Windows RG Brings the Classic Parody to Life in a Surprisingly Installable Form

Windows RG started off as a snarky little Flash animation in 2001, when using Windows ME felt like an endless misery. James Webb, the person who came up with the idea, programmed a spoof of Windows ME that captured the irritation of dealing with a broken operating system that simply wouldn’t operate.

This interactive parody, first released on Newgrounds back in the day, allowed fans to explore a fictitious desktop where nearly everything that could go wrong did. Programs would freeze on the spot, random blue screens would appear for no apparent reason, and what should have been a simple chore evolved into a comedic performance.

Time passed, and the Flash version faded into the background of online history. Then, one day, someone came along and transformed it into the real deal. Windeststruct, a developer, was responsible for transforming the mock-up into a fully functional, bootable Windows ME operating system. This upgraded version includes a variety of custom programs and additional behaviors that almost precisely duplicate the original animation.

Getting Windows RG installed is a battle that everyone who has ever tried to set up Windows ME from scratch would recognize. You go through the typical installation stages, but just when you think you’re getting somewhere, the process stalls or some strange problem message appears. Drivers may refuse to load properly, and you will most likely be forced to utilize some questionable DOS commands to get anything done.

When everything is up and running, the desktop looks almost identical to the traditional ME interface, complete with the wonderful green hills background and all of the standard taskbar items. Windeststruct’s own additions are a great touch, though. Windows Media Player RG will cruise around for a while before suddenly crashing with a “illegal operation” notice. Microsoft Word RG allows you to type one or two sentences before Clippy, the unpleasant paperclip, appears to test your letter-writing abilities.

Paint RG opens up and instantly begins flashing colors at you in a way that could cause a seizure, so you’ll undoubtedly be greeted with a harsh warning about the potential risks. Solitaire, on the other hand, has cards that appear to have been created with little more than MSPaint and a lot of imagination. Of course, help is absolutely useless and will always return 0 results regardless of what you ask. When you try to run Windows Update, it will pretend to scan for patches before giving you a nice roasting.

The OS includes eight main applications, each artfully twisted to give the perfect amount of stress and hilarity to your day. Every software, including the original Flash game, has the potential to break in some ludicrous way. Blue screens of death will appear almost every time you try to do something simple, such as access a menu.