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General discussion (archive)The NEXT Windows OS question(11 posts)(11 posts)
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Posted September 27, 2008
I was just wondering. In a few years there will be a new OS from Microsoft and people will slowly move on from XP and Vista (or be forced to by Microsoft :P ) And probably there will be issues (again) with all these games. Will you update them again? Plus, some new hardware etc.
Posted September 27, 2008
Hrm, current expectation is that Windows 7 (the current version being worked on) could be out as soon as June 2009.
As far as I've heard, which isn't entirely reliable, that version of Windows will have a system similar to Vista, which, if true, should mean anything that works in Vista should, hopefully, work fine in the new version of Windows.
Before Vista, Microsoft was known for nearly bending over backwards to support a lot of older software that very well got broken in newer versions of Windows. Hopefully, and I bet a lot of people hope this, they are going back towards that mindset with Windows 7.
Posted September 27, 2008
I'm pretty sure that GOG will still support these games on the newer Windows operating systems. It would be kind of counter-productive for them not to do it, if they want to keep with their goal of bringing older games to newer computers. They'll probably do this on a case-by-case basis though, since from what I hear, Windows 7 is probably going to be what Vista was supposed to be, rather like Windows 98 SE. Thus compatibility should be decent.
I'm just glad that the new DirectX 11 will also work with Vista, not just Windows 7. I've already got enough computers just to deal with backwards compatibility. One with XP and Vista on it, one with 98, an Amiga, and a really ancient one with DOS and a Roland LAPC-I for those Sierra games. Man, I'd love to be able to just get everything under one roof. :P
Post edited September 27, 2008 by ethanpd
Posted September 27, 2008
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ethanpd: I, Windows 7 is probably going to be what Vista was supposed to be,

how about instead of supposed, should be.
An operating system should be light weight, and never take up enough resources to be noticeable.
Do that one thing, and I can forgive everything else.
Windows Vista was designed to get grandma off of her windows ME machine and onto a new computer that will hold her hand through everything and make sure she doesn't make a mistake.
Other than that, I've had no serious issues with Vista, running it on my desktop, just switched to XP on my laptop because I demand my resources go to something I'm doing instead of being eaten up by the OS.
Anyway, yeah, no real issues, I don't use my desktop much or else I would have already put XP on it. Plus, the specs I have (a quad core, 3gigs of ram) I hardly notice the resources being eaten up anyway..
Posted September 27, 2008
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ethanpd: I, Windows 7 is probably going to be what Vista was supposed to be,
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Weclock: how about instead of supposed, should be.
An operating system should be light weight, and never take up enough resources to be noticeable.

Oh, I know what it should be, but I'm pretty sure that Windows 7 is going to require even more resources, unless they give you more customizability. I meant "supposed to be," in terms of usefulness. I didn't feel that Vista added anything besides a new look and a bunch of gimmicks. The only reason I have it is for DirectX 10.
Otherwise, I don't have any issues with Vista on my own computer either, though I've heavily modified it with VLite. But I'm a computer tech, which means I've been constantly having to deal with people who wonder why their new computer with Vista and 512 MB of RAM is slower than their older computer was. Sigh...
Posted September 27, 2008
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ethanpd: But I'm a computer tech, which means I've been constantly having to deal with people who wonder why their new computer with Vista and 512 MB of RAM is slower than their older computer was. Sigh...

I work for a small ISP, tech support to our customers.
We service a large part of Mississippi, the number one state for poor education within the United States.
They think it's magic when we reboot the whole setup and then turn it back on.
Posted September 27, 2008
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Weclock: They think it's magic when we reboot the whole setup and then turn it back on.

LOL! Is "The Locker of Wecs" a title that the natives have given you to say you're their witch doctor? :)
Though I think I'd prefer that over the people here that pretend to know what they're doing and want to argue with me about it instead of letting me fix the problem. Ugh...
Post edited September 27, 2008 by ethanpd
Posted September 27, 2008
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ethanpd: Though I think I'd prefer that over the people here that pretend to know what they're doing and want to argue with me about it instead of letting me fix the problem. Ugh...

Heh, I get that too. We also disable people for sharing copyrighted material, you get all kinds with those people calling in. 'Downloading isn't illegal!'
'I know, I just said that, it's sharing that is.'
'But downloading isn't illegal!'
And then I got that guy who was all..
'whatever I download what I want'
man, they just don't seem to understand, stop using bit torrent and start using rapid share.
Posted September 27, 2008
Since MS is stuck having to provide Legacy support, Windows7 is expected to be something more like Vista2.
One thing we do hear a lot about now is Virtualisation, (either app, OS or a complete PC). By 2010 when windows7 is expected (guessing time for delays) to be released, this should be more stable and available. And could greatly help in running older material.
It removes some of the fun of cobbeling together old equipment, but should save on time if they can get it right.
Posted September 28, 2008
Microsoft is working on a new OS that doesn't have legacy support in the traditional sense, instead when it encounters a program built for windows it'll start a "virtualised" copy of Windows and use that to run it. At least that's how the theory goes.
Only time will tell if that can deliver an operating system better than Windows, but I sure as hell hope that they can.
Posted September 28, 2008
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JediEagle: I was just wondering. In a few years there will be a new OS from Microsoft and people will slowly move on from XP and Vista (or be forced to by Microsoft :P ) And probably there will be issues (again) with all these games. Will you update them again? Plus, some new hardware etc.

A lot of people always associate Open Source Software with Linux but seem to forget that there is a huge amount of OSS on Windows also.
This means that you have good programmers out there who are creating excellent tools like DOSBox that allow you to run DOS games in Windows, Linux or any other OS.
But, for example, Linux has another tool called WINE which is designed to act as a Windows emulator for Linux so that you can run some Windows programs in it. But because Wine is Open Source, there is potentially no reason why you could not compile it for Windows also!
In other words, in a future version of Windows, running Wine on it would give you an emulation method for an older version of Windows.
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General discussion (archive)The NEXT Windows OS question(11 posts)(11 posts)
(11 posts)