Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Being Put Down in November
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Being Put Down in November
Posted 07/15/2008 at 10:06am
| by Paul Lilly
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If operating systems had an obituary section, it would be quickly filling up this summer. First Windows XP kicks the bucket (sort of), and effective November 1st, 2008, OEMs will no longer be able to license Windows for Workgroups 3.11 in the embedded channel. Believe it or not, the announcement will come as a disappointment to those who planned to purchase the 16-bit OS. While Win 3.11 has been long gone in the standard (retail/OEM) channel, the old code has continued to be used for specialized applications, like cash registers, train schedule displays, and other lower-horsepower platforms.
The November deadline provides a timely opportunity to give a gag geek gift this Christmas. Pick up a Win 3.11 license while you still can, and toss it in a stocking along with Windows 3.11 for Dummies. Hey, it beats a fruitcake!
Image Credit: Microsoft
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DePat
July 18, 2008 at 7:46am
Is Maximumpc ever going to take a look at Microsoft Window Home Server?
DePat
Marcus_Soperus
July 19, 2008 at 10:41am
DePat,
Use this search to find articles and forum postings about WHS on the MaximumPC.com website: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Windows+Home+Server%22+site%3Amaximumpc.com
In my forthcoming book Unleashing Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center, I discuss how to use Windows Home Server with Windows Media Center.
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It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.
Keith E. Whisman
July 15, 2008 at 4:22pm
An end of an erra that ended along time ago. Come on. That was'nt really all that long ago. I am pleased to have lived history though. I was 19-20 years old the first time I went online onto the internet using prodigy and browsing the web using Mosaic web browser. This was on my old 286 running Dos 6.2 and Win3.11 Windows for WorkGroups. I had a 40MB HDD compressed via Double Space or was that Drive Space to 80MB. I would bootup into Dos to play games and then at the prompt I would type Win and Windows would load and I could play around in there. Go online to a bulletin board or dial up onto the Web. Back then there was no porn. That quickly changed as people realized that something had to occupy the internet why not naked girls? Well there was plenty of porn on the bulletin boards but I never ever visited those honest.
Ahh Thanks for taking the time to post this news article. It truely is nice to look at that MS Windows image and allow myself to be flooded by lots of happy memories.
This was also the time that Linux was starting to go mainstreem. I remember seeing Boxed Redhad Linux on store shelves. Showing images of the Linux Desktop environment that didn't look all that different than Win 3.xx Alot of happy memories.
Doom, Wofenstein, Heretic, MSFlightsim, and lots of other games. Those were the days. Win3.11 worked just fine on CGA as VGA.
Thanks again I can go on and on..
horzo
July 15, 2008 at 3:16pm
Strange what people will be nostalgic about. When 95 came out, I couldn't dump 3.1x fast enough.
mikeart03a
July 15, 2008 at 12:44pm
Ah yes, I remember windows 3.11. One of MS's few stable and non-bloated operating systems or yore next to DOS and Win95 (in my opinion still one of their best OSes). I still have my original install disks and CD, maybe I'll install on a VM and take her for a spin again.
- mike_art03a
IT Technician
Gov't of Canada
TheDuck
July 15, 2008 at 12:47pm
The moment I got my hands on the Windows 3.11, I could not help but smile. I knew that O/S would be great from the first second I got my hands on it. I grinned like a fool once I discovered its true capabilites. Windows 3.1 still exsists and I still have all my programs I wrote on it. The time passed. I still was a fool to the OS (In other words: I still love it). The operating system is one of the best I have seen Microsoft create, along with Windows 98, 98SE, 2000, 2000 Server, Server 2003, and Server 2008. Oh, and along with Windows XP and 95. I will never forget Windows 3.11.
The OS was marvelous. Today I am using it for nothing... I play a little a of loaded games on it, and to transfer my files already on it to 3.5" floppy to transfer to another PC to be burned to CD, DVD. I loved the OS with all of my heart. But now, (Sob!) it's time to say good bye.
Marcus_Soperus
July 15, 2008 at 11:43am
... was built using WfWG 3.11. I was working on an article about WfWG 3.11 for PC Novice magazine at the time. Farewell, old pal!
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It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.
sirphunkee
July 15, 2008 at 1:01pm
You wrote for the original PC Novice? lol now that's old skool...I had a subscription when it first came out.
I just hope you didn't have to type that article on an IBM PCjr ;)
Marcus_Soperus
July 15, 2008 at 2:40pm
Nope, I missed the PCjr, although I did own a Z-286 computer (my unofficial Zenith Data Systems motto: "the weirdness goes in before the name goes on"; real slogan available here). However, I wrote that article and a lot of others from 1992-1995 on a AST 386sx-based laptop with a 60MB hard disk.
And, to top off the old-skoolness of those days, the publisher wasn't set up for email article submissions then. I was traveling the US as a computer trainer, and I carried a Citizen PN-48 "submarine sandwich" printer to print my articles (I still have the printer!). After class, I would tote my laptop and printer to the nearest FedEx drop box, start feeding single sheets of paper into the PN-48, and hoped (and prayed) that when the box said "pickup time 5:30PM" that they didn't mean 5:25PM. There were times I had the article printed and in the envelope with only a couple of minutes to spare.
To see some of the articles I wrote for PCN and its successor, Smart Computing, click here.
It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.
TheDuck
July 15, 2008 at 1:59pm
PC Novice wasn't bad... I still have copies of that good 'ol magazine. However, MPC is just as
good, maybe better. Okay... some articles weren't that good.
TheDuck
July 15, 2008 at 12:44pm
I completly agree with you... However, it will live on in the hands of the people who have safeguarded it for this long, and who plan to continue to own it. For purchasing it, I would advise following this link:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/missed-os
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