What you need to know
- Windows 95's keynote launch event is viewable online in its entirety.
- Bits and pieces of the event have floated around the web for ages, but this may be the only long-form, all-encompassing video of it available online right now.
- It features Jay Leno, Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, and all the nostalgia you can handle.
Everyone loves a good Microsoft time capsule and a trip down memory lane. After all, remember that epic video of Steve Ballmer ripping off his shirt before going full-on Aquaman in Lake Bill? Well, this is your chance to relive that sort of historian hype via the full-length version of the Windows 95 launch keynote, now available on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
That's right: Some kind soul dubbed Blue OS Museum has uploaded the hour and a half, feature-length keynote for Windows 95 onto YouTube. It has everything you want: Bill Gates talking up the strange, futuristic notion of "electronic mail," Jay Leno doing bits and skits, and even some vintage 1986 footage of Steve Ballmer yelling and pointing fingers.
Windows 95 did a lot for Microsoft and the computing world at large, playing a big part in establishing the plug-and-play concept, the beginnings of today's Start menu philosophy (which some would argue Microsoft has regressed with Windows 11), 32-bit support, and loads more. So if you want to see where the magic began, there's an hour and a half of Jay Leno's chin up above worth taking a look at.
And don't forget about other iterations of Windows that have crawled out of the memory hole in recent times. Specifically, Windows 3.1 just turned 30 years old. You can thank that OS for your ability to copy-paste, among other things.
