3 ms·

Honestly I don't buy into the Windows is awful line of thought. There a couple of key points you never see with Windows: A. You never see forums posts on the i

by 51Cards 16y ago

Honestly I don't buy into the Windows is awful line of thought. There a couple of key points you never see with Windows: A. You never see forums posts on the internet saying "I have notebook XXX, main board XXX, graphics card XXX, will Windows run?" It just does which is why it will remain the dominant operating system for a long time to come. MS has the unenviable job of supporting every form of PC style hardware and adapting to it. Do they do it perfectly? Of course not but they do it better than anyone else has ever managed to. B. I have a small phone book application I wrote in 1993 on Windows 3. I still use it today and it hasn't been recompiled in 15+ years at least. I doubt I still have the source (or anything that would compile it). The app is not command line, it's a GUI app, and it still works perfectly. MS has ensured as best they can that any properly written Win app from 16bit on up still runs today. Being a business app developer and seeing the legacy applications many of my large clients have to maintain, this is beyond priceless. I don't deny Windows problems... it's been around so long it is a bit of a hodge podge of UI design, it has been unstable, and it is built around an aging architecture model. Then again I also view these as byproducts of its age and focus on legacy and hardware support. The performance of hardware is now to a point where virtualizing older versions of the OS for legacy support is practical and I like to think that this will work well for Windows in the future as XP mode has in Win7. Hopefully MS will really make use of this more going forward. Then again, with where things are heading what operating system you use to access the net is going to become largely irrelevant anyhow.

aquark 16y ago
Your 16 bit app will be out of luck if you ever install a 64 bit version of windows ... though a 20 year lifespan is pretty decent.
zdw 16y ago
"MS has ensured as best they can that any properly written Win app from 16bit on up still runs today." Unless you're running Windows 7/Vista in 64-bit mode. Then no 16-bit apps will run, and it's emulation time. Being able to keep old code isn't a long term advantage. Old binary apps that require an old software stack will eventually have to be replaced or rewritten. Source code that can be recompiled or ported is much better than old binaries, as at least it can be worked on. Worst of all is if the data is in a hard to decipher format. I did some work with some space science data from the 70's that was basically binary files in a pre-ASCII character set - it was a total PITA.... Old non-dumpable databases are easily as bad.
- 51Cards 16y ago
  I agree on most aspects but also respectfully disagree on a couple. Keeping old apps isn't always a bad thing. Yes, the source should be preserved so the application can be ported forward as required, but from a business expense aspect, when an application is still doing what it needs to do, it is far more expensive to have to re-write it every OS iteration vs. getting 10,15,20? years out of the app then paying to upgrade it once and leap up 5 levels in technology. Rewrite when needed, and don't be afraid to, but it's a good thing if it's not needed very often. And yes, agreed, that tipping point has essentially hit for 16bit apps to avoid emulation. The pre-ASCII project sounds like a nightmare. On that one I would say the "needed" point was well passed!
- brudgers 16y ago
  >"Unless you're running Windows 7/Vista in 64-bit mode. Then no 16-bit apps will run, and it's emulation time." Same situation with Windows XP Professional x64 edition. But, if you're still running 16-bit apps, the 20 minutes it takes to set up a 32 bit virtual machine is a pretty small price to pay. Microsoft even provides a Virtual PC as a no cost download.

by 51Cards 16y ago

aquark 16y ago

Your 16 bit app will be out of luck if you ever install a 64 bit version of windows ... though a 20 year lifespan is pretty decent.

zdw 16y ago

"MS has ensured as best they can that any properly written Win app from 16bit on up still runs today." Unless you're running Windows 7/Vista in 64-bit mode. Then no 16-bit apps will run, and it's emulation time. Being able to keep old code isn't a long term advantage. Old binary apps that require an old software stack will eventually have to be replaced or rewritten. Source code that can be recompiled or ported is much better than old binaries, as at least it can be worked on. Worst of all is if the data is in a hard to decipher format. I did some work with some space science data from the 70's that was basically binary files in a pre-ASCII character set - it was a total PITA.... Old non-dumpable databases are easily as bad.

51Cards 16y ago
I agree on most aspects but also respectfully disagree on a couple. Keeping old apps isn't always a bad thing. Yes, the source should be preserved so the application can be ported forward as required, but from a business expense aspect, when an application is still doing what it needs to do, it is far more expensive to have to re-write it every OS iteration vs. getting 10,15,20? years out of the app then paying to upgrade it once and leap up 5 levels in technology. Rewrite when needed, and don't be afraid to, but it's a good thing if it's not needed very often. And yes, agreed, that tipping point has essentially hit for 16bit apps to avoid emulation. The pre-ASCII project sounds like a nightmare. On that one I would say the "needed" point was well passed!
brudgers 16y ago
>"Unless you're running Windows 7/Vista in 64-bit mode. Then no 16-bit apps will run, and it's emulation time." Same situation with Windows XP Professional x64 edition. But, if you're still running 16-bit apps, the 20 minutes it takes to set up a 32 bit virtual machine is a pretty small price to pay. Microsoft even provides a Virtual PC as a no cost download.