Windows 95, a study in good design?

"We don’t often think of Windows 95 as a shining example of user interface design and usability. It was slow on the hardware of the day, it crashed often, and many of its claimed “innovations” were copied from Apple and others.

All of that said, Windows 95 was a big leap for visual user-interfaces at the time. Even if it didn’t break new ground in design, it was significant if only because it brought many of the visual user-interface design innovations of the previous decade to a massive audience.

The Windows 95 user interface design team used an iterative design process where they would come up with an idea, build a quick/rough implementation, and try it out on users. Then, based on how people fared using the design, they would try again. Rinse, lather, repeat." (Via Acts of Volition)