Can I install this 20yo software?

user is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported

SUDO Can I install this 20yo software?

Is already installed.

how about this driver for an obscure 20yo laptop's touchpad?

already installed

there is nothing to do

If you do echo "3 6 * p" | dc in a terminal it'll give you the result of 3x6, but the dc part of that is software that was written probably between 1969 and 1971.

I know it’s a même but Linux isn’t that good for running old app that have a user interface. Old command line interface works perfectly but that’s mostly for developer.

windows make it available to everyone.

It’s one of the few things windows does better, might as well recognize it.

Old Linux software usually has to be completed from source anyway (uhh the effort) which essentially makes it future proof

Well, unfortunately there are sw inside windows that are even older

Wine is the most stable ABI on Linux 😂

it got so extreme i installed wine on wsl to run a few old programs because windows 11 dropped support for some libraries

Games are actually the hardcore compatibility test. They are much less compatible than the average piece of software. That's due to them using much more of the hardware/low-level-APIs of the OS, but also due to DRM and Anti-Cheat-Software (where applicable).

And printers are also (for some reason) super difficult. Probably because they are cheap, planned-obsolescence pieses of crap hardware, which are chock-full of DRM.

Shouldn't window's compatibility mode solve most of those?

Only if you use 15 years old distribution. Linux actually drops support of older hardware faster than Windows, it just doesn't happen consistently. Old drivers are maintained by volunteers so if someone wants to spend their free time on a driver for 25 years old hardware then it will work. But the moment that single developer disappears or stops caring then this driver is booted from the kernel fast. Supporting old hardware isn't the goal of Linux unless someone make it their goal (and core developers don't care either way as long as it's not their job).

Linux:

User: Can you install this 50 year old program?

Linux: it's already installed

Tfw compatibility for some old Windows programs and games is better in Wine than in modern Windows

The sad thing is that its not entirely true. The kernel Fries to keep conpability but user space fucks it up sometimes for example glibc

Most people will need internet connection to Google specific commands to run or install the most trivial things, and it won't always work depending on what distro you're using. Oh you're using MX Linux? Goodluck downloading a Plex client installer and just clicking it to install. Maybe use Snap but then good luck creating a shortcut with just a right click.

Limux won't replace Windows anytime soon, not if even enthusiasts need to Google almost everything.

I will always remember Battle For Middle Earth working first try on Linux after spending hours fighting with it on Windows

it entirely depends. i installed an abandonware game from 2003 the other day, worked perfectly fine once i installed the patch and no cd crack. that being said, it's very common for older games to be nowhere near as stable.

Cat is so old it should be dead by now... Guess it's got nine lives 😅

A while back I needed to install a niche amateur radio program from the early 1990s on an arm SBC from a defunct company. No problem. No modem? Emulate one. Interface it with a new piece of audio hardware over an interface that hadn't existed when the software was written? I needed to modify 2 lines in a text file for that. Add support for tcpip? Sure, pipe it over ax.25? OK, I'll install it... Already installed. SSH into another computer over that strung together heap of crap, two hand held radios, and some badly spliced audio cables? You betcha.

After all, wine is the most stable abi on Linux

Windows no longer supports 16-bit software, and Intel has hinted at dropping 32-bit support from its future CPUs.

there's workaround but it's a pain in the ass... https://www.myabandonware.com/...

basically

1. the game use old .bin disk file, you must convert it to .iso
2. mount the .iso
3. run the setup.exe to install Civilization II

i emulated it on macos just fine :)

Yes, you can start almost all 32 bit software in Windows 11.

Yes. It's 16bit app support for win3.1/95 stuff that ran in the DOS layer that's depreciated, but even then they'll sometimes run.

microsoft has tried to move everyone to a modern framework only. when they successfully have a win32/x86 emulator runnong smoothly they will gut a lot

And yet, Linux tools are even older and the kernel better written than either Windows or OSX.

What is spaghetti code? (Sorry am non coder)

Holy run-on sentence. Also it sounds like it's the measuring device that doesn't support newer the newer OS, not the other way around. Also migrating a database is possible, it just takes a ton of work.

I've seen a few maintenance contracts which not only require maintenance for the OS, but also for a very specific build of the OS too. Are you, by any chance, bound by any such contract?

Printer support is hard mode for the IT support crew. An old printer is a minor miracle if you have working drivers.

Man, I hate to break it to you, but the Windows version from 25 years ago is... Windows 98.

I know, I know. I'm so sorry. I felt like that when I noticed, too.

Yeah Windows compatibility is both amazingly impressive and complete garbage.

Need to run something from 1992? Sure! No problem!

Need to run something from 2021? Sorry, no compatibility for that old API.

More than that tho, windows aims to preserve library compatibility with older software.

It's common for older games for Mac on the same architecture to break or become uninstallable on newer OS versions.

Edit: Fun rabbit hole time! Windows XP had a specific patch to allow Legoland to play with improper coding that was only removed in Windows 10 https://youtu.be/MToTEqoVv3I

Ideas for a new platform are still out there: https://www.intel.com/...

Actually, a lot of games arent really working that great on Windows either, Windows 7 games tend to not work at all sometimes.

A lot of companies still use Windows XP and 7 for their programs. Seems like Windows is really backward compatible (it isn't)

Mac has gone from PowerPC to Intel to ARM CPU's. They've changed architecture entirely multiple times. That's a pretty significant factor to their problem with backwards compatibility. Most of the old software on its own just isn't compatible with the newer hardware.

Windows, on the other hand, has been on consumer x86 hardware (and others) for nearly 40 years.

Truth

Weren't they working on some database-like replacement for it a while ago?

To be fair a pc playing doom isn't that impressive. That game runs on litterally everything

Had a classmate last semester unable to use the software needed for the class on his mac cuz it wasn't compiled for the m chip. Woulda worked on an older Intel mac.

Downside of switching away from Intel and not going the "clone the machine code" route that AMD did.

I actually own an old iMac from late 2015 that I use for iOS emulation to test react native apps, I daily drive a Linux machine, and I have a laptop with windows that I occasionally use for diagnostics.

Also it's just a meme, I didn't make it

That's... not great

Microsoft has not been providing public updates for that platform for years, it needs to be retired. If it's a VM, take a snapshot and do an in-place upgrade, see what happens. Revert to snapshot if it doesn't work out.

https://learn.microsoft.com/...

@printerjammed Simply put, this is bad for so many reasons. Since you're likely going to reject any direct reasons why this is bad, I'll give you an analogy.

I'm going to take "and never update it" almost literally and assume you guys haven't installed security patches since you first installed it, or stopped at some point long ago.

You're essentially driving a 15 year old car that hasn't had an oil change, brakes changed, or tires changed. There are known MAJOR safety recalls on the seat belts, airbags, and seats. You have refused to take your car in for free servicing under the recall and basically said, "It's working fine now. It's not worth the hassle scheduling an appointment at the mechanic. I'll take my chances."

But hey, "The car still gets me around and fits in my garage" you smugly think to yourself. "Why should I do anything different? It's MY car and I'm only endangering myself here."

Nope. Your car is endangering everyone else on the road. Bad brakes and tires are major risks for everyone around you. You can easily lose control and hurt or kill others on the road.

Bad seats, seat belts, and airbags means that occupants of your vehicle (your companies clients) can be injured or killed if they fail. Even if only YOURS fails, well...you're the driver. Also, if you do crash and your seat belt fails, you're now a projectile in the car and can injure or kill other passengers. I've seen this happen too many times as a firefighter and an EMT. Unseatbelted occupants are an enormous hazard.

Suffice to say your company is a vector for major attacks and vulnerabilities that not only will affect you, but your clients and potentially countless others who have nothing to do with your company since your server could be part of a botnet for all you know.

"bUt We HaVe OtHeR sEcUrItY cOnTrOlS aNd PrOpEr PrOtOcOlS fOr...." I'm going to cut you off here and straight up say: No. You don't. The fact you still have Windows Server 2008 installed and refuse to even update it tells me enough about your entire IT department and policies.

@snixyz

Thaat can't possibly be secure... or can it?