[shiroiushi]

>A 20 year old piece of windows software prettt much “just works”

No, it only works because Windows basically included something much like WINE (they call it WoW) in Windows, so old pieces of software aren't running on the modern libraries.

>it’s nigh impossible to compile a piece of Linux software that runs across every major distro in active use.

Sure you can, with Docker. It's effectively doing the same thing Windows does with WoW. Windows just makes it a lot more invisible to the user.

[dlainhart]

Nope, that's not how WoW works. It might feel close enough for you but if that's the case then you aren't careful enough with the analogies you make. Think harder, aim for more clarity.