[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [MiNT] 1.15.10 (fwd)
> > 1.02, and TOS 2.06, and MiNT and anything. So the user thinks:
> >
> > 1. These systems do not differ, there are no major updates, if a program
> > can work equally on anything (not realizing that a lot is done by
> > kludgy libraries, which emulate everything they can).
> >
> > 2. So why I have to upgrade? My TOS 1.02 is good enough.
>
> And actually, the user would be right. If an application runs equally well
Yes, the user would be right, if it was true. Of course, if a program only
needs TOS 1.02, there is no reason to make it incompatible with that just
to say its user how poor he is. However, if a program needs more, a
healthy behaviour would be to display a message like "this needs at least
xxxxx" instead of heavily emulating everything, especially when the
emulation is not perfect (hey, using the mintlib you can even believe that
TOS supports vfork() and unlimited number of processes per user... :-))
> The only "challenge" left is to make programs as backwards compatible as
> plausible; i.e. programs that do not need latest features, shouldn't be
> programmed to require them. But only to Windoze programmers this is a
> challenge; both in Linux and in MiNT, latest versions of simple stuff like
> vi or Pine can run on systems like 520STs or 386s (and with ELKS probably
> on even older systems). But surely Hadeses, Milans, and Centurbo'ed
> Falcons have a reason to live too.
You are right. I was thinking about some extreme exaggerations, mainly
about "this will work on TOS 1.02 just because I like that sport". This is
OK to like the sport, however (and here refer to the kellis' mail) you
cannot later sit and complain that coding on Atari is a challenge. Just
because if it is, that means that you're moslty making this to be a
challenge yourself.
--
Konrad M.Kokoszkiewicz
mail: draco@atari.org
http://draco.atari.org
** Ea natura multitudinis est,
** aut servit humiliter, aut superbe dominatur (Liv. XXIV,25)
*************************************************************
** Taka to juz natura pospolstwa, ze albo sluzy ono unizenie,
** albo bezczelnie sie panoszy.