4 ms·

It’s not baffling at all. They strongly value maintaining backwards compatibility guarantees. For example, Windows 11 has no backwards compatibility guarantee

It’s not baffling at all. They strongly value maintaining backwards compatibility guarantees. For example, Windows 11 has no backwards compatibility guarantees for DOS but operating systems that they do have backwards compatibility guarantees for do. Enterprises need Microsoft to maintain these for as long as possible. It is AMAZING how much inertia software has that hardware doesn’t, given how difficult each are to create.

wizzwizz4 11mo ago
The 3.5mm audio jack is 75 years old, but electrically-compatible with a nearly 150-year-old standard.
- naikrovek 11mo ago
  Yeah speakers haven’t changed enough to make the 3.5mm connector obsolete.
  - cesarb 11mo ago
    Many new devices use a 2.5mm audio jack instead of the 3.5mm audio jack.
    - naikrovek 11mo ago
      Yes, but that doesn’t obsolete the 3.5mm jack or the 1/4” jack. It’s just a different form factor of the same thing.
- anthk 11mo ago
  Victorian teletypes can be hooked to a serial port with a trivial adapter, at least enough to use CP/M and most single-case OS'es. Also, some programming languages have a setting to export code compatible with just Baudot characters: http://t3x.org/nmhbasic/index.html http://t3x.org/nmhbasic/index.html So, you could feed it from paper tape and maybe Morse too.
  - 1718627440 11mo ago
    > Victorian teletypes Wait what? There were devices called teletypes in the Victorian era (ending in 1901)? What were they doing?
    - defrost 11mo ago
      There's a recent steampunky hacked mashup called a Victorian teletype. Of more interest, to myself at least, teleprinters have a long history: * Early developments (1835–1846) * Early teleprinters (1849–1897) ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter
monocasa 11mo ago
They've stopped caring as much about backwards compat. Windows 10 no longer plays the first Crysis without binary patches for instance.
- krige 11mo ago
  Things that go through the proper channels are usually compatible. Crysis was never the most stable of games and IIRC it used 3DNow, which is deprecated - but not by Windows. As a counter-anecdata, last week I ran Galapagos: Mendel's Escape with zero compat patches or settings, that's a 1997 3D game just working.
  - account42 11mo ago
    > Things that go through the proper channels are usually compatible. But that's a pretty low bar - previously Windows went to great lengths to preserve backwards compatibility even for programs that are out of spec. If you just care about keeping things working if they were done "correctly" then the average Linux desktop can do that too - both for native Linux programs (glibc and a small list of other base system libraries have strong backwards compatibility) as well as for Windows programs via Wine.
    - krige 11mo ago
      On paper maybe. In practice there's currently at least one case that directly affects me where Wine-patched Windows software still works on Windows thanks to said patch... but doesn't work under Wine anymore.
- 7bit 11mo ago
  Theres a big difference between Enterprise-Level software and games. Windows earns money mainly in the enterprise sector, so that's where the backwards-compatibility effort is. Not gaming. That's just a side effect. Anecdotal, you can run 16bit games (swing; 1997) on Windows, only if you patch 2-3 DirectX related files.
  - 11mo ago

wizzwizz4 11mo ago

The 3.5mm audio jack is 75 years old, but electrically-compatible with a nearly 150-year-old standard.

naikrovek 11mo ago
Yeah speakers haven’t changed enough to make the 3.5mm connector obsolete.
- cesarb 11mo ago
  Many new devices use a 2.5mm audio jack instead of the 3.5mm audio jack.
  - naikrovek 11mo ago
    Yes, but that doesn’t obsolete the 3.5mm jack or the 1/4” jack. It’s just a different form factor of the same thing.
anthk 11mo ago
Victorian teletypes can be hooked to a serial port with a trivial adapter, at least enough to use CP/M and most single-case OS'es. Also, some programming languages have a setting to export code compatible with just Baudot characters: http://t3x.org/nmhbasic/index.html http://t3x.org/nmhbasic/index.html So, you could feed it from paper tape and maybe Morse too.
- 1718627440 11mo ago
  > Victorian teletypes Wait what? There were devices called teletypes in the Victorian era (ending in 1901)? What were they doing?
  - defrost 11mo ago
    There's a recent steampunky hacked mashup called a Victorian teletype. Of more interest, to myself at least, teleprinters have a long history: * Early developments (1835–1846) * Early teleprinters (1849–1897) ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter

monocasa 11mo ago

They've stopped caring as much about backwards compat. Windows 10 no longer plays the first Crysis without binary patches for instance.

krige 11mo ago
Things that go through the proper channels are usually compatible. Crysis was never the most stable of games and IIRC it used 3DNow, which is deprecated - but not by Windows. As a counter-anecdata, last week I ran Galapagos: Mendel's Escape with zero compat patches or settings, that's a 1997 3D game just working.
- account42 11mo ago
  > Things that go through the proper channels are usually compatible. But that's a pretty low bar - previously Windows went to great lengths to preserve backwards compatibility even for programs that are out of spec. If you just care about keeping things working if they were done "correctly" then the average Linux desktop can do that too - both for native Linux programs (glibc and a small list of other base system libraries have strong backwards compatibility) as well as for Windows programs via Wine.
  - krige 11mo ago
    On paper maybe. In practice there's currently at least one case that directly affects me where Wine-patched Windows software still works on Windows thanks to said patch... but doesn't work under Wine anymore.
7bit 11mo ago
Theres a big difference between Enterprise-Level software and games. Windows earns money mainly in the enterprise sector, so that's where the backwards-compatibility effort is. Not gaming. That's just a side effect. Anecdotal, you can run 16bit games (swing; 1997) on Windows, only if you patch 2-3 DirectX related files.
- 11mo ago