- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
uh, no. I do believe XP and 2000 were not DOS. Even if they were, you can emulate a dos environment, which means it can be backwards compatable...They're not. And you don't even need to emulate. All you need is an OS that is capable of reading multiple code types.
Think about what you're saying this way: If Vista is what you describe it to be, then no program built to run on an OS system before it can run ON it. Thats not just games. thats your H&R Block/TurboTax program. Thats your media players, your web browsers, your Spyware and Anti-Virus.
Now, would M$ like you to purchase a bunch of stuff from a select few companies that they recieve kickbacks from on proprietary software compatibilty? Certainly. But if they do that Windows loses its hold on the market. Why? Because Vista suddenly becomes this Anit-Windows you decribe (an OS that cannot run most if not all the programs you will ever need with a UI you're farmiliar with.). If Vista shut the door on backwards compatible, none of the programs you own today would work tomorow if you bought it. people tend to take a step back when someone starts giving them that kind of balogna and call it steak, say things like 'Waiit a sec. if none of my old stuff will work with Vista, then i'm not paying 300$ for it...i'm paying several TOUSAND!"
While they may pay that anyway (eventually) expecting them to cough up that kind of money for programs to run on your OS at time of instalation is like asking people to buy the car and all the gas it will ever need, but still stop at the service station on a regular basis to buy soda and chips.
Another way to put it: few (if any) software companies have software on the market at the moment that is designed to run on WinVista. But Beta testers have had it since it was Longhorn and DX10, last I heard, was part of the test. They've been running programs for a long time with the new S-NTFS file mangers; installing new software into this non-DOS code. If Vista spat everything "not Vista approved" back up like a baby in carseat with bad shocks on a bumpy road, don't you think they'd be flooding the forums to tell us?
You've got yur propaganda backwards. Nothing that was written to run on XP will work on 2000 (unless you fiddle with it like mad). By proxy, and to make money, nothing that will be written to work on Vista will work on XP.
But if it was made to work on XP (and 2000, since its theirs not much difference) then it darn well better work on Vista.
[Edited on 3/26/2006]