W10 and its future interaction with 3rd party software.

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  1. Posts : 1,871
    W10 pro x64 20H2 Build 19042.610
       #1

    W10 and its future interaction with 3rd party software.


    I might be way off base with this but thought I'd throw the question out there and see what you think.

    When a new OS is released (such as W7 from Vista, or W8/8.1 from W7 and so on, then OS specific software often doesn't run correctly. I've experienced that with backup software. What worked with W7 wasn't suited to W8.1, and that in turn would not run with W10.

    Now W10 is radically different from all that has gone before because its very foundations can be altered with new builds that are appearing and that will continue to appear in the future.

    Would it therefore be reasonable to think that software that is designed for W10 now has no guarantee of performing in the future ? I'm thinking specifically of the kind of program that out of necessity has to integrate itself with the OS at a fundamental level (such as imaging programs and security suites).

    Any thoughts ?
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  2. Posts : 22,740
    Windows 10 Home x64
       #2

    I would not think so. My guess is that software that's designed for 10 will continue to work for some time to come.
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  3. Posts : 234
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #3

    The software that is going to break is the software that uses undocumented APIs or hacks. The software that doesn't and follows the documentation will continue to work for some time.
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  4. Posts : 1,366
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #4

    Thank you. I always see Microsoft get blamed for this, but hardware and software vendors have plenty of time to be ready for each OS release.
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  5. Posts : 1,871
    W10 pro x64 20H2 Build 19042.610
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thanks for your thought and insight folks.
    If I'm honest then I have to say that I remain to be convinced. I've seen (in other electronic fields) standards that have been laid down and then the goal posts get moved with the result that what was supposedly compliant gear fails to operate correctly. Only time will tell on this.
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  6. Posts : 234
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #6

    Time has already told us. There have been countless versions of Windows though out the years. Microsoft takes backwards compatibility seriously. Is everything going to work? No. But you would be surprised how much does work, even on 64bit versions.

    (Fyi, on 64bit windows 16bit applications are out in the cold.)
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  7. Posts : 1,255
    Windows 10 Pro
       #7

    There are never any guarantees that older software will run on a newer OS or version. But many properly applications written for NT3.1 (released in 1993) will run without problem on Windows 10. Many even older 16 bit applications will run on 32 bit Windows 10. An application developer must be very careful to maintain compatibility with newer operating systems. If the developer gets it wrong even the most trivial changes in the OS can cause an application to fail. Games often fail because developers often bend (or break) the rules and care little for compatibility with newer systems. "Buy the new version that is compatible". Compatibility is more difficult for programs that integrate with the OS and operating systems that change frequently don't make things any easier.

    Over the years Microsoft has gone to great lengths to ensure troublesome applications will continue to run, even when they violate the established rules. Windows 10 (and older versions) knows about many troublesome applications and will patch their code or even change it's own behavior to allow them to run. Microsoft has received much criticism for doing this, claiming that they should allow such applications to fail and force the developers to fix the problems. Software suppliers have been known to rely on these compatibility hacks instead of fixing their problems. But Microsoft is realistic about these things and understands that many older applications never will be fixed and that they (Microsoft) will receive the blame when they fail.

    Of course Microsoft can't use such methods on all troublesome applications and many do fail. Of course the users of such applications will blame Microsoft. "How could it be the application, it worked fine with my previous OS". You can't win them all.
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  8. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #8

    Compatibility with large SW base is very, very important to MS, No other OS has so many programs written for. Without so many SW compatible with every new version of OS, MS would loose it's primate, therefore they seem to pay utmost attention to it even to the point of slowing down development of Windows.
    I feel that MS could make much smaller and snappier windows if not for that compatibility issue.
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  9. Posts : 1,255
    Windows 10 Pro
       #9

    CountMike said:
    I feel that MS could make much smaller and snappier windows if not for that compatibility issue.
    There is something in that but it is difficult to say how much. In the interests of compatibility Windows 10 maintains support for much old software technology that is officially deprecated. Developers are discouraged from using it but it often is. Things are different in Linux. When something becomes deprecated in Linux you had better not use it as it will likely be gone in the next major distribution.
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  10. Posts : 2,834
    Windows 11 Home (x64) Version 21H1 (build 19043.1202)
       #10

    This may be off subject but someone on another forum put that an A drive will not work with windows 10.
    Well I have an external A drive and several disc's and they do work as good as gold.
    I save all important tax returns on them for end of year when books are made up
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