Here's An Apple Watch Running Windows 95

In the long, long list of ancient operating systems and software that's been installed on smartwatches, the combination of Windows 95 and the Apple Watch has been missing. Thankfully, developer Nick Lee has put things right. It may take an hour to boot up, but the OS is almost fully functional on the wearable, despite being completely impractical. Lee shared his achievement in a video, so there's no need to go through the nightmare of trying to open the Start menu yourself.

Obviously Apple doesn't make it easy to install non-sanctioned apps and software on the Watch, but Lee is more than familiar with the device's hurdles — you may remember him as the one who managed to install Mac OS 7.5.5 on the Apple Watch last summer. In this case, Windows 95 is running via emulation, which explains why it's so slow to boot up and use.

In a detailed post on Medium, Lee notes that the 520 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, and 8GB of storage in the Watch put it well beyond the specs of a typical Windows 95 PC from over a decade ago. But while the smartwatch is technically capable of running the OS, there are inherent limitations to the hardware, aside from the small display, obviously.

In the video, you'll notice the Watch's crown is constantly being rotated by a small motor; this is to prevent the display from going to sleep after a brief period of inactivity. Lee also managed to program the Watch to allow Windows 95 to recognize fingertip movements as mouse inputs, so instead of needing to tap directly on a button, he can swipe his finger upwards, for example, to move the cursor in that direction.

Lee's latest hack is definitely one for the record book. A book that already includes achievements such as putting the original Doom on an Apple Watch, an LG G Watch with Half-Life installed, and Android Wear running both Counter Strike and Apple's old System 6 OS.

SOURCE Nick Lee/Medium