32 Bit Operating Systems Killed the Radio Star

I'm officially pissed off by Microsoft today.

For whatever reason I got a strong urge the other day to play one of my old simulation games.  I'm not a big game player but I've always had a soft spot for the Sim City series.  Unfortunately, my PC isn't a fan. 

First I tried to install Sim City 3000 from a CD.  No joy.  Apparently my copy isn't friends with Windows XP.  Then I tried Sim City 2000 from a floppy disk.  Again, no luck.  Bah. 

After several fruitless hours on Google I gave up.  The only advice I could find was to right-click on the setup file and adjust its compatibility for Windows 98.  That didn't work, so I tried downloading a Windows 98 emulator.  That came with its own problems, as I couldn't figure out how to extract the .RAR file  (or something - I'm not at home with compressed files).  Finally I gave up and downloaded torrents of both Sim City 2000 and 3000, but couldn't get either to work (is it still illegal if you own a hard copy of the games?).

Finally, I gave up and started playing Civ IV on the laptop.  Unfortunately that clunky old machine is pushing 2 years old and can't be expected to be able to keep up with a game as powerful, fast-paced and graphics-heavy as Civilis-fucking-ation.  I despair. 

After many more hours of fruitless tinkering I've given up and decided to download a copy of The Sims.  God help me, I will play a simulation game today.  If Maxis have any problems with the fact that I'm downloading a not entirely legal copy of the game then they can send a bill to Microsoft with my compliments. Bastards.