
Windows 3.1 written in JS/HTML - shawndumas
http://www.michaelv.org/
======
gfodor
seeing "Internet Browser" there made me imagine a fictitious scenario where
some time wormhole opened up and 20 years ago there was one special computer
that was in all ways identical to your average Windows 3.1 machine. the
difference, though, like cyberdyne technology from Terminator, it had
"Internet Browser" that nobody could explain but somehow had all the worlds
knowledge from 2014 sitting right there behind a single icon.

yeah, it's friday.

~~~
stormbrew
Well, ya know, there were browsers for win3.1. They didn't time warp to the
2014 internet, but they did work with the 1994 internet thanks to trumpet
winsock.

[http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/webbrowsers/Cello.png](http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/webbrowsers/Cello.png)

Those were the days.

~~~
guiambros
And using SLIP connections, with SLiRP on the server side, likely over a
1,200bps dial-up.

It was a patchwork of hacks, just to make Windows use IP over a serial line,
so you could use Mosaic and Pegasus.

Still, it was a magical time.

~~~
stormbrew
Yep. I felt so awesome when I got slirp working on the dialup shell I had
access to. Not gonna lie, one of the first things I did was very slowly load
some porn.

~~~
mark-r
Don't feel bad, I think porn was the "killer app" for the early internet. Not
faring so badly on today's internet either.

------
trevvvor
Minesweeper left + right together mouse button action isn't implemented. Also,
this version of minesweeper lets you lose on the first click. There is also no
high score. For these reasons alone, I am very upset by this entire demo.

~~~
alxp
Yep, no one who used Windows 3.1 extensively would put up with losing at
Minesweeper on the first click. MS was actually pretty nice about rearranging
the map so that the first click would not be a losing move.

~~~
whoopdedo
All it needs to do is move the flag you click on to the first free square
starting at the upper-left. The cheat helped me see this in action, but I've
forgotten how to activate it now. I'll have to look that up again to see if
it's implemented in this version.

------
crazygringo
Gotta say, it's the pixel-perfect Minesweeper that did it for me.

Cool little project. It's actually surprising to remember how intuitive
Windows 3.1 was. Simple to use and got the job done.

~~~
dpcan
I've believed this for years too! Yes, Win 3.1 was just so simple, made sense,
everything worked the same. There were windows with blue bars you could drag.
The - icon brought down window controls, you clicked icons, everything was
under the File menu.

But JUST when everyone was figuring out the UI, everything changed.

And to this day, when I'm teaching "mom/dad/grandma" to do something in
Windows, she STILL asks where the "File" menu is because that's "where
everything usually is".

Imagine how much LOVE MS Office would get if it went back to something like
the early days of File menus and small-icon tool bars that you could
enable/disable, etc? Well, I think it would be a win.

~~~
rlu
>> Imagine how much LOVE MS Office would get if it went back to something like
the early days of File menus and small-icon tool bars that you could
enable/disable, etc? Well, I think it would be a win.

All you're saying is people hate change. Conversely, imagine if Office has
always had the ribbon and then they switched to the toolbar menu UI.

Do you _honestly_ think people would like it better? The obvious answer is
that, no, of course they wouldn't because the ribbon UI is _actually_ a better
UI as it improves discoverability of features (and Office has hundreds if not
thousands of features).

I for one make better documents with the ribbon. I think even my dad at this
point has learned to be as efficient with the ribbon as he was in the old
world. Realistically speaking though it didn't actually take him 7 years.

The world isn't going to improve if we optimize for older generations of
people who are used to a certain way of doing things and dislike change. And
that statement goes beyond software.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
> _All you 're saying is people hate change._ //

I think it's "unnecessary change" that people hate, well on some level.
Current MS Office probably is no more of an effective solution than a very old
version of Word/Wordpress/Lotus for a large proportion of the population - can
you write a letter or CV with it? Yes, well there you go.

So why not give people what they want, familiarity, simplicity. For Microsoft
I think the answer would be that then they wouldn't have sold so many copies
of new versions of MS Office. It's largely sales/fashion driven rather than
meeting further technical needs of users.

People actually love change - the fashion industry is built on that
assumption. Shiny-shiny has probably sold far more tech and software than
technical needs ever have.

FWIW for me the ribbon based UI paradigm is no better or worse than erstwhile
standard of menubar+toolbars [but I've not spent long using MS's ribbons].

~~~
laumars
Too true. The past 15 or so years has felt like new Office releases were
dictated to by the need to sell more copies of Office to existing customers
rather than any major improvements to the application. I remember one release
where the biggest change was a shift from a MDI to a single window per
document.

Office has probably reached a point where there's little you can do to
actually make it more functional nor powerful, but it sometimes feels like a
con when the revisions are essentially skin deep.

(I will accept that 2007 did cone with some major changes though, such as
OOXML)

~~~
vxNsr
Actually Office, in my opinion, just had something added that makes it
infinitely better: Skydrive integration.

Having files autosave and autoupload after each save means that I never have
to worry about losing stuff ever again, I also happen to be completely bought-
into the MS ecosystem, with a WP, W8.1 laptop and W8.1 tablet.

------
mambodog
Alternatively you could just run the real thing :)

[http://jamesfriend.com.au/pce-js/ibmpc-win/](http://jamesfriend.com.au/pce-
js/ibmpc-win/)

Caveats: it's actually 3.0 and the mouse doesn't work... yet

~~~
codezero
mouse? who cares, there's wolfenstein!

~~~
Mindless2112
Where? All I can find are Solitaire and Reversi... which surprisingly enough
can be played with the keyboard.

~~~
stormbrew
Not really surprising at all, people actually used windows without a mouse
back then. Not a lot of people, but it was done and windows was actually very
usable. In fact, I'd say pretty much everything that mattered still worked
with just a keyboard until at least win2k, if not XP.

~~~
aaronem
I don't exactly use it a _lot_ , but I haven't spotted any notable regressions
in the keyboard-access stuff between XP and Windows 7.

~~~
stormbrew
Yeah, I only stopped my claim at XP because that's the last version of Windows
I _really_ used.

------
networked
A somewhat working mirror:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130328165947/http://www.michae...](https://web.archive.org/web/20130328165947/http://www.michaelv.org/)
(shows the basic UI but doesn't let you start any applications).

This reminds me of the whole "web operating system" or "web desktop" trend
[1]. It was pretty hot around the mid-noughties, or at least that's the
impression I got, but peaked in 2007-2008 without having produced a killer app
(tellingly, nowadays Google Docs and the like still don't offer you a
"desktop"). I tried quite a lot of web operating systems at the time -- mostly
to see just what they could do within the browser -- but, frankly, couldn't
find much of a practical use for them except to mirror my static websites on
the free webhosting with high disk quotas that many generously provided. At
least one, YouOS (YC W06), got venture funding but even their product didn't
work out (they pivoted -- successfully [2]).

Come to think of it, the way those systems got around the limitations of the
browsers at the time made some aspects of them pretty strange. One I remember
in particular integrated a real office suite with their Ajax apps thus: it had
a Java VNC client with which you accessed OpenOffice.org running on their
servers.

If you're interested in the history of the subject try exploring
[http://www.crunchbase.com/tag/web-os](http://www.crunchbase.com/tag/web-os).

[1] See
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_operating_system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_operating_system)
and
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webtop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webtop).

[2] [http://www.youos.com/](http://www.youos.com/)

~~~
shadowcats
Something that would be cool: implementing X-Windows in JS, using HTML for
rendering. So you could run your desktop applications remotely in the browser.

You'd have to tunnel the X protocol somehow to Ajax or Websockets, of course,
but that should be quite easy.

Edit: I ran into this: [http://blogs.gnome.org/alexl/2011/03/15/gtk-html-
backend-upd...](http://blogs.gnome.org/alexl/2011/03/15/gtk-html-backend-
update/)

------
mikeknoop
Michaelv.org is the personal website of Michael Vincent who, if you click
around, is a huge TI calculator hacker (I dabbled back in the day).

In fact, my very first web server was going to be hosted by him. I recall
sending him like $30 in the mail to host it way back when I was young enough
to not even have a bank account yet.

------
aaronbrethorst
No Ski Free, no deal.

[http://ski.ihoc.net](http://ski.ihoc.net)

Actually, this is pretty cool. Far more so, imho, than the "Web OS" or "Web
Desktop" craze a few years back.

~~~
leeoniya
deal on!

[http://basicallydan.github.io/skifree.js/](http://basicallydan.github.io/skifree.js/)

~~~
basicallydan
If we work together, we can all recreate the authentic Windows 3.1 experience
on the web.

------
ankit84
Is the operating system is about just simulating UI, file explorer, console
with CD, and/or a pixel perfect game?

The real deal will be remote desktop inside the web browser. I shall be able
to connect my PC (remote login) from anywhere in the world and use it's GUI.

~~~
ckoepp
Well, for a fun project a GUI is quite enough and I bet it took him more than
just a single day to do it. The title of this submission surly is a bit too
enthusiastic...

But don't complain - it's still a funny thing to look at, right? :)

~~~
ankit84
agreed, he took more than a day!

HN front page has seen many such implementations on JS to simulate OS in
browser. For last one year people are pushing the capabilities of Web-browsers
by demonstrating such examples. But now this is the time I expect remote-
desktops should come (without any plugin/java support).

------
jrockway
This supports HiDPI better than Windows 8.

------
alvare
I only managed to achieve 2 levels of recursion (that is, opening the site
inside explorer inside the site).

~~~
akurtzhs
Got to about 5. The address bar stops working at 2, but you can get to the
main site from the start page.

------
jaredsohn
One part of the early authentic Windows 3.1 experience for some people (that
is missing here) is having a DOS-based menu show up when you boot up your
computer and then clicking on the Windows item or typing 'win' from the DOS
prompt if you want to run some Windows-based program.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
...what? I had win.com in autoexec.bat

~~~
jaredsohn
Some problems with booting directly into Windows (it was eventually included
within my autoexec.bat, but not for awhile.)

* Some DOS-based menu programs were really nice. I grew up using X-Tree Gold which had a menu but was also really fast for doing file system operations.

* Some DOS programs wouldn't work well in Windows (programs using serial ports, games), even if you set up PIFs.

* While in Windows, you couldn't use your TSRs (so you'd have to run the programs in non-TSR mode and set up different hotkeys for them and get used to the changes.)

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Sure, but if you needed DOS you could always just exit Windows.

------
overgard
I appreciate the sentiment, but this feels almost nothing like windows 3.1. It
has the skin but that's about it.

------
shtylman
This is a lie. The internet browser is way too good.

------
ben1040
I opened up Media Player looking for CANYON.MID and was disappointed.

~~~
ghayes
I was pleasantly surprised by Youtube popping in.

------
sTevo-In-VA
Bandwidth Limit Exceeded The server is temporarily unable to service your
request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try
again later.

OK, Now I'm curious.

------
Aardwolf
Super cool!

One bug: Minesweeper is supposed to activate all non flagged tiles next to the
mouse if you click with left and right mouse button at the same time. (see
[http://www.minesweeper.info/archive/MinesweeperStrategy/mine...](http://www.minesweeper.info/archive/MinesweeperStrategy/mine_advanced.html))

(The problem is that this is so handy that once this reflex is wired in it's
impossible to play Minesweeper without that feature)

~~~
anonymfus
I think that using flags consume more time that you can save with such trick.

------
pjbrunet
For perspective, Zuckerberg was 7 y/o when Windows 3.1 came out:

[http://www.timeanddate.com/date/durationresult.html?m1=5&d1=...](http://www.timeanddate.com/date/durationresult.html?m1=5&d1=14&y1=1984&m2=3&d2=1&y2=1992)

------
elwell
> "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded"

Not sure if actual error or faithful representation of Windows software.

------
iamtechaddict
My favorite is MS-DOS Prompt, its almost working :)

~~~
stormbrew
"dir <dirname>" didn't work. :/

~~~
iamtechaddict
dir is working though, buggy MS as always :P

------
thought_alarm
This is just as baffling and upsetting as the original Windows 3.0 was in
1990. Well done.

------
freshyill
It's as awful as I remember it, which means they got it right.

------
hagope
Wow Notepad is still the same today!

------
randunel
Bandwidth Limit Exceeded The server is temporarily unable to service your
request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try
again later.

------
hashx
[insert obligatory comment about Atwood's law here]

------
amcnett
I am waiting for NortonDesktop.js to be implemented.

------
beggi
Cool! Just won my first Minesweeper game, awesome!

------
ewoodrich
Well done. Although, the embedded Youtube frame of Ron Paul on Stossel in
Media Player felt like jumping forward twenty years. :)

------
thwarted
What, no WfW 3.11 support?

It's almost too perfect... Windows 3.1 only had window resizing via a thick
stipple outline of the window border, and the included web browser reflows too
quickly, although that's a function of the hardware performance. It would be
interesting to run Win3.1 on a modern multi-GHz machine.

~~~
jrabone
Thanks to VMWare and some DOS network card drivers for the emulated hardware,
I do! (only for curiosity's sake - I have virtual machines of every OS I
owned.)

------
jxf
He took out all the fun parts. Can't "format C:", "del command.com", etc. :(

~~~
Iv
No QBasic either...

~~~
pjbrunet
or "edlin" ;-)

------
mratzloff
Fun fact: DOSBox runs Windows 3.1, and (on my MacBook Pro) it starts as fast
as this website.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
But where did you buy a license to run 3.1 ...

~~~
mratzloff
ComputerLand in Wichita, KS. 1992. :-)

------
kemo
I just went over your bandwith limit... first request worked, refresh,
exceeded :(

------
midas007
Faster and more stable Windows and Windows NT 3.1 on period hardware. Awesome.

------
mikeflynn
It was fun to beat Minesweeper 3.1-style! (Though, I missed the ability to
double-click on the number to clear the surrounding non-flagged squares.)

------
finishingmove
This is great, but does it have the Blue Screen of Death? Wouldn't be much of
a port without such an instrumental feature!

------
jon_kuperman
Someone should make a resource that allows you to see if your website is ready
for the front page of HN :/

~~~
pbhjpbhj
How would you establish the bandwidth limitations of the site?

------
tux
This has less bugs then original ^_^

------
mukundmr
Why I do keep getting an "Application Execution Error" whenever I click on any
app?

------
anilmujagic
"Bandwidth Limit Exceeded" That happens when you hit HN front page :)

------
nside
There are too many colors!

------
cturhan
509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

Awww come on!

------
leoc
The Web is just a buggy set of device drivers. ;)

------
WaterSponge
Good minesweeper implementation as well.

------
smilekzs
The pun on DPRK was hilarious.

------
systematical
This dude went all out.

------
DroidBurgundy
Ski Free anyone?????

------
agumonkey
dithered icons, beveled widgets ... hypernostalgia.

------
eonil
Wow, this is real!

------
TallboyOne
can someone find a mirror or something? :(

------
jokoon
inception is not innovation

------
inanov
amazingly stable

------
notastartup
My god...a flash of nostalgia.

okay so where is the github of this? I'd like to find some excuse to use this
library.

------
hydralist
i immediately went to prompt and typed format c:\

~~~
Sami_Lehtinen
What? c:\ Why, doesn't even work, it's not about path, but a drive letter. c:
is right format.

------
lafar6502
beautiful

