On 03/07/2019 11:49 AM, Mayayana wrote:
"T" wrote

|Why is it again I need 300,386 different versions of Dot Net
installed anyway?
|

The VC runtime is smaller, but probably much worse in
terms of numbers. Programs are rigged to require the
exact compile of a 10-15 MB runtime that they were written
with.
On XP I have 3 versions of the VC2005 runtime, 3 for
2008, along with 6 hotfixes, one for VC2010 and one
for VC 2012. And I don't actually install much software.

On the bright side, I could fit 50-100 of those in the
space that the .Net slop takes up, and I don't even have
the latest and bloatedest of those.

But software on Windows works. Most doesn't require
lots of extra support libraries that are not part of the install.
And it won't be outdated in a year. I can write software
that runs on Win98-Win10 without needing extra support
libraries. How many of your programs in the latest Fedora
will even run on 3-year-old Fedora, much less 15-year-old
Red Hat? And how many 3-year-old programs will run on the
latest version? In my experience, even updating the stuff
that comes on the CD requires updating vast numbers of
system libraries.

That's why Windows is everywhere. They catered to
businesses, made programming relatively easy, and
made backward compatibility a religion. I'm using an
18 year old OS and most current software runs fine
on it. And there's lots of software. The only way for
Linux to look good is the extremely low expectations
you have: You test in a VM, put up with lots of broken
updates, and don't expect backward compatibility.
For that matter, you don't even expect a good variety
of software. Behind almost every Linux or Apple fan
is a Windows box that they use "when they need to
do work".

Yes, you can set up a
Grandma as long as you show her how to do web
browsing and email. My very elderly father used to use
a Linux kiosk-type system for the elderly, called Wow.
It was a very limited, giant tablet with no access to
the file system. People could also use an iPad. But
having a good desktop that can be used for years
without having to update, and with all the software
you want available.... that's not going to happen.

If only it was worth it for some charitable foundation
to make it work, then there could be hope. If people
decided that the public needs a good, unfettered,
non-commercial, standardized system then Windows
could be dropped. But the closest to that so far was
Shuttleworth, who ended up shipping adware. Linux
started with an idea something like that, but it was only
geeks making an OS for geeks.

The only real solution would be create
an organization so big and connected that everyone
would see it as worthwhile to invest their time and
programming in that one system, which would then
be universal. Sort of like what HTML is now, despite
attempts by the likes of AOL, Facebook, Google,
Microsoft, and Adobe to usurp the Internet.

What's more likely to happen is that some pseudo-
philanthropist like Bill Gates will decide to save the
world with his brilliance and offer to create a free
spyware product. Then we'll all be distracted discussing
whether the Gatesmobile OS, or the Getty Foundation
OS, is going to be the next big thing, until it finally isn't.

(I just read the other day that Bill Gates, after having
ceremoniously given away much of his wealth, is
currently worth $96B. $6B more than last year. I guess
generosity is good work if you can get it.)




Nice to see many of my old Windows 95, 98 and XP programs still work in
Windows 10
Jasc paint shop pro 7
Resume maker.
Avery Label maker etc.

I have 2 CD cases with about 50 or 70 program CDs going back over the
last 24 years, most of them still install and run on Windows 10.
Pretty nice backwards compatibility Eh.
Lets see Linux do that, aLso my 12 year old Okidata c5150n printer still
works fine with the same drivers and no hassle install on Windows 10.
Every time Linux Mint updates I have to fight with it to get it to work
on Mint. Now don't get me wrong I like Mint 19.1 but when I need to do
serious work or do colour printing I have to stay with Windows.

Rene