Former Microsoft director shows off extremely rare copy of the first Windows 95 floppy disk produced

It all started when a former Microsoft employee named Dave Plummer, famous for being the father of Task Manager on Windows, posted an image of a copy of Windows 95 "Special Edition". " is unique that he possesses.

Plummer's post immediately caught Silverberg's attention. The former Microsoft director responded and revealed that he owns an even more rare copy of Windows 95: The first copy to 'come out' from the commercial production line, and confirmed that this is a rare copy of Windows 95. 'priceless' collectible that he loved so much.

Silverberg then shared some images of the unique Windows 95 copy he was holding at the request of some Windows fans. Included with the copy of Windows 95 was a letter congratulating Silverberg that read:

This is the first copy of Windows 95 produced. Copy produced on Friday afternoon, July 14, 1995 at 5:15 pm!.

July 14 was the time Windows 95 was released to manufacturers (RTM), then officially retailed globally on August 24, 1995. At that time, the concept of cloud computing was did not yet exist, so Microsoft shipped Windows 95 as multiple floppy disks, as evidenced from the floppy disk icon printed on Silverberg's copy.

This legacy operating system was an important milestone in Microsoft's history at a time when it merged MS-DOS and Windows products, transitioned from 16-bit to 32-bit architecture, and introduced a number of improvements compared to Windows 3.0/3.1.

Microsoft's new corporate logo introduced in 2012 also has its origins in advertising of the old operating system. However, Windows 95 does not cause much nostalgia among young people today because it was discontinued a long time ago.

For many PC users, the birth of Windows 95 is a milestone marking the transition when Windows went from being 'a Microsoft software product' to 'a must-have on a desktop computer'. It's beautiful and easy to use, including an innovative Start menu and taskbar - the first to surpass Macintosh OS in usability.

Windows 95 also introduced many Windows standards that we take for granted today, such as File Explorer, Windows shortcuts, the Recycle Bin, file shortcuts, the modern desktop, and more. It is the prototype of Windows, distilled: Anyone familiar with Windows today can easily go back and use Windows 95 without any problems or confusion. Few software products were essential in their time, but Windows 95 did just that.

Micah Soto

Update 13 July 2024