a pointless exercise

This is a nice waste of time. It’s like maintaining a classic car, but without the oil stains or spanners dropped on feet.

I’ve installed Office 4.3 under Windows NT 3.51.

I’ve subscribed to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) on and off over the years, pretty much since it first started in 1994. I really have paid for my copies of these packages. It has helped me get work in its time, although I ever so slightly doubt these particular packages hold any earnings for me now.

Even so, I have them, I can use them. Mind you, what you see in the image is more than Office 4.3 in NT 3.51. NT is running in Virtual Server 2005 R2, which is hosted by Windows 2003 R2, which is running in VMWare Fusion on MacOs Sierra, which is accessed remotely. Fusion can’t host 3.51 directly, unsurprisingly; there is too much time between the products. Virtual Server doesn’t support 3.51 either, but at least the faux network and video cards are recognised by 3.51, so, despite the borked mouse driver, it’s usable.

If you’re interested in trying this out yourself, copies of the various packages can be downloaded from abandonware sites such as vetusware, which I presume to be ok because Microsoft’s lawyers haven’t taken them out. Virtual Server was released for free by Microsoft.