cvs commit: src/sys/compat/linux linux_socket.c

[Erik Trulsson]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 06:09:03PM +0000, Paul Richards wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 10:44:09AM -0700, Scott Long wrote:
> > Paul Richards wrote:
> > >On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 06:06:16PM +0100, Dag-Erling Sm?rgrav wrote:
> > >
> > >>Paul Richards <paul at originative.co.uk> writes:
> > >>
> > >>>Imagine something like Photoshop being written on the most recent
> > >>>version of Mac OS X and finding that compatibility only worked
> > >>>forward.  That would mean that most users out there would have to
> > >>>upgrade their OS in order to use the most recent version of Photoshop!
> > >>
> > >>Yes, that is usually how it goes.
> > >
> > >
> > >I don't believe it does. Can anyone provide real world examples of
> > >this happening that we can consider?
> > >
> > 
> > You know, I'm completely outraged that I can't use MSWord 2005 on my 
> > Windows 3.1 system!  I even installed the win32s library!  Don't those 
> > bozos at Microsoft care at all about forwards compatibility?
> 
> We're talking minor releases across stable branches here. This
> issue is not whether 6.1 should run on 5.3 it's whether 5.4 should
> run on 5.3
> 
> I would expect software developed on XP service pack 2 to be able
> to run on a fresh CD install of XP.

I wouldn't be so certain about that.
Case in point:  Last year a friend of mine bought a new computer, but
could not use the sound device on the motherboard due to a lack of
drivers. The sound drivers included with the motherboard (as well as
those available from the manufacturers website) only supported Windows
98SE and later, while she was using plain Windows 98.

Another example is that there are several Macintosh programs that will
only work on MacOS 7.6 or later, and thus will not run on MacOS 7.5.5
(which is the latest version that can be downloaded for free from
Apple.)

That is two examples from the commercial world of not having forward
compatibility between minor releases - I am certain many more examples
can be found.




-- 
<Insert your favourite quote here.>
Erik Trulsson
ertr1013 at student.uu.se