If you’re reading this and are young enough to have missed Windows 95 the first time around, then you’re one of the unlucky ones. It may not be anything to look at right now, but Windows 95 was something special when it made its appearance following the days of Windows 3.11 and DOS. Microsoft changed the way we thought of Windows with Windows 95.
So when we heard that we could relive some of the Windows 95 magic in all of its gray and green glory, we took notice. When we were told that we could get our Windows 95 nostalgia fix by opening a web browser and visiting a URL, we got a little bit giddy. For that, we make no apology.
Made possible by a 19-year-old developer in Scotland named Andrea Faulds, Windows 95 can now run in a web browser thanks to emscripten, an emulator that compiles C++ code to JavaScript at runtime. That means Windows 95 can be converted into something that can run in a web browser, to a point. Some things don’t work as well as they used to, including a bug that sees Internet Explorer crash. Thinking about it, that’s probably actually quite accurate to the experience all those years ago!
Legally speaking, things are a little murky here, although we can’t imagine Microsoft wanting to get too involved. Nevertheless, Faulds notes that users should treat his “Windows 95 in your browser” project as one for education purposes.
While Microsoft no longer sell Windows 95 as a retail product, nor do they still sell licenses or support for it (which ended on December 31, 2001), it is still very much protected by copyright law, and you may be infringing it.
Whatever the legalities, those of us that grew up playing Freecell on a Windows 95 PC will be pleased to be able to do the same again, twenty years later.
Point your web browser to win95.ajf.me to experience Windows 95 in the year 2016.
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