Old Software and Games....They're Alive!
Ever get the urge to mess with Visicalc or WordStar again? Play the original Donkey Kong or Adventure on your computer? Now you can!
The Internet Archive, in a Christmas gift to the world, has unleashed the Historical Software Archive, a collection of prominent and historically notable pieces of software that you can run in your browser. They range from pioneering applications to obscure forgotten utilities, and from peak-of-perfection designs to industry-crashing classics. And if you get the urge to play the videogames you grew up with from Coleco, Atari, Magnavox and Odyssey, you can head to the Console Living Room, a collection of console video games from the 1970s and 1980s.
These come by way of JSMESS, a Javascript port of the MESS emulator, a computer and console emulator that has been in development for over a decade and a half by hundreds of volunteers. The MESS emulator runs in a large variety of platforms, but is now able to run embedded in most modern browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer.
Stop wasting time – or more likely, start wasting time – and see what the Internet Archive has brought us.
More about the Historical Software Archive
More about the Console Living Room