MacOS, Windows and Linux...Do They Respect Older Software?

In this "shorts video done the right way", we take a look at how the big three operating systems (Mac, Windows and Linux) each treat the installation of older programs.

MUSIC:
Inspired (Instrumental) - NEFFEX (From the YouTube Audio Library)

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[Henk]

No DT, you are not going to get away with this so easily.
Mac: "Whats a 32-bit?"
Windows: "I try my best, hopefully you didn't use some obscure version of DirectX or low level system API things, it will probably work but can't guarantee it. If it needs a driver don't bother".
Linux: "Did you compile that old software with the right compatible binaries for this distro for the locations they exist in? No? Nice try then, maybe its in a repo somewhere".

[ArniesTech]

I gotta give credit to Windows where credit is due. With its ofthen times laughed at "backwards thinking" it actually grants and keeps up a fantastic backward compatibility.

Not only is this a great thing for retro Nerds, but also for Enterprise/gobernmental environments 🙏

I use OpenSUSE by the way.

[AlucardNoir]

While funny let's be honest here, linux is as bad or worse than MacOS when it comes to old software. Just try installing the original linux native edition of Heroes of Might and Magic III on any modern linux distro. You have an easier time using the mod that uses the files from the gog windows installer or wine. And that is a sad thing. Not the case for Windows though.

[KelvinShadewing]

Except when it's not already installed and you can't install it because your distro deprecated the dependencies.

[ChrisXPZ]

Windows: Can you install this 25 year old program? : That program is 16bit, that is literally impossible
Linux: Can you install Windows's 25 year old program? : sure, do you want wine mono too?

[imjoeking_]

Linux users spending hours in dependency hell trying to get a 3 year old program to work

[heroclixrz]

I assume this is for tiktok or something, but the spirit behind it is not something I'd prefer to see from this channel. Each OS serves a particular audience. Let the proprietary OSes alienate their audiences, linux doesn't have any reason to do that.
I'd rather see a 20s clip showing off what that 30yo program is and why it's still useful today.

[thathappyrat]

Linux definitely respects old software. It's the FOSS way. Thunderbird looks just like it did 20 years ago.

[Moister]

I've had a headache trying to install some old programs/games on Linux. Mostly dependency issues, outdated programs that searches for that very same old version of set dependency not exisiting since they've already been updated or deleted, replacing the names or functions.

It can be fixed with enough research though.

[sofiaknyazeva]

Linux doesn't have a good backward compatibility unless you're using a distro that was released a quite while ago. Now that being said, if the program is open-source, sure, a workaround might can be done. Also, the ABI that Linux has doesn't give any backward compatibility at all. Other hand in Windows, there's only few ABI gets changed with new releases, have the greatest compatibility.

But to be honest, there's no point using old programs, unless it's a game or something. It's not as nostalgic as old Windows programs but good enough to try them out.

MacOS has some terrible support for older programs. More like once gone, never came back and most of them are closed sourced.

[coolbrotherf]

This really doesn't work that easy on Linux. It is for the most part fairly compatible with older software that is already compiled, but compiling really old software that doesn't have all the required dependencies already bundled with it can be a pain. Depending on the program, it's often easier to just refactor the program to work with modern dependencies than get the old code to work. Plus, I don't think having grep or vi already installed on a Linux distro means that it's "better at backwards compatibility" than other operating systems.

[asoukes]

Since I wouldn't've watched this video if it was labeled/grouped in with Shorts, I agree that this is indeed "shorts video done the right way". (Well, at least as right as shortform content can be, which is not much imo.)

[ace]

Yeah, Mac OS dropped a lot after they got to v10.7 "Lion".
They even went full 64-bit, bumping the software requirements, so support for 32-bit programs started to get limited.
We don't even have the older Rosetta layers for running programs from the previous architectures, so we only can use the x86 or ARM built applications.
As much as it's probably not _that big_ an issue for most people, to someone like me who may sometimes go back and forth with legacy software for varying purposes, even just for the sake of playing around with them again, it sucks not having that compatibility anymore.

[milesfarber]

Since when does any linux distro have Irfanview installed by

[notuxnobux]

Reminds me of a funny thing. I tried to play a 20 year old game on windows 10 and the performance was awful. I only got around 7 fps. I then tried the same game with linux + wine and I hit 60 fps with no problem. Linux (+ wine) has better windows backwards compatibility than windows itself.

[Skelterbane]

You mean 30 year old software is bloating my system???

[Nopefish]

This video should be in youtube shorts but it's too slow for it

[doctorsocrates]

Love my old Amiga500 and managed to get the fs-uae emulator up and running..Brings back good memories.

[joesalyers]

I thought of the uproar Linus Torvalds received when considering killing a 16 bit CPU from the Kernel a few months ago, a 16 bit CPU from 32 years ago. LOL

[marsdrums]

I'll do the fist pump when Linux can install Adobe Lightroom. I know there are alternatives but Lightroom would definitely get me interested in professional wedding photography again. Call it, a game changer.