Editions
A number of different editions of Windows 95 have been released. Only the original release was sold as a shrink-wrapped product, later editions were provided only to computer original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for installation on new PCs. For this reason these editions are known as OEM Service Releases (OSR).
Together with the introduction of Windows 95, Microsoft released the Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 pack, which contained a number of optional components for high-end (486) multimedia PCs, including Internet Explorer, DriveSpace, and additional themes.
Microsoft initially indicated to make updates available to Windows 95 every 6 months in the form of service packs. The growing availability of Internet access meant that Windows updates could now be downloaded from Microsoft directly. The first service pack was made available half a year after the original release and fixed a number of small bugs.
The second service pack mainly introduced support for new hardware. Most notably support for hard drives larger than 2 GB in the form of the FAT32 file system. This release was never made available to end-users directly and was only sold through OEMs with the purchase of a new PC.
A full third service pack was never released, but two smaller updates to the second were released in the form of a USB Supplement (OSR 2.1) and the Windows Desktop Update (OSR 2.5). Both were available as stand-alone updates and as updated disc images shipped by OEMs. OSR 2.5 was notable for featuring a number of changes to the Windows Explorer, integrating it with Internet Explorer 4.0—this version of the Explorer looks very similar to the one featured in Windows 98.
| Release | Code name | Release date | Version | Software components | Hardware support | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System properties | System files | Timestamp | MS-DOS | Internet Explorer | DriveSpace | DirectX | FAT32 | Infrared | UDMA | IRQ steering | USB | AGP | MMX | P6 | |||
| Windows 95 (retail and OEM) | Chicago | 24 August 1995 | 4.00.950 | 1995-07-11 09:50:00 | 7.0 | 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Bugs | Bugs | |||
| Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 | Frosting | 4.40.310 | 1995-07-14 04:40:00 | 1.0 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Service Pack 1 | 14 February 1996 | 4.00.950a | 4.00.951 | 1995-12-31 09:50:00 | 2.0 | 2 | Yes | ||||||||||
| OEM Service Release 1 | 1996-02-02 09:51:00 | ||||||||||||||||
| OEM Service Release 2 | Detroit | 24 August 1996 | 4.00.950 B | 4.00.1111 | 1996-08-24 11:11:11 | 7.1 | 3.0 | 3 | 2.0a | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| USB Supplement to OSR2 | 27 August 1997 | 4.03.1212 4.03.1214 |
1997-04-10 12:14:00 | Yes | Yes | ||||||||||||
| OEM Service Release 2.1 | |||||||||||||||||
| OEM Service Release 2.5 | 26 November 1997 | 4.00.950 C | 4.03.1216 | 1997-11-26 12:16:00 | 4.00 | 5.0 | Yes | ||||||||||
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Famous quotes containing the word editions:
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)