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by wvenable
3344 days ago
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> Rather than dropping compatibility entirely, I've always wondered why no modern OS has gone the route of creating a "compatibility layer" that's actually a (very-tightly-sandboxed) VM containing a [stripped-down] older copy of the OS. I think Raymond Chen discussed this on this blog at one point. The answer is that users want a single integrated environment for all their apps and not a bunch of isolated sandboxes. They want to drag and drop, copy and paste, share files, inter-application communication, etc. They also want a single look and feel. The other reason is that creating a new platform from scratch is a good way to lose features and alienate developers. The core of Windows NT doesn't look anything like Windows 3.1 but for developers the API they present is similar enough to get them on board. |
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MS tried to rewrite and get compatibility by using these sorts of features. It was looked at by the PMs and dismissed because it was completely broken.
Turns out most hacks are in the software for a reason. They actually solve a problem that needs solving. Who knew ?