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points by sedatk 3 days ago | 0 comments

I remember having installed Win32s package to our Windows for Workgroups 3.11 machines at Osmangazi University in 1995. The idea was that Windows, as a 16-bit operating system, could run a subset of Win32 apps that were compatible with the Win32s API surface. However, the release of Windows 95 had almost immediately made it obsolete. I'm sure it was useful in certain scenarios, but our only win was Freecell. :)

[–] WorldMaker 2 days ago

The big win of Win32S was getting developers to build Win32 apps ahead of the Windows 95 launch. Especially Win32S was one of the necessary building blocks to convincing some game developers that Windows was finally a good platform for game development rather than just assuming Windows could be exited and returned to DOS. Windows 95's launch would have been a lot less smooth if Win32S hadn't paved a lot of the way.

[–] toast0 3 days ago

> The idea was that Windows, as a 16-bit operating system, could run a subset of Win32 apps that were compatible with the Win32s API surface.

386 mode in Windows 2 (sold as Windows/386) and 3 was really a 32-bit operating system for 16-bit applications.

Win32s allowed some 32-bit apps to run on windows 3.1 and up. Including many versions of Internet Explorer (Microsoft also released ie as a 16-bit application, though).