Microsoft Visual Basic (1991) 1273 Windows

First released in 1991, Microsoft Visual Basic was a programming environment where one could build an application by visually creating the user interface first, and then adding code. In contrast, even the smallest Visual Basic basic programs could take reams of program code to write in C or C++. Visual Basic was extremely popular for business application programming. The language itself was an interpreted BASIC dialect, however speed was maintained through the use of reusable compiled libraries (DLLs and VBX controls). These however, limited application development to Microsoft Windows.

• 4.0

Microsoft Visual Studio (1996) 250 Windows

Visual Studio is an IDE (integrated development environment) for Microsoft Windows that allows developers to develop a variety of applications. It is a bundle of seperate programming products, including Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft J++, Microsoft Visual Basic, and Foxpro

• 97 (5.x)

Microsoft Voice (1996) 0 Utility Windows

Microsoft Voice is a voice recognition system for Microsoft Windows 95/NT.

• 2.0

Microsoft Windows Boot Disk (1995) 472 DOS

These disks are original boot floppy disk media for use with Microsoft Windows CD-ROMs. Not all Windows 9x/ME CDs are bootable, not all CDs included boot disks, and DOS will not see a CD-ROM drive unless a driver is loaded. OEMs were expected to provide compatible CD-ROM with the boot media provided with their systems. However towards the very late 90s, most vendors standardized on IDE/ATAPI CD-ROM hardware and the use of the OEM Adaption Kit (OAK) driver. If your CD drive is not IDE compatible (such as an MKE or Panasonic interface) you must manually add your own driver. Note: you can use the Windows 98 boot disk with Windows 95 to make things easier. If you have any UNTOUCHED OEM boot disks with different drivers, please submit them.

• 95 RTM
• 95 OSR2.x

Microsoft Word (1983) 98 Word Processor Windows

The Microsoft Word word processor was first introduced for MS-DOS in 1983. Its design made use of a mouse and WYSIWYG graphics. Its crude WYSIWYG/mouse support was a direct response to the Apple Lisa/Mac, and VisiCorp Visi On. Initially it competed against many popular word processors such as WordStar, Multimate, and WordPerfect. Word for DOS was never really successful.

• 97

Microsoft Works (1986) 83 Word Processor Spreadsheet Communications Database Windows MacOS

Microsoft Works was an all-in-one scaled-down Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Database geared towards the home user. It was released in variants for early DOS, Windows, and Macintosh. Microsoft Works competed against Lotus Jazz, FrameWork, AlphaWorks/LotusWorks, PFS First Choice, and many others.

• 4.0

Mindscape Complete Reference Library (1995) 0 Reference Windows

The Mindscape Complete Reference Library is a low end, and rather buggy, multimedia library targeted at the educational market. It included an encyclopedia, maps, almanac, dictionary, thesaurus, quotes, and a grammar style reference.

• 3.5

Mindscape Home Office Assistant (1996) 0 Reference Windows

Mindscape Home Office Assistant is a searchable multimedia collection of home business related books and resources. It includes content such as maps, business document templates, and videos.

• 1.x

Monarch (1992) 0 Utility Windows

Monarch is an easy to use business tool that extracts data from printed reports and mainframe data files that you can then import in to tools like Lotus 1-2-3 or Excel. Printed reports files are not always formatted in a consistent fashion - they are formatted for people to read, not machines. But this tool makes sorting through all of that easy.

• 2.x (Win)
• 3.x (Win)

MS-DOS (1981) 1046 DOS

Originally 86-DOS, written by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products, DOS was a rough clone of CP/M for 8086 based hardware. Microsoft purchased it and licensed it to IBM for use with Microsoft's IBM PC language products. In 1982, Microsoft began licensing DOS to other OEMs that ported it to their custom x86 hardware and IBM PC clones.

• 7.1 (CDU)

MSDN (1996) 26 Windows

MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) is the documentation for Microsoft's development tools, API's and SDK's.

• VS 97

MultiExpress Data and Fax (1995) 0 Communications Windows

MultiExpress Data and Fax 3.0 is one of a number of packages in the MultiExpress product series. This package includes MutliExpressFAX, a tool for receiving and sending FAXes, and MultiExpress Terminal, a terminal program for connecting to BBSes or mainframes.

• 3.0

Multimedia Cats (1995) 0 Reference Novelty Windows

A multimedia database, from Inroads Interactive, about all kinds of cats from all around the world. In the event of an Internet apocalypse, all you will need is this CD and a CD of cartoon farting clips.

• 1.0

MyDesk (1996) 0 Document Windows

MyDesk, from IOTA Industries Ltd, is a document search and organizer tool for scanned images. It incorporates Visioneer's PaperPort to OCR and index documents.

• 1.1

NetManage Chameleon (1993) 0 Communications Windows

NetManage Chameleon is a small and efficient TCP/IP networking stack and utility suite for Microsoft Windows. It includes an FTP client, Telnet client, E-mail client, and an NFS system for interoperation with Unix networks. Other GUI utilities include Bind, Finger, Ping, TFTP, FTP Server a TN3270 terminal emulator, Whois, and SNMP. Earlier versions ran on Windows 3.0 and 3.1.

• 6.0

Netscape (1994) 40 Web Browser Windows Unix MacOS OS2 Linux Other

Netscape Navigator/Communicator was the first commercial web browser, displacing the free NCSA Mosaic. 1.0 was first released in December 1994, and initially offered advanced features such as progressively rendering pages as they loaded. It quickly gained many other features and capabilities and became the most popular web browser in the mid 1990s. One reason for its popularity, it was licensed freely for personal and non-profit use, although companies were expected to pay for a license. It later competed with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari, and eventually was open sourced in to the Mozilla browser.

• 2.x
• 3.0.x

NetWare LANalyzer (1996) 0 Utility Windows

NetWare LANalyzer, originally developed by Excelan Inc, is a packet analysis tool for Novell NetWare systems. It can decode packets, gather statistics, and identify physical devices on a network. The original product was a specialized piece of hardware.

• 2.x

Newshell (1995) 1 Windows

Newshell, or the "Shell Technology Preview Update", is a shell update for Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 that gives it the appearance and desktop from Windows 95. Newshell is a beta product, and only meant to demonstrate how the upcoming NT 4 would look.

• Beta

NeXTStep (1987) 28 Unix

NeXTSTEP, from NeXT Computers headed by Steve Jobs, is a Unix based operating system designed to run on m68K NeXT workstations. It later became the basis for OS X, with APIs and concepts preserved today.

• 4.x

Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker (1996) 2 Windows

A customized version of Microsoft 3D Movie Maker that includes settings and characters from various Nickelodeon TV Shows.

• 1.0

Norton Commander (1986) 119 Utility DOS Windows

Norton Commander is a MS-DOS based file shell that was widely popular due to it's two column design. You could easily copy and move files between one folder or another, execute DOS commands and more. It competed against many other file managers including Gazelle Q-DOS and Xtree

• 5.x
• 1.x (Win)

Norton Navigator (1995) 0 Utility Windows

Norton Navigator is a set of user interface add-ons for the new Microsoft Windows 95 desktop shell geared towards power users. Rather than a complete shell replacement like Norton Desktop, Norton Navigator adds functionality to the existing Windows Explorer user interface.

• 1.x

Norton NT Tools (1996) 1 Utility Windows

Norton NT Tools was a precursor to the Norton Utilities for NT. It does not contain disk utilities associated with the Norton Utilities, but instead includes some of the higher level tools.

• 1.0

Norton Utilities (1983) 39 Utility Windows

The Norton Utilities is a suite of disk and system utilities designed to enhance system performance and stability. It started off as a set of disk utilities written by Peter Norton, and later was sold by Symantec. It competed against Central Point PC Tools and the Mace Utilities. In 2003, Norton Utilities was merged with Norton SystemWorks, but later split back out.

• 1.0 (95) for Win
• 2.0 (95) for Win
• for NT 4.0

ODS Menu Planner (1995) 0 Novelty Windows

Menu Planner is a rudimentary low cost application that assists users in planning diet meals. It walks users through a series of "wizard" style selections, keeps track of calories and usage, and provides users with a list of possible meal plans.

• 5.0 (Win)