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Posted by mitchivin 7 days ago

Show HN: I recreated Windows XP as my portfolio(mitchivin.com)
Years ago I stumbled across a basic version of this concept and it stuck with me. I knew if I was ever going to take on such a project, it would need to be flawless, but without coding experience it was just another idea that would never happen. By the end of 2024, as AI coding tools exploded everywhere, I finally had a way to make it real.

I started from zero knowledge and spent months collaborating with AI agents as a learning experience. Every pixel and every function went through me. The AI translated what I asked for into code, but every decision was human. I didn't use existing OS frameworks because the goal was learning how basic coding languages worked while also developing my skills with AI collaboration. Apart from basic libraries like xp.css and paint.js, it's all original code.

The result is a fully functional Windows XP recreation running in your browser. Complete experience with sounds, animations, and working applications. Even works properly on mobile, which required rebuilding everything to maintain the authentic feel without becoming unusable on touchscreens.

This project taught me more about coding and AI collaboration than I ever expected. Would love to hear your thoughts on the execution and any feedback on the technical approach.

1022 points | 319 commentspage 11
nektro 6 days ago|
totally blown away when paint worked
mitchivin 5 days ago|
:)
Varun08 6 days ago||
you sir are an absolute mad lad! kudos.
padolsey 6 days ago||
This gives me so much joy. Well done!!
sangeeth96 7 days ago||
Quite honestly, super cool! Telling that you probably managed to wield AI tools quite well if you managed to get this far with it.

Only pet peeve I have is with the obvious AI generated art (including the wallpaper?) — still can't get onboard with them.

mitchivin 7 days ago|
It was definitely a long fought battle haha

Yeah for sure, I completely get it - I can genuinely understand the large majority of reasons people have for holding that opinion and I don't even necessarily disagree with many of them. I will admit, I do find it wildly entertaining and having the ability to turn an idea into something tangible almost instantly allows me to produce more high quality work.

Aside from personal opinions, I just think that it's pretty clear where the world's going and since money doesn't care about feelings - companies are going to use it. so I feel like it probably helps, or at least will start to help more and more as time goes on having it clear that I can and do use these AI tools they keep hearing about.

apwell23 6 days ago||
hey i saw this a while ago on /r/vibecoding . Looks even better now .
mitchivin 6 days ago|
thanks dude!
mietek 6 days ago||
A graphic designer should be capable of designing an avatar for themselves instead of using AI slop that rips off Studio Ghibli. I closed the page as soon as I saw that.
scosman 7 days ago||
Great work
gloosx 6 days ago||
Did you ask Microsoft permission to use logo/branding etc. Or are you ready to be sued?
Biganon 6 days ago|
Recreations of Windows UX in a webpage have been done a million times and I've never heard of Microsoft suing them. I think they have better things to do.
paulryanrogers 6 days ago||
As a design showcase it is odd to basically trademark/copyright infringe all the visuals.

In university design classes they made it pretty clear we should take care choosing sources for assets we used, even as a base for our work. At least back in the early oughts. Maybe it's different now that crime is legal.

Biganon 6 days ago||
What you say is true, but as an HR person i wouldn't care too much about the copyright aspect, more about the fact that this showcases nothing about the guy's actual design abilities. That's more a feat of a front end dev integrating an existing design, which is impressive but this aspect has been mostly vibe coded, or at least "vibe taught" (is that a thing ?) according to OP himself
poundtown 7 days ago||
pretty badass sir! cheers!
mitchivin 7 days ago|
thanks boss!
kennyloginz 6 days ago|
No offense, maybe I am jaded by our environment, but this reads like an ai ad….
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