[fredley]

Asker of the question here, you are indeed spot on, Windows 95 was the first OS I used!

The train of reasoning here reminds me of another story (which I think has been on HN before): Why is a space shuttle engine 4' 8.5" wide?

http://www.astrodigital.org/space/stshorse.html

[slavik81]

Snopes suggests that story is a little inaccurate: http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp