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> You can run 35 years old NES games but not a 5 years old app? This doesn't make sense If you are willing to fill your phone with emulators of every single ve

> You can run 35 years old NES games but not a 5 years old app? This doesn't make sense If you are willing to fill your phone with emulators of every single version of Android, then yes, you can run any old app. This is how we run 35 years old NES games.

ristos 2y ago
Would you need every single version of Android? or just a much thinner compatibility layer for deprecated APIs? Newer apps wouldn't be able to use the deprecated API but older apps don't just disappear either
- raincole 2y ago
  You can (in some cases), but it's completely unrelated to "we can run 35 years old NES games".
  - alexey-salmin 2y ago
    It's all related. Emulation, compatibility and compatibility-through-emulation are very old and well-studied topics. The reason why it's not present on Android is because Google doesn't want to, not because they can't.
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      >The reason why it's not present on Android is because Google doesn't want to, not because they can't. Sad as it may be, I imagine that lack of desire also comes from consumer demand. Most people don't care about running those 15 year old games, so what's the motivation? For archival's sake, you should be able to seek old APKs and run older ROMS through an android emulator. So the minority of those who care have options.
eviks 2y ago
Even if emulator was the only option, why would you need every single version instead of a few old ones that those older apps use?
2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
according to the post you reply to it's anyway not about being able to run an app. it's about not having it listed in the play store. and that won't change even with an older android version.
yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
It seems perhaps more relevant to point out that WINE can run 30 year old win32 apps. I suppose that does include code that could be described as emulators for every single version of Windows, but it's less work because Microsoft, for their many other faults, preserves backwards compatibility so old APIs tend to just keep working.

ristos 2y ago

Would you need every single version of Android? or just a much thinner compatibility layer for deprecated APIs? Newer apps wouldn't be able to use the deprecated API but older apps don't just disappear either

raincole 2y ago
You can (in some cases), but it's completely unrelated to "we can run 35 years old NES games".
- alexey-salmin 2y ago
  It's all related. Emulation, compatibility and compatibility-through-emulation are very old and well-studied topics. The reason why it's not present on Android is because Google doesn't want to, not because they can't.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    >The reason why it's not present on Android is because Google doesn't want to, not because they can't. Sad as it may be, I imagine that lack of desire also comes from consumer demand. Most people don't care about running those 15 year old games, so what's the motivation? For archival's sake, you should be able to seek old APKs and run older ROMS through an android emulator. So the minority of those who care have options.

eviks 2y ago

Even if emulator was the only option, why would you need every single version instead of a few old ones that those older apps use?

2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago

according to the post you reply to it's anyway not about being able to run an app. it's about not having it listed in the play store. and that won't change even with an older android version.

yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago

It seems perhaps more relevant to point out that WINE can run 30 year old win32 apps. I suppose that does include code that could be described as emulators for every single version of Windows, but it's less work because Microsoft, for their many other faults, preserves backwards compatibility so old APIs tend to just keep working.