4 ms·

Having been playing with Windows 10 recently since not using it more than an hour or two at a time since Windows 2K, it was pretty amazing how much of Windows r

by ben509 8y ago

Having been playing with Windows 10 recently since not using it more than an hour or two at a time since Windows 2K, it was pretty amazing how much of Windows really hadn't changed, and how much old chrome there is in there. I'm not sure if that's more due to a "don't fix what isn't broke" attitude, that Microsoft is obsessed with features rather than fixing things, or simply the sheer size of Windows.

pathartl 8y ago
My favorite part of Windows is the collection of "open file" dialogs exist. There has to be at least a dozen by this point. Windows 10 has one that was made in Vista/7 days that is actually broken. You can select the file and everything, but the ribbon has an old style and is black text on a dark background. Oh, and highlighting something won't actually highlight it.
netsharc 8y ago
The best is this dialog, which is the exact same layout as in Windows 3.1: http://www.intelliot.com/2008/08/windows-vista-install-font-crashes/ http://www.intelliot.com/2008/08/windows-vista-install-font-... The dialog in 3.1: http://notebooks.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Install-font-31.jpg http://notebooks.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/...
- Someone 8y ago
  It likely has exactly the same layout because sometime, long ago, some program (e.g. Adobe Type Manager) extended that UI, either by patching its code or by overlaying part of the window with frameless windows containing new controls. Backwards compatibility doesn’t only apply to APIs.
  - ygra 8y ago
    It also got used less and less. You had to really try hard to install fonts that way and why bother changing something that (a) works, and (b) only a tiny fraction of your users are ever going to see.
- lozenge 8y ago
  Adding a font no longer uses that dialog. It was fun though - an Easter egg in the time beyond Easter eggs.
jklinger410 8y ago
I get the sense that changing old things in Windows is a herculean task, while adding new things is much easier. At some point management had the inclination to essentially wipe the board and start over, and they did that by effectively overlaying a new interface on an old OS. No matter how much of a Msoft fanboy you are, the "some settings are in metro and others are in 7" thing has been clunky and dumb since Vista. They've fixed very little of that. Since they are redesigning Notepad it seems like they are taking on these legacy things piece by piece.
- improv32 8y ago
  10 has gotten a lot better at the Control Panel thing, most things can be done in Metro settings finally. Still find myself opening ncpa.cpl whenever I have to touch anything network related though
  - titanix2 8y ago
    The Metro panel is still crap in comparison to the old one: the density of information is really low and its poor layout make it hard to use it.
    - barking 8y ago
      Maybe not the same thing but the settings app is promoted as a faster way of doing everything compared to the control panel but I find it the opposite. The only thing is it's harder to open the control panel than it used to be
      - InitialLastName 8y ago
        > The only thing is it's harder to open the control panel than it used to be <trys> [WinKey] "con" [Enter] Nope, still just as easy.
        megaman22 8y ago
        Your taskbar search must work considerably better than mine. It's a complete crapshoot what it'll decide to find if I'm not super careful and let it finish loading. Hence why I'm still a user of Classic Shell.
ChuckMcM 8y ago
Windows 10 brought back "for real" a lot of the 'desktop' flavor that was tossed out the window in Windows 8. (keeping the tradition of having every other Windows release be usable :-)). The addition of the Linux console pushed it over the edge for me in terms of which OS I boot by default when I boot my laptop.
vitorgrs 8y ago
It's more related with "We won't touch Classic Desktops (Win32), because it's basically deprecated". They update the inbox UWP apps almost every day.
digi_owl 8y ago
Mostly it is the realization that breaking backwards compatibility is bad for business. If corporations risk having to toss their bespoke stack over some MS internal decision, said corporations may decide to go with some alternative in the future.
JamesBarney 8y ago
It's their obsession with backwards compatibility. It's really hard to fix old broken things when mission critical applications rely on them being broken. But relatively easy to add new features without breaking changes.
Senderman 8y ago
Hopped back onto Windows last year after a long time away - all the keyboard shortcuts and obscure registry settings I knew from Win95 still worked. Maybe some people would see that as a bad sign, but I loved it.

by ben509 8y ago

pathartl 8y ago

My favorite part of Windows is the collection of "open file" dialogs exist. There has to be at least a dozen by this point. Windows 10 has one that was made in Vista/7 days that is actually broken. You can select the file and everything, but the ribbon has an old style and is black text on a dark background. Oh, and highlighting something won't actually highlight it.

netsharc 8y ago

The best is this dialog, which is the exact same layout as in Windows 3.1: http://www.intelliot.com/2008/08/windows-vista-install-font-crashes/ http://www.intelliot.com/2008/08/windows-vista-install-font-... The dialog in 3.1: http://notebooks.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Install-font-31.jpg http://notebooks.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/...

Someone 8y ago
It likely has exactly the same layout because sometime, long ago, some program (e.g. Adobe Type Manager) extended that UI, either by patching its code or by overlaying part of the window with frameless windows containing new controls. Backwards compatibility doesn’t only apply to APIs.
- ygra 8y ago
  It also got used less and less. You had to really try hard to install fonts that way and why bother changing something that (a) works, and (b) only a tiny fraction of your users are ever going to see.
lozenge 8y ago
Adding a font no longer uses that dialog. It was fun though - an Easter egg in the time beyond Easter eggs.

jklinger410 8y ago

I get the sense that changing old things in Windows is a herculean task, while adding new things is much easier. At some point management had the inclination to essentially wipe the board and start over, and they did that by effectively overlaying a new interface on an old OS. No matter how much of a Msoft fanboy you are, the "some settings are in metro and others are in 7" thing has been clunky and dumb since Vista. They've fixed very little of that. Since they are redesigning Notepad it seems like they are taking on these legacy things piece by piece.

improv32 8y ago
10 has gotten a lot better at the Control Panel thing, most things can be done in Metro settings finally. Still find myself opening ncpa.cpl whenever I have to touch anything network related though
- titanix2 8y ago
  The Metro panel is still crap in comparison to the old one: the density of information is really low and its poor layout make it hard to use it.
  - barking 8y ago
    Maybe not the same thing but the settings app is promoted as a faster way of doing everything compared to the control panel but I find it the opposite. The only thing is it's harder to open the control panel than it used to be
    - InitialLastName 8y ago
      > The only thing is it's harder to open the control panel than it used to be <trys> [WinKey] "con" [Enter] Nope, still just as easy.
      - megaman22 8y ago
        Your taskbar search must work considerably better than mine. It's a complete crapshoot what it'll decide to find if I'm not super careful and let it finish loading. Hence why I'm still a user of Classic Shell.

ChuckMcM 8y ago

Windows 10 brought back "for real" a lot of the 'desktop' flavor that was tossed out the window in Windows 8. (keeping the tradition of having every other Windows release be usable :-)). The addition of the Linux console pushed it over the edge for me in terms of which OS I boot by default when I boot my laptop.

vitorgrs 8y ago

It's more related with "We won't touch Classic Desktops (Win32), because it's basically deprecated". They update the inbox UWP apps almost every day.

digi_owl 8y ago

Mostly it is the realization that breaking backwards compatibility is bad for business. If corporations risk having to toss their bespoke stack over some MS internal decision, said corporations may decide to go with some alternative in the future.

JamesBarney 8y ago

It's their obsession with backwards compatibility. It's really hard to fix old broken things when mission critical applications rely on them being broken. But relatively easy to add new features without breaking changes.

Senderman 8y ago

Hopped back onto Windows last year after a long time away - all the keyboard shortcuts and obscure registry settings I knew from Win95 still worked. Maybe some people would see that as a bad sign, but I loved it.