3 ms·

>This was considered an important thing for the product. Backwards compatibility used to be the norm for most stuff, didn't it? In the 80s/90s. You didn't need

>This was considered an important thing for the product. Backwards compatibility used to be the norm for most stuff, didn't it? In the 80s/90s. You didn't need to get a new computer every few years. Now if there's a problem, the solution is easy - "Buy a new computer/phone/iPad."

dingo_bat 9y ago
> Backwards compatibility used to be the norm for most stuff, didn't it? I think this seems true only because of Microsoft. I cannot recall any other major OS spending so much effort on backward compatibility.
- cesarb 9y ago
  > I think this seems true only because of Microsoft. I cannot recall any other major OS spending so much effort on backward compatibility. The king of backward compatibility is probably IBM. AFAIK, their mainframe operating systems can run unchanged software from before MS-DOS was born.
  - wilsonnb 9y ago
    That's true. You can supposedly run a program assembled or compiled in the 60's on a z14 that you buy today. Seeing as most of IBM's largest customers are banks and other places that have no interest in rewriting battle tested software, it's probably the reason that their mainframe department is still alive.
- beefhash 9y ago
  SCO OSes are also backwards compatible to hell and back.
bpicolo 9y ago
This is one place where the Web continues to reign supreme. Did we re-implement an OS on top of our OS? Sure. But it's been a tremendous success for accessibility.
- yesenadam 9y ago
  Sorry, I didn't understand any of those sentences.
  - bpicolo 9y ago
    I mean that the web has been a tremendous success story for long-term backwards compatibility and widespread access. We've lost a few pieces of technology, like Flash, but overall you can take any modern browser and go visit ages old websites and find them fully functioning. Here's Bob Dole's 1996 campaign site: http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm Browsers are on every platform, and for the most part different platforms require no different code for your web application to work. Mobile vs Desktop, Android vs Windows, you get it all.
    - yesenadam 9y ago
      Ohh right, thank you for explaining. Hmm but e.g. a lot of new websites dont work on any available browser on my computer. The problem is so many new sites need a new computer to work properly—as if they're only tested by people with new computers—not that new computers have a problem with old sites. Maybe I should, uh, buy a new computer. :-) But I figure there are as many people using computers as old as mine, as using brand new ones, maybe not. But I've realized there are two kinds of backwards compatibility, thanks.
      - bpicolo 9y ago
        Hah yeah, forwards-compatibility is a separate issue there.

dingo_bat 9y ago

> Backwards compatibility used to be the norm for most stuff, didn't it? I think this seems true only because of Microsoft. I cannot recall any other major OS spending so much effort on backward compatibility.

cesarb 9y ago
> I think this seems true only because of Microsoft. I cannot recall any other major OS spending so much effort on backward compatibility. The king of backward compatibility is probably IBM. AFAIK, their mainframe operating systems can run unchanged software from before MS-DOS was born.
- wilsonnb 9y ago
  That's true. You can supposedly run a program assembled or compiled in the 60's on a z14 that you buy today. Seeing as most of IBM's largest customers are banks and other places that have no interest in rewriting battle tested software, it's probably the reason that their mainframe department is still alive.
beefhash 9y ago
SCO OSes are also backwards compatible to hell and back.

bpicolo 9y ago

This is one place where the Web continues to reign supreme. Did we re-implement an OS on top of our OS? Sure. But it's been a tremendous success for accessibility.

yesenadam 9y ago
Sorry, I didn't understand any of those sentences.
- bpicolo 9y ago
  I mean that the web has been a tremendous success story for long-term backwards compatibility and widespread access. We've lost a few pieces of technology, like Flash, but overall you can take any modern browser and go visit ages old websites and find them fully functioning. Here's Bob Dole's 1996 campaign site: http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm Browsers are on every platform, and for the most part different platforms require no different code for your web application to work. Mobile vs Desktop, Android vs Windows, you get it all.
  - yesenadam 9y ago
    Ohh right, thank you for explaining. Hmm but e.g. a lot of new websites dont work on any available browser on my computer. The problem is so many new sites need a new computer to work properly—as if they're only tested by people with new computers—not that new computers have a problem with old sites. Maybe I should, uh, buy a new computer. :-) But I figure there are as many people using computers as old as mine, as using brand new ones, maybe not. But I've realized there are two kinds of backwards compatibility, thanks.
    - bpicolo 9y ago
      Hah yeah, forwards-compatibility is a separate issue there.