Barney's Blog

Blog archive

Making Apps Vista-Ready

Microsoft has a pretty good track record for making old apps work on new OSes. In fact, Redmond has been so concerned over the years with backward compatibility that it didn't push as aggressively as it could to new technologies. And all the code to support 8- and 16-bit apps made Windows 95, 98 and XP less stable and less modern than it could have been.

Vista, as I understand, dispenses with some of that legacy code, so compatibility might be an issue (you mean MultiPlan, WordPerfect 1 and dBASE 2 might not run?).

To help figure out what will work and what won't, and make broken apps whole again, Microsoft has launched the Application Compatibility Factory, where large systems integrators will help ensure enterprise apps are ready for Vista.

Posted by Doug Barney on November 02, 2006


Featured

  • MIT Finds Only 1 in 20 AI Investments Translate into ROI

    Despite pouring billions into generative AI technologies, 95 percent of businesses have yet to see any measurable return on investment.

  • Report: Cost, Sustainability Drive DaaS Adoption Beyond Remote Work

    Gartner's 2025 Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service reveals that while secure remote access remains a key driver of DaaS adoption, a growing number of deployments now focus on broader efficiency goals.

  • Windows 365 Reserve, Microsoft's Cloud PC Rental Service, Hits Preview

    Microsoft has launched a limited public preview of its new "Windows 365 Reserve" service, which lets organizations rent cloud PC instances in the event their Windows devices are stolen, lost or damaged.

  • Hands-On AI Skills Now Outshine Certs in Salary Stakes

    For AI-related roles, employers are prioritizing verifiable, hands-on abilities over framed certificates -- and they're paying a premium for it.