[jadbox]

Doesn't Linux desktop (say Ubuntu) generally have strong backwards compatibility? There are issues occasionally, but no worse than trying to run Windows 9x apps on Win10+.

[fbdab103]

Win32 Is The Only Stable ABI on Linux: https://blog.hiler.eu/win32-the-only-stable-abi/

[doodlesdev]

That's a glibc problem, not a kernel problem. Linux backwards compatibility is awesome, GNU on the other hand...

[jdsully]

back compat is awful on Linux with the exception of the kernel. Unfortunately you need more than a stable kernel ABI to get proper back compatibility and the userland libs don't want to play ball.

[NekkoDroid]

The 2 most stable API/ABI on linux are the kernel itself and Wine, which I find kinda funny

[anthk]

LD_LIBRARY_PATH can do magic.

[fbdab103]

While it may be technically possible to run old applications on Linux, it likely requires significant pain. In Windows land, if you had a random installer from 2000, there is a reasonable chance it would still work today.