This isn’t inherently problematic
I despise Microsoft but it’s not something bad.
One of the greatest advantages of windows over Linux is great retro compatibility.
One practical example. Lots of people with old Nvidia cards cannot use linux simply because propietary drivers do not run on modern linux kernels, because at some point in the past 5 years the linux kernel decided to change some API making the old libraries unusable. So at that point there’s only two options, or the software gets patched (which won’t happen with legacy software), or distro maintainers keep maintaining the old kernel manually applying security parches to it without changing the API, which happens but only for some time. With windows the system API is the same since ancient times, so you can easily run ancient software on it, as is it the case for old Nvidia drivers.
It’s just a constructive criticism to Linux, I wish it would be more stable with the system APIs to ensure old software could keep running without patches.
Sometimes it’s ok to stop maintaining old code to improve the state of the codebase
One of the greatest advantages of windows over Linux is great retro compatibility.
It’s completely insane that none of my native Linux games work anymore, while under Proton all windows apps work just fine
I’ve been saying for a bit now that Linux games should be distributed via flatpak or similar to mitigate this problem.
Flatpak has issues. Distributing libraries with games and forgetting about them is a security nightmare. The proper solution would be either API versioning or wine-like translation layer that translates old API calls to modern ones.
You know the good part on 30 years old code? It usually is low on bugs, because most have been found by now, and it does not yet contain AI slop, or worse, AI enabled features.
Haha, typical. For some reason it reminded me of this meme image I saw a million years ago. Couldn’t find that, but this author basically wrote a whole blog post about it.
Good code is good code no matter what age it was written in.
Why change something because it is old when it works?
It’s great until you have to maintain it.
Oh, wait, AI does that now, never mind.This is literally just a “Windows bad” post.
Sure, but what does this have to do with the win32 API? (I’m jesting, but god it’s such a shit show to use)
Idea: let’s ask Copilot to rewrite that in Rust
i mean most/all Windows versions are built on top of the predecessor,so makes sense.
But also, it has now 15 layers instead of 2.
Hell, it might be the last reliable piece they have left, I’m fine with them not vibe coding that out of the codebase.
recalls UWP
shivers.
the only thing that isnt AI.
I have less of a problem with this than the “constant update” model all software companies seem to subscribe to these days. We don’t need new features, we need bug fixes.
Isstill can’t figure out why discord has a new update every other day. I’ve never seen software this needy before.
Well it’s just s different approach in how you deliver updates. Update as you go or save up updates and publish once a month like ms
It’s the forced online login that wercks it. I now suggest linux.
We’d use a lot more windows if it wasnt so locked up in marketing
Seems like good code then? Old code is stable and bug free and we should keep using the boring stuff as long as possible.
It seems more likely to me that any bugs present in that code just became features that old software relied upon over time, so they can’t change anything without breaking backward compatibility.
So I guess, in a sense, it’s bug-free.
Curious, is any mainstream OS running all modern code?
Define “mainstream” and “modern”.
If we define mainstream as “GUI based, user oriented”, that gives us windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux.
In any of those cases I’d bet you’ll find some kernel code from at least 30 years ago. I’m not saying you’d find entire untouched libraries, but I would put good money on untouched functions.
Those would fit my definition. And yes I would expect they all have some very old code still included.
I know it’s fashionable to dunk on Windows but running old code seems pretty universal OS wise.
If it aint broken. But also when coding you don’t start reinventing everything yourself. Well… I did hear about some researchers at my old uni, they would start a project out with developing a task specific language. But there’s a reason they were working as postdocs at a university and not in the private sector.
Anyway, only a statistically insignificant amount of programmers don’t reuse code.
TempleOS?
That was a great read on Wikipedia 😂
Critical Reception:
“TempleOS received mostly “sympathetic” reviews.”
Is timeless code modern? In a way, it’s modern everytime, hm.
Most mobile devices use ARM processors, a tech developed by Acorn in the early 1980s.
Old doesnt mean bad. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Found the person never having to use Win32.
Had a friend in college who was redoing nuclear decay calculations written in Fortran so they’d work as C++/C# libraries. The calculations had been a historical standby for decades, and people were coming up with increasingly elaborate daisy-chains of dependencies to get them to work properly in modern environments.
There’s definitely a point at which the physical hardware and modern network/interfaces need you to catch up your code with the current technology. But there’s also this terror around trying to touch code that’s got an archaic datestamp on it, particularly if you’re working in a language or dealing with a particularly baroque procedure where the guy who wrote it retired 20 years ago.
Old doesnt mean bad.
Unreviewed Code is bad code unless proven otherwise. Maybe that latest iteration really is time tested and bulletproof. Or maybe Microsoft Execs simply won’t allocate time/money to the kind of routine review and maintenance a codebase needs from time to time.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Sure, If there are no better alternatives and competition.
RISC is the Alpha of the CPU field.
ARM was based on 1975’s MOS 6502, star of the NES, Apple ][ and Atari 2600.
And c64 :')
…and PET…
It kind of annoys me that ARM is a second order abbreviation. IDK why.
Surely there’s an acronym where the A stands for ARM, which would be sure to annoy you even more.
Except it broke
Later additions have broken it, the foundation is still solid.
“I converted my studio into a 3 story mansion and the foundation sunk into the ground. The foundation is still solid, it’s just the 3 story mansion that’s the problem.”
A foundation that can no longer support what it needs to support is not a good foundation and should be replaced
A better analogy would be that the mansion fell down but the foundation is still standing. Because the foundation is the solid part.
Oh boy, wait until you hear about an ancient little sweetheart named COBOL.
CTO: why fix something that ain’t broken That’s what interpreted
