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> The WIN32 version, all that we've ever released, still work. Some of the older ones may not find old servers, but the code itself is functional. I feel you.
by znpy 6y ago
> The WIN32 version, all that we've ever released, still work. Some of the older ones may not find old servers, but the code itself is functional.
I feel you. I made pretty much this argument to a fellow GNU/Linux user (arch Linux user, if that adds anything). He started saying that syscalls are stable and that it's a gtk/GUI library problem and that if you were to, say, if you somehow loaded all the old libraries, it would work.
Which might be true and everything, but come on. That's the equivalent of pushing your hands on your ears and shouting.
Quite frankly, the thing that saves GNU Linux a bit is that windows is basically getting shittier and shittier at user experience.
- loopz 6y agoI recently compiled linux code from late 90s on Ubuntu. Apart from having to apt-get make utils and deprecated libs, it still worked, though with wrong server hosts. You may run into glibc, 64 bit vs 32 bit issues and the like, but lots of it is pretty compatible. Windows has its own legacy compatibility layers, though it is questionable if that's really a great idea.
- znpy 6y agoYes, indeed, I do believe it's both feasible and true, but let's keep the discourse in the context of desktop usage and desktop users: could you really advice a regular user to go through all those steps? That's the point. In windows 99 times out of 100 you can just run the binary.
- andor 6y ago> He started saying that syscalls are stable and that it's a gtk/GUI library problem and that if you were to, say, if you somehow loaded all the old libraries, it would work. That's because no single organization can be blamed for the mess that is "GNU/Linux" ;-) Binary compatibility is very important for the kernel folks, but apparently much less so for maintainers of glibc and other libraries. As a workaround, binaries can be statically compiled, or bundled with all their dependencies. Flatpak and Snappy are two projects addressing this issue by packaging applications as containers.
- znpy 6y agoCongrats you missed the point too. When it comes to backward compatibility nobody cares what projects are starting today (and would care even less considering how many projects die). It matters what you've been doing in the last 10-15 years. It's not about whose fault is or is not. It's about the state of things.