Calmira for Windows 3.1 - make it look like 95 or even XP

Matth79 wrote on 2025-08-24, 20:14:

Calmira for Windows 3.1 - make it look like 95 or even XP

I forgot about that one. I actually used that recently on a test equipment PC I had to build for work with Windows 3.1. I used Calamira since the techs were not familiar with the Windows 3.1 interface.

Here are a few alternate shells for Windows 3.1x: Alternate Shells for Windows 3.1x
But again, for Windows 3.1 only. This discussion here has a bigger scope.

for Win3.1 i've only ever used Central Point Desktop in 1994. Memory-crisis clutter aside, it has an enhanced file manager that could unpack zips, and an ICON editor!! (this was a big deal to me then as it felt like that privilege's for elite developers only)

Oh, the other one I forgot, Workplace Shell for Windows, and now I think of it, wasn't there one called Rooms

I guess the reason that most of the examples were from Windows 3.1 is because of Microsoft suing Packard Bell over their Navigator product which then destroyed Packard Bell even though it much later became one of the reasons for the Government Antitrust lawsuit years later (too late for Netscape and Packard Bell). Other software developers were reasonably cautious about encroaching into that area.

But this discussion was also not limited to just shell replacements.

BTW, by Deskmates mentioned above, I meant the Oska Deskmates, not the Tandy shell replacement.

There is also the Newshell Beta for Windows NT 3.51.

Newshell, or the "Shell Technology Preview Update", is a shell update for Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 that gives it the appearance and desktop from Windows 95.

Also available for download from Winworld.

Just a shame that Microsoft didn't have a preview update for Windows 3.1 😊.

http://toastytech.com/guis/indexshells.html

Interesting to see one going all the way back to Windows 2, proving how old and dying hard the sentiment was that Windows failed to give DOS that much of a usability boost.

It's debatable how "vintage" it is but whenever I had to use Windows I absolutely clung to SharpEnviro for a few things, especially the easy to access notes app, even if it stopped development in 2011 (it goes back to XP though, so maybe that's the technicality by which it counts?). I only really stopped using it because I stopped dual-booting.

Matth79 wrote on 2025-08-25, 00:39:

Oh, the other one I forgot, Workplace Shell for Windows, and now I think of it, wasn't there one called Rooms

I actually got that to run on Windows 9x (probably 95), but it was unstable, unfortunately. Otherwise, I did like it (I had used OS/2 for while and missed the look and feel, but not the scarcity of native applications and drivers).

In the early 1990's, I had a Win3.1 desktop with Packard Bell Navigator, and it introduced me to Windows and the PC. 😀

Has anyone run 9x with Program Manager as the default shell instead of Explorer? It's been so long since I used 3.1 that it seems intriguingly alien to get away from the desktop metaphor.

Big Pink wrote on 2025-09-20, 16:02:

Has anyone run 9x with Program Manager as the default shell instead of Explorer? It's been so long since I used 3.1 that it seems intriguingly alien to get away from the desktop metaphor.

Last time I used that was to get a machine where Explorer crashed at boot far enough to actually be able to get online and eventually fix (and switch the shell back to Explorer).

That was 20+ years ago.

Then I first got a Win98SE computer, I experimented and tried Program Manager. It was fun and worth it, but I quickly went back to Explorer. BTW, I think Win9x had the best support for themes: it had full support including colors. After that, color choices diminished significantly. 🙁 WinVista/7 had the best GUI. My Win11/64 laptop looks ugly by contrast. Just my 2 cents. 😀

Big Pink wrote on 2025-09-20, 16:02:

Has anyone run 9x with Program Manager as the default shell instead of Explorer? It's been so long since I used 3.1 that it seems intriguingly alien to get away from the desktop metaphor.

Yes, I was one of those people.
Windows 95 Setup had an option to use Program Manager, I remember
It didn't feel right, though. The Windows 3.1 feeling just wasn't there.
The gray, depressing 3D style didn't fit, I think. It felt dead, like walking on a grave yard, I'd say.

For Windows 3.1 shells, I'm partial to the Norton Desktop for Windows 3.0.

Jo22: you're right. I want to add that the minimized icons were also ugly. 🙁

Sometimes i wanna make my Win3.1 more unix-like)))
Its preAlpha version with patched video drivers (knobs on windows), long file names, new colour scheme and Next-like dock)))

Big Pink wrote on 2025-09-20, 16:02:

Has anyone run 9x with Program Manager as the default shell instead of Explorer? It's been so long since I used 3.1 that it seems intriguingly alien to get away from the desktop metaphor.

Yes. Iconification was nonexistent, both inside PM and for external programs, they just minimized to their title bar. Plus, you didn't get Windows 3.x's program groups, you got Windows 95's, and I don't remember if I installed software with it open but I don't think you had every folder in the start menu as a program group, so you had to manually add newly installed software if I'm remembering right.