> 4 gibibytes. of operating system and you can't even maintain > compatibility for 10 years? I can still run Excel 4 macros with > Excel 2001. Take a lesson from Microsoft, Steve.
You're right, Microsoft does maintain compatibility above and beyond the call of duty. This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, you can depend on Windows XP using the same APIs as Windows 3.11. In the other hand, you can depend on Windows XP using the same APIs as Windows 3.11. There are astonishing security flaws that are inherent in some of those APIs and they can't get rid of them. And somenone has to maintain all that code, and make sure that changes in any internal APIs that the external API depends on are fixed in all the special case code. And some of that code is very special indeed... they do things like making sure that the file handle returned for a system call in some obscure circumstance matches an error code because some old program depended on that call failing in those circumstances but it mistakes the returned value for an error code so they can fake it out. And all that extra code increases the chance of a bug, and increases the chance of a bug-fix not being applied all the places it needs to be. And on the gripping hand, they have not always managed to avoid compatibility problems. Especially in dot-zero releases of a new OS. Like Tiger. -- Compact Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/>. Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Compact Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/compact.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:compact.macs@mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/compact.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
