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Why did Windows 95 setup use three operating systems?

(devblogs.microsoft.com)
305 points mooreds | 1 comments | 17 Nov 24 19:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.21s | source
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Animats ◴[17 Nov 24 22:11 UTC] No.42167811[source]▶
Because, when they did it right, in Windows NT 3.51, the users with legacy 16 bit applications screamed. There was a 16-bit DOS compatibility box, but it wasn't bug-compatible with DOS.

Microsoft underestimated the inertia of the applications market. NT 3.51 was fine if you used it as a pure 32-bit operating system. You could even configure it without DOS compatibility. Few did.

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Onavo ◴[17 Nov 24 22:15 UTC] No.42167845[source]▶
Something the Unix world can certainly learn from.
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bigfatkitten ◴[18 Nov 24 01:21 UTC] No.42168874[source]▶
Sun used to take binary compatibility very seriously. Solaris 8 (and perhaps later releases) still had a compatibility layer for SunOS 4.x binaries. Solaris 11 can still run Solaris 2.6 binaries.

Linux is another matter entirely, if your binaries run at all from one distribution release to the next you're doing well.

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ghssds ◴[18 Nov 24 01:43 UTC] No.42168999[source]▶
Linux doesn't need binary compatibility as much as Windows, lot of source packages will compile right away with a vast array of different operating systems, typically excluding Windows but including Linux, and Linux is a few clicks away from running a fair number of MS-DOS and Windows applications, probably more than any single Windows version. Linux is king in compatibility.
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1. johannes1234321 ◴[18 Nov 24 12:19 UTC] No.42171744[source]▶
Even if you get the source youbend up with incompatibilities. From compiler to libraries. (Especially when reaching GUI/Gnome etc.)

Systems like Solaris are a lot more restricted what sets of libraries they provide (not "package up everything in the world" as some linux distros) but what they provide they keep working. (I haven't touched an Solaris system in a long time, but assume they didn't start massive "innovation" since then)