The Internet Archive breathes new life into more than 1,000 classic Windows 3.x games

[Shawn Knight]

The work at the Internet Archive is never-ending. After adding nearly 2,400 classic MS-DOS games and a collection of nostalgia-inducing interactive viruses to its collection, the tireless team has turned its attention to Windows 3.x games.

As Jason Scott from the Internet Archive recounts in a blog post Thursday, Windows 3.x was a pivotal product for Microsoft in the early '90s as it helped cement the dominant desktop paradigms that are still in use today. The era churned out some incredible and memorable software, many of which were games.

Now, more than a thousand classic Windows 3.x games (1,067, to be exact as of writing) can be relived right in your web browser. Many of the classics you know and love are there including Wheel of Fortune, Monopoly Deluxe, Hearts for Windows and two of my personal favorites, JezzBall and The Even More! Incredible Machine.

If you're "new" to Windows 3.x, the archive's Showcase category is a good place to get started. It features 49 pieces of popular Windows 3.x software such as MIDI Made Music for Windows Shareware version 2.11, Roulette, Windows Speed v1.0 and Election '92, an arcade-style game that lets players influence the outcome of the year's presidential election.

There's even a stock installation of Windows 3.11 and a demo of Windows 95 if you want to relive what the early days of Windows looked like.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/63791-internet-archive-breathes-new-life-more-than-1000.html

 

[DelJo63]

REALLY wish this kind of backward compat would just die - - it just prolongs the agony and allows archaic systems to persist.

 

[BlueDrake]

REALLY wish this kind of backward compat would just die - - it just prolongs the agony and allows archaic systems to persist.

So you basically expect everyone to buy systems, or do a VM so they can experience things from so long ago? What about those who never had the experience? Really seem a bit bitter to say the least, that people do this simply for others to enjoy. :\

 

[bobc4012]

REALLY wish this kind of backward compat would just die - - it just prolongs the agony and allows archaic systems to persist.

Just because something is old/dated doesn't mean its not useful. I still have DOS programs that I use because there is no replacement or anything comparable in today's Windows environment - at least nothing that does the job as well.

 

[EClyde]

Games? They probably all suck. I am going to try this place out though. It's a good idea. Being old I know that old games are not bad they are just old.

 

[thelatestmodel]

REALLY wish this kind of backward compat would just die - - it just prolongs the agony and allows archaic systems to persist.

It's not prolonging the agony, it's preserving a piece of history. In this day and age, there is no excuse for not having everything properly archived. Think of it as putting this stuff in a museum so interested people can take a look if they want.

 

[cliffordcooley]

People might also be interested in watching you take a crap in the woods. Are you going to archive that video for us? While the answer to that is likely no, I certainly hope so anyway, lets move on and suggest that not everything should be archived. However if someone is willing to do it, who am I to say one way or the other.

 

[pmshah]

REALLY wish this kind of backward compat would just die - - it just prolongs the agony and allows archaic systems to persist.

Just because something is old/dated doesn't mean its not useful. I still have DOS programs that I use because there is no replacement or anything comparable in today's Windows environment - at least nothing that does the job as well.

I concur. What I do fondly remember and miss is even older Nibbles that was part of Dos 5.0 Even today I do most of my automation through batch files using the current successor of 4DOS, Take Command.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

People might also be interested in watching you take a crap in the woods. Are you going to archive that video for us? While the answer to that is likely no, I certainly hope so anyway, lets move on and suggest that not everything should be archived. However if someone is willing to do it, who am I to say one way or the other.

Those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. Preserving software can create an easy-to-read manual on what NOT to do with software, from GUIs to business practices, and preserve software that still has legitimate uses.

If you see no value in old software or ideas, thats fine, but don't put down people who do want to preserve the past.