There are two things that bring me an unreasonable amount of joy:

1. The discovery of long-lost software.

2. Running software on hardware it was never intended to run on.

This story has both. I am positively giddy.

Microsoft Office for PowerPC

It is a well known fact that Windows NT was developed (and, in some cases, released) for multiple CPU architectures beyond the common x86 — including MIPS, DEC Alpa, and PowerPC.

In addition to Windows NT, Microsoft developed and released versions of Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) for those hardware platforms. Not much good having the operating system for a particular CPU… if you don’t have some software to run on it, right?

We’ve had public archives of Microsoft Office for both MIPS and Alpha CPUs for quite some time… but the PowerPC version of Office has, for whatever reason, remained elusive.

Until this week, when Antoni Sawicki got his hands on the long-lost Office for PPC.

 

Antoni was alerted to an eBay listing of a boxed copy of MS Office 6.0. A box which, intriguingly, listed all four of the released Windows NT CPU architectures.

As Antoni said, “Since it clearly said PowerPC on the box I got it… and here it is:”

 

Check out that screenshot. Windows NT 4.0, running on a PPC 604 processor (with 32 MB of RAM)… running a native version of Microsoft Word 6.0.

The archive for the PowerPC version of Office is now hosted at VirtuallyFun.com. A major win for computer history preservation.

Now, buckle up, Buttercup. Because it gets weirder. And more awesome.

Windows NT For Wii & PowerMac

The archiving of historical software is, without question, important. But being able to actually run that software — on easily obtainable hardware — allows people to experience that part of computer history.

And, thanks to one developer, you can run Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0 on Nintendo GameCube, Wii, & WiiU as well as PPC Macintoshes like the original iMac and iBook.

That’s right. Apple’s original, clamshell, “bondi blue” G3 iBook can run Windows NT 4.0.

 

Not emulated. Native. On “bare metal”.

In theory, it should be able to run the PowerPC native version of Office 6.0 as well. Something I will need to be testing, for myself, very soon.

Now, you may be asking, “Why would I install Windows NT and Office on a Nintendo Wii”?

And, while there are many valid reasons for undertaking such an endeavor — including that whole “experiencing computer history first hand” thing we talked about — there is one purpose for running MS Word on a GameCube that eclipses all others:

Because we can.

It’s been another wild week in the world of computing — and, of course, a number of news stories got ignored (almost completely) by those Brand X Tech Journalists.

Never fear. Lunduke’s got you covered. Below are the top stories which the other Tech News outlets are trying to ignore — impacting Open Source and Tech in general — for last week.

Note: All articles and podcasts are free for all (subscribers and non-subscribers alike).

 

Note 2: Links to the stories below are all to Substack. You can also find links to all other platforms, which The Lunduke Journal publishes to, at Lunduke.com.

 

Note 3: Most videos are subscriber exclusives. Subscribers on Locals, Substack, X, YouTube, or Patreon can watch all of the videos. Ad free. If you don’t have a subscription yet, you can snag one for 50% off through the end of August.

Linux Kernel Chaos

The world of Linux Kernel development had a crazy week.

No. The word “crazy” doesn’t quite do justice to the absolute chaos and insanity taking place around the Kernel.

We kicked off the week by learning that layoffs from Intel had caused a number of significant Linux Kernel Modules to become “orphans” (meaning, nobody was left to maintain them) — only to realize that the number of such “orphan” Kernel Modules has actually doubled in the last two years (article, podcast & video). Doubled!

Then, Linus Torvalds laid into a Google engineer for writing “garbage” code that “makes the world actively a worse place to live” (podcast & video). Which was just… entertaining.

And then, we learned that the BcacheFS file system might be removed from the Linux Kernel entirely. Why? Because Linus Torvalds doesn’t like the developer (podcast & video). Apparently the developer is too blunt and rude. For Linus Torvalds. Seriously.

But, never fear! The Linux Foundation is swooping in to fix everything! By… banning the word “hung” (article, podcast & video). That’s a real thing. It’s so utterly stupid you just have to laugh.

That’s all just this week.

Absolute insanity.

Non-Woke Software List

The quantity (and quality) of Non-Woke software continues to grow — The August edition of “Lunduke’s Non-Woke Software List” (article, podcast, and video) saw a few noteworthy additions.

One big takeaway (at least for me) is that we now have multiple Operating System options… accompanied by display servers, desktop environments, development tools, and web browsers. All decidedly Non-Woke.

In other words: It is now possible to piece together the majority of a computing environment in a way that is both Open Source and Non-Woke. And, importantly, of an exceptionally high quality.

Other Stories This Week

Here’s some other stories worth diving into. Some are pretty doggone wild.

• Podcast & Video: Android 16 Gets GPU Accelerated Linux Software

• Article: Tea App Clone Exposes Driver’s Licenses

• Article: NixOS Now Celebrates Pride Month… Year Round

• Podcast & Video: NixOS Now Celebrates Pride Month… Year Round

• Article: Funny Programming Pictures Part LXVIII

As always, thank you to all of the subscribers to The Lunduke Journal. Thank to you, we can remain 100% ad-free and Big Tech free. Couldn’t do it without you.

-Lunduke

What in the heck-a-tarnations is going on in England?

The British government, and British Universities, have been attempting to convince the English populace of some truly bizarre things about computers.

WiFi Causes Climate Change

Case in point, The University of East London is running a campaign called “Think Again” — including putting up advertisements around London with the message:

“WiFi doesn’t grow on trees.”

 

“WiFi doesn’t grow on trees”? Well, of course, it doesn’t. Did the British people believe that WiFi was a fruit?

The “Think Again” propaganda campaign also wants you to know that “Your screen time is damaging the climate” and “There are no monsters under the bed… they’re on the bedside table, charging.”

 

That’s right. WiFi causes “climate change”. And that makes anything that uses Wifi… super scary. Like, “monster under the bed” level of scary.

And it gets even weirder.

E-Mail Causes Water Shortages

On August 12th, the government of the United Kingdom put out an official press release entitled, “National Drought Group meets to address nationally significant water shortfall”.

 

In that press release, the director of the UK’s Environment Agency made the following statement:

“We are grateful to the public for following the [water usage] restrictions, where in place, to conserve water in these dry conditions. Simple, everyday choices – such as turning off a tap or deleting old emails – also really helps the collective effort to reduce demand and help preserve the health of our rivers and wildlife.”

 

Yes, you read that right.

According to that press release, two of the best ways to prevent a water shortage are “turning off a tap or deleting old emails”.

Let me reiterate.

The official stance of the British government is that emails — specifically old emails — significantly impact the availability of water.

Now, ok, to be fair… there are a number of data centers which are water cooled. Including Google data centers located on the Columbia river — which I covered in my 2017 show, “They’re Watching You”. [Which, as it happens, is a truly delightful show that you should treat yourself to later. Grab a snack and enjoy that one.]

But the idea that “deleting some old email” would have any immediate, measurable impact on water supply is absolutely bonkers. Daft. Batty. Crackers. Mad. Or… barmy. Apparently that’s British slang for crazy.

Computers Are The Devil

Noticing a trend?

The message — from both British universities and the British government — is that computers (and sinister things like WiFi and email) are going to kill us all via climate change. Or water. Or being a monster under the bed. Or something.

 

Turn off your Internet! Delete your email! Don’t charge your phone!

This messaging — from multiple agencies — is all coming at roughly the same time. And coinciding with the rolling out of age verification for a significant number of websites within the UK.

All of which makes my eyes get all squinty.

 

Now.

I’m not saying all of these things are definitely related.

But it sure seems like those in power, in the UK, really don’t want British people on the Internet.

And they’re willing to make some pretty barmy statements to keep you off your computers.