this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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submitted 3 weeks ago by calango@programming.dev to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
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[–] hissingmeerkat@sh.itjust.works 203 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Windows 11 won't install those 25 year old programs anymore. Wine will.

[–] TheRealKuni@piefed.social 107 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (8 children)

I’m really sorry to do this, but 25 years ago was 2001.

Now that the painful part is out of the way, 32-bit software from 2001 should work in Windows 11.

[–] hissingmeerkat@sh.itjust.works 52 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Oh, it should work and it will if you put all the files in the right places yourself by say installing it on wine and copying the changes to the wine system directories over, but starting in Windows 11 running the installer gets a deliberate "this program isn't meant for this version of Windows" error.

[–] officermike@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Run the installer in compatibility mode, then run the application in compatibility mode?

[–] hissingmeerkat@sh.itjust.works 18 points 3 weeks ago

Didn't work. Application doesn't even need compatibility mode to run. Running the app copied by someone else from their previous Windows 10 computer sorta works but didn't find files installed to system directories. Windows 11 just deliberately refuses to execute the installer probably based on recognizing the old family of installer programs specifically.

The users wanted a new Linux laptop. I installed LMDE, showed them how to run the installer with wine. It made a menu item. Drag and drop from whatever the cinnamon file manager is doesn't work, and there was no file association to open the program's files. I added one that just opens them with wine and lets it figure it out. I also showed them where their wine c drive was.

After a few weeks they wanted to print to pdf as well as their printer from wine and I had them install cups-pdf

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[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh cool, let me install this software, what, it won't install because it's missing quicktime? Oh it needs directx 8 runtime? That could be a problem. Let's advance the clock, 2004, that should be fine... What do you mean you can't run .NET 1.1 applications and so that won't run?

Ironically, wine is more likely to have a path to easily run those programs under Linux, but if you had a Linux binary from that era you'd likely have a hard time getting that to run, probably harder than the microsoft scenario. So old Windows software is more likely to run under Linux than old Linux software...

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[–] calango@programming.dev 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

My machines and my children’s machines will never boot Windows again.

[–] TheRealKuni@piefed.social 5 points 3 weeks ago

Good! Not sure how that’s relevant, but good!

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[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Depends on the program. I've got a handful of that old on CDs that still install fine. Checked when I was backing them up to ISO. There's little bits of weirdness and unintended behavior while running them now, but they still install and run to a fairly acceptable degree.

That experience varies wildly though. Wine tends to handle things better and more consistently.

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Windows sucks, but I made some tools 20 yrs ago and they still just run in win11. As they did on all other windows before since...I dunno, 95? Or 3.11?

But anyhow: Windows sucks.

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[–] codingitwrong@lemmy.zip 150 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

macOS, can I install this 2 year old program?

No, the architecture is no longer supported in this version of macOS

[–] Ironfacebuster@lemmy.world 90 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

"no because the dev hasn't paid us to certify it as safe so you'll have to jump through 37 hoops in order to allow you to right click, hold options, and click open. THEN we'll give you an option to install it"

[–] mintiefresh@piefed.ca 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Is this a LibreWolf on Mac reference, because I hate this so much about LibreWolf on Mac lol.

[–] Ironfacebuster@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Not so much a librewolf reference as much as a "any app you download from the Internet" reference lol

I'll have to try installing librewolf when I'm feeling frisky though

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I mean, macOS has a lot of issues but the one hoop needed to run any unsigned app is "right-click app icon, click open".

[–] Ironfacebuster@lemmy.world 21 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Sometimes it won't let you even get to that step without going into the settings and finding a secret security notification that it blocked it from opening

[–] MrLLM@ani.social 9 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, and in rare instances, you’ll need to take the app/binary out from the quarantine

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[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 92 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

Windows, can I run this 25 year old software I just installed?

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 23 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

In the early 2000s there was this website called dll-files.com or something like that, and every time that error popped up (which happened a lot in the 90s and 2000s), you'd go to that website, download the missing file, and 99% of the time it would fix the problem. These days I'd advise against obtaining random DLL files from the internet but back then it was like magic.

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[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 9 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Legit, at my current workplace one of the first things i did was update the very neglected hardware.

The IDRAC on the core server was so old i had to spin up an xp vm just to get a browser that would accept it so i could upgrade.

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[–] isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca 46 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Nope, can't find this ancient version of libc!

[–] ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 39 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

You can still compile it against the modern version.

And if it's static linked it will either run or you can ask Linus to murder someone for you.

[–] isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca 27 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Hmm I'll email Linus

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[–] pewpew@feddit.it 13 points 3 weeks ago

I was trying to compile the first version of SuperTuxKart just for fun, how naive I were... Nowadays it's like translating ancient runes and good luck finding those ancient libraries

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[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 43 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

As a programmer, it's pretty wild how much of Windows under the hood has remained completely unchanged. I started writing software synthesizer applications back in the late '90s, using a part of the Win95 API called "winOutX". The functions are kind of clunky to use but they allow you to programmatically create your own audio buffer arrays filled with whatever sounds you're up to creating and dump them into the playback stream for seamless audio. This shit has remained in place, working pretty much perfectly, for the last 30 years. It was even there in WinCE/Windows Mobile, which allowed me to write software synthesis applications for early smartphones circa 2005. And it's still all there today.

I like to rip on MS as much as the next guy (not least for them completely dropping the fucking ball as far as smartphones were concerned), but sometimes their incredibly long-term conservatism can work to your benefit.

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[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 35 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

"Old tools" does not mean obsolete or bad. It means tested, hardened, and reliable. And crucially, probably runs in a couple megabytes of memory, which you might need if the cost of RAM suddenly quintuples for no reason.

[–] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

B-but don't you want AI in vi?

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

AI in vim is actually often convenient.

:set ai

Cool, now it will keep track of my indentation.

Now sometimes that gets in the way, and while you can:

:set noai

Usually it's best for me to:

:set paste

And that's my take on the utility of AI in vim. (that is what you meant right, there isn't some other AI people are thinking of right?)

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[–] SillyDude@lemmy.zip 22 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I wanted to do the cool neofetch thing all the femboys in thigh highs are doing. Shits already installed on mint. My boring ass win98 clone is doing the femboy thing no questions asked.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Interesting. Neofetch has ceased development but fastfetch is here to take its place though.

[–] Horsey@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Not gonna lie, having to relearn that muscle memory is gonna be hard lol.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

You can always alias it! With my neofetch config, I get nearly identical output with fastfetch so I switched a while back.

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[–] apotheotic@beehaw.org 8 points 3 weeks ago

Hey. The cool transfems in thigh highs are doing it too.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Initial release of dd was for Unix in 1974 and it's still updated for use in modern systems.

I used it just the other day and it was already installed.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 13 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

WIndows will install it. Running it correctly... different story.

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[–] collapse_already@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

My issues are not install, but uninstall. Why do I have so much crap installed? I used it on a project once 7 years ago and haven't since. Why not uninstall it? It is useful, just not currently. It took less than a minute to install when you installed it the first time and your connection is faster now? But what if the archive goes down or it is retired or obsolete? It is small, keep it!

Turns out lots of small adds up to big.

[–] Hexarei@beehaw.org 5 points 3 weeks ago

Turns out lots of small adds up to big.

Nickel and dimed into a dollar I see

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[–] CreamyJalapenoSauce@piefed.social 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Roller Coaster Tycoon came out in 1999 but I notice it didn't come preinstalled on Mint. Is my install broken? /s

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

Sorry, only 25 year old software included. You're on your own for 27 year old software.

[–] FishFace@piefed.social 7 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

xdotool is not already installed, and also will not work 🙄

[–] fartsparkles@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

It does work but if you’re using Wayland, it won’t. But one would be rather silly to expect an X11/Xlib tool to work without X11.

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[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 6 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

However you're on Debian stable and the latest version of the package that came out 24 years ago is still too new.

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[–] Digestive_Biscuit@feddit.uk 5 points 3 weeks ago

We have a 22 year old version of RedHat 4. It works fine and is reliable but has problems with out dated security.

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