[HN Gopher] Emulated Windows 3.11 in the Browser
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       Emulated Windows 3.11 in the Browser
        
       Author : jalev
       Score  : 149 points
       Date   : 2026-02-22 17:37 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (pieter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (pieter.com)
        
       | VerifiedReports wrote:
       | "For the best experience, use Chrome."
       | 
       | That's not Windows 3.11. That kind of thing is circa 2000, and a
       | state none of us should want the Web to return to.
        
       | xavortm wrote:
       | Look at how fast Excel loads. Compare to modern high-end PC with
       | it's latest version.
        
       | achairapart wrote:
       | Exited to dos, found Bubble Bobble in GAMES directory and started
       | to play. And that's mostly what I used to do as a kid at the
       | times of Windows 3.11!
        
       | smusamashah wrote:
       | Can we have icons like these again please.
       | 
       | I started from Windows 98 and always loved the icons. They
       | actually represented the application and purpose. These days they
       | are more focused on looking modern. Lots of times they are not
       | even distinguishable between each other.
        
         | rzzzt wrote:
         | C:\Windows\System32\moricons.dll is still available, you can
         | set them on shortcuts in Properties with the "Change icon"
         | button.
        
           | M95D wrote:
           | Moricons.dll had icons for various DOS programs like word
           | perfect.
           | 
           | The icons used in desktop are/were in progman.exe,
           | shell32.dll and control.exe (IIRC, it was a long time ago).
        
             | sillywalk wrote:
             | Raymond Chen has more on this:
             | 
             | What were the MS-DOS programs that Windows used the
             | progman.exe stock icons for?
             | 
             | https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20250506-00/?p=1
             | 1...
             | 
             | What were the intended uses of those icons in moricons.dll?
             | 
             | https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20250505-00/?p=1
             | 1...
        
         | owlstuffing wrote:
         | Indeed! The UI _in general_ is more intuitive compared with mod
         | flat bs.
        
       | cyberax wrote:
       | Ah. Every time I look at the UI, I realize just how much the
       | modern UI/UX degraded.
       | 
       | We had clear colorful icons, text labels, scrollbars, clearly
       | distinguishable checkboxes. And now we have UI that actively
       | promotes "rebelliousness" and "being in the know".
        
       | alexjplant wrote:
       | The long pause after "Verifying DMI Pool Data..." as the disk
       | image downloaded aroused a dormant feeling of dread in me as I
       | panicked and wondered why Windows wasn't loading... back in the
       | day it meant getting yelled at for "breaking" the computer and
       | tasked with spending the day reinstalling Windows and everybody's
       | programs.
       | 
       | Nostalgia tends to make things seem better than they were.
       | Moments like this remind me how much tech has improved over the
       | years.
        
         | M95D wrote:
         | I used a doublespace/drivespace volume for Windows. Backup was
         | just booting from a floppy and making a copy of that file.
         | Reinstall was "format c:", "sys a: c:", copy the volume file
         | and dblspace.ini from backup.
        
       | eqvinox wrote:
       | IPv6 seems broken on this website.
        
       | dachris wrote:
       | Started the Visual Basic dev env, added a button to the form,
       | MsgBox "Hello World", and it worked.
       | 
       | So simple, so easy. Those were the days.
        
         | pjmlp wrote:
         | You can still have that experience with VB.NET, C#, Delphi,
         | FreePascal, Gambas, Xojo and C++ Builder.
         | 
         | Instead folks go with Electron crap.
        
         | zabzonk wrote:
         | Well, MessageBox() in the Win32 API is just a simple C function
         | call: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-
         | us/windows/win32/api/winuser/...
         | 
         | I wrote a blog about this many years ago:
         | https://latedev.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/simple-windows-dial...
        
           | dcrazy wrote:
           | It's everything leading up to the MessageBox() call that VB
           | makes trivial.
        
       | pjmlp wrote:
       | Love the experience, and it has been a while that I haven't seen
       | a BIOS system configuration, what a throwback.
        
       | cheema33 wrote:
       | Very impressive. Does anybody know the technical details of how
       | this demo was put together?
        
         | Gormo wrote:
         | Looks like it's a really polished deployment of em-dosbox, i.e.
         | DOSBox via Emscripten.
        
       | amiga386 wrote:
       | I feel personally attacked. I still use that exact mousepad from
       | 1994. It's a 32 year old mousepad.
        
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       (page generated 2026-02-23 23:02 UTC)