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Why a Linux User Is Using Windows 3.1

Posted by samzenpus on from the because-he-can dept.

colinneagle writes "About two weeks back, I was using my Android tablet and looking for a good graphics editor. I wanted something with layers and good text drawing tools. That's when it hit me. We already have that. Photoshop used to run on Windows 3.1. And Windows 3.1 runs great under both DOSBox and QEMU, both of which are Open Source emulators available for Android and every other platform under the sun. So I promptly set to work digging up an old copy of Photoshop. The last version released for Windows 3.1 was back in 1996. And finding a working copy proved to be...challenging. Luckily, the good folks at Adobe dug around in their vaults and managed to get me up and running. And, after a bit of tweaking, I ended up with an astoundingly functional copy of Photoshop that I can now run on absolutely every device I own. And the entire environment (fonts, working files and all) are automatically backed up to the cloud and synced between systems. But what other applications (and, potentially, games) does this give me access to? How far can I take this?"

15 of 415 comments (clear)

  1. Old software? by DogDude · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I use tons of "old" software every day. I use a copy of Paint Shop Pro from the 90's. I use DVD Shrink from about a decade ago. Windows XP still runs my entire business. It doesn't wear out. Congratulations to one more person for realizing that they don't have to have the latest and greatest software to be productive.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
  2. Re:BS by almitydave · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The answers to your questions are answered in the summary in part, and in the article in full. Perhaps you could try reading either or both?

    Anyway, he's a tech writer, so I assume it would be easier for him to call up Adobe and say, "Hey, I'm working on this hilarious project, do you happen to have..." This probably would not work for you and me. Plus, he's not a FOSS luddite, he has written several articles on using old software. The first paragraph of one about DOS:

    Every now and then a new piece of hardware, or software, is released that causes me to pause and think, "Why, on Earth, do we update our tech so often? What, exactly, can I do with the latest stuff that wasn’t possible with the previous version?"

    So that should answer that question.

    --
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  3. Re:hellz yes by Guspaz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, let me get this straight... Instead of running an NES emulator directly on your Android tablet (and there are plenty such emulators available), you're going to run an NES emulator on top of Windows 3.1 on top of DOS inside of an x86 emulator on top of Android?

  4. Re:You can apparently get GIMP on Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Switching from Photoshop to GIMP is like switching languages, it's going to be a bumpy transition if you try to get things done right away.

    I guess what I'm saying is that they do the same things, but in very different ways. If the tech writer can get Win 3.1 up and running on his Android tablet in a couple days it is still better than spending weeks trying to re-learn everything you "know" in Photoshop in GIMP

  5. Re:Android shmandroid by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, but then the problem is, then you have to run Windows 8.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  6. Re:I've done this with Dosbox too but... by mcgrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What is it with all you free market anti-nerds?? Your solution isn't "use your brain to hack out a solution," It's "SPEND MONEY! WE LOVE MONEY! WE WORSHIP MONEY!"

    I'm annoyed at this stupid attitude. Did you get here by mistake, thinking it was Forbes or Business Week? We're nerds. We don't buy solutions, we create them. My hat is off to the guy you're putting down, a creative solution to a problem. If your answer to problems is always "pull out the credit card" you are at the wrong site.

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
  7. Re:... so. by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Says something about Gimp, doesn't it?

  8. Hardware, file formats, and Internet security by tepples · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What, exactly, can I do with the latest stuff that wasn’t possible with the previous version?

    For one thing, you can continue to use it after the hardware compatible with the previous version has failed. I've been told that a lot of new laptops sold with Windows 8 have Wi-Fi chips with no Windows 7 driver.

    For another, you can exchange documents with users of later versions. After a particular version of a program reaches its announced end of life, the program's publisher stops making plug-ins to read the latest version's file format. (Some publishers don't release such plug-ins at all.) Try opening a modern PSD in the old Photoshop for Windows 3.1 and see what error message doesn't pop up.

    For another, you can continue to use supported software on the public Internet even after a researcher has discovered security vulnerabilities because supported software gets patched.

    1. Re:Hardware, file formats, and Internet security by jythie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Those are really examples of artificial obsolesces though. They are real and thus represent legitimate reasons to keep up to date, but they do not actually represent improvements that benefit the user. So it is not a case of 'what can the new stuff do that the old could not' and more 'new stuff is only compatible with other new stuff, so since other people are buying it I will have to'.

    2. Re:Hardware, file formats, and Internet security by NicBenjamin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What, exactly, can I do with the latest stuff that wasn’t possible with the previous version?

      For one thing, you can continue to use it after the hardware compatible with the previous version has failed. I've been told that a lot of new laptops sold with Windows 8 have Wi-Fi chips with no Windows 7 driver.

      That's true, but it's not really relevant in this case. DOSBox gets ported to everything, which means that using an ancient version of Photoshop that is DOSBox and Win 3.1 compatible means you won't have to worry about upgrading your software until DOSBox goes away.

      That won't happen until the millions upon millions of geeks who want to have the ability to fire up a copy of a circa-1990 DOS Computer game die.

      And let's be honest here: that is not gonna happen in the foreseeable future. DOSBox will almost certainly be ported to anything created within the next 20-30 years.

      For another, you can exchange documents with users of later versions. After a particular version of a program reaches its announced end of life, the program's publisher stops making plug-ins to read the latest version's file format. (Some publishers don't release such plug-ins at all.) Try opening a modern PSD in the old Photoshop for Windows 3.1 and see what error message doesn't pop up.

      So?

      If you're a pro trying to share Word Documents with an entire DevTeam using Word 95 is probably pretty damn stupid. If you're a guy who knows Word 95 really well, and doesn't want to bother learning the crap MS has added since then, then you'll be cool. Everyone will be able to read your plain .doc files, and if need to read their .docx files then you probably should have a copy of a slightly less primitive Word Processor, too.

      Apparently Photoshop is even more forgiving, and this guy should be able to (in theory) open up other people's files fine.

      For another, you can continue to use supported software on the public Internet even after a researcher has discovered security vulnerabilities because supported software gets patched.

      It's not hard to simply not connect DOSBox to the internet. If you need to add a file to your DOSBox you can move it to DOSBox with your computer's native file system, not by firing up an ancient version of Netscape. If you want to share said file on Facebook you'll do it with your main computer's browser, not something from DOSBox.

      It's not like you were likely to be working on a multi-million $ project using an emulator on your goddamn cell phone. It's not like DOSBox can have your bank passwords, or some attacker could get said passwords from your DOSBox without first hacking your main OS.

      What you're mostly using it for is a) the ability to do simple tasks without using new software, and b) the ability to show your fellow geeks Rube-Goldberg-esqe software architecture that actually makes sense.

  9. Re:I've done this with Dosbox too but... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We're nerds. We don't buy solutions, we create them.

    Absolutely true for nerds. But some of us are geeks. We'll buy stuff if it's the best solution given the requirements (sometimes with extreme prejudice).

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
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  10. Re:Take my advice on this: by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you don't think that's impressive, then you clearly never ran COREL Draw.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  11. Re:I've done this with Dosbox too but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    SPEND MONEY! WE LOVE MONEY! WE WORSHIP MONEY!

    Once you grow up, you realize that's frequently the equivalent of:

    SAVE TIME! WE LOVE TIME! WE WORSHIP TIME!

  12. Re:I've done this with Dosbox too but... by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Funny way to spell consumer.

    By your definition everyone would be a geek.

  13. Wrong message by freeze128 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The typical "blue screen" error message in windows 3.1 was "Unexpected Application Error". This was before the days where each application had it's own memory space, so it usually required you to exit windows, or worse, reboot.