IT... Computing....

[Reese Riverson]

XP is a generally a great target OS for games between 2003 and 2010.
But I wouldn't marry it.

Just like Hunch won't marry a guitar?

I definitely really liked XP out of all the Windows versions I've used, one of the more memorable ones for me along with the likes of 98. I echo the sentiment though, I'm not going to marry an OS.

Yeah, though my most memorable OSes are Windows 3.1, Windows 98SE, and Windows 2000.

[dr_st]

Well, it must be the OSes we used that are the most memorable to us.

The ones I've used extensively are DOS (and Win3.1, which is technically just a very clever shell on top of DOS),
Windows 98SE (having mostly skipped 95) which was on my longest-running retro PC, finally disconnected last year and put in storage for lack of use)
XP, Vista, Win7. I used to like Vista a lot because of how people kept saying how crappy it was and I knew that not to be the case (at least since SP1 where it matured and stabilized; I ran it on my primary desktop from 2008 till 2018, when program compatibility finally bogged down).
Now most of my active computers use Windows 10, some use Windows 11, and a few retro systems still use Windows 7 or XP (if they are older). However, I no longer feel special attachment to any OS. They are just tools.

[Reese Riverson]

I really had no issues with Vista either, I liked it and I enjoyed it's UI and appearance. I wish I had the glass aero on modern windows.

[dr_st]

I really had no issues with Vista either, I liked it and I enjoyed it's UI and appearance. I wish I had the glass aero on modern windows.

Oh yes. I've been saying this for years - in terms of desktop UI appearance and style - Vista / Win7 were the pinnacle of Microsoft's solutions. Ever since Win8 "pooped in the sink" with the terrible modern UI, Microsoft has been slowly trying to fix it, but it hasn't gotten there yet.

[Steo]

Yeah I agree here. I have no idea what they were all thinking when they went to this flat style. They had it at Vista and 7. I even liked how XP looked because it seemed vibrant, but they really went backwards after 7.

[Reese Riverson]

Uh, yeah, ever since they pulled that with Windows 8 and continued it into 10, I just hated it. I still do. I absolutely agree that Windows Vista / 7 were peak of their UI design. Though they've gone even farther backwards with Windows 11 in many ways, I feel.

[PluMGMK]

Isn't 11 kinda glassy like 7 was?

[Reese Riverson]

Not quite, if it were I'd be complaining a lot less about it.

[Steo]

The irony is that my KDE Plasma theme is a default dark (grey) one. With how much I'd complained about the UI of modern Windows, you'd think I'd have changed it to something else.

[PluMGMK]

I wonder if the DWM on 8/10/11 takes more resources than the Vista/7 one despite not doing those expensive compositing effects anymore. I should probably look into that

[Reese Riverson]

I'd be curious about that too, so please let us know if you do look into it, Plum!

[PluMGMK]

By "look into" I meant search it up on DuckDuckGo. I don't really have an interest in looking at Win7 versus Win10 on my hardware

[EdgyRabbid]

You guys actually are giving me inspiration to go look more into the inner workings of my XP pc. I’m not smart, but I will try to learn how to break the limits of the thing. I know the basics, and can use most of the programs… but I wonder if I can mod it to get programs like the old messaging app to work. I’m gonna try to make it fully secure again!

[Reese Riverson]

Here ya go: ACEDEMO.PNG The taskbar is there because I use the Calmira XP shell

Alright, I wanted more than what DOSBOX can give me, so I did the next best thing and did a nice complete install on 86box for Windows 3.11. Since the Matrox cards give some pretty good results, here's what I've got:

Especially since the official Windows 3.1 drivers do actually support 1600x1200 24-bit color. I'm using a SoundBlaster AWE64 Gold, which are the actual audio cards I have anyway. So my install disc was perfect for this.

So if there are any fun goodies you suggest, I'd love to hear!

[dr_st]

Isn't 11 kinda glassy like 7 was?

It's more curvy (than 10), but not glassy yet. Microsoft's UI team might gradually be shifting back towards the old looks, or trying to find a better middle ground.

[Steo]

I know Apple are going back towards the glassy look since iOS 26 looks like that again. I'm glad to see things shift back in that direction again.

As for the Windows 3.1 stuff, I'll be trying that later.

[PluMGMK]

Come to think of it, maybe Windows 3.1 could be made to look glassy. Just change around a few arguments to PatBlt inside the UI renderer, and Bob's your uncle...

[Reese Riverson]

Come to think of it, maybe Windows 3.1 could be made to look glassy. Just change around a few arguments to PatBlt inside the UI renderer, and Bob's your uncle...

Alright, go try it out and report back to us.

I may have been an influence on Steo and Fifo lately, causing them to work on their Windows 3.1 systems as well.

[Steo]

Well it's kind of fun. There is so much charm to these older OS that just isn't a thing anymore. I believe there were several gimmicks with the older versions which has very limited hardware capabilities, and I feel it was even a similar situation with gaming. People really did what they could within the limitations to make things fun.

[Reese Riverson]

Yeah, and apparently with the system configuration, my physical disc copy of King's Quest VII is the original version, which normally had ran fine. Though this system reveals it's bugs quite readily, and early on. Version 2.00b that I had to get seems to be fine thus far:

Kings Quest VII - Reese's Win3x

This version also doesn't complain about the fact I'm not running in 256 color mode either.