98ish
A simulated operating system in a nostalgic style. Created by the Brandon Taylor and Cameron De Robertis, the fresh minds behind Simul8-OS
Features
- A Windows 98 desktop: startup screen and chime, Start menu with cascading submenus, Run..., Log Off and Shut
Down (including Restart in MS-DOS mode). A taskbar with Quick Launch, a tray (volume, network, mail), Cascade /
Tile, an Alt+Q window switcher and keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Alt+E / D / R / K). Lasso icons to move or delete
them together, re-grid them (icon spacing, Auto Arrange, Align to Grid), and a 98ish right-click menu everywhere
(desktop, title bars, text boxes, links): right-click the desktop (or long-press on a phone) to make files and
folders right there
- Make it yours: Display Properties (wallpapers, your own picture, color schemes, screensavers), Desktop Themes
(Space, Underwater, Vaporwave, Dinosaurs: wallpaper, colors, sounds and pointers together), system sounds and
Date/Time Properties
- Install it on your phone: add 98ish to the home screen and it opens like an app, and works offline after the
first visit (chat, multiplayer and the web need a connection)
- Files: a drive saved in your browser, with My Computer (cut / copy / paste, drag and drop, shortcuts, picture
thumbnails, a Recycle Bin), upload from and download to your real computer (folders as .zip), Backup / Restore of
the whole drive, and an optional online copy that follows your 98 Messenger account to other devices
- Accessories: Notepad, WordPad (fonts, colors, pictures, printing), Paint, Sound Recorder (record, reverse,
echo...), Calculator, Character Map and an MS-DOS Prompt
- Games: Tetris (Marathon, Sprint 40L, Ultra, Survival, and Tetris Online: Battle 2P, a 2-6 player Arena
with items and Sprint races, with Quick Match, computer players and star rankings), Sunny Acres (a farming and
town-building game, with live co-op: farm one town together in real time), Pickleball 98 (3D pickleball at
real venues; it has its own site now, github.com/brandontaylor156/pickleball-98, and its 98ish icon opens it),
Shred 98 (a 3D rock rhythm game with six original songs, keyboard, gamepad or touch), Word Duel (guess the word:
a daily puzzle and online races, battle royale, co-op, sabotage and multi-board, with every rule adjustable),
Last Card (a shedding card game for 2-10 with house rules), Monster Duel (a monster card duel with 170+ original
cards, a deck builder and card packs), Hexlands (settle, trade and build on a hex island), Checkers, Block Ten
(a 10x10 block puzzle), Pinball: Deep Sea Dive, Solitaire, FreeCell, Minesweeper, Downhill, Reversi, Chess,
Battleship, Hearts, SPECTRA and Hover
- Play online: every multiplayer game has a Play Online button: Quick Match with strangers, a private room
with a join code (or a ?join= link), invite someone who's online, or play the computer. Computer players fill
empty seats and take over if someone drops. Every game has chat (a private room for a match, a lobby for
everyone playing it), and on phones you can move and resize the on-screen controls
- Media Player with eight original synthesized songs
- Internet Explorer with a Wayback Machine time machine, plus 98ish.com: the Guestbook, the Members directory
and the web ring
- HomePage Studio: build a GeoCities-style homepage (marquees, clip art, hit counter, background music) and
publish it at
www.98ish.com/~yourname
- 98 Messenger and 98ish Mail: AIM-style instant messaging (buddy list, away messages, chat rooms,
SmarterChild) and Outlook Express-style mail with attachments between screen names
- Network Neighborhood: see who else is online, send files and pictures, WinPopup messages, and play Checkers,
Chess, Reversi, Battleship, Hearts or a Minesweeper race against them
- Us (for couples): pair two 98 Messenger accounts, then: Love Letters (scheduled, "open when..." and countdown
letters that stay sealed on the server until their day), Our Story (a shared photo timeline), virtual flowers
that wilt unless watered, Our Pet (a pet you raise together), the Lovebirds Quiz Show (a game show with a host: How Well Do You
Know Me, This or That, deep talk cards and party trivia, live on two phones, passing one phone or taking turns), Photo Puzzle
(jigsaws from your photos with hidden messages), Doodle Together (a live shared canvas), Dream House (a dollhouse
you can decorate together) and Sunny Acres visits, help and gifts. Couple data is private to the pair
- Appward 98: an unofficial retro tribute to Appward, the business suite, as if it shipped
in 1998: an app launcher with dozens of linked business apps (conversations with @mentions, boards, a project
timeline, calendars, approvals, work orders with inventory, Insights charts, a Report Builder and an App Creator
for your own apps), all with made-up sample data saved in your browser
- My Projects: Baseline Today, Job Market Radar and One Closet open as their own 98ish programs
- Extras: a Welcome to 98ish screen with a guided tour (Start > Help), 98ish Update, Floppy the helper, 50+ hidden achievements (My Computer > Properties), and whatever
happens if you end explorer.exe
Demos
Run it locally
cp client/.env.example client/.env.local # then fill in YOUTUBE_KEY
npm install && npm start # chat server on :8000 (accounts kept in memory); npm test runs its tests
cd client && npm install && npm run dev # app on :5173
Deploy
App (Vercel): import the repo, set Root Directory to client, and add these environment variables:
| Name | Value |
|---|
YOUTUBE_KEY | YouTube Data API v3 key. Server-only; read by client/api/youtube.js |
VITE_SOCKET_URL | URL of the chat server below |
Chat server: server.js holds long-lived Socket.io connections, which Vercel functions can't. Deploy the repo
root to a Node host such as Render, Railway or Fly.io with start command npm start. It listens on $PORT.
Environment variables:
| Name | Value |
|---|
MONGODB_URI | MongoDB connection string (e.g. a free MongoDB Atlas cluster) where 98 Messenger accounts, buddy lists and profiles, mail, homepages, synced files, address books, calendars, push subscriptions, couples' letters, stories, pets and houses, quizzes, puzzles, towns, Tetris ranks, and the guestbook and its hit counters are stored. Without it they live in memory and vanish whenever the server restarts |
DRIVE_SYNC_QUOTA_MB, DRIVE_SYNC_TOTAL_MB, DRIVE_SYNC_MAX_FILE_MB | File sync's online space: per account (default 100), all accounts together (default 380, so the free tier's 512 MB keeps room for everything else), and the biggest file (default 12) |
Privacy: guests (no account) keep everything in their own browser. What the server keeps for a 98 Messenger
account, for how long and who can see it is in 98ish Help > Privacy and your data (client/src/components/applets/help/topics/support.js);
the complete list, with what Delete My Account (98 Messenger > My AIM) does to each store, is at the top of
server/account/index.js.
Keeping the chat server awake: Render's free plan sleeps after 15 idle minutes, and the first visitor then waits
20-50 seconds for 98 Messenger to connect. .github/workflows/keepalive.yml pings the server every 10 minutes from
GitHub Actions, which is free for public repositories. GitHub pauses scheduled workflows after 60 days without a
commit; turn it back on from the repo's Actions tab if that happens.
