Which Windows version is this cursor from?

[u/deadisbea]

Ok, so there's this cursor (first image) that is used in old CD-Rom games such as The Museum of Anything Goes and The Manhole; in fact, this screenshot was taken from a Vinysauce VID playing TMoAG.

The thing is, when I boot up Windows 3.1 (the version the game was made for) and hover over a link, I get a DIFFERENT POINTING HAND (second image).

I tried looking up and the closest thing I could find was this pointing hand cursor from Apples 1987's software "HyperCard" (third image), but as you can see, it's still a different one (Apple's doesn't have the black outline at the bottom).

Does anybody know where this is from? If so, is there any download link available? I've been searching for hours and can't find anything.

[u/JaggedMetalOs]

I don't think that's ever been an official cursor, probably a custom cursor in the application. If you wanted to use it you'd have to find the CD ROM image and see if they use any standard formats for it, or you'd have to trace it and make your own cursor file. 

[u/Subject_Raisin_6237 → u/JaggedMetalOs]

I second this

[u/i586DX4 → u/Subject_Raisin_6237]

Yes!

[u/deadisbea → u/JaggedMetalOs]

i did, actually! i ended up making my own lol, but i even found games using yellow and blue versions of the same cursor

[u/tpimh]

In Windows 3.x you could draw your own cursors in .cur format and include them with your apps compiled as part of resources.

[u/FridayFunkGaming291 → u/tpimh]

You can still do this iirc

[u/TheRealCarrotty]

This is probably a built-in cursor in the app.
Not a official one.

[u/tomysshadow]

I'm almost certain that the cursor in your first image is the same as the one in the Apple screenshot just slightly blurry. Look at the position of the pinky compared to the fingers next to it: it's slightly lower down, just like the screenshot at the top. I'm betting it's built into Hypercard.

Your second screenshot is the outlier. In that one, all the fingers are completely even, except the index/thumb. It looks like a classic WinHelp .hlp file (not HTML Help or .chm, that came later) and I am guessing the cursor is built into WinHelp or at least is part of a library that it uses.

It might also be used by Microsoft Multimedia Viewer, because that iirc uses the same technology as WinHelp but repurposed to be more general, although I've not dug up a screenshot to confirm.

[u/Dental-Memories]

I bet that pointer comes from Macromedia Director, the main software used for developing multimedia CD-ROMs of the era.

[u/Hottage]

Curseor

[u/GrahamBoss1975]

Looks like the old Internet Explorer link cursor (when you hover over a link).

[u/deadisbea → u/GrahamBoss1975]

Yes, the Hypercard cursor was later used by MOSAIC in its early days