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Why did Windows 95 setup use three operating systems?

(devblogs.microsoft.com)
304 points mooreds | 10 comments | 17 Nov 24 19:54 UTC | HN request time: 1.276s | source | bottom
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reddalo ◴[17 Nov 24 21:02 UTC] No.42167210[source]▶
Don't modern versions of Windows do the same? For example, I clearly remember that the Windows 10 installer first launches a Windows 7-like environment.
replies(4): >>42167331 #>>42167711 #>>42168337 #>>42169513 #
zokier ◴[17 Nov 24 22:01 UTC] No.42167711[source]▶
Aren't all modern (>xp) windowses just NT6 under the hood? Is there such clear delineation between 7 and 10 for example?
replies(4): >>42167791 #>>42167815 #>>42167817 #>>42168048 #
1. rbanffy ◴[17 Nov 24 22:09 UTC] No.42167791[source]▶
It feels like NT4, with 2000 on top of it, then a layer of XP, then Vista, then 7, then 8, then 10, and, finally, 11.

It’s not uncommon to do something that lands me on a dialog box I still remember from Windows NT 3.1. The upside is that they take backwards compatibility very seriously, probably only second to IBM.

replies(3): >>42168721 #>>42169015 #>>42169090 #
2. conception ◴[18 Nov 24 00:53 UTC] No.42168721[source]▶
Like the services control panel that’s still 30% white space, a useless “extended” tab and doesn’t save any of the location or style data. It’s the best.
replies(1): >>42177032 #
3. WeylandYutani ◴[18 Nov 24 01:47 UTC] No.42169015[source]▶
Yes it may not be the prettiest but I can get 20 year old games to run with relatively little troubleshooting.
replies(1): >>42171448 #
4. rjh29 ◴[18 Nov 24 02:04 UTC] No.42169090[source]▶
IIRC there is only a single Windows 3.1 dialog box in Windows 11 (ODBC Microsoft Access Setup -> Select Resource file chooser). Lucky you.
replies(1): >>42170338 #
5. reddalo ◴[18 Nov 24 06:50 UTC] No.42170338[source]▶
Windows 10 also had a Windows 3.1 dialog in the Fonts folder (when you try to add a new font), but they fixed it in Windows 11.
6. rbanffy ◴[18 Nov 24 11:20 UTC] No.42171448[source]▶
You can still run 50 year old games on your newest IBM Z16 mainframe. Microsoft is just a baby in this business. If you have a Unisys Clearpath boxes, you can even get get some 60 year old games running, provided you can read the punchcards ;-)
replies(1): >>42172004 #
7. bitwize ◴[18 Nov 24 13:10 UTC] No.42172004{3}[source]▶
Fun fact: Unisys Clearpath today is just x86 boxen emulating the old Burroughs CPU architecture. You can even deploy Clearpath instances to AWS. And they still run Mr. High and Mighty Master Control, too.
replies(1): >>42174994 #
8. rbanffy ◴[18 Nov 24 17:59 UTC] No.42174994{4}[source]▶
MCP is the most user hostile OS I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. And don’t even start me about CANDE.
replies(1): >>42177602 #
9. rbanffy ◴[18 Nov 24 21:06 UTC] No.42177032[source]▶
I also really enjoy there seems to be a lot of things that run on top of a mutant version of MMC. IIRC, that’s also from the NT4 days.
10. bitwize ◴[18 Nov 24 22:02 UTC] No.42177602{5}[source]▶
To answer your other comment: yes, the MCP from Tron was named after the Burroughs/Unisys OS. Bonnie MacBird, the screenwriter for Tron, is the wife of Alan Kay, who served as technical consultant, and she dropped references both to himself (Alan Bradley) and his areas of interest (Kay loved the Burroughs architecture and in particular its tagged-memory features) in the script for the movie.

Interesting to learn the real MCP was nearly as hostile as its fictional namesake.