Windows 3.11 vs Windows for Workgroups 3.1

ubersonic · 27 Dec 2021 at 01:56

Hi everybody, no don't worry you haven't stumbled upon a necro'd post from the 90s, I am legit asking this as my memory isn't 100% and Google results are... ambiguous to erroneous lol.

Can anyone remember which is the better OS between Windows 3.11 and Windows for Workgroups 3.1? Was it the case that WfW 3.1 was just W3.1 with a networking update, or was it the case that WfW 3.x was straight better than W3.x and so WfW 3.1 > W3.11?

Thank you,

Rroff · 27 Dec 2021 at 02:05

Still a better OS than Windows 10...

Depends what you are doing but I seem to remember 3.11 had a bunch of fixes for games and multimedia.

Armageus · 27 Dec 2021 at 06:54

Why not Windows for Workgroups 3.11?

ubersonic · 27 Dec 2021 at 19:14

Armageus said:
Why not Windows for Workgroups 3.11?

Requires an i386. Windows 3.11, 3.1 and Windows for workgroups 3.1 all required a 286 which is what I'm trying to replace the HDD on.

Counter intuitive but behind the GUI Windows for Workgroups 3.11 actually had more in common with Windows 95 than the rest of the W3.x family.

andshrew · 28 Dec 2021 at 10:58

The only difference was that it just included built in networking support as far as I know.

Might be better asking over in the Retro Computer section https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/community/retro-gaming-and-vintage-computing.178/

Armageus · 28 Dec 2021 at 11:31

ubersonic said:
Requires an i386. Windows 3.11, 3.1 and Windows for workgroups 3.1 all required a 286 which is what I'm trying to replace the HDD on.

Gotcha - I would go with 3.11 then as it's slightly newer and a bit more stable. Like you say WfW 3.1 was just a networking extension for 3.1, whereas WfW 3.11 added 32 file access and networking "under the hood", so was a bit different to the normal 3.11