Windows 3.1 Software Added to Internet Archive, Including Skifree

Unlike most artistic movements in the world, gaming, created both in the digital age, where things are easily reproduced, and the copywrite age, where culture can be monetized beyond its ability to merely change the world, has put itself in a rather weird spot as far as archiving goes. It’d be nice if we could keep a record of every (worthy) game to be released, and since everything is digital it’s more than possible--the problem being that there’s very little incentive for the companies who own these games to share them with the world for free, even if it’s for record-keeping purposes.

Fortunately, there is an effort to try to preserve our gaming history, and that effort comes from the heroes over at the Internet Archive, who has the noble goal of trying to preserve digital history: games included. Well, now, this web-based, open source archive has recently stumbled into something of a treasure trove, and has now added to its collection a whole host of classic Windows 3.1 titles. How much is a host, you ask? In this case: over one thousand.

Yowza.

That includes classics such as Merlin, Flight Simulator, and the always-popular, constantly terrifying Skifree.

“We’ve now added over 1,000 programs that run, in your browser, in a Windows 3.1 environment. This includes many games, lots of utilities and business software, and what would best be called “Apps” of the 1990s – programs that did something simple, like provide a calculator or a looping animation, that could be done by an individual or small company to great success.”

You can access this new archive--as well as get a great history lesson on the history of the Windows 3.1 operating system--right here. Super cool if you’re bored, or if you want to delve into gaming’s wonderfully strange past.

Or you could just go back to Xcom 2. You brats.