Windows 3.x
Fewer than 5 people recommend it so far, so there's no written verdict. Here is what commenters said.
2recommend
4warn against
Nov 2, 2025first mention
Sep 26, 2026latest mention
Why people recommend it
“With Win 3.11 you can even set networking and read HN at gopher://hngopher.com”
“And they run fine.”
Caveats and dissent
“Win 3.1 was a piece of garbage inside and out.”
Wrote 16-bit Windows apps and drivers in '95on “The Reason Windows Hate Is Exploding: It's the End o…”
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“it turned out when we actually tried it it only accepted 3.x though”
“I'm not sure you'd be very happy going back to Windows 3.1”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Ask HN: Who's still keeping a DOS machine up because the business depends on it? 1 mention
- Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber 1 mention
- Win16 Memory Management 1 mention
- item 47937814 1 mention
- Ask HN: What was it like in the era of BBS before the internet? 1 mention
- Windows 3.1 tiled background .bmp archive 1 mention
Also written as Windows 3.11, Windows 3.x. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 14
“still runs DOS and Window 3.11”
“The patches were made for Windows 3.1, but not for Windows 3.11”
“already doing C++ and TP coding on Windows 3.x”
“I used dosbox to install Windows 3.1”
“Once I got Windows 3.1 and could multitask”
“With Win 3.11 you can even set networking and read HN at gopher://hngopher.com”
“Win 3.1 was a piece of garbage inside and out.”
“its accessibility was extremely lackluster.”
“Windows 3.11+win32s+calmira”
“And they run fine.”
“it turned out when we actually tried it it only accepted 3.x though”
“I'm not sure you'd be very happy going back to Windows 3.1”
“I used to use Trumpet Winsock with Windows 3.1”
“Visopsys, Windows 3.11 and others could work as a daily driver”