Microsoft · GitHub · Tom's Hardware
This release of Word marked a milestone in the word processing market
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source + 4 references discovered via search. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◎ Multiple-sources
Word for Windows 1.1a added all its frills while remaining efficient, running on systems with CPUs that ran in single-figure MHz speeds, and with as little as 1MB of RAM.
Key facts
- Instead, you’ll need access to Visual Studio 2022 with Desktop development with C++, a Windows 10 or Windows 11 SDK installed through Visual Studio, CMake 3.25 or newer, and PowerShell, notes Marshall
- A developer has ported Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a to x64 so it can now run natively on Windows 11 PC systems
- Word for Windows 1.1a added all its frills while remaining efficient, running on systems with CPUs that ran in single-figure MHz speeds, and with as little as 1MB of RAM
- You can still grab that code via the Computer History Museum (CHM)
Summary
A developer has ported Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a to x64 so it can now run natively on Windows 11 PC systems. This release of Word marked a milestone in the word processing market, as it pioneered genuinely useful feature additions like WYSIWYG editing, graphics, and table insertion on Windows. Another notable feature of this version of Word for Windows is that Microsoft permitted its source code to be released in full. GitHub doesn’t have Windows x64 binaries ready for the casually curious on the lookout for a free, lightweight word processor to download and use. It will be interesting to see if more comes from this x64 port, but Microsoft’s Word for Windows 1.1a code release carries a license that “permits only non-commercial use and does not give you the right to license it to third parties by posting copies elsewhere on the web,” says the CHM.