Re: [OT] : Open Source from the user perspective (was Re: [EE]: opinion on Willem programmer?)

Peter wrote:

> Just for laughs, and slightly off topic, I found some old *nix source code on
> the net, from ~1985 or so, compiled it after minor cosmetics (header files
> changed etc) on a recent machine and it worked. Manual pages looked right
> (tables and all), X11 GUI and timing delays work in despite of 200 times faster
> execution and all that.

FWIW, not that elaborate (no compiling and no X11 GUI), bit I still have
MS-DOS software around (binaries) that work on my WinXP machines. I don't
have to run them often, and I don't run them more often than I have to :)
but the only ones of these oldies that I found don't run anymore are system
tools. Which is ok... these are for system maintenance, and I don't need
maintenance tools for 286 MS-DOS machines with FAT file systems.

So far I also haven't had any problems reading older files with newer
software from that "censored" manufacturer. (Which shouldn't be constructed
to mean that I don't think that using open formats is a good thing.)

Gerhard

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