The Two Holograms on Windows 95 Boxes
Did you know there are two different holograms on old Windows 95 boxes? One showed a headless child pointing at Microsoft on a monitor, which prompted a government complaint and forced Microsoft to change the design.
These anti‑piracy holograms were meant to prove a copy of Windows 95 was genuine. They were extremely difficult to counterfeit, so even a perfect box replica would still look suspicious.
The original design featured a baby without a shirt pointing at the PC. A government, wishing to stay anonymous, noticed the topless baby and assumed the figure was completely naked, leading Microsoft to rush a second version with a clothed baby that no longer pointed at the logo.
Chen explained in a 2003 blog post that the hologram’s “Rorschach test” effect made a shirtless baby a prized collector’s item. Since Windows 95 shipped in 1995, the child would now be at least thirty years old.
More recently, a YouTube clip of the original half‑dressed baby resurfaced, making the hologram rare. The video’s title reads:
Lenticular hologram in an MS Windows 95 COA – YouTube
In 2003 Chen lamented that Windows “brings out the Rorschach test on everyone,” and hoped Windows 12 would feature a recreation of the hologram with the man now in his thirties, while keeping the monkey.
