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Microsft extends availability of XP into 2011

I've never understood why Microsoft was allowed to get away with rendering older applications obsolete by making them not work with newer versions of Windows.

That is, if you buy a program that operated under Win 98, why should it NOT work under ME/XP/Vista/etc?
 
darkwing_duck1 said:
I've never understood why Microsoft was allowed to get away with rendering older applications obsolete by making them not work with newer versions of Windows.

That is, if you buy a program that operated under Win 98, why should it NOT work under ME/XP/Vista/etc?
Click to expand...
I always thought that was very logical; there's a point to where you can't guarantee backwards compatibility when you want to advance. If they did, we would still be working on a dressed up version of Windows for Workgroups 3.11. You can only keep deprecated functionality around for so long, until it begins clogging up the software.

I'd even go so far as to say that any backwards compatibility should be shunned -- except one version behind. We shouldn't be able to run programs from Windows 2000 on Windows Vista, and we shouldn't be able to run programs from Windows XP on Windows 7. It can come quite in handy that Windows has changed so little that it's still possible for those that need it.

But then again, most programs have newer versions that do run on newer versions of Windows (if not, there are usually enough alternatives). So except for business-specific applications (for business who don't upgrade anyway), backwards compatibility isn't needed.
 
darkwing_duck1 said:
I've never understood why Microsoft was allowed to get away with rendering older applications obsolete by making them not work with newer versions of Windows.

That is, if you buy a program that operated under Win 98, why should it NOT work under ME/XP/Vista/etc?
Click to expand...

I see you've never worked on an Apple OS based PC. Microsoft's level of 'backwards compatability' with regard to older apps runs circles around Apple's. (Of course that's one of the reasons Apple still only has a niche market with regard to its hardware and softwre).
 
At this rate Microsoft will still be selling XP long after they stop selling Vista.
 
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