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.
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)
This isn’t inherently problematic
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.
Idea: let’s ask Copilot to rewrite that in Rust
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.
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
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.
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.
Found the person never having to use Win32.
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.
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
30 year old legacy code bolted to vomited out ai slop, what a great combination
Maybe that’s why it’s more critical today. The only part that’s even remotely trustworthy.
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.
Oh boy, wait until you hear about an ancient little sweetheart named COBOL.
TCP/IP is from the 80’
That’s a protocol, not a software library
TCP does what it does pretty well, no need for replacing that which works fine
Ehh, TCP has issues with mobile connectivity and is designed around the idea that 1 logical application stream should map to 1 TCP connection, which causes issues.
But that’s why we’ve got QUIC now.
Other than that though, TCP is fine. If all you need is simple in-order delivery of a stream of bytes it’s hard to beat.
And tell me again exactly what the difference is between a protocol and an api, when both are using software that has not been changed for decades? Just curious.
Besides that, TCP/IP is the worst thing ever for a large network and it only gets worse by the day.
thatsbait.meme
Besides that, TCP/IP is the worst thing ever for a large network and it only gets worse by the day.
yet you use it every fucking moment, including to post this message.
wow. damn bro. go back to NetBEUI if you’re so fucking l33t.
If I’m going back I’m choosing OSI kthx
OSI
my brother in layer 3
jfc look in a mirror dumbass. Who gets this angry over internet protocols and then calls the other party fucking l33t?
lol you’re the genius who decided to talk shit about things they obviously do not understand.
Yes I refered to myself as the other party and have a different username. Doublely dumbass.
oh whoops, I got my assholes confused!
It also has 7 layers now.
No.
TCP/IP has 4 layers. You are probably referencing the OSI model. The OSI model is also from the 80’.
With “layers”, i meant “stuff around it” for functioning, like a onion. This one fits perfectly:
There’s also a protocol to mark trustworthy DNS partner servers btw. Which blew up in Germany a few days ago.
Oh yeah, the whole thing is a huge mess by now
i mean most/all Windows versions are built on top of the predecessor,so makes sense.
What os doesn’t?
Reminds me of the flicker.
Quake, HL, HL2, Portal:
And here’s Half Life 1 and HL: Alyx for good measure:
Lol that’s fuckin awesome! I love finding links between things like that
How the heck did it get from Quake to Half-Life?
Source started as a modified version of the Quake engine.
This was very interesting, thank you.
What does that have to do with anything?
Ancient code being reused in new software is nothing new or specific to Microsoft.
That’s still not an explanation of what is happening here specifically
Some code responsible for flickering light that was originally a part of the Quake engine has been kept as the engine evolved through GoldSrc to the modern version of Source engine. All these games have lights that flicker in exactly the same rhythm.
