It should be no problem for anyone running old/legacy software on their current OS, as long as they don't open up vulnerabilities or whatever. Most times, the older stuff is better (and easier) than the newer stuff. I use a few myself as by this short list below: Microsoft FrontPage 2003 - I've always been a user of this program ever since I had my first computer, with the 2000 edition. Always liked to save my documents for web viewing. Paint XP and Windows Movie Maker - When I first had this current system, I hated 7's own Paint and Live Movie Maker from the start and just by chance there's XP-styled versions for the OS. Virtual PC 2007 - I simply find this easier than VirtualBox, although when I first installed it the OS complained that it may be incompatible. Turned out it actually was. Inkscape 0.48 - Slightly more recent even though this was from 2013. I did update it to a later version but thankfully it didn't overwrite the older one, because I found the newer version rather fiddly and not quite the same. To be honest, I don't use it all that often. Only if I'm in the correct mood for design work. I did have a WinRAR version from 2011 (can't remember the version number) but it had to be upgaded to v5.70 when I found out there was a vulnerability connected to it. So, how about you?
It's a reality.... But, sometimes, there's software who runs on a specific os, so, there's no option to use it with another newer version of that os. Some time ago, I read that in some publishing houses, they still use Wordperfect 5.1, to make the layout of books. And there's lawyer offices that still using it (here in Spain). The typical case is the software for office. Programs that were made on demand, and won't work in another os different from the one they were designed, not being possible to access to the source code for compile a new version for a newer os. And better not to say the amount of people still using Windows Xp...
Right here I have some old games that I really like and they work in compatibility mode on W10 LTSC without problems; in time Hi Gina Stewart and to MDL
Pretty much me when I once had Petz 4 running under Windows 7, but getting that to work properly required it being installed under My Documents and not Program Files. Plus an add-on for it too managed by its unofficial community. Ancient OSes don't count here, but as far I'm aware only about 1% of the world still uses it. Even if it had went unsupported for over five years (well two if you count the WannaCry emergency patch), it shows no signs of dying off...
oh.. i am a cheerful old dinosaur.. i tried to carry cardfile over from w 3.11[!] to my x64 pc.did not work, of course. such is progress. but. i browsed around on several m$ sites, and i found a cardfile that does work on x64. [from win nt, it was.] there is also a ramdrive.sys; it works and it is free, as opposed to many restricted programs] m$ are idiots, because it is an ernormously handy program.[ i store phone nrs of friends in it.] and all those alternatives are just garbage. and i use servant salamander. it started life as the umpteenth norton commander clome for w 95. it was shareware,but i never paid a cent. i always found m$ explorer useless in any version of windose . the hotkeys from the commander work, and it can be configured just like it. and a dosprompt is just one click away. there is some cz site around that still has it.but it costs, nowadays.such is progress.
I have an old program from my Windows 2000 Pro called "Check Printing Software 2000". It still works on Windows 7 but I'm not sure if it will work on Windows 10.
I am still using a 1994 16bit application called Daily Journal, it came on 1 floppy disk! I have entries (saved) going back to April 1996 & it is still working great in Windows 10 x86 (wont run in x64). edited
I'm still using the original File Manager and it works fine on the latest version of Win-10. A couple of people have updated it to run on current versions of Windows: https://people.ee.ethz.ch/~davidsch/vistafm/ https://github.com/Microsoft/winfile/releases .
Wow... I put Windows 10 LTSC on an older laptop so I can see how my current software will be compatible and that old "Check Print 2000" software actually works on Windows 10. I did use "compatibility mode" for XP sp2 and run as admin. Makes me consider going to 10 ltsc even more now from 7 pro. Kinda nice that a software from Y2K still can work 20 yrs later.
I run older games mostly. But generally I prefer newer software, unless it has creepy behavior like phoning home, then older version it is.
Don't know of this counts, but Office 2010, even though it still receives updates until October this year.
Much of older software did not require an internet connection to install and work....That should tell you something right there. I've got a good notion to install W2K on an older pc, run all my software from that off line and just use 10 LTSC for internet uses for posting and surfing on line with nothing else on it. You or should I state "we" should ask ourselves if you think today's software or "apps" run or work any better than what we used 10 yrs ago?
IMO...if you look at a lot of simple programs (such as a de-fragging program), not complex programs (such as a video editing suite)...you will find that the version from 10 years ago does the same thing that today's version does. The difference on the new program will be a glossy new GUI, phoning home, data harvesting, and sophisticated ways to make you impulse buy and spend more.
I now basically run Linux, and have found that it's old adages of KISS (keep it simple stupid) and an 'app does one job and does it well', have some real meaning to me. Gives me some staisfaction for finding older software just plain more comfortable that the newer bloat ware. Some oldies I continually enjoy are Opera Legacy (12.6) for browsing (though it gets less useful each year as it doen't parse html5, and more sites require higher security protocols that it can provide. But where it works, it always reminds me that it was by far the best browser ever.). I use Spread32, an old, tiny spreadsheet (912k in size) that does what I need out of a speadsheet, quickly with no fuss. It will also open and render some more complex xls files than it has tools to produce itself. Window proggie, that runs fine under Wine. In Windows, my text editor is alway notepad+. In linux my graphics app is GQview, which is IMHO much nicer that it's successor geeqie (sp? in windows now). I like old twin pane file managers, though admit that sometimes I do find the 'bells and whistles' that SpaceFM (linux) has are worth it, even if it is more single pane-like. I guess that I am just an old fart, and I like my software to match. If my hardware permitted, my windows partition would be 98SE, or XP, and I enjoy booting DOS from time to time. The most recent desktop envionment (linix) that I have been playing with is the 25 year old CDE designed for the big iron of Unix. Otherwise, I employy openbox (which started in 2002) - just a plain and simple WindowManager that does nothing for the most part outside of putting windows on the screen, though it has the power to provide way more for those who want it. And I also enjoy running an old web browser called xombrero, from 2012, that is designed to be keyboard operated, but plays well with mice. I don't use it for banking, or anything like that, but otherwise it is a fun to use browser. Development is long gone, as is support by more modern distros, but a handy (and another old linux app from about 2010) called CDE (not the same as the above CDE), a lightweight virtualization tool, lets me package xombrero while running in an old distro, along with all it's dependencies and addons, than lets me run it in a new OS that can't support it natively. Old software is like wine.
winamp media player (using now) and wuxxy (cd tray opening tool on a click) i used till i got a dvd-writer. Play some old games like trickshot, air xonix, wolfenstein 1 mods, doom 1, 2 , heretic 1 and some old dos games using dosbox and old emulator games on fceux, snes9x, mame.
Thanks very much. Works perfectly on my Winows 10 64 bit. Better than Explorer in many ways. Still think that DOS was better for data storage where no graphics required. eg. many accounting databases - cash books, stock lists etc. Thing was just press enter to jump from field to field is easier, quicker than mouse. Simple validation of entries by value etc. Operator just had to work, rather than playing around on Internet, mail, games etc. No need for any other programs on the machine. Networking worked well using Novell Netware. 90 Meg was a big hard drive, but just ASCII data doesnt need vast amounts of storage space for typical work data base. Small firm database would have maximum of 25000 entries. 128 bytes for each record gives about 3.2 Megabytes, plus OS max 3.4 Megabytes. Good old days, programs not apps. Are colour screens really an improvement? A good sharp mono screen is perfectly good enough for data entry, and can be easier on the eyes if setup properly. Most readers on this forum will never have seen a decent DOS PC in mono. The Sirius was even before the IBM PC, and was good for its day. c 1983.