Smashing the Limits: Installing Windows XP in DOSBox-X

Re:Smashing the Limits: Installing Windows XP in DOSBox-X by anyfoo on Thursday October 31, 2024 @02:21PM (#42009784)

I think that’s true. I recently installed Windows 2000, also for nostalgia, and marveled at the icons. I like the Windows 3.11 (not so much the 3.0) icons even more.

They have such a charm and special style that only works through their low pixel count, but if you would pixelate icons today it would just look gimmicky and out of place with the rest of the OS.

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Re:Smashing the Limits: Installing Windows XP in DOSBox-X by DCH3416 on Thursday October 31, 2024 @02:31PM (#42009943)

It depends on the design of the icon. You generally can't scale Windows 3.1 graphics to higher resolutions without it looking like it's lacking details. The charm was with what you couldn't see and your mind could fill in the blanks.

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Re:Smashing the Limits: Installing Windows XP in DOSBox-X by anyfoo on Thursday October 31, 2024 @02:35PM (#42009975)

Yep, that’s what I mean. Art comes from restriction, and the designers at Microsoft did really charming stuff with what they had to work with.

I still vividly remember such simple but delightful things as the Excel icon, or the icon of a stylized 386 processor for the System category in Control Panel.

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Re:Smashing the Limits: Installing Windows XP in DOSBox-X by Lammy on Thursday October 31, 2024 @02:55PM (#42010197)

> the designers at Microsoft

Susan Kare did a lot of those! I love how they're just as expressive at 16-colors as at higher color depths. https://www.stardock.com/blog/502254/the-evolution-of-comput...

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Re:Smashing the Limits: Installing Windows XP in DOSBox-X by anyfoo on Thursday October 31, 2024 @02:59PM (#42010228)

Ah, thanks for telling me that. I had absolutely no idea she had any involvement, but now it makes perfect sense.

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