slmbrhrton Hacker News • Recommends
On “Imagine if your house had Windows”
Reminds of a video I saw of a guy upgrading through every version of Windows. It's a sight to behold. link to this video
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#windows#ms-dos#backwardcompatibility
Chain of Fools : Upgrading through every version of windows (HQ)
TheRasteri
38K subscribers • 2 videos on Hallway
- Recommended by 2 people: 2 on Hacker News.
Beginner. No background in the topic needed.
2.7M views15 years ago2 recommendations
Systems programmingHistory and cultureOperating systemsRetro computingHistory of computing
An experiment demonstrating an in-place upgrade path from MS-DOS and Windows 1.0 all the way to Windows 7 while preserving backward compatibility.
Updated version here - youtube.com/watch?v=PH1BKPSGcxQ For further information on this experiment see my blog : rasteri.blogspot.com/2011/03/chain-of-fools-upgrading-throug…Why it's here
2 people recommend thisWhat people say. Highly recommended as an impressive demonstration of Microsoft's extreme commitment to backward compatibility over several decades.
alexsb92on Hacker News • Recommends
On “Building Photoshop 1.0”
> I often think about how incredibly inefficient modern software is given that we've had roughly the same level of productivity software ability (with varying levels of usability) for a few decades now. I distinctly remember my NT4 system of the late 90's, and how it was roughly as productive as my current machine, and I wonder just how much cruft is inside modern operating systems and applications. As a fellow young person (probably even younger than you), I remember watching this video link to this video two years ago when it came out and I remember gaining quite an appreciation for all the work put in over time in Windows and the complexity that it probably brings.
trafficlighton Hacker News • Mentions
On “How Can Anyone Still Hate Bill Gates?”
Reminded me of the video where a guy did a fresh install of Windows 1.0 and upgraded all the way to Windows 7. An amazing amount of programs still ran by the time he got to 7. link to this video
ayion Hacker News • Mentions
On “PHP: the quiet powerhouse”
…umbers increase. For example we get "traits" in 5.4. PHP is also Windows too (both Microsoft and PHP in a HN comment :) The most un-loved things in this community). Remember the video which a guy installs Windows 1.0 and successfully upgrade it to every version of windows with all his data and programs up to Windows 7? even doom from 1993 works! ( link to this video ) PHP is like Windows. I know the "pa…
cooldealon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Developer interest in Windows 8 is stagnant, new line of worry for Microsoft”
…e often attributed to bending over backwards to be backward compatible while other vendors like Apple quickly kills compatibility with almost ever release, with even point releases. Take this game bundled with Windows 95. ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/deskapps/games/public/AAS/Hover.exe It runs even on Windows 8. Upgrading from Windows 1.0 to Windows 7. link to this video As I said in another comment, I still see some ASP and Visual Basic usage even after all these years, those applications are still supported in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. Microsoft stopped making new versions because it wanted to move on to better technology. Want to take a poll on HN about what developers think of Visual Basic and…
RKearneyon Hacker News • Mentions
On “ReactOS: Rebuilding Microsoft Windows from the ground up, fully open-source”
I don't know about you, but I have much, much better luck running executables under Windows than say Linux or OS X. Microsoft puts a ton of work into keeping backwards compatibility. You can watch the YouTube Video0 of someone upgrading through every Windows version (well, most?). OS X users have to figure out if they need that Intel or PPC binary, or maybe just the larger universal one and call it a day. Then there's not being able to run any of their older PPC-only apps once Apple removed Rosetta from OS X. 0 link to this video
candlon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander)”
Here's a video of a continuous upgrade from ms-dos through every windows version all up to windows 7 (a timespan of ~20 years) that proves it's possible. link to this video
rogerbinnson Hacker News • Mentions
On “Intel blames $1B revenue hit on Windows XP's stubborn grip”
…ither. The time, effort and money involved, especially for small businesses/organisations and individuals is daunting, not to mention a distraction from what their actual business is. By far the easiest thing for them is to do nothing. Microsoft really screwed up by not making a good upgrade process. They know how to do it, and did it in the past. link to this video…
b4ux1t3on Hacker News • Mentions
On “An Argument for Why Windows Will Go Open Source”
No, it really doesn't. Windows has had backwards compatibility as a huge priority for a long time, often to their detriment. You can literally update a machine from Windows 3.1 to windows 10, and programs written for Windows 3.1 will still work.1 1: link to this video EDIT: TO be clear, this is a video of upgrading to Windows 7, and there is a direct upgrade path to 10 from 7. Also, as per another user's reply, this doesn't hold true for 64-bit. However, that doesn't change the fact that Wine doesn't and really can't run win32 better than win32 does.
lmkgon Hacker News • Mentions
On “The weirdest bug I’ve found in a compiler: MSVC 2017”
The following is a video of someone installing Doom II on DOS, upgrading the operating system in-place 11 times, and running Doom on Windows 7 (around 24 years of upgrades). link to this video
stordoffon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) to be retired on June 15, 2022”
Windows 1 to Windows 7: link to this video (set colour schemes disappear at XP, but programs continue to work) Follow up - Windows 1 to Windows 10: link
kirbon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Please don’t theme our apps”
…ine is upgraded from Windows 1.0 all the way through to Windows 8. Once he reaches XP, the theme he configured back in one of the first Windows versions just disappears and gets overridden with XP’s defaults. Then it happens again and again for every version since then, despite the guy changing the theme back to his custom one before each upgrade. link to this video So the phenomenon really started with Microsoft themselves. Sure, the more muted dialog backgrounds and vibrant foreground elements introduced since XP look far better than the Win95-esque greys, but I’m sure people who created their own themes (probably due to disability like color blindness) like their colors better than Microsoft’s.…