Because playing without it makes me sad panda. Using windows 8 lol

I don't know if this will work with windows 8 but it works fine in windows 7 for me. I use dxwnd to set up these old games in windowed mode. It might take some playing around to get it to work but I think the most important thing you have to have enabled is either "Primary Surface" or "Primary Surface"

If you are running Windows 8 then you have bigger problems. I looked at screenshots and it looks like a cartoon.

Google "D3D Windower - English". You`ll see an entry to You Tube with a download-link
to the program and an explanation. This makes almost any game run in windowed mode.

I got it to run, either with DxWnd or D3DWindower, but not the other.
But I will check which one worked, as soon as I am done repairing my Windows

EDIT: Ignore what I said above, I did a quick check, seems like my Windows works enough for Alpha Centauri at the moment. Both programs worked, but at least for Alpha Centauri I would recommend DxWnd as that does scale the videos to the same size as the gameplay window. And it is easier to configure. You can find it at http://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/home/Home/
If you need help configuring it post back here or PM me, but until tomorrow I will be busy fixing my Windows.