Reply #78: Aside from programs that didn't work because they used security holes, there were also

[merwin]

programs that just needed Administrator privileges to run. So if you right click and choose "Run as Administrator", then it would work fine.

It boils down to this. The main complaint about Windows was that it was insecure. Microsoft made Vista VERY secure, which required application developers to rewrite some of their code to either run under a limited user account, request administrative privileges, or access the system in a different way. They had over a year to do this.

Every operating system goes through this. There are times when an OS changes significantly to meet consumer demands, which in this case was security and stability. They met those demands, and people complain that their software doesn't work anymore because the OS is more secure.

Also, I recall several programs on OS X having the same issues when OS X came out, and when Apple moved to the Intel platform. And then there's Linux, which has application compatibility issues up the ass. Same thing happened when Windows 3 came out regarding DOS apps, when Windows 95 came out, regarding 16 bit apps, when Windows XP came out, regarding apps designed for Windows 95.

You can't have a secure and stable operating system and be fully backwards compatible at the same time. Something has to give. It's up to application developers to keep up with the technology.