Another important feature was that Windows 95 (even the first version of it) came with Winsock. In Windows 3.1, one had to download and install the shareware Trumpet Winsock just to get TCP/IP!
I don't trust spaces in file names because I still do work in Unix and Linux online, and those don't work there. So I just don't create files with spaces because if I upload them, it gets wonky.
Also, it's important to remember that Windows 95 basically took Central Point Software's "PC Tools for Windows 3.11 for Workgroups" (https://youtu.be/Mg4tGcuzZaw?si=aChjA2CcVOm3TIck) and made it into a new OS - I believe CPS ended up going out of business because now the OS actually did what the CPS utilities had done before: You could have programs directly on the desktop that you could launch (couldn't do that on GEM!). And the File Manager was MUCH faster and more intuitive than in raw 3.11 - as with PC Tools for Windows, you could rename files, move files, etc., within the File Manager rather than having to hop out to the desktop as before.
Another important feature was that Windows 95 (even the first version of it) came with Winsock. In Windows 3.1, one had to download and install the shareware Trumpet Winsock just to get TCP/IP!
Yes, native networking was important. I remember needing Novell drivers for our work network with Win 3.1.
I don't trust spaces in file names because I still do work in Unix and Linux online, and those don't work there. So I just don't create files with spaces because if I upload them, it gets wonky.
Also, it's important to remember that Windows 95 basically took Central Point Software's "PC Tools for Windows 3.11 for Workgroups" (https://youtu.be/Mg4tGcuzZaw?si=aChjA2CcVOm3TIck) and made it into a new OS - I believe CPS ended up going out of business because now the OS actually did what the CPS utilities had done before: You could have programs directly on the desktop that you could launch (couldn't do that on GEM!). And the File Manager was MUCH faster and more intuitive than in raw 3.11 - as with PC Tools for Windows, you could rename files, move files, etc., within the File Manager rather than having to hop out to the desktop as before.
But ... for all that, Windows 95 was still awkward and dorky - kind of like Microsoft's CEO: https://youtu.be/lLPAUHdyjRI?si=Tho7nTZr3BMymfer
I missed all of this, as I was still a Mac user on System 7.5 in '95.