rally . Well, that and Colin McRae Rally - old is gold in loose-surface racing, is what we're saying. Quick quiz, then: guess which of those two virtual racing eras Old School Rally aligns itself with? That's right. It's the old school era of rally. If you answered incorrectly, we'd recommend you stop cleaning your ears with that fork. Advertisement - Page continues below As you can see from this gloriously low-fi announcement trailer, absolutely no graphics cards were harmed during the development of this title. There are fewer polygons than a primary school maths book, and we love it. We also love the considerable roster of recognisable vehicles from yesteryear, including an Impreza GC, Peugeot 205 Rally, several Lancias, a Corolla, and a nice boxy Lancer bearing that red and white livery that's bad for your lungs. You might like Trouble is, for an unlicensed racing game, Old School Rally 's vehicles might be a bit too recognisable. Just days after delighting the racing community with its announcement trailer, it's been delisted from Steam. Publisher Astrolabe doesn't currently have an official announcement regarding the sudden disappearance, but users in the game's Steam community page (it's only the Store page that's disappeared) are reporting the developer is talking to Steam owner Valve about a possible DMCA regarding vehicle appearances. Whatever's happened since the trailer dropped and made us want to kick up a very basic dust cloud, we sincerely hope Old School Rally reappears quickly. Advertisement - Page continues below Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
20 Extremely Rare, Mind-Blowing Photos From The 1950s That Show How Wildly Different Things Used To Be
1958 credit card: Text says: "It is our pleasure to inform you that a charge account has been opened for your convenience. This is available to you in all of the John Wanamaker Stores, where we hope to have the privilege of serving you often." 1954 hospital bill for $99 for a baby delivery: 1957-established McDonald's that never updated their sign: 1950s bathroom with an ashtray atop the toilet paper dispenser: '50s barber shop ad that displayed popular men's haircuts: 1957 thermostat: 1950s bathroom with a built-in toilet phone: 1957 wall-mount fridge: 1950s smoking ad: Text says: "People are always telling me that smoking causes low birth weight. Talk about a win-win-win! An easy labor, a slim baby, and the Full Flavor of Winstons!" waffle iron from the 1950s: 1956 refridgerator: 1952 ad for a typewriter: 1950s airline-brand cigarettes: surgery bill from a six-day hospital stay in 1956: stove from the 1950s that has a built-in soup pot: 1950s tie that gave people fashion advice: double oven from the 1970s: birth announcement card from 1950: 1954 beer can: finally, this 1951 banned children's toy science kit that wanted kids to find uranium deposits:
The Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Iconic 80s retro sweet spotted back on UK supermarket shelves over 27 years after being discontinued
AN iconic sweet from the 80s has been spotted on supermarket shelves 27 years after it was axed. Opal Fruits are now available to buy across major UK retailers. The chewy fruit-flavoured treats are now up for grabs in Sainsbury's, Tesco, Iceland and Morrisons stores. Bright yellow 138g pouches of the treats cost £1.25. The relaunch has sparked excitement among 80s and 90s babies, who have missed the apple, strawberry, orange, lime and lemon treats. Fans have taken to Facebook to share photos of the tasty treats and spread the news that they are now available in store. One shopper said: "Just bought a bag to keep in the car." Another added: "Got a packet of these at home reminds me of my childhood." While a third said: "They will always be opal fruits to me. I thoroughly enjoyed my original packaging." Opal Fruits were launched in 1960 and were available on supermarket shelves until the late 90s. They were rebranded as Starburst in 1998 but fans have complained that they are not the same. Since then, Mars Wrigley has surprised fans twice by relaunching them in stores - once in 2021 and again in 2024. The company told fans that last year would be the "final time" the sweet would return, so the U-turn has come as a welcome surprise. When the return was announced Florence McGivern, Skittles senior brand manager, told The Sun: "Our new limited-edition Opal Fruits will be as iconic as it was in the 90s, giving fans the chance to revisit the strawberry, lemon, orange and lime flavours from decades ago." If you want to get your hands on the sweets then you will need to be quick as they are limited edition. They will be available in stores nationwide but you might want to call your local store in advance to avoid a wasted trip. How to save money on chocolate We all love a bit of chocolate from now and then, but you don't have to break the bank buying your favourite bar. Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how to cut costs... Go own brand - if you're not too fussed about flavour and just want to supplant your chocolate cravings, you'll save by going for the supermarket's own brand bars. Shop around - if you've spotted your favourite variety at the supermarket, make sure you check if it's cheaper elsewhere. Websites like let you compare prices on products across all the major chains to see if you're getting the best deal. Look out for yellow stickers - supermarket staff put yellow, and sometimes orange and red, stickers on to products to show they've been reduced. They usually do this if the product is coming to the end of its best-before date or the packaging is slightly damaged. Buy bigger bars - most of the time, but not always, chocolate is cheaper per 100g the larger the bar. So if you've got the appetite, and you were going to buy a hefty amount of chocolate anyway, you might as well go bigger. Other chocolates spotted on shelves Chocolate fans have spotted a rare Cadbury bar on supermarket shelves. Shoppers were stunned to see the Top Decker bar on sale in The Range, years after it vanished from UK shops in the early 2000s. The 95g bar was popular with many children growing up in the 90s. Meanwhile, the Cadbury Dream bars are also back on shelves at The Range after they were axed in 2002. Dream bars were launched in 2001 but were discontinued just one year later. They are made from white chocolate and cocoa butter. Plus, white chocolate, which are now back in several supermarkets. .
The Verge
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Force feedback comes to the... Super Nintendo?
Posted Jul 9, 2025 at 4:07 PM UTC Force feedback comes to the... Super Nintendo? Working with Randal Linden, who helped bring Doom to the SNES in 1995, Limited Run Games has announced a new version of the game featuring improved graphics and additional levels. Two versions will be available for preorder on July 11th for $99.99 and $174.99 and will ship early next year. LRG has also created a $34.99 wired SNES controller upgraded with a pair of rumble motors that vibrate in response to what's happening in the updated game. 1/3 LRG's SNES Rumble Controller will only work with Doom, but the company says it will work with other developers who want to add rumble support to their own retro games. Image: Limited Run Games
