16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows

I really don't understand why Microsoft didn't build this when they released 64 bit windows.

16 bit windows wasn't complicated, and a simple VM and API translation layer could have kept compatibility going back 30+ years for not many engineering hours.

Yet instead they dropped 16 bit windows support and probably spent more engineering hours to support all the ancient software trying to update, and users who held back upgrading windows because they needed said ancient software, etc

Installed MS Office 2.0 some months ago with it just for fun. It actually works pretty well apart from the dictionary files, for some reason those are not recognized

https://files.catbox.moe/dy4bqy.png

I’ve used it for a week just I was curious:

1, is it good enough for modern day to day word processing (mostly emails)? Yes it is

2, can the modern word processors (Office 365, LibreOffice, Google Docs) recognize and open the files created with it? (doc, rtf anything but plain text) Yes they can

Nice, I will be able to play Civ2 on Windows 11!

In related news, with the latest WINE on Linux 16 bits/32 bits applications are supported, so I was able to run my beloved Civilization 2 without problems.

Oh my good, windows 3.1x.... good old times and a word application that never crashed!

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Finally, 16-bit Windows support for 64-bit Windows.