4 ms·

Tons of industrial software is Windows only, whether it's design, operations, or configuration & control apps for industrial hardware. MacOS versions are more

Tons of industrial software is Windows only, whether it's design, operations, or configuration & control apps for industrial hardware. MacOS versions are more commonly found in the low end of the market, e.g. Fusion 360.

anon291 19d ago
Which is kind of insane when you think about it considering what a cluster fuck the win32 API is
- zwirbl 19d ago
  Still the most stable API on Linux
  - dijit 19d ago
    I still think that it’s one of the great ironies of our time. Linux itself bends over backwards to avoid breaking userland, to the point where there is a substantial amount of cruft when interacting directly with the kernel. Only for GNU to say “fuck that” and create a widely mockable situation, one of the worst targets of modern programs for stability… to the point where people start using alternative libc’s specifically to statically link them. What a monumental failure.
    - boredatoms 19d ago
      Dynamic linking by default has turned into a premature optimization over time
    - amrit3128 19d ago
      Just a quirk of the times. GNU made the most optimal solutions of their time, but in the end we still have some tech debt. I think it was inevitable that this would happen with GNU or for that matter any project, since it's not a centralized project like linux and was never going to be since it's not just one piece of software.
- PorciiVorbesc 19d ago
  Why is it a cluster fuck? When it's been virtually unchanged and stable for the past 30 or so years, which is how Winamp 2.95 can run on WIndows 11 today and how Wine can so easily run Windows games. Way better than Linux and Mac have historically provided for compatibility.
  - unleashhale 19d ago
    Accumulated cruft is the CF cost for an API.
    - PorciiVorbesc 19d ago
      Where's the cruft? Win32 is pretty simple.
- dgellow 19d ago
  What?! Win32 is one of the best API ever designed. It’s pretty much the best part of windows
  - gmueckl 19d ago
    Not all parts of Win32 were designed equally well. File IO, process management and most of the threading primitivs have aged really well. Thread management hasn't. The GUI parts are a sometimes hacky mess because behavioral changes created mismatches between what functions were specified to do and what that gets actually translated to. Permissions are a pain in the butt with complex ACLs, transparent file access redirects and how process elevation works.
    - dgellow 19d ago
      Yes, for sure. And with hindsight a lot of things would be done differently. I’m still really impressed by most of win32 given it was designed at a time where the software and hardware landscape looked so different from what we have today. Looks complex and messy at first but I learned a ton about what makes for good design by digging into win32 and NT
- raincole 19d ago
  Most software written in win32 days still work today on Win 10/11. You really can't say the same for X11/Wayland.

anon291 19d ago

Which is kind of insane when you think about it considering what a cluster fuck the win32 API is

zwirbl 19d ago
Still the most stable API on Linux
- dijit 19d ago
  I still think that it’s one of the great ironies of our time. Linux itself bends over backwards to avoid breaking userland, to the point where there is a substantial amount of cruft when interacting directly with the kernel. Only for GNU to say “fuck that” and create a widely mockable situation, one of the worst targets of modern programs for stability… to the point where people start using alternative libc’s specifically to statically link them. What a monumental failure.
  - boredatoms 19d ago
    Dynamic linking by default has turned into a premature optimization over time
  - amrit3128 19d ago
    Just a quirk of the times. GNU made the most optimal solutions of their time, but in the end we still have some tech debt. I think it was inevitable that this would happen with GNU or for that matter any project, since it's not a centralized project like linux and was never going to be since it's not just one piece of software.
PorciiVorbesc 19d ago
Why is it a cluster fuck? When it's been virtually unchanged and stable for the past 30 or so years, which is how Winamp 2.95 can run on WIndows 11 today and how Wine can so easily run Windows games. Way better than Linux and Mac have historically provided for compatibility.
- unleashhale 19d ago
  Accumulated cruft is the CF cost for an API.
  - PorciiVorbesc 19d ago
    Where's the cruft? Win32 is pretty simple.
dgellow 19d ago
What?! Win32 is one of the best API ever designed. It’s pretty much the best part of windows
- gmueckl 19d ago
  Not all parts of Win32 were designed equally well. File IO, process management and most of the threading primitivs have aged really well. Thread management hasn't. The GUI parts are a sometimes hacky mess because behavioral changes created mismatches between what functions were specified to do and what that gets actually translated to. Permissions are a pain in the butt with complex ACLs, transparent file access redirects and how process elevation works.
  - dgellow 19d ago
    Yes, for sure. And with hindsight a lot of things would be done differently. I’m still really impressed by most of win32 given it was designed at a time where the software and hardware landscape looked so different from what we have today. Looks complex and messy at first but I learned a ton about what makes for good design by digging into win32 and NT
raincole 19d ago
Most software written in win32 days still work today on Win 10/11. You really can't say the same for X11/Wayland.