I distinctly remember an interview on Win95 launch day where the local news was interviewing a guy in a computer shop about his thoughts. He was unimpressed. He said something like, "Mac* already does this and much better".
When the iPhone launched, my reaction to it was essentially the same as the guy in the computer shop. Boy were we wrong about the impact both would have on the industry!
I worked the Egghead Software midnight release party. Yes, people lined up at midnight to get a physical, boxed copy of Windows 95. Queue the Rolling Stones "start me up" that cost BillG $3 million.
there were Windows 98 midnight launches as well. People lining up outside of CompUSA to buy their copies.
3 of us had our Apple t-shirts (from the Apple "Demo Days" program) and lined up at a Sacramento, CA location (I forgot what chain it was) that had an Apple "store in a store" - media (radio) was outside and interviewed us on air about it. We fired up all the Macs, and our friend crashed the big screen demo with the c:\con\con bug.
