Developer Ports 1990 Word 1.1a to Windows 11 as Native x64 App

Q: How did one developer bypass emulation to run a 1990 word processor natively on Windows 11?

He bypassed emulation by porting Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a from its original source code into a true 64-bit Windows program. Justin Marshall used the Word 1.1a source that Microsoft released in 2014 and rebuilt it as a native x64 executable for modern Windows, including Windows 11. Rather than wrapping the old software in an emulator or recreating it as a lookalike app, he preserved the original code and behavior while replacing the parts that could not run on today’s systems. The key technical work was translating Word’s old 16-bit assembly entry points into fixed-width C and C++, then adapting the software’s segmented-memory model and double-indirect memory handles so they work safely in an x64 runtime. He also replaced Win16-specific startup, messaging, graphics, file, and resource handling with equivalents built on current Win32 APIs. Marshall rebuilt original assets such as dialogs, cursors, bitmaps, and command resources using modern native tools tied into a CMake-based build system. The project is designed for current development tools including Visual Studio 2022 and modern Windows SDKs, and it includes automated tests for typing, formatting, dialogs, saving, and other runtime behavior to keep the port faithful to the 1990 application. The result is not a virtualized copy or remake, but the original Word 1.1a experience running directly on 64-bit Windows hardware.

3 articles · Updated · Neowin · Aug 8

Justin Marshall published a working native x64 build of Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a, letting the 1990 release run directly on Windows 11.
The port uses original Word 1.1a source code that Microsoft open-sourced in 2014, making it an actual 64-bit executable rather than an emulator or visual remake.
Word 1.1a was the second update to Word 1.0 and one of Microsoft’s earliest Windows versions, offering a stripped-down interface without cloud features, templates or AI tools.
Marshall has built a niche around reviving legacy software on modern hardware, with other projects on his GitHub including Quake4Doom and an idTech 4-based Duke Nukem Forever remake.