Windows 95 is now an app - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: gamalot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 08:41:01 am
content: Windows 95 is now an app you can download and install on macOS, Windows, and Linuxhttps://www.theverge.com/2018/8/23/17773180/microsoft-windows-95-app-download-featureshttps://github.com/felixrieseberg/windows95/releases

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 08:52:08 am
content: I remember the fun I had installing Windows 95 on an old 486.Surely you need a Windows 95 licence to do this legally or is it pirate?

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 08:59:12 am
content: Quote from: Hero999 on August 24, 2018, 08:52:08 amGrab a copy before MS calls in the dogs.

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 09:04:16 am
content: I think I still have my Win 95 licence somewhere...I can definitely remember the key

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 09:24:56 am
content: Someone port this to ARM, Would be a laugh to run on a raspi.

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 09:30:40 am
content: Source is on the download link, there's a Debian version so I think it'd be far from impossible to see it on Pi.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 09:59:38 am
content: While Microsoft isn't giving up their rights on old products, or anything, it is their long standing position not to supportor defendold products. They are well aware ofhttps://winworldpc.com/and have not submitted a takedown notice.A copyright can only be defended by its owner; if its owner does not defend, then the thing isde factofree (or, in colloquial parlance, abandonware).So, as odd as it looks -- and as illegal as it technically is -- it's fine while MS continues this practice.Tim

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 10:05:48 am
content: I know someone who still has a real Compaq windows 95 desktop PC for daily use and an HP Deskjet 510 printer. It's still going. I'm quietly hoping they die before it does or I'm going to have to fix it

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 10:33:12 am
content: Fix your computer terminology.It is not an "app" (slang for application). It is an operating system.

author: rjp
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 10:38:12 am
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on August 24, 2018, 10:33:12 amin this case its an app that provides a virtual operating system so maybe your pedantry is misplaced.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 11:21:09 am
content: Quote from: rjp on August 24, 2018, 10:38:12 amNope.https://www.trackvia.com/blog/apps-mashup/apps-vs-applications-whats-difference-does-it-matter/So DOS is a layer that calls BIOS interrupts on a PC, so is DOS an app, application, or O/S? Cygwin is certainly NOT an app. Windows 95 is NOT an app either.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 11:30:19 am
content: Nope. This is Electron which is basically a web browser with some tat round it. This IS an app. Says so all over their web site. It's for building apps. Appy appy app app:https://electronjs.org/The thing it hosts happens to be a virtual machine running Windows 95 which is of no consequence.It's turtles all the way down. It's an app that hosts a virtual machine which hosts an OS.It's an unholy abomination of a hack which is the correct descriptionAn "app" is just a packaged container for something else.

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 01:19:06 pm
content: Quote from: bd139 on August 24, 2018, 10:05:48 amMeh, they're easy. Big chunky components that you can see and repair without needing an electron* microscope to count the pins* May be slightly exaggerating

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 01:20:44 pm
content: I think I'll just use my Pentium Pro and real Windows 95c.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 03:26:57 pm
content: Quote from: CJay on August 24, 2018, 01:19:06 pmIt's more the software I'm worried about. I don't fancy having to deal with the "so the hard disk finally blew up and I didn't take your backup advice for the last 20 years"

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 05:29:16 pm
content: Quote from: bd139 on August 24, 2018, 03:26:57 pmVirtualise it, it'll run on pretty much anything

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 05:35:32 pm
content: I’ve got better things to do like playing with radios

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 06:32:16 pm
content: Wonder if the 49.7 dayscrashfeature is still there.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 07:12:07 pm
content: Finally I can use that copy of Win98Se I found still shrink wrapped, with the COA still on it. The rest of them we went legit upgrading years ago, bought a lot of new Microsoft PS2/USB mice, as that was the cheapest thing around that qualified you for the OEM version of Win98. Probably still have a few copies of the cumulative update CD's I made that had every service pack, hotfix and update for Win98 on them, along with being bootable and having the entire set of cabinet files and the setup program as well, to make restoring a dead or failed PC easier. Also had a giant set of all the motherboard, sound and video and network (don't you love how you needed the NE2000 driver and the inf files installed to connect to the network to download the driver from the Internet, despite being able to browse the local LAN with the built in driver) drivers as well separate. Those were around 600M eventually when Win98 went EOL.The rest were used only for the sticker, there were a pile of unopened packs, and the disks inside were a very common coaster.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 07:27:20 pm
content: Quote from: BravoV on August 24, 2018, 06:32:16 pmHaha I remember that. But then, the odds of a windows 9x machine actually running that long without crashing for another reason was quite slim.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 09:16:56 pm
content: Funny, had a Win98SE machine that typically ran for months at a time, running a single telephone logging application for a PBX. Only reason it did not get more was either hardware failure, or UPS running out of power due to long power outages, or somebody pulling the plug on it. Was scrapped when the PBX was upgraded around 5 years ago, and the new Samsung PBX is a lot less reliable than that Win98 PC was.I did have a lot of spares for it, spare formatted cloned drives, spare power supplies, spare motherboards and even spare PS/2 mice and PS/2 keyboards. Needed a serial port to talk to the PBX, and a parallel port for the software dongle, but the printer was upgraded to USB later on, even though I could use a HP printer and talk HPGL5 over the network to it, as all networked HP printers will support this. It thought the printer was a HP4MV, and did not care any further.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 09:23:47 pm
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on August 24, 2018, 07:27:20 pmRight?!?! Like, people have really forgotten how incredibly unstable the DOS-based Windows and classic Mac OS operating systems typically were, compared to their modern counterparts! (Like, they could be really stable, but that required painstaking tweaking and eliminating anything unneeded…)It says something about the ancient UNIX and VAX operating systems that their architectures (reimplemented as modern UNIX/Linux/*nix and Windows NT, respectively) are the foundations for all of our modern, stable OSes!

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 08:24:05 am
content: Quote from: tooki on August 24, 2018, 09:23:47 pmThey may be ancient but VMS and latterly OpenVMS is still running an *awful* lot of safety critical, financial and other secure stuff out there in the real world, precisely because of that stability.

author: PointyOintment
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 01:40:50 pm
content: I remember seeing what looked very convincingly like Windows 95 (though I think not all features worked) that ran in your web browser, several years ago. Is this just that packaged as an app using Electron?

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 03:08:04 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on August 24, 2018, 11:21:09 amThat link makes no sense. App is shorthand for application, though some will argue that an app is normally installed through an app store. Whatever the case, it's clear that there is no consensus what, if any difference there is. The world of IT is full of people inventing terms and others misunderstanding them. The traditional difference of apps being more mobile oriented has completely fallen apart since Microsoft introduced the Windows Store.It also seems you misunderstood the point of the thread a bit. The point is that Windows 95 is now run upon another OS as any other application would. That changes it from being an OS into an app.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 03:52:51 pm
content: I loathe the term "app" for anything outside of a mobile device. To me an app is a chopped down minimal piece of software meant to run on a device of limited capability such as a phone or tablet. It makes me cringe the way Microsoft is calling all software "apps" now, it feels like that awkward old guy trying to fit in with a group of teenagers by (mis)using their slang.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 04:07:57 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on August 25, 2018, 03:52:51 pmThe current rise of fully featured webapps that are able to completely replace the desktop application blows that definition apart too.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 06:26:03 pm
content: I have yet to find a fully featured web app that can properly replace desktop software. I've been forced to use the web based MS Office for work and IMHO it's garbage compared to the older versions of Outlook. Web apps are constrained by the limitations of running in a browser. The web version of Outlook can't integrate into the operating system so it can't display the popup notification or show the new mail status icon in the system tray.Other web apps I've used have issues with scrolling and zooming, and in some browsers clicking backspace will navigate back and clear forms (why some idiot ever thought it was a good idea to overload that button I'll never understand) and all manner of other problems.Apps are limited and inferior to proper desktop software. They have their place, constrained environments can require constrained software, but if I have a proper PC I want proper fully featured software.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 07:09:08 pm
content: Backspace is gone on most browsers now.Fastmail is a better web app than any desktop app I've ever used.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 11:52:08 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on August 25, 2018, 03:52:51 pmAs an old-school Mac user, I hate the connotation of the modern definition of "app". On the Mac, we always used the word "application" for an executable (with some minor exceptions, like desk accessories and control panels), and it was common for us to abbreviate "application" to "app". And that's where the iOS app store got its name, ultimately!Unfortunately, the rest of the IT world hadn't really ever encountered the word "app" before and mistakenly understood it to mean a slimmed-down mobile app. But with the explosion of smartphones, well, we're stuck with that now.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 01:04:40 am
content: Quote from: bd139 on August 25, 2018, 07:09:08 pmThere's Back to Backspace (for Chrome at least) if you miss it.Tim

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 03:58:02 am
content: Quote from: tooki on August 25, 2018, 11:52:08 pmI've called software "applications" too, but "app" to me is an abbreviated application, which is exactly what the modern mobile "apps" are.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 11:43:51 am
content: I understand. I'm just saying that the Mac world, where the word "app" originated from (as best I can tell), the abbreviation has been in use since the 80s.