Operating-system backward-compatibility meme: Mac balks, Windows installs, Linux already has program
Description
Three stacked meme panels compare software compatibility across Mac, Windows, and Linux using the Wojak vs. "Chad" cartoon format. Panel 1 is labeled "Mac os:"; the blond-bearded character on the left asks "Can you install this 5 year old program?" while a crying Wojak on the right replies "Nooooo, i can't! this program is too old!". Panel 2 is headed "Windows:"; the same left character asks "Can you install this 25 year old program?", and the right character calmly answers "Yes, i can! Installing... done!". Panel 3 shows the heading "Linux"; the left figure repeats "can you install this 25 year old program" and the right figure responds "it's already installed". The joke highlights differing approaches to backward compatibility: macOS often deprecates older binaries, Windows famously supports decades-old executables, and Linux distributions frequently ship tried-and-true CLI tools by default
Comments
49Comment deleted
Choosing an OS is basically a time-travel exercise: macOS makes you port code every two WWDCs, Windows will happily spin up a 1997 COM DLL in a UAC prompt, and Linux just shrugs - “it’s in /usr/bin, same build we shipped when Slashdot was cool.”
The Linux box saying "it's already installed" because someone compiled it from source in 1999 and nobody knows where it lives, what it depends on, or why removing it breaks the print spooler
This perfectly captures the architectural philosophy divide: macOS treats backward compatibility like technical debt to be aggressively deprecated (looking at you, 32-bit app purge), Windows maintains a compatibility shim layer so deep you can still run Win95 binaries (because some Fortune 500 still needs that VB6 app), while Linux ships with tools from the 70s because 'if it ain't broke, it's in /usr/bin'. The real joke? Senior engineers have battle scars from all three: migrating legacy macOS apps post-Catalina, maintaining Windows XP compatibility matrices for enterprise clients, and discovering that production server is still using a Perl script from 1998 that nobody dares touch
Windows layers compat shims like an onion of regret; Linux's glibc ABI just says 'still good since '93'; Mac: time to rewrite in SwiftUI
macOS treats ABIs as deprecations, Windows treats Win32 as an SLA, and Linux treats POSIX as whatever lives in /bin
macOS deprecates it every WWDC, Windows keeps the Win32 ABI on life support since 1995, and Linux already shipped it as a symlink in /usr/bin
my ass, windows can't do shit with programs from even the xp era sometimes Comment deleted
What progra? Comment deleted
I don't remember which one, but it's either spider/solitaire or minesweeper Comment deleted
wine can run all three fine (you need cards.dll for spider/solitaire) Comment deleted
Bruh even the W3.1 version runs on W11 Comment deleted
wait a sec let me test in my VM Comment deleted
I even play win vista chess on my w10 machine Comment deleted
huh, I could swear it didn't work last time I tried. Maybe it was something else…? Comment deleted
Windows has exterme compatibility with old stuff. I am pretty sure if something doesn’t work and is not a mess in code then you just have to add the optional feature in settings. (Deprecated shit gets often optional feature) Comment deleted
ahh it was full tilt pinball Comment deleted
That works too you just need the right folder Comment deleted
wdym? Comment deleted
Where is that from? Comment deleted
internet archive iirc Comment deleted
Have you tried to right-click exe and enable compatibility mode in properties of it? Comment deleted
I think so, but I already shut my VM off & I don't want to start it again Comment deleted
Next time don't run shit with 16-bit code. That's not an OS issue that's a hardware issue. If you need 16-bit code run that badly just use Windows 10 32-bit Comment deleted
yeah or wine I guess Comment deleted
like I already do Comment deleted
wine and otvdm can run tho Comment deleted
Idk how WINE does it but in theory you're not supposed to be able to run 16-bit code natively in 64-bit mode. Like you can't modify the AH register in 64-bit mode for example, but in 32-bit mode you can. Comment deleted
Linux don't care 😎 they probably just transpile it Comment deleted
Use dosbox lol Comment deleted
literally never had that issue Comment deleted
oh, actually, ubuntu has both problems sometimes Comment deleted
Happened to Linus https://youtu.be/0506yDSgU7M?t=596 Comment deleted
oh my god get this clown out of my face Comment deleted
linus is a stupid mfer that can't do anything right when it comes to software Comment deleted
Linus is stupid Comment deleted
doas Comment deleted
please Comment deleted
please rm -rf /* Comment deleted
alias please=doas Comment deleted
it doesn't on my machine. neither regular steam nor steam-native Comment deleted
Linux-Reality: - Can you install this one year old program? - Yes... oh no, it's removed from main repository. - Use optional. - Yes... oh no, there are obsolete dependencies. - Install them manually then. - Yes! Oh no, some of them requires kernel featurs that were already disabled. - Enable and rebuild the kernel - Sure! Oh no, some features were completely removed or renamed... - I found an instruction for you. You should... (6 hours later) - ...and now even vim causes Kernel Panic Comment deleted
Which program? And why do you need it if it has no support and even the kernel has disabled features? Also, why not use a chroot, LXC or a VM? Comment deleted
Yes-yes, the famous linux-communities motto: if something is broken - it's "not needed". Btw, chroot doesn't help when it comes to kernel features. VM can help sometimes for stand-alone applications that don't depend on PCI hardware. Meantime I just found my old Delphi program compiled in 1998. It works on Windows 11. Comment deleted
That's good then. Could be just the way Windows and Linux handle things. How do you execute this. Is it plain machine code you are talking about? I don't know much about Delphi. Comment deleted
Windows is a hell of compatibility That's why even looking at windows codes sucks You will see lots of #ifdef and... Those poor windows developers that have to work on these codes... Comment deleted
I don't see why users should care about it Comment deleted
actual linux reality: - can you install this 20 year old game? - hmm it's not in the main repositories - oh, it's in the AUR - only 4 dependencies, nice. installed. works. Comment deleted
talking about frozen bubble, which had its last update in 2008 btw Comment deleted
* in the other portage ovelay Comment deleted