Microsoft Windows after 25 years: A visual history

Windows has come a long way since 1985. Where will it go next?

By Jon Brodkin, Network World | Windows, Microsoft, slideshow

Windows 98: Microsoft targets consumers, releases Internet Explorer

Release date: June 25, 1998

"The first version of Windows designed specifically for consumers," according to Microsoft, Windows 98 made it easier to find information on the Internet and on the PC itself. Support for DVDs and USB devices was added, and "it is also the first operating system to include Windows Update, a tool that tells customers when software updates become available for their computers."

Jon Brodkin is a Senior IT Reporter at Ars Technica. Formerly, he wrote about Microsoft, Google, browsers, operating systems, smartphones, cloud computing, virtualization and a whole lot of other tech stuff for Network World. Follow him on Twitter @jbrodkin.