IT IS finally time to look at Windows 95. It may have been delayed until autumn and, some analysts predict, will be Windows 96, but now the beta 2 version is out it is starting to become clear what the final version will be.
It is also possible to look at how it has addressed the technological jump to the 32-bit world.
So, what does Windows 95 have to offer? Like OS/2, Windows 95 is a new approach to desktop computing. At the user interface level, it has been redesigned to become more object-orientated. Most objects, whether they are icons or the desktop itself, have properties that can be accessed through a right-button drop-down menu.
The redesigned interface has features similar to those that have been in OS/2 for several years, including page-tabbed properties boxes and a desktop-metaphor.
These are strikingly similar to the well-established MacOS environment, in which the desktop contains icons to access disk drives, folders, files and applications, effectively eliminating the need for the Program Manager and the File Manager.
Beyond this 'surface-level', though, much of the similarity ends. While OS/2 implements Windows support by installing a Windows 3.1 kernel over OS/2 so that Windows applications retain their familiar look and feel down to the radio buttons, with Windows 95 all applications, whether 16-bit or 32-bit, share a common, redesigned look and feel that is more three-dimensional with smaller windows controls.