The historical video recording of the promotional campaign of the Windows 95 operating system, which for many years was considered lost and was known only by textual descriptions, has finally appeared in free access. Now everyone can see the legendary video of Bill Gates, where the founder of Microsoft, with a double-barreled gun in his hands, talks about the advantages of the company’s graphic technologies right against the background of the hellish scenery of the Doom shooter.
Legendary performance of Bill Gates
This is an archival video message prepared specifically for attendees of the closed Judgment Day gaming event held in October 1995. As part of this performance, the head of Microsoft tried on the image of a brutal hero: he appeared on the screen in a classic dark trench coat and with a double barrel, reading the presentation of the new operating system. Gates’ main goal was to convince game developers to switch from DOS to Windows 95.
To promote its platform, Microsoft used an unusual strategy, literally turning to the demons of hell from the mega-popular game Doom. The main technical emphasis in the address was the promotion of DirectX technology. At that time, this technology was just emerging and was supposed to completely replace the complex and outdated MS-DOS toolkit, significantly facilitating the process of creating 3D games for PC.
This vivid episode was described in detail in David Kushner’s book “Masters of Doom”, but for a long time it existed only in the form of a text report or oral accounts of eyewitnesses who were present at the Judgment Day event.
When the video appeared and where to find it
Bill Gates’ original speech dates back to 1995. The video recording of the performance was considered lost, but archivists from the @LostMemeArchive account on the social network X (formerly Twitter) managed to find it and publish it in the open access almost 30 years later. Now the legendary Windows 95 ad is available for viewing by all gamers and fans of the retro industry.
Features and interesting nuances of advertising with Doom
Although the quality of the published two-minute clip leaves much to be desired due to the limitations of the VHS era, this historical spectacle makes up for all the shortcomings of the picture. In the middle of the video, there is a funny gameplay moment: right during a pathetic monologue, Gates is interrupted by one of the Doom demons, after which the head of Microsoft calmly turns around and spectacularly shoots the monster with his gun.
Thanks to this extraordinary step and the subsequent triumphant release of the port of DOOM under Windows 95 with high-tech graphics at the time, developers from all over the world paid attention to the Microsoft system, turning personal computers into a full-fledged competitor of Playstation and Sega consoles.
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