Paul wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:
Steve Hayes wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jan 2019 12:45:05 -0700, "Bill in Co"
surly_curmudgeon@earthlink wrote:

Was just curious how many had taken the plunge and were happy about it.
I don't have any experience with Windows 10, but from what I can
gather, you "just" have to get used to its new interface, the use of
"apps" (which I assume are nearly the same thing as what we used to
call programs), the forced MS updates, and that many of the older
programs can't be successfully imported. Oh, and that you can get a
classic start menu without tiles. (I'm not sure what the distinction
is between apps and programs on Windows 10). Is all that about correct?

"Apps" is short for "Applications Programs", as opposed to systems
programs and utilities.

Apps are what you use your computer FOR, as opposed to programs that
enable the keyboard to communicate with CPU, the screen to display
stuff, things to be written to the disk drives etc.

OK, so basically what we used to call our useful software programs in the
pre-Windows 10 era is now called "apps", and it's just a change in
terminology. And those "apps" are still just exe files.

I'm used to the term apps only for Android devices, where that
terminology is standard.

It's pretty hard to tell what the software is made of.

For example, I "dump" an EXE file in Program Files\WindowsApps
and the header portion has a "PE32+" signature, while the
tail end is... text. It's a manifest of stuff to launch or a
set of dependencies or something.

A utility that would normally identify it, calls it "PE32+",
which is disingenuous. As that's not what it is.

Paul

So that PE32+ is just identifying what it is by its name classification only
(as a 32 bit program executable). I looked it up and found the + means 64
bit version. Interesting!

But it's basically "just" an EXE file. So it's ultimately the compiled
program's machine code that makes up the program, as I see it And THAT
(the nature and structure of EXE file) is a pretty involved story, including
links to DLL libraries and a host of other stuff.

And so "apps" has basically got to be some sort of executable file that runs
on the Android OS, right? Something that was previously compiled for the
Linux OS. Just not an "exe" or a "com" file, but something analogous to
that, I expect.

I don't know much about Linux. I dabbled with it briefly using Cinnamon
Mint, but found it just wasn't worth all the hassle, considering all the
stuff I've already got set up by using Windows. But, that said, it was an
"interesting", if not sometimes taxing, experience. I can see if somebody
had the motivation and inclination, they could be content with it for many,
if not most, things.