3 ms·

One of the main values of Windows today, at least for businesses, is backwards-compatibility- not the GUI. DOS programs still run on it, if that tells you anyth

One of the main values of Windows today, at least for businesses, is backwards-compatibility- not the GUI. DOS programs still run on it, if that tells you anything. So they aren't going to be dropping Windows Proper in favor of a skinned Linux distro any time soon. That said, maybe it would be feasible if they built a "Linux subsystem for Windows" that could run any legacy Windows app inside Linux, just like Windows can currently run any legacy DOS app (without actually being based on DOS). An official Wine, if you will.

mixmastamyk 6y ago
64-bit Windows doesn't support 16 or 8 bit applications any longer, a VM is needed. At that point it doesn't matter much what the host OS is.
marcodiego 6y ago
> DOS programs still run on it, I don't think that is correct. Any windows after 9x will need something like dosbox to run dos programs.
- sumtechguy 6y ago
  NT has NTVDM. It worked on many applications up until they added 64 bit into the mix. At which point they never ported it over. Once you move to any 64 bit version you can no longer do that and need a VM or DOSBox. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_DOS_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_DOS_machine Also NTVDM was kind of hit or miss. So if you are using a 32 bit version of any windows you may still get away with running many DOS and win16 applications. But within a particular set of limitations.
  - anthk 6y ago
    The only good NTVDM is the ReactOS' one. The one from MS itself is very flakey.
    - efreak 6y ago
      Try winevdm[1] or ntvdmx64[2], which I believe is based on leaked Microsoft source code. I've successfully gotten Tetris running on win10x64, and I'm happy enough with not needing dosbox+win3x for it. 1: https://github.com/otya128/winevdm https://github.com/otya128/winevdm 2: https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64 https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64
merb 6y ago
> DOS programs still run on it, if that tells you anything trust me without dosbox a shit ton of stuff does not work anymore. heck even tons of xp software does not work on win 10 or needs patches (especially games) compat is dropped more and more, especially old cruft that is barely used.
- TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
  Yeah, I went to install some older games in my Steam library, and some of my favorites need so much futzing, I just gave up. I considered building an XP machine, but gave up that for the same reasons. I'm just too old for this crap any more.
  - mycall 6y ago
    https://exodos.the-eye.us https://exodos.the-eye.us You're welcome :)
TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
> One of the main values of Windows today, at least for businesses, is backwards-compatibility That may be true for small businesses, but I think the single biggest value of Windows to BIG businesses is the ability to screw around with the policies such that, for instance, you can lock a user out of changing their screensaver timeout or their desktop background, as though this had any actual impact on security. My corporate laptop is infested with tracker programs and scripts which make sure I literally can't do anything with it that I shouldn't, but I have friends who work at places which have even more "corporatized" environments. At least, as a dev, I'm allowed to have local admin through a separate, privileged account. Thanks to a Microsoft-funded trade press, every CIO of a Fortune-sized company believes you have to implement all of this crap in order to be "secure." (Meanwhile, the mainframe skates by on non-encrypted connections and 6-digit alphanumeric passwords. Straining at gnats and swallowing camels.) We switched from Lotus to Office365, for a few glorious months, I could access everything from my personal Mac. Then they instituted Mobile Iron. So I created a Windows VM to let MI have it's way with, but then my company further locked down Office365 (and the Azure portal and everything else) so that ONLY their images could get to them. Sigh. I have scores of company-specific programs on my laptop. They're all either Java or .NET, and could easily be recompiled for Linux or Mac. (I've done it for several of my own programs.) Every commercial app I have is supported on at least Mac. Everything else is web-based anyway. The only thing keeping companies on Windows is the control it gives them over the desktop. I, for one, am very glad that people involved in Linux don't care about this aspect of computing, and that Apple is catering to PEOPLE, not companies.

mixmastamyk 6y ago

64-bit Windows doesn't support 16 or 8 bit applications any longer, a VM is needed. At that point it doesn't matter much what the host OS is.

marcodiego 6y ago

> DOS programs still run on it, I don't think that is correct. Any windows after 9x will need something like dosbox to run dos programs.

sumtechguy 6y ago
NT has NTVDM. It worked on many applications up until they added 64 bit into the mix. At which point they never ported it over. Once you move to any 64 bit version you can no longer do that and need a VM or DOSBox. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_DOS_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_DOS_machine Also NTVDM was kind of hit or miss. So if you are using a 32 bit version of any windows you may still get away with running many DOS and win16 applications. But within a particular set of limitations.
- anthk 6y ago
  The only good NTVDM is the ReactOS' one. The one from MS itself is very flakey.
  - efreak 6y ago
    Try winevdm[1] or ntvdmx64[2], which I believe is based on leaked Microsoft source code. I've successfully gotten Tetris running on win10x64, and I'm happy enough with not needing dosbox+win3x for it. 1: https://github.com/otya128/winevdm https://github.com/otya128/winevdm 2: https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64 https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64

merb 6y ago

> DOS programs still run on it, if that tells you anything trust me without dosbox a shit ton of stuff does not work anymore. heck even tons of xp software does not work on win 10 or needs patches (especially games) compat is dropped more and more, especially old cruft that is barely used.

TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
Yeah, I went to install some older games in my Steam library, and some of my favorites need so much futzing, I just gave up. I considered building an XP machine, but gave up that for the same reasons. I'm just too old for this crap any more.
- mycall 6y ago
  https://exodos.the-eye.us https://exodos.the-eye.us You're welcome :)

TheRealDunkirk 6y ago

> One of the main values of Windows today, at least for businesses, is backwards-compatibility That may be true for small businesses, but I think the single biggest value of Windows to BIG businesses is the ability to screw around with the policies such that, for instance, you can lock a user out of changing their screensaver timeout or their desktop background, as though this had any actual impact on security. My corporate laptop is infested with tracker programs and scripts which make sure I literally can't do anything with it that I shouldn't, but I have friends who work at places which have even more "corporatized" environments. At least, as a dev, I'm allowed to have local admin through a separate, privileged account. Thanks to a Microsoft-funded trade press, every CIO of a Fortune-sized company believes you have to implement all of this crap in order to be "secure." (Meanwhile, the mainframe skates by on non-encrypted connections and 6-digit alphanumeric passwords. Straining at gnats and swallowing camels.) We switched from Lotus to Office365, for a few glorious months, I could access everything from my personal Mac. Then they instituted Mobile Iron. So I created a Windows VM to let MI have it's way with, but then my company further locked down Office365 (and the Azure portal and everything else) so that ONLY their images could get to them. Sigh. I have scores of company-specific programs on my laptop. They're all either Java or .NET, and could easily be recompiled for Linux or Mac. (I've done it for several of my own programs.) Every commercial app I have is supported on at least Mac. Everything else is web-based anyway. The only thing keeping companies on Windows is the control it gives them over the desktop. I, for one, am very glad that people involved in Linux don't care about this aspect of computing, and that Apple is catering to PEOPLE, not companies.