Windows’ Nostalgic Journey Through Iconography
In the intricate tapestry of a Windows operating system, countless files find their way onto a user’s PC, some serving pivotal roles while others evoke memories of simpler times. This week, Microsoft veteran Raymond Chen took a nostalgic stroll through the pixelated landscape of moricons.dll on his Old New Thing blog, shedding light on this small yet significant file.
The name moricons.dll suggests a treasure trove of icons, and at a modest size of just 12,288 bytes, it hints at a time when icons were more compact and less extravagant than today’s AI-generated creations. These icons hark back to the golden age of Windows 3.1, a period that many users remember fondly.
During the Windows 3.0 era, users could run certain old MS-DOS programs in a windowed format. An application was available that could scan a user’s hard drive for recognizable executables, generating a Program Information File (PIF) that included the necessary MS-DOS configuration and an icon for the executable. This application would then find its place in the Non-Windows Applications group within the Program Manager.
- The icon for these applications was a simple gray image labeled “DOS.”
With the arrival of Windows 3.1, Microsoft decided to enhance the user experience. Instead of defaulting to a plain icon, the Set Up Applications program offered the option to select a more visually appealing icon. “When you clicked it,” Chen noted, “it still ran as an MS-DOS program, but at least the icon was prettier.”
Initially, these icons resided within progman.exe. However, as the collection of icons expanded, it became evident that they needed a dedicated space rather than residing within the Program Manager binary. Thus, the icons were migrated to a new home, the MORICONS.DLL, aptly named for being more icons.
A recent exploration of the moricons.dll file included with Windows 11 reveals a delightful array of nostalgia. Icons for Turbo Pascal, Quattro Pro, and various WordPerfect images are present, alongside familiar names like Lotus 123 and cc:Mail, and even the beloved Sidekick 2.
This moricons.dll library has persisted through the years. Originally, Windows crafted those Program Manager icons, which evolved into shortcut files in Windows 95, and these shortcut files continued to migrate forward with each Windows upgrade.
Interestingly, one might wonder about the future of this DLL, especially with the advent of 64-bit Windows, which introduced a clean install approach that lacked an upgrade path from 32-bit systems. Moreover, 64-bit Windows no longer supported MS-DOS programs, raising questions about the relevance of these icons.
Yet, the moricons.dll survived the transition to 64-bit architecture. Chen recalled that much of the porting process was mechanical, focusing less on the old 32-bit components that could be discarded. Given that the DLL occupies a mere 12 KB, there remains a possibility that someone, somewhere, is still utilizing those nostalgic icons.
As Chen aptly put it, “Better to let sleeping dogs lie and eat the 12 kilobytes.”