> As a thought experiment, we're almost there! We could technically have `win95.img + bochs86vm.wasm + autorun.inf + msword.exe` wrapped in a "browser evaluator"
I looked into this and... holy crap! We are there. Not for modern programs quite yet, sure, but this is amazing. You can use Windows 2000 from your browser, running inside an x86 emulator for WASM.
Yup! ...and noodling around with their `wordpad.exe`, you could pretty easily imagine `My Network => My Workgroup => ...etc...` to samba-share in your local filesystem (provided by the bochs86vm "container") ....... or since it's turtles all the way down, just map your local computer drive as `D:\...` and let the VM "think" it has access to all your files on the vm-local disk.
As it is, I already run a Debian VM locally to seal off the "development" stuff from my primary desktop.
Is is kinda heavy? Yeah. The hard disk footprint is substantial. But it works fine for writing some Python, compiling a few dependencies and bringing up a browser to test stuff. Even on a six-year-old laptop, it runs OK.
If the client application needs 1990's capabilities, "chuck it in a VM" will work today, and it will only be limited by protocol support, I/O access, and OS integration. There are substantial accessibility problems presented by VMs - seemingly basic things like clipboard support are disagreeable and require a "smart emulator" inserting itself to provide that feature.
Perhaps the right direction to take is to develop MAME to contain every accessibility feature. It already emulates all the old hardware.
I looked into this and... holy crap! We are there. Not for modern programs quite yet, sure, but this is amazing. You can use Windows 2000 from your browser, running inside an x86 emulator for WASM.
https://copy.sh/v86/?profile=windows2000