The difference between Win32 and Linux is that the latter didn't realize an operating system is more than a kernel and a number of libraries and systems glued together, but is, indeed, a stable ABI (even for kernel modules -- so old drivers will be usable forever), a default, unique and stable API for user interface, audio, ..., and so forth. Linux failed completely not technologically, but to understand what an OS is from the POV of a product.
Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
41–50 of 493 posts
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is irrelevant to the feasibility of reimplementing the Win32 API on Linux.
It's already been done, though. Wine has been around for 30 years and has excellent compatibility at this point.
5341 of the 16491 applications listed in the Wine AppDB have a compatibility rating of "garbage". This is not excellent compatibility.
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#43Building GUI utilities based on VB6 instead of status quo web technologies might actually be more stable and productive.
I would vote for Delphi/FreePascal, but share the sentiment.
I only had limited exposure to Delphi, but from what I experienced, it's big thumbs-up.
But if you liked that, consider that C# was in many ways a spiritual successor to Delphi, and MS still supports native GUI development with it.
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#44Crazy how, thanks to Wine/Proton, Linux is now more compatible with old Windows games than Windows itself. There are a lot of games from the 90s and even the 00s that require jumping through a lot of hoops to run on Windows, but through Steam they're click-to-play on Linux.
Wine works on windows too. It's used by the shorthorn project to get software for newer versions of windows to run under XP.
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#45But would you want to run these Win32 software on Linux for daily use? I don't.
Gamers have no other option, and thanks Valve, game studios have no reasons left to bother with native Linux clients. Just target Windows, business as usual, and let Valve do the hard work.
...game studios have no reasons left to bother with native Linux clients.
How many game studios were bothering with native Linux clients before Proton became known?
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#46This is only ever relevant for proprietary software. Free software does not require a stable ABI. Great that wine exists but it should be useless. (That and Linux doesn't implement win32 and wine doesn't exclusively run on Linux.)
Stable interfaces and not being in versioning hell (cough libc) would actually be good for FOSS as well.
If you make a piece of software today and want to package it for Linux its an absolute mess. I mean, look at flatpack or docker, a common solution for this is to ship your own userspace, thats just insane.
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#47I think there's a quote from Linus himself saying this.
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Gamers have no other option, and thanks Valve, game studios have no reasons left to bother with native Linux clients But they do test their Windows games on Linux now and fix issues as needed. I read that CDProjekt does that, at least.
CDProjekt releases native linux builds.
I don’t think Witcher 3 or Cyberpunk 2077 have Linux builds available for the common folk? Cyberpunk has a ARM64 Mac build, though.
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
It still is if you're an enterprise customer. The retail users aren't Microsoft's cash cows, so they get ads and BS in their editions. The underlying APIs are still stable and MS provides the LTSC & Server editions to businesses which lack all that retail cruft.
Do you mean Windows 1x Pro/Enterprise?
Yes. Enterprise, Pro, and Home are the enshittified, retail editions. Enterprise just adds a few more features IIRC but still has ads. The other versions I mentioned above don't have any of that.
Re: Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux
#50This might offend some people but even Linus Torvalds thinks that the ABI compatibility is not good enough in Linux distros, and this is one of the main reasons Linux is not popular on the desktop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmHRSeA2c8&t=283s