retrocomputing

I would argue that multimedia came before win95. You can see many sound+video+more integrations on program-level before then (The installer for Command&Conquer is a legendary example. There'sa reason why the first setting the installer asks of you is your soundcard details.)

But it was with win95 the concept was embraced by an operating system geared towards it. And that's what allowed for many of the whacky UI designs of media players that came not long after.

That obsession with weirdly shaped windows with no window manager decor

Mmm... Sonique.

I remember downloading like a 1GB RealVideo video (over 56k dialup) of a South Park episode as a kid because we didn't have Comedy Central and I wanted to see it since everyone was talking about it at the time. I remember nothing else about the format aside it being advertised as super high def but the files were also massive and hard to find in the first place because NOBODY used it.

Realmedia player. They tried so hard to make people like it...

apps had so much soul back in the day.

This was lovely! Are there any other communities that share interesting posts from small blogs like this?

I remember updating the bios on my igabyte motherboard in 2018. The utility program for updating it was stylized as an oblong ellipse with green slime animations, blinking lights, and this was probably written in 2012 ( the time amd fx was a thing), so I guess the style didn't fully disappear even in the age of windows 8.