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0 pointsRazengan7y ago0 comments

I was referring to that crippled subsystem with the fullscreen Start Menu/Screen and the touchscreen-compatible apps that launched from it, separate from the "full" "desktop" experience, where you had two versions of IE, Outlook, Skype etc. It was also all you could access on the now-abandoned Windows RT.

Is that dichotomy still present in Windows 10?

See, it's a confusing exercise to even figure out what their sub-platforms are supposed to be called. Apparently they are now "Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps (formerly Windows Store apps and Metro-style apps)" [0]

Do they have access to the full feature set of DirectX etc.? Do they have support for multiple appearances, Dark Mode, etc.?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Windows_Platform_app...

0 comments

6 comments · 1 top-level

pjmlp7y ago· 5 in thread

Win32 is kind of legacy.

UWP is what was WinRT on Windows 8, they have just been improving it all these years.

Of course they have access to full DirectX 11 and 12.

All new APIs are UWP based, and with they learned with the Desktop Bridge for Win32, they changed their strategy and are now merging UWP and Wi32 into a single container/store model.

Some of the talks related with it were done at MSBUILD 2018, check MSIX, .NET Core 3.0 roadmap, XAML Islands, XAML Direct.

If they don't change direction, in a couple of Windows releases they will be merged, with UWP continuously taking over Win32, like Win32 did before to Win16.

As for Apple, I can quickly refer to Object Pascal, Quickdraw 3D, JavaBridge, Quickdraw Java APIs, A/UX, Dylan, Newton, MCL, Hypercard....

RazenganOP7y ago

If this is to be a simple listout of products and services that were superseded or discontinued because it made no sense to continue them (as opposed to breaking promises or replacing them with inferior counterparts), then on the MS side we have:

Active Desktop, Briefcase, CardSpace, Meeting Space, NetMeeting, Windows Sidebar, Desktop Gadgets and Windows SideShow (which displayed gadgets in a secondary screen on laptop lids etc., kinda cool at the time but I never saw an implementation in the wild), Office Assistant (Clippy in the File Explorer), Encarta and the rest of the edutainment product line (which were actually great and often used as a selling point for PCs at the time), XP themes, HTML thumbnails, the Comic Chat IRC client (my first gateway to social interaction on the internet), the SideWinder game controllers for PC (including the Dual Strike [0] which was way ahead of its time), MSN/Live Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Visual Basic, FoxPro and many others... :)

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MShp4F4cUDE

DonHopkins7y ago

Maybe so, but none of yours (or even all of yours combined) are anywhere near as tragic as the cancelation of HyperCard. ;(

(Although Comic Chat was pretty cool, with all those Jim Woodring characters and backgrounds, and the emotional pie menu.)

http://www.mermeliz.com/files/mschat_summary.htm

One question: After being exposed to Comic Chat as your first chat client, do you now visualize everyone you chat with and your online environment as if they were drawn by Jim Woodring?

http://www.jimwoodring.com/artwork/gallery

You lucky bastard!

http://www.jimwoodring.com/wp-content/uploads/Bastard.jpg

1 more reply

pjmlp7y ago

That was just a very basic sample, if you wish to play this game, I have more from Apple I could keep writing.

DonHopkins7y ago

They had to kill A/UX because it was embarrassing how you could access Unix file systems much faster than you could access MacOS file systems.

The best that could be said for most of Apple's file systems is that at least they didn't murder your wife.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_fil...

DonHopkins7y ago

QuickTime Media Skins.

QuickTime Wired Sprites.

http://www.itg.yale.edu/2008/03/28/quicktime-media-skins-and...

ScriptX.

Apple Media Tool.

Sk8.

Gestalt Manager.

Code Fragment Manager.

Now where did I put those Abandoned Apple API BINGO cards???

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

6 comments · 1 top-level

pjmlp7y ago· 5 in thread

Win32 is kind of legacy.

UWP is what was WinRT on Windows 8, they have just been improving it all these years.

Of course they have access to full DirectX 11 and 12.

All new APIs are UWP based, and with they learned with the Desktop Bridge for Win32, they changed their strategy and are now merging UWP and Wi32 into a single container/store model.

Some of the talks related with it were done at MSBUILD 2018, check MSIX, .NET Core 3.0 roadmap, XAML Islands, XAML Direct.

If they don't change direction, in a couple of Windows releases they will be merged, with UWP continuously taking over Win32, like Win32 did before to Win16.

As for Apple, I can quickly refer to Object Pascal, Quickdraw 3D, JavaBridge, Quickdraw Java APIs, A/UX, Dylan, Newton, MCL, Hypercard....

RazenganOP7y ago

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MShp4F4cUDE

DonHopkins7y ago

Maybe so, but none of yours (or even all of yours combined) are anywhere near as tragic as the cancelation of HyperCard. ;(

(Although Comic Chat was pretty cool, with all those Jim Woodring characters and backgrounds, and the emotional pie menu.)

http://www.mermeliz.com/files/mschat_summary.htm

One question: After being exposed to Comic Chat as your first chat client, do you now visualize everyone you chat with and your online environment as if they were drawn by Jim Woodring?

http://www.jimwoodring.com/artwork/gallery

You lucky bastard!

http://www.jimwoodring.com/wp-content/uploads/Bastard.jpg

1 more reply

pjmlp7y ago

That was just a very basic sample, if you wish to play this game, I have more from Apple I could keep writing.

DonHopkins7y ago

They had to kill A/UX because it was embarrassing how you could access Unix file systems much faster than you could access MacOS file systems.

The best that could be said for most of Apple's file systems is that at least they didn't murder your wife.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_fil...

DonHopkins7y ago

QuickTime Media Skins.