Microsoft phasing out Windows 95
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 31, 2001, 12:20 p.m. PT
For Windows 95, the end is here.
Microsoft has taken steps to ensure that Windows 95 will become an asterisk in terms of
sales. One of Microsoft's most popular products among both consumers and businesses, the
operating system is still in use at many corporations today.
The licenses that let most computer makers incorporate the OS in new computers expired
Dec. 31. As a result, Dell Computer and other computer makers no longer install the OS on
new computers except under special circumstances.
"Beginning January 01,
2001, Dell is no longer
licensed to factory install
Windows 95," states an
"end of life" notice on Dell's
Web site.
In addition, Microsoft is not
offering the OS under new
volume licensing
agreements that it sells
directly to medium-sized to
large businesses, according
to company representatives.
The only place that the OS
is still being sold is in the
"original equipment
manufacturers' distribution
channel," the network of
distributors, dealers and
small manufacturers. However, sales have dwindled.
"Windows 95 is definitely a legacy, discontinued program. None of the systems coming from
the manufacturers has Windows 95 anymore. Everything has either Windows 2000 or 98," said
Mark Romanowski, vice president of services for Long Island City, N.Y.-based dealer Jade
Systems.
Still, Romanowski added, it's not impossible to obtain the OS. "We may blow (the pre-installed
operating systems) away and put in Windows 95 or NT 4, if that's what the customer wants
and they're uncomfortable with Windows 2000," he said.
Even then, anyone who has purchased a copy of Windows 95 through a dealer or even a
Windows 95 computer from a small manufacturer has had to pay for technical support calls
since last fall. With Windows 98, a customer gets two free calls from Microsoft and often more
from the dealer.
Windows 95 has been one of Microsoft's most successful OS releases. The company released
the software with a worldwide marketing frenzy in the summer of 1995. TV ads pulsing to the
haggard Rolling Stones hit "Start Me Up" flooded the airwaves. Lighted images of Microsoft's
logo were projected upon skyscrapers. A virtual army of golf shirt-clad Microsoft employees
were dispersed globally to distribute copies to computer fans who lined up at midnight to buy
copies of it.
A quantum leap
To some degree, the OS lived up to its hype and created a more enhanced Internet experience.
And in a relatively short time, it became a standard operating system for corporate computers.
"If you look at Windows 95, it was a quantum leap in difference in technological capability and
stability," Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald said.
Phasing out products, even ones that enjoyed a brief status as a pop culture phenomenon like
Windows 95, is part of the tech landscape. Windows 95 doesn't work with a number of new
devices coming on the market, so its exit from the market is inevitable.
Nonetheless, the decision to phase it out contains a financial motive for Microsoft, MacDonald
said. The company wants customers to upgrade to Windows 2000, the OS for business
computers released last year that is designed to replace Windows 95 as the business OS of
choice.
Windows 2000 adoption has been slower than anticipated. With Microsoft making Windows 95
difficult to obtain, customers will naturally gravitate toward Windows 2000, or at least toward
Windows 98, he said.
Microsoft uses other methods to encourage customers to shift as well, MacDonald said.
Microsoft Office 10, the company's latest application package, is not compatible with Windows
95, he said. Microsoft also will not provide bug fixes after Dec. 31 of this year, which
encourages migration.
A risk-management decision
"If you are a business, it becomes a risk-management decision when a vendor says that they
won't provide anymore bug fixes or security fixes," MacDonald said.
People really burning for Windows 95, of course, can get it. Dell, for instance, will sell the OS
through its custom integration service. To get that service, though, customers must order at
least 25 PCs, said Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden. Dell also charges an additional fee for
burning in the custom software.
Dell, however, will not "support," or provide consultation or troubleshooting, on Windows 95
installed on machines bought after Dec. 31 of last year. For help, customers will need to call
Microsoft, which will charge for the call.
Customers with licensing agreements for Windows 95 signed before the end of last year can
also continue to buy the OS as permitted by the contract.
The legacy of Windows 95 can be seen in Microsoft's balance sheets. The OS jump-started
years of growing revenue and profits for Microsoft and introduced computing to millions.
Ironically, the OS also contributed to the feeling of anticlimax that grips the company today.
Simply put, Windows 98, Windows Me and some other successors have not been as
impressive. Customers aren't upgrading just to get the new OS.
"There is not a whole lot of difference between Windows 95 and Windows 98 and Windows 98
and Windows Me," MacDonald said. "How many bells and whistles can you continue to add
before no one cares?"
Staff writer Mary Jo Foley and News.com's Joe Wilcox contributed to this report.
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