[SCHiM]

Those 'more modern' operating systems have roots and parts in their codebase that are just as old, if not older, than Windows. All platforms are continously adding new pieces and sometimes rewriting old. But I know for a fact that there are parts under Android's hood that a computer scientist from the 1970 would've found familiar.

There is no reason to ditch the backwards compatibility in my opinion. All components can be kept functional alongside each other (like how UWA can function next to Win32) with some extra effort. I love the fact that there's a host of applications that target Win32 that I've been using since windows 2000 and still work on windows 10.

[mirsadm]

It's amazing how much technical debt Android has accrued given how much newer it is than Windows.

[wtallis]

I'm not too surprised. During Android's early years it was chasing a moving target as the standard mobile computing paradigm shifted from Blackberry/Treo type devices to iPhone clones. Then tablets got added to the mix and mobile SoCs outpaced Moore's Law for a while. The higher-level elements of the platform were inevitably going to be subjected to a degree of churn that Windows hasn't needed to deal with in about 20 years. (Of course, Windows has opted in to some churn with the revolving door of UI frameworks, but that's entirely self-inflicted.)

[digi_owl]

Not helped by Google thinking they could apply Chrome/web methodology to device firmware. Sorry, but there is a reason why MS do year long public betas etc. Apple can get away with being different because they control the whole stack, from the chips to the online services. Right now Google is where Palm was with PalmOS.