It's been a long time since I've used Windows 3.0. A really long time. While I have no desire to dump Windows 10 and go back to an earlier era of computing, I do appreciate taking a trip down memory lane every so often. If you do as well, you can take a nosedive into nostalgia by downloading the source code for Windows 3.0's File Manager.
Microsoft has uploaded the source code to Github, where it is available to download and tinker with under the MIT OSS license, as TechCrunch notes. And yes, it works with Windows 10.
The code is maintained by Craig Wittenberg, a development manager who has been with Microsoft for more three decades, according to his LinkedIn profile. It was originally copied from the Windows NT 4 source tree in November of 2007.
So, what can you do with it? You could use the source code to compile a new Windows app for managing files like it was done in the old days. Or if you're not into compiling code, you can download WinFile v10.0 from Github (also from Wittenberg) and poke around Windows just like the old timers (myself now being one of them, I suppose) used to around two decades ago. Either way, it's pretty neat that this still works in Windows all these years later.
The latest Windows 11 dev build gives you the ability to snap together commonly paired apps for access in a single click, and I'm already sold
You might mock Microsoft's new emoji button in Windows 11 but as someone that's explained how to quickly access emojis and special characters too many times, I get it
