Microsoft makes Zork open-source

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

The most prevalent themes in the Hacker News discussion surrounding the public release of Zork source code are:

Confusion and Surprise Regarding Microsoft's Ownership and Acquisition History: Many users expressed surprise that Microsoft ultimately owns the Zork IP via the Activision Blizzard acquisition, often forgetting the sequence of prior acquisitions (Activision buying Infocom, Microsoft buying Activision).
- Quotation: "I completely forgot that Activision/Blizzard is a subsidiary of Microsoft Gaming these days." (Author: "OhMeadhbh")
- Quotation: "Why does Microsoft own the rights to Zork?" (Author: "AdmiralAsshat")
Technical Deep Dive into the Original Zork Implementation Language (MDL/ZIL): A significant portion of the conversation focused on the programming environment used for Zork, specifically the distinction between MDL (More Datatypes than Lisp) and ZIL (Zork Implementation Language), and the surrounding MIT culture from which they emerged.
- Quotation: "Zork was originally written at MIT for PDP-10s in an obscure Lisp dialect (MDL)." (Author: "jsnell")
- Quotation: "MDL is also from MIT and supposedly stood for More Datatypes than Lisp." (Author: "staplung")
Clarification on the Significance of the Open Source Release (Official Licensing vs. Previous Leaks): Users noted that while versions of the source code had been available online for years (often leaked or derived from old mainframes), this release is notable because Microsoft officially applied the MIT license, fundamentally changing its legal status from "source available for archival" to truly open source.
- Quotation: "The notable thing that Microsoft is doing here is clearing up the rights to the Zork 1-3" (Author: "ndiddy")
- Quotation: "The notable change is that most of those repos have been available not as a open source but "source available" as Fair Use (for Archival Purposes), but the copyright owner (Microsoft today) has now directly applied the MIT License to three of those repos (Zork 1/2/3)." (Author: "WorldMaker")

🚀 Project Ideas

Historical Game Source Code Compiler & Debugger Unifier (HGSCDU)

Summary

A universal tool designed to compile and run historical interactive fiction source code (like Zork's ZIL/MDL, or classic Sierra AGI/SCI) by abstracting away the dependency on obsolete original toolchains (e.g., PDP-10 MDL, ZILCH compiler).
Core value proposition: Making historically significant, but currently highly difficult-to-build, source code immediately runnable, modifiable, and usable in modern environments (solving the pain point expressed by users regarding lost/unpreserved toolchains).

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	Game preservationists, historians, independent game developers wanting to study or fork classic codebases (like Zork, Sierra games).
Core Feature	A cross-platform "Toolchain Emulator" that provides near-perfect emulation of the required dependencies (compilers, linkers, environment variables) needed to build artifacts from historical source code repos.
Tech Stack	Go or Rust (for performance and cross-platform binary distribution), Docker/Podman for environment isolation, WebAssembly (Wasm) compilation target for extreme portability.
Difficulty	High (Requires deep reverse engineering of multiple discrete, potentially lost, build systems and compilers like ZILCH or early Sierra toolchains).
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

Why HN commenters would love it: Addresses the specific frustrations mentioned: "The code relies on old internal Infocom toolchains (ZILCH compiler, WATFOR, mainframe environment) that are not open and likely not preserved" and the desire of users who want to "port" code like Zork to modern targets (like Inform 6 or Python) but need the official ZIL/MDL source to compile first.
Potential for discussion or practical utility: This project would immediately elevate the utility of all recently open-sourced historical codebases if they lack modern build instructions, driving intense discussion about historical software preservation standards.

Z-Machine Source Code Modernization Assistant (Z-Mod)

Summary

A tool that takes an MIT-licensed Z-Machine source code base (like Zork ZIL) and assists in porting it to a modern, actively maintained IF language (like Inform 7 or TADS), handling complex syntactic/semantic translation.
Core value proposition: Leveraging modern LLMs (or dedicated code translation AI) trained specifically on the highly specialized domain of Lisp dialects (MDL/ZIL) and their mapping to contemporary IF languages, solving the "How well would a code agent do on porting the code?" curiosity.

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	Interactive Fiction enthusiasts, hobbyists who want to tinker with Zork/Infocom logic but don't want to learn ZIL/MDL, and those looking to migrate legacy engines.
Core Feature	A guided semi-automated porting wizard. It parses the source code, identifies structural elements (objects/rooms/verbs), and suggests mappings/conversions to the target language's modern idioms, flagging areas requiring human review (like complex pre-LLM optimization tricks).
Tech Stack	Python (for LLM/AI integration via API like fine-tuned Llama or Gemini), Web UI (React/Svelte) for comparison visualization, Static analysis tools for the source language (if possible).
Difficulty	Medium (The AI/LLM component can be high complexity, but the wrapper/wizard utility itself can be lower once the prompt engineering is solved).
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

Why HN commenters would love it: Directly answers the question about using agents to convert old code: "So how good are the latest coding agents? Like if I asked Gemini 3/Claude/ChatGPT 5.1 to convert it into something that could run from a Python interpreter..." This tool operationalizes that question.
Potential for discussion or practical utility: High value for the IF community, addressing the desire to see classics "live forever in apt/rpm repositories" by using modern FOSS toolchains like Inform 6/7.

Classic Game Build Environment as a Service (CGBaaS)

Summary

A service that provides pre-configured, maintained, and easily accessible containerized build environments for various classic/obsolete computer platforms (e.g., PDP-10 MDL/LISP, Apple II 6502 assemblers, DOS compilers, early Sierra environments).
Core value proposition: Solving the "One does not simply replicate a Windows build lab at home" problem for historical game assets, allowing users to quickly compile and experiment with code in its native (or near-native) context without managing complex host dependencies.

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	Developers/Historians who need to create reproducible builds for archival purposes (like MSFT Legal/HistoricalSource team itself, or independent researchers).
Core Feature	A centralized registry of Docker/OCI images tagged by target platform and language version. Allows users to execute `docker run cgb-zilch-infocom:latest` to get an environment ready to compile the latest source release. Includes pre-configured save/load volume mapping supporting Docker Zork implementations.
Tech Stack	Docker/OCI, Kubernetes/Nomad (for scaling the service), Cloud provider infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP).
Difficulty	Medium (Maintenance scaling is hard, but initial setup for a few key environments is manageable).
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

Why HN commenters would love it: Directly addresses the portability and difficulty-of-build pain point: users mention wanting to use Docker for Zork, and others point out the extreme difficulty of building complex legacy software ("it took them around 1 day to build Excel from source"). This service packages that environment for them.
Potential for discussion or practical utility: High interest from preservationists wanting to ensure that the source code released today can actually be compiled decades later, solving toolchain rot.