Computer (siftware) question

[Hawkmoon]

Cleaning out the basement a bit, I came across two unopened boxes of the old Lotus SmartSuite office package. One is Version 3.2, the other is version 4. Both date to the era of Windows 3.1.

Will this software run under any fairly recent version of Windows? I'm pretty sure it won't run under Windows 7, 8.x or 10. Will it run under XP?

I'm trying to decide whether to toss it in the dump or give it to the Salvation Army thrift store. If it can be made to run, I'll tape instructions to the outside and donate it.

[Boomhauer]

I strongly doubt it...anybody in need of something like that should be able to get ahold of a copy of OpenOffice for free.

[lee n. field]

Cleaning out the basement a bit, I came across two unopened boxes of the old Lotus SmartSuite office package. One is Version 3.2, the other is version 4. Both date to the era of Windows 3.1.

Will this software run under any fairly recent version of Windows? I'm pretty sure it won't run under Windows 7, 8.x or 10. Will it run under XP?

I'm trying to decide whether to toss it in the dump or give it to the Salvation Army thrift store. If it can be made to run, I'll tape instructions to the outside and donate it.

Might or might not run under XP.  

Won't run under any 64 bit windows.  

(An individual at one of my customers has an old Win 3.1 program that she needs to run.  8.3 file names, installed into a directory right off root of c:.  The is the current program that the vendor provides!  Was not pleased when I found that, as I was already behind in deploying the Win7 computers.  <sigh>.  )

[bedlamite]

http://www.unwords.com/unword/siftware.html

siftware :.(sĭft'wâr')

    1. (n.) A multitude of programs found on a magazine cover disk, often found to be completely useless.

I probably still have a copy of Win NT3.51 on 3.5" floppy disks I can dig out for you too ...

[230RN]

Won't run under any 64 bit windows.

Gr.

That's why I keep a copy of XP running on an old desk machine.

Most of the stuff with which I am intimately familiar and highly fluent in won't run on my Win7 64-bit laptop.  For my purposes, I regret getting the latest and greatest (64-bit) when I chose that machine.  They even asked whether I wanted 32 or 64-bit when I bought it.

Oooo.  Yayyy.  Sixty-four-bit has got to be better than icky old 32-bit (yuch, ick), right?  Whooopiee!

Then I found my 64-bit HP laptop won't even run my old, perfectly adequate and highly flexible HP scanner.  

I also have fairly frequent need of simple, but highly iterative arithmetic operations for which I use that simple old BASIC which won't run on my laptop.  (I even have a BASIC compiler to convert to dot-EXE programming and even the 16/32-bit .EXEs which won't run on the whoop-de-do 64-bit laptop.)

Snarl.

I installed an A-B switch so I can flip my monitor, printer, and mouse between the two machines with a push of a button.  Life is easier that way.  And the XP machine is never, ever connected to the net, so I don't have to worry about picking up XP malware or being spied upon.

Gr.

Heh.  That old XP machine is sort of like having a gun safe.  

Terry

P.S.  Yes, I have a copy of XP running as a virtual machine on the laptop, but I can't seem to get it running right. Feh.  Feh, say I.

[Hawkmoon]

I pretty much figured it was a lost cause, but it was worth asking. These were full office packages, from back in the days when they even provided printed documentation with software. I bought them when I was refurbishing abandoned computers and placing them in schools and churches that were too poor to be up to date on technology. I didn't pay a lot for these packages, but they weren't free.

I don't know as I'll even bother to crack the shrink wrap and see if they'll run under XP. What I found on the Internet about Lotus (IBM) SmartSuite says it won't. At least, not versions that old.

However, in the course of chasing this down, I did stumble across this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7

XP mode for Windows 7. Creates a 32-bit virtual machine within 64-bit Win 7. It's a Microsoft add-on. No longer supported, but you can still download the files directly from Microsoft. Lee, that might be the answer to your dilemma for the client with the legacy application. I've never tried to create a virtual machine and it scares me, but I may have to try it so I can run my old 32-bit AutoCAD LT on my new(er) Windows 7 desktop machine and notebook.

[Ben]

I've never tried to create a virtual machine and it scares me, but I may have to try it so I can run my old 32-bit AutoCAD LT on my new(er) Windows 7 desktop machine and notebook.

It's super easy. Even if you screw up the vm install, it's pretty impossible to screw up your host.

[Hawkmoon]

It's super easy. Even if you screw up the vm install, it's pretty impossible to screw up your host.

You've obviously never been around me and a computer at the same time ...

[230RN]

Sure it's easy.  All ya gotta do is vemulace the portyferd and set it to POPML v.2.03, which is downloadable from http://fluglenerd/downloads/v.2.03.

Then wongle the toggle and select your choice of HSMF or BOLBI v. 3.7609, then click the install button.

Nuthin' to it.

Terry, 230RN

REFs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOLBI3.7609
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/protocolHSMF

[Hawkmoon]

Sure it's easy.  All ya gotta do is vemulace the portyferd and set it to POPML v.2.03, which is downloadable from http://fluglenerd/downloads/v.2.03.

Then wongle the toggle and select your choice of HSMF or BOLBI v. 3.7609, then click the install button.

Nuthin' to it.

Terry, 230RN

REFs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOLBI3.7609
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/protocolHSMF

Thank you!

[takin' notes]