Reverse Compatibility Manifesto

[Robin Laing]

William M. Quarles wrote:
> OK, so I said the phrase "Windows XP" in a message, and suddenly NO ONE 
> will reply? Seriously, I'll say it again, Microsoft and Sony (e.g. most 
> of the PlayStation series) can do reverse compatibility fairly well, and 
> Fedora is almost totally lacking in that arena. "Get with the times" 
> doesn't always make sense. And if anybody says, "Well, if you like 
> reverse compatibility so much, why don't you shell out for Microsoft 
> software like 90% of the rest of the herd." Uh, no. There are both 
> commercial and "free" software products that need that reverse 
> compatibility.
> 
> Example: is there anybody out there doing natural science or engineering 
> on Linux machines right now who is NOT using any commercial software 
> whatsoever?
> 
> And just because a "free" software product hasn't been updated in a 
> while does not mean that the software is useless.
> 
> I can't quadruple boot my machine just to run all of the software I use. 
> It should not be necessary, especially when most of this software is 
> designed for Red Hat/Fedora distributions, or can be installed and run 
> using WINE.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> William
> 

Vista won't run many old programs.  Many old Windows programs have 
problems with newer ones.  We have scientific equipment that requires 
Windows 98 to run as the software won't run on XP.

If you are using older software, then expect to have issues.  This is 
how Microsoft gets you to spend more money on their products.

I have not purchased any commercial software on my Linux box.  The only 
one that I would like would be Autocad but for 95% of my drafting needs, 
Qcad works.

As for older OpenSource products, sometimes the only thing needed to do 
is to update the "make" file.

As others say, run the software in a VM if it won't run in Wine.

When it comes to software, it comes up to the supplier of the software.


-- 
Robin Laing