Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
Twitter: twitter.com/fossfirefighter
Discord: discord.gg/V8esNah
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In this episode of studying ancient code bases, our valliant host tortures himself through trying to compile Word for Windows 1.1a. Originally released in 1989, Word for Windows would eventually take over as the domiant word processing solution from the late 90s to today.
In 2014, Microsoft donated the source code of Word for Windows 1.1a to the Computer History Museum (computerhistory.org/) who has made it available on their website. While a few people have compiled Winword from source, no one that I could find has tried to build it using the OS/2 version of the tools. For various reasons, trying to build it under DOS is an exercise of frustration, and I strongly suspect Microsoft developed on top of OS/2 extensively for multiple reasons.
Through the course of this journey, I learned quite a bit of just how Microsoft made their software, some unusual and previously undocumented finds, and deeper mysteries. For example, did you know that Word for Windows isn't compiled to native machine language? Instead it's compiled to P-Code.
This is the second entry on preserving and compiling retro-codebases, and documenting the things I find as go along.
Music is licensed from Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/. Tracks listed in the order of appearance:
- Work Undone
- Covert Affairs
- A Travellers' Gloom
- Out of Service
- Apparent Solution
- First on the Scene
- Cryptic Secrecy
- Deviation In Time
- A Healing Component
- Retrouvailles
Twitter: twitter.com/fossfirefighter
Discord: discord.gg/V8esNah
---
In this episode of studying ancient code bases, our valliant host tortures himself through trying to compile Word for Windows 1.1a. Originally released in 1989, Word for Windows would eventually take over as the domiant word processing solution from the late 90s to today.
In 2014, Microsoft donated the source code of Word for Windows 1.1a to the Computer History Museum (computerhistory.org/) who has made it available on their website. While a few people have compiled Winword from source, no one that I could find has tried to build it using the OS/2 version of the tools. For various reasons, trying to build it under DOS is an exercise of frustration, and I strongly suspect Microsoft developed on top of OS/2 extensively for multiple reasons.
Through the course of this journey, I learned quite a bit of just how Microsoft made their software, some unusual and previously undocumented finds, and deeper mysteries. For example, did you know that Word for Windows isn't compiled to native machine language? Instead it's compiled to P-Code.
This is the second entry on preserving and compiling retro-codebases, and documenting the things I find as go along.
Music is licensed from Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/. Tracks listed in the order of appearance:
- Work Undone
- Covert Affairs
- A Travellers' Gloom
- Out of Service
- Apparent Solution
- First on the Scene
- Cryptic Secrecy
- Deviation In Time
- A Healing Component
- Retrouvailles
