@rahilmehta: If I remember correctly, I think Recorder was basically a macro "recording" tool. I guess somewhat akin to Automater on OS X.

radikaled

oh.. i think i just died a little inside. ~sniff~

Maxxofor

Windows 3.1? I can't muster a tear for your passing...but oh, look at the company you kept!

Netscape! Eudora! Telnet (and, thus, Pine)! Acrobat (before the incredible bloating)!

Those were heady days on the internet, when Yahoo! had a subheading for porn and was still run out of a Stanford dorm.

JacquesAss

I never actually had a computer with 3.11 on it. I went straight from ODS to 95. I do remember when I mom got an outdated computer from a coworker with 3.11 on it. As she was learning to use it people kept telling her stuff like "close the window by clicking the X" and she'd say "what X??"

Philnolan3d

is it me? or every new MS OS gets worse and worse.. I still like NT/Win2000 the best..

LordieLordie

I have an old laptop with 3.11 still on it. I didn't know MS still supported it all these years :\.

drywaller79

wow...I remember just running random apps (even disk utilities) like file manager, etc just because of how cool it was. This OS must fit on a floppy

iCanhasLs2plz

Recorder? Is that some sort of video screen capture? If so, I would really like to know why Microsoft does not include it anymore.

rahilmehta

Oh 3.1, I remember when we first meet all those years ago. Back when computers were new and fascinating things.

bobide

Good riddance. OS/2 was so much better, never mind AmigaOS.

bobdobbs

**snif-snif**

AJ_Syrinx

I remember 3.1.... wow thats scary. My uncle had it. He even had flight simulator, back when it was all flat with square white buildings. I kept hitting the keys trying to control the pain, but ultimately it just crashed and burned no matter what. And when it did, the screen would "crack" with a bunch of white jagged lines.

Thats really cool that it has still been in use all this time though.

enchantedduck

@FrankenPC: According to wickerpedia "IBM standard support for OS/2 was discontinued on December 31, 2006", and the last stable release was Dec. '01

Teira

@rahilmehta:
RE: Recorder

Recorder was the macro recorder I believe. You start recording, do some stuff (e.g. open 5 apps, copy a file from a one directory to another, delete a bunch of stuff), stop recording, and save the file. Then when you want to do it again, you just click on the file (or shove it in your start folder - autoexec.bat).

I miss that. :)

-KENT

kentsmithnz

Say....is OS2 still operating ATM's?

FrankenPC

OMFG....what a memory. You could simply copy the windows directory to another PC and you were back up and running.

Ohhhh the glory days.

FrankenPC

Even More reason to keep my Windows 95 OEM disk and my Internet Explorer 5 full install CD as well... probably will still be just as worthless, but maybe, juuuust maybe they could be worth something...

jmurph05

*Cry* I will miss you old buddy..... but hey, make sure Bob never comes back!

JackMatt

I don't know if this is factual, did anyone SEE what OS Packard Bells gaming PC is loaded with?

Mike8606

@Erzengel:

MPLAYER.EXE C:\WINDOWS\CANYON.MID
[virt.vgmix.com]

Woo!

bailey_ca

Windows 3.11 to Sing its Last (MIDI) Song...
i dont know about you, but MOD files were waaaay better than midi. and we got mp3 in that time anyway. 3.11 will always have a special place in my heart.

Erzengel

Win3.1 actualy had some features better than any M$ OS since. An example of this is in Paint you are able to seclect one colour to erase rather than all of them.

Also it's tiny! Setup on 2 Floppies! I have had a PC and Laptop running 3.1/3.11 (The laptop was within the last 5 years!)

Mrrix32

Jayzus I was a kid in my dad's office tinkering with that version of Windows back in the day.

xacked

Ah Windows 3.11, good times

axiom

It's really hard to believe it has been in use all these years - came as a total surprise to me..!

KVirtanen

Ah, college. Makes me appreciate the Mac so much more. :D

iomatic

I remember the days when 3.11 had a skiing game. I used it twice...
C:\windows
WIN

Then '95 came out and I had to partition my 540mb WD caviar so I could reformat it when I got sick of windows games. (about 8 minutes IIRC)

and there was my 2 double-speed (later quad) CD-roms with the latest shareware for my BBS....

ahhh, Memories,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories

oh, 3.11, I shall miss you
*sheds tear*

Blakamin

@Mrrix32:
2 floppies? I think mine came on 8, the last two only used for drivers for printers and stuff.

But even win95 fit on 20 floppies ;)

I remember how surprised I was when win95 came out and you didn't have to type "win" at command prompt anymore; I was kinda disappointed...

shinchan

You guys aren't real nerds if this is your first memory of a computer.

abemonty

@bobdobbs: "OS/2 was so much better" Yes, right up until you got the "crash of death" (2.0), and had no recourse but to reinstall completely from scratch from 50 bazillion floppy disks. Version 2.1 didn't fix that either, and the 3rd time in one year that it happened to me, I left OS/2 behind, and never looked back....

Mandatory_Field

lots of memories, that was an amazing OS

@aussie: id like to know the kind of compression you used, cause it never fitted on 2 disks, not even msdos (3 at least)

pharago

How can windows 3.11 fit on two floppy disks, be compatible with all PCs yet Vista needs a DVD to install and has compatibility issues?

We will miss you 3.11!

aussie

I remember my dad taking lessons on how to use Windows 3.1 and then like a year later we got a computer with Win 95 and he didn't know how to do anything on it. Haha but know he is much better with computers, although it took him quite awhile. Personally, i went from Dos to 95. Although I was only like 8 when 95 came out.

dman0586

@abemonty: Abemonty, I must oppose that. Windows 95 came out when I was 5, and I never even touched 3.11. We aren't real old-time nerds if we haven't touched something prior to 3.11, but do not insinuate the complete absence of geekdom in younger generations!

citizen.lambda

awwww :( RIP 3.11

I'll miss the days of my first online experience. The battle between AOL, Netscape, etc. I'll miss my 28.8 modem, and the screeching sound that came along with dial-up.

I'll miss you my first graphical interface, where you showed me that i can stop learning command prompt lines. I could then click an icon to open up Wolfenstein, instead of typing in:

c:\win\prgms\wolf_3d\wolf.exe

I digress...

wolfenstein-3d

@ Abemonty and all

I can understand where you are coming from. I grew up with an Apple II and remember trying to dial up to BBS. We had a SUPER OLD MODEM that required you to dial the number yourself on a phone, then lay the headset down on the modem and a speaker literally beeped and squeaked through the phone. It was music.

That and I remember playing "Sticky Bear Basket Bounce" and "Burger Time" from Walden Media. Those were the days!!

dallasmay

Lets all petition Microsoft to not kill off this too soon! With all of the trouble with Vista, I'm sure there are some people who would still like to use this time proven OS(ish).

(By the way, Windows 3.1 was never an OS, it was just a windowing system for MS-DOS. If your interested.)

dallasmay

@rahilmehta: it was a macro recorder.

Viva La Volvo

@abemonty: it doesnt mean we are not real nerds, it just mean you are old :D

Erzengel

Windows 3.11 - Microsoft's high water mark.

joel_roberts

"c:\win\prgms\wolf_3d\wolf.exe"

Uh, could you run Windows programs from the DOS prompt? I don't think you could.

dallasmay

Damn. I was a just-out-of-college store manager at a Babbage's (remember those?) when 3.1 came out. I remember having to open the shrink wrap off the boxes to get at the upgrade form that had to be filled out when the purchase was made. That sucked hard.

I also seem to remember that the 3.11 upgrade disk came out very soon after 3.1 because of some fairly big bugs in 3.1. (Wasn't there a major problem with the compression/drive space feature?) I think that the charge for the 3.11 upgrade was $1.99. No downnloads back then!

Mooby

@bobdobbs: Just let the poor thing die with some dignity, bob. I know you might be sore about losing the OS war to Windows 3.1 so many years ago, but it is all water under the bridge now. Plus, I don't see a new version of either of those gracing 90% of the market.

Ajax

@feckineejit: I'm a dumbass.

feckineejit

@Blakamin: The skiing game was "Ski Free." I still have it and it runs on XP just fine - although the monster is a heck of a lot faster on a 3 GHz machine...

riflehunter

@rahilmehta: sound recorder.

feckineejit

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 3.1, YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING! *weeps*

No but seriously 3.1 played a big part in my childhood, and probably made me the hunky geek I am today.

Shub-Niggurath

RIP

N@tedog iiinnnnn spaaaaaaace!

One random memory I have with Windows 3.1 is how long it took to load Word, just to type a letter. 1 minute, 45 seconds on my then not-too-shabby 486/25.

Those weren't the days!

lburgguy

My first visual OS (as DOS was my first ever). I loved that Gateway so much. I remember we had a computer but I didn't know anything, and neither did my parents. My dad got it just so we wouldn't be left behind I guess.

Anyway I'd fool around in Paint a lot and whenever I would exit it would always ask, "would you like to save the changes you made?" and well I was learning English still so I thought it was asking me if I wanted to save the charges (?) as in electrical charges, save my dad from paying for them? (I was an idiot, I agree) and so I would always hit yet. Looking back all those .bmp files I must've saved on the 170MB 486 must've heart us a lot. It was fine later though, as we upgraded from a paltry 4MB of RAM to 8MB at a cost of $120 or so.

Windows 3.11 was rock solid when I would play Skifree or Mario Teaches Typing or Doom (1 and 2). I miss that computer.

Usama

Yes... I could probably list the files needed to split user and system files for lan boot right now. Novell lan of course.

More useless knowledge.

Kevin O

My memories all come from early versions on Mac OS. I specially remember version 7, but I'm sure I used it before then, just I didn't pay attention to numbers.

Ya that's right, I was an apple user before it was cool. Go me.

Glaiel-Gamer

I remember getting our first computer. We also got some sort of manual with Windows 3.11. When my Dad turned on the computer for the first time we were trying to figure out how to get into Windows. My mom was reading from the book and said: The book says: "Go to File, Run and type: "win", then hit enter."

My dad's response: "Those books are never right, that can't be how you do it.

I, too, remember "Ski Free". So great.

KStrike155

"Later that night, alone in the backyard, he buried it next to the garage. Now I could never be sure, but I thought I heard the sound of CANYON.MID being played, gently."

Ubik2501

Oh man, that was on my first "real" PC "clone" that I got as a Holiday present for the whole family (I was married and had kids at the time). It was a 486 SX 25 which I eventually added a "doubler" to to speed it up. I loved learning how to use that damn thing. Commander Keen, Ski Free, and Wolfenstein, loved those games. I thought I was big $#!* when I finished Wolfenstein and none of my friends could! Remember how cool it was to resize a window and make it just the right size and arrange them on the screen just the way you wanted them?

maven2k

sadness I remember the good ol days of loading the OS via WIN

lilaliendog

Man, 3.1, I can assure i had been using a computer since Win 1.0, still, I never liked it. I'd always turn on my pc, and shutdown windows (the bitch entered by tiself, just like any actual OS does)

I only used windows for paint, and I filled a package of 30 5 1/4 floppy disk with my drawings. I can remember my dad was pretty pissed because I filles his 25mb hard disk, jajajajaj, still, he was amazed that I was able to draw something good with the mouse and save it on different dated folders.

Man, 3.1, i won't miss yous, still, I salute you

KristenBal

@dallasmay: You still can, even in Vista.

Dont Know Me? You Are Me.

Although it was far from being the first computer I worked with, my first PC was a 386SX/20 with 2MB RAM (later upgraded to 6MB,) an 89MB hard drive, DOS 5 and Windows 3.0. That one got superseded by a newer system (486SX/20) a couple of years later, and eventually we had a LAN of 3 (or more at times) PCs in the house that me and my brothers would use to play multiplayer Descent and Descent 2 over IPX LAN.

Eventually, when my Dad was working on a Novell Netware certification we got a Pentium 75 with 32MB of RAM and a 400 megabyte drive, and man, that thing flew (it could boot to Windows 3.11 in six seconds flat.) By the time we upgraded to the next system in line, we had moved on to Win95 though.

Vexorg

I remember the first time I had to use 3.1.1

I still get a little sick to my stomach just seeing those screenshots.

//I Love you Mac OS 6

EBone

Oops, pasted in the wrong window :(

twilight-arc

Other maps here: [www.gsmworld.com]

twilight-arc

It all seemed to make so much sense when there was a real command line.

@Glaiel-Gamer: Apples were garbage before they were cool (unless it was an Apple II variant). You should have had an Amiga. Go me!

capitalass

@Ubik2501: Hilarious! I just listened to it again and recalled old times. *tear*

Cetrian

P.S.

Systematic rhythm in control
Has left me in a world without emotion in my soul
And my desire, oh, it feels like fire.
Electrifying energy of life
Generates a power to a beat as cold as ice
And my desire, it takes you higher, higher, higher

Oh yeah yeah yi

Automatic songs that fascinate
Dancin' in a trance, my mind and body activated
My desire, oh, it feels like fire. (yeah !)
Accelerate the feeling everywhere
Electronic pleasure makes the music fill the air
And my desire, it takes you higher, higher, higher

Get ready ta flex,
I'll make you bounce to these rough raw rhythm
in your mind and the galaxies.
Cause in the '95 season size in a roll,
Pass the remote control.
So I can change it up,
I get a ten'n'a half for mashing the bass up,
And it don't matter what they say
I'm like a Pentium chip and every line carries 8 k
I come with the digital, electric pleasure,
Here comes the pressure.
Known to be the man on the jams I'm the Street Fighter 2
Coz my style kicks like kung fu
Or you can get open, I got a fat PC with a 14,4 modem
Now here comes the pressure,
My interpretation of electronic pleasure

cynep

@abemonty: My first memory of a computer was an IBM 360 mainframe...

infmom

*Proudly polishes the dust off his Windows 1.0 5 1/4 floppies, gently strokes the sleeve on Windows 2.0 floppies, gives a near and dear hug to Windows 3.1 and WFW 3.11 and even!!!! NOT VERY WELL KNOWN 3.12!!!!*.

Still got every single MS OS since MS DOS 4.0, even my boot floppies for various games. EMM386? Maybe... IF YOU'RE A TOTAL N00B! STACKER BABY, STACKER! DOUBLEMEM! All the fun little things you used to be able to do to WFW 3.11 :)

Did you know that Windows 95 OS was also included on Windows NT 4.0 Installation CD? He He He He.

Yeah, those were the glory days. Back when I had a 2400baud modem. Downloading 1 pr0n pic from BBS - 4 hours. 1 short .GIF? 8 hours. Fapping several times while the niple loads? PRICELESS.

I still remember the confusion of seeing a 14.4 modem sell for "only" $99, while 2400 were selling for $149.99! WTF?

And to the guy who worked at babages: yeah, I worked there too. I also witnessed MS Bob on those Packard Smell computers. I almost bought one - it had a 486 DX4!!!!! with 128MB of RAM! WOW! That was a killer gaming box :-/

And to think that my iPhone could run circles around my first 5 computers.... :oD

cynep

MPLAYER.EXE C:\WINDOWS\CANYON.MID

i can never forget the song

zhouec

My first PC, bought in 1994, had Windows for Workgroups (3.11) pre-installed. It was a 486DX2-66 with a whopping 8 MB of RAM, which was pretty good for the time, but as the first Pentium chip had already been released, I quickly learned I had bought into dead-end technology. Still, I had that thing for four years before the hard drive died and I moved on to a newer system using Windows 95 (of course, Windows 98 was out by then, so I was still behind, but catching up). Good times, good times.

Barion

@citizen.lambda:
and I firmly oppose what you say, because I have vivid memories as a 3 year old I played prince of Persia on a b&w mac.(And beat it) And I was born in 88! From OS/2 and DOS to 3.11 to even a trial of BOB, I had seen much by the time Windows 95 hit computing on head. So yes, your nerdiness is in question SEIZE HIM.
Funny that someone mentioned Packard Bell, that was the first computer that I HAD to upgrade from, 100 mhz didn't cut it for mech commander!

CrashingOut

Awww...had an old Packard Bell with Windows 3.1, that was the "game" PC. Oh Chip's Challenge, we had so many good times...

masterthundar

I can't stop looking at that screen shot. I had my dad's old laptop with 3.1 when I was a kid. For some reason I remember being scared of the MS-DOS Prompt; I never had a clue what it did.

lupka

All this talk of 386es and 486es...what happened to good ole 8086es with DR-DOS? Hercules "graphics" that rocked for basically playing Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Wishbringer? All those classic Infocom games that ran off the floppy? Wow what an upgrade Win 3.11 was.

headc4se