I was at the Windows 95 launch 30 years ago – I still can't stop thinking about it

I think I finally understand why my mind so often wanders back to that picture-perfect day in Redmond, Washington, and the Windows 95 launch event on August 24, 1995.

Put simply, it's a combination of the sensory overload of attending my first carnival-atmosphere-level tech launch event and the fact that I was 31 years old, and realizing that I'd found the career and lifestyle that would sustain me possibly for the rest of my life.

In a way, Microsoft and I had this in common: 1995 (and that August 24 launch) marked a turning point for Windows, which had, even with Windows 3.1, been a pale imitation of the Macintosh OS graphical user interface (GUI). Windows 95 put Microsoft's Start button approach to desktop computing in the hands of millions, cementing its ...