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Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

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Re: Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

#191
I have a command line Windows binary compiled over 30 years ago (June 1996) that won't run on Windows 10 (64 bit). Windows complains, "ANAGRAMS.EXE is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information and then contact the software publisher."

Is this issue specific to Windows 10, and would it work on Windows 11?

Re: Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

#193
post #191

I have a command line Windows binary compiled over 30 years ago (June 1996) that won't run on Windows 10 (64 bit). Windows complains, "ANAGRAMS.EXE is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information and then contact the software publisher." Is this issue specific to Windows 10, and would it work on Windows 11?

Almost 30 years ago*

Re: Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

#194
post #191

I have a command line Windows binary compiled over 30 years ago (June 1996) that won't run on Windows 10 (64 bit). Windows complains, "ANAGRAMS.EXE is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information and then contact the software publisher." Is this issue specific to Windows 10, and would it work on Windows 11?

have you tried various compatibility options? right click -> properties -> compatibility

there's a troubleshooter there, too

Re: Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They will probably retire Rosetta2 in a few years, like they did with Rosetta. Counterpoint: The PPC-to-Intel version of Rosetta was licensed technology (QuickTransit); Apple was undoubtedly paying for it, possibly even per user, so there were financial reasons for them to get users off of it ASAP. Rosetta 2 was developed in-house by Apple, so there isn't the same hard timeline to get users to stop using it. I woul…

Yes, just like they had valid technical reasons to kill 32-bit iOS apps. The point is that they don’t go above and beyond like Microsoft (although of course even MS has deprecated e.g. 16-bit apps).

On the bright side, the end result is that on Mac there are only apps that have been updated this decade.

Re: Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

#196

See also https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/06/13/how-microsoft-lost... one of the developers of the hit game SimCity, who told me that there was a critical bug in his application: it used memory right after freeing it, a major no-no that happened to work OK on DOS but would not work under Windows where memory that is freed is likely to be snatched up by another running application right away. The testers on the Win…

From where I'm sitting this looks like an excellent argument for breaking backwards compatibility. All those bullshit hacks are a maintenance and debugging burden for someone and a tax on the whole rest of the operating system -- and I'd argue that it really shows.

Breaking backwards compatibility was one of the biggest customer criticisms of Windows Vista.

Re: Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

#198
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your evidence is an article from 24 years ago about behavior that happened 32 year ago? And it's not even about them breaking competitors applications, it's about them refusing to run on a competing OS (in a bit of a sleezy way). Do you have more evidence of your claimed behavior? I dislike MSFT, a lot, but that's a _very_ big claim and needs to be backed up with evidence.

Plus, let's be real, the Register is basically the tech equivalent of the Daily Mail. Often amusing, occasionally occurate.

Sure, but the DR DOS case is well known. Is ZDnet better? It also lists other cases related to efforts to destroy Novell.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/caldera-unlocks-microsoft-evid...

Re: Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

#199
post #63

What I find so frustrating is that Windows, under the hood, is so solid. It's just the UI with Bing/Ads/telemetrics/etc integration is so crap, like they've ruined a solid OS with crappy surface level stuff.

It's a bit surprising that there isn't a project that takes the old Windows "shell replacement" (LiteStep, etc) idea a bit further and replaces the majority of the Windows userland. That's probably more challenging now than it was in the XP-Vista-7 days but should still be doable.

An "alternative OS" built on top of the NT kernel would certainly be interesting. It would take a decade to a thousand-person team, but it would be interesting

Re: Windows 11 will happily execute a binary compiled 30 years ago

#200
post #191

I have a command line Windows binary compiled over 30 years ago (June 1996) that won't run on Windows 10 (64 bit). Windows complains, "ANAGRAMS.EXE is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information and then contact the software publisher." Is this issue specific to Windows 10, and would it work on Windows 11?

Is it a 16-bit executable?
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