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kidel001 | on: Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11
I like that we are amazed by this. And yet all of my books from 34 years ago open up just fine (without cheating, no book opening emulator required!). I can even open a book on my shelf from 1896 without emulation. Not trying to troll too hard but I do think it is shocking how accustomed we've gotten to zero backwards compatibility in the world of software.
anthonypasq | parent | next
a better example would be whether you could put a train from 1845 on a modern track, or fire a musketball from an M16
ggreer | root | parent | next
I think the oldest cartridge that would still work in a modern firearm would be .22 Short, which is from 1857.[1] It was developed into .22 Long, which was developed into .22 Long Rifle, which new firearms are still chambered in today. It wouldn't cycle a semi-auto though. Another contender would be .38 Long Colt, which is from 1875 and will work in firearms chambered in .38 Special or .357 Magnum.

The main causes of incompatibility were the transition from ball-and-powder to rimfire cartridges, then the transition from rimfire to centerfire. It's surprising how little firearms have changed in the past century. 9mm Parabellum is 125 years old. The Browning short recoil action (used by most handguns today) is over a century old.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_short

jeroenhd | root | parent | next
If you live in a country or region where the gauge didn't change, you can put a 1845 train on a modern track just fine. If the gauge did change, you'll need a train from another country. Standard Gauge was first applied in 1825 after all.
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wildzzz | root | parent | next
Many militaries are still buying rifles that chamber a cartridge introduced in 1891 (7.62x54mmR). I'd argue a cartridge initially developed for a long bolt action rifle (Mosin-Nagant) that can now be fired out of a variant of a AK-patten select-fire bull-pup (Vepr) fits the analogy.
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Barrin92 | root | parent
>whether you could put a train from 1845 on a modern track

you can do that, in fact I know that Austria still has a mid 19th century train in regular operation (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SB_alt_23)

if you're looking for commuter trains a lot of early 20th century ones still operate around the world.

stkdump | parent | next
I think the point made here is that the application runs as if it were a modern application, even though the OS is completely unrecognizable when compared to the OS it was written for. There are other ways to run old applications on modern hardware with modern OSs, which the author would consider cheating for the purpose of TFA. Heck, I can run ancient DOS and gaming console applications on my phone if I wanted to.
eahhn | parent | next
I guess this is one of those proverbial “I had to create an account to comment” messages:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

eviks | parent | next
Give it a few centuries of evolution and maybe we'll get there
andai | parent | next
https://xkcd.com/1909/

It is amazing, though. Wintel is basically a Matryoshka doll (Russian nesting dolls), where each version contains all the previous versions. (Just look at how a PC boots up!)

The dedication to compatibility is commendable, and you don't really see it on the other OS's. On that note, this is one of my favorite articles:

Win32 is the only stable ABI on Linux

https://blog.hiler.eu/win32-the-only-stable-abi/

I think that's very funny. Speaking of which, EasyToon also runs in WINE, of course :)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50250809

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