OP here. I’m reposting this with a focus on the tech stack because I think the "retro" look buried the lede last time.

The Problem with Web Desktops:

We've all seen cool Windows 95/98 JS recreations (like 98.js.org), but they all hit the same wall: the browser inside them is fake. You can't load modern sites (Google, YouTube, HN) inside an iframe due to X-Frame-Options, CORS, and mixed content security policies.

The Solution (BrowserBox):

This project is a frontend for a tool I'm building called BrowserBox.

Remote Isolation: When you open IE in this demo, you aren't opening an iframe. You are spinning up a remote browser session in a Docker container on my server.

Streaming: The view is streamed back to the client (using standard web technologies), and your clicks/keystrokes are sent to the server.

Result: You get a "real" internet connection inside the simulation that bypasses all client-side restriction. You can watch YouTube or browse HN from inside the virtual desktop.

The Stack:

Backend: Node.js / Puppeteer-ish control (raw CDP, custom bookkeeping)

Frontend: Vanilla JS / Custom retro UI framework

Infrastructure: Dockerized browser instances

I built this because I missed the "Wild West" feel of the 90s web, but I also wanted to show that remote browser isolation doesn't have to be clunky enterprise-ware.

Give the browser a try (sound on for full immersion) and let me know if the latency holds up for you.

I think it would be really cool to have a Windows 98 running in browser and an agent to proxy all interaction to real desktop and web:

* It proxies web sites and optinally modifies them to look era-appropriate.

* It can generate missing native apps as shims to apps on your host or web sites. Like, cmd that's actually a pwsh. Or VSCode that looks like Borland C++ Builder.

* Streaming media like Bandcamp or Spotify inside a real WinAmp 2.x.