[Sharlin]

Windows 95 had Plug'n'Play going for it, even if famously it was more accurately called Plug'n'Pray in the early years. I don't think Linux had anything like that at that point, although it did get module support in 1995, so at least you didn't have to recompile the kernel anymore to get your peripherals to work... in theory, anyway.

[flohofwoe]

Plug'n'play certainly wasn't a reason to switch from Amiga to PC though, since the Amiga had that a decade before Win95 ;)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoconfig

[neom]

You're right. I totally forgot about hand rolling audio drivers. Nothing worked... But when it did... It felt cool!