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Retro Tech May - Day Four/Five - May 4th/5th
These past two days have both been quite uneventful. Just more of the same video game installing action with a few sessions of gaming here and there - I'm on pace to beating Zuma one of these days! But a lot of time has been spent on browsing the web and chatting with friends on Discord. And then a thought came to me: Despite Windows XP being unsupported for 11 years with most big companies fully dropping support roughly around 9 years ago it's incredible how usable Windows XP still is, and it's all thanks to community-led projects. You see, the way I'd put it, once something gets dropped officially it only means it will become a hobbyist's playground. Obviously it also means it's not for everyone which is why I'm not going to tell everyone to just up and install Windows XP unless they're tech savvy enough about all this or they're getting help from someone who is.
Anyway, just how useful Windows XP is in 2025? I'd say decently so but with many caveats to consider which is why I wouldn't recommend this be your daily driver or main OS but as an OS for a side machine you use for retro gaming you're set. And I'll take you through what is currently possible and not possible on XP in 2025:
Browsing the web is very possible on Windows XP due to Supermium being a fork of modern versions of Chromium made to work on Windows XP. If you're using 32-bit XP you might encounter a 4gb RAM limitation which will make browsing the web an absolutely dreadful experience outside of basics but if you either choose Windows XP x64 or use a community patch to allow for more RAM (which I'm using to run 16gb on Windows XP) you can browse the web *almost* identically to how you would on your modern machine. Discord's webapp works great however voice calls and screen sharing are both no-gos (though I'm sure could be made to work somehow, I just haven't been able to figure out how). More on Discord later though.
Another shortcoming you may encounter is with streaming. Not sure if Netflix or whichever other streaming services work due to me not being a subscriber to any movie streaming services. As for music, I know Spotify is not functional at all, I believe Apple Music might work however but your safest bet is with YouTube which works perfectly in that regard for video and music alike however I would suggest turning off Ambient Mode to improve the performance if you have any performance issues. Browsing the web overall has been smooth and aside the occasional tab crashing (which I do attribute to Windows XP memory usage limitations) it's seriously fine using on 16gb of RAM but on 4gb it's only good for very minimal use.
Going back to Discord for a moment; you have two options: if you prefer an experience more familiar to what you're used to you can use web Discord. However if you may want a version of Discord that taps into that true 2000s nostalgia you also have Discord Messenger which works as it should but has a very nostalgic feeling to it thanks to its UI. Discord Messenger could be something to consider if you want to run Discord on even older operating systems as it supports anything from NT 3.1 upwards (yes, NT 3.1 from over 30 years ago runs Discord!). It does lack a few features which short term aren't that essential such as calls, adding friends, joining servers and others which are being worked on, such as blocking, muting channels or closing DMs. If you need to do any of those though Web Discord with Supermium is your friend.
For gaming I'll have to offer you a tough pill to swallow. If you hope to run your Steam library on Windows XP ever again then I have some unfortunate news. Not only has Valve abandoned the platform but due to updates and changes to the app and server infrastructure the Steam app, even the latest supported XP version, hardly functions and is not in an operational form. However CDs are your friend. And if you have no CDs or a disc drive maybe consider buying games off of GOG. GOG installers work flawlessly on XP still and you don't even need GOG Galaxy to download them. You can do it off the GOG website as long as you've logged into your account. Give it a try if you didn't know. Go ahead. Other than GOG and CDs however you'd have to sail the seven seas for games, both PC games and ROMs (since emulation is definitely a thing on XP and older consoles will emulate just fine for casual play though with some platforms such as the N64 you will deal with very outdated emulators that do not emulate a lot of N64 games properly.
However in regards to what you can play you have a very wide variety of games to choose from. Everything from classic DOS games from the late 80s or early 90s all the way to the early to mid 2010s with games such as Undertale, Cuphead, Stardew Valley, the original Life Is Strange and Doki Doki Literature Club being some of the final titles that run on XP out of the box.
However in regards to what you can play you have a very wide variety of games to choose from. Everything from classic DOS games from the late 80s or early 90s all the way to the early to mid 2010s with games such as Undertale, Cuphead, Stardew Valley, the original Life Is Strange and Doki Doki Literature Club being some of the final titles that run on XP out of the box.
Image and video editing are a very mileage may vary deal. Why? Because if you're fine using older versions of software such as Photoshop or Sony Vegas then you're in luck because they still work as they should and unless the old versions lack something you *need* to use you'll do just fine. Just don't expect to render videos at 4k smoothly. 1080p may work with 16gb of RAM but maybe keep it short and sweet on the video editing side. For model editing same thing applies with old versions of 3ds Max or Blender.
But Molly, can you do even more than this? Well yes, using this project called One Core API you can run games and apps that would require Windows 7 or even 10 as a minimum and push many of the limitations aside. Modern versions of actual Chrome, Firefox, maybe even Edge? Check. Discord? Spotify app? No discussion. Steam? Uncertain. But what is certain is that it will allow you to run some newer, more demanding titles both indie and non indie such as Ultrakill, Pizza Tower and even Grand Theft Auto V. However I cannot fully recommend you use One Core API due to reports of system instability that can come with it so only use it if you aren't too attached to your XP install and have no issue reinstalling often.
Ultimately I'd say Windows XP was a great operating system for its time and still is more functional than people give it credit. It's been a big part of my life since I can remember therefore it will always have a special place in my heart and I'm glad I'm not alone because there's a community of people making sure it still lives on to a certain degree and using it isn't as difficult as it once was or even as difficult as some may want to make everyone believe. Again, I'm not advocating everyone throw away their shiny new PCs to use a 24 year old operating system but if you have an old computer around maybe it's not as useless as you assumed it'd be. Regardless what is important is that you enjoy yourself and you do what you like! :)
But Molly, can you do even more than this? Well yes, using this project called One Core API you can run games and apps that would require Windows 7 or even 10 as a minimum and push many of the limitations aside. Modern versions of actual Chrome, Firefox, maybe even Edge? Check. Discord? Spotify app? No discussion. Steam? Uncertain. But what is certain is that it will allow you to run some newer, more demanding titles both indie and non indie such as Ultrakill, Pizza Tower and even Grand Theft Auto V. However I cannot fully recommend you use One Core API due to reports of system instability that can come with it so only use it if you aren't too attached to your XP install and have no issue reinstalling often.
Ultimately I'd say Windows XP was a great operating system for its time and still is more functional than people give it credit. It's been a big part of my life since I can remember therefore it will always have a special place in my heart and I'm glad I'm not alone because there's a community of people making sure it still lives on to a certain degree and using it isn't as difficult as it once was or even as difficult as some may want to make everyone believe. Again, I'm not advocating everyone throw away their shiny new PCs to use a 24 year old operating system but if you have an old computer around maybe it's not as useless as you assumed it'd be. Regardless what is important is that you enjoy yourself and you do what you like! :)