XPost: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy   
   From: nobody@haph.org   
      
   Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=    
   news:10k4i74$2stcp$1@dont-email.me Tue, 13 Jan 2026 04:37:56 GMT in   
   comp.os.linux.advocacy, wrote:   
      
   > On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 04:09:55 -0000 (UTC), Gremlin wrote:   
   >   
   >> ... back when I was actively reverse engineering various aspects to   
   >> develop cracks and patches for software that wasn't comfortable   
   >> running under it but managed to run just fine on XP. Especially   
   >> annoying when you have custom hardware that depended on proprietary   
   >> software. Think, CNC machines that cost the owner a considerable   
   >> sum. Or, in one specific case, a pill dispensing robot for a   
   >> pharmacy.   
   >   
   > Would you entrust mission-critical business operations to obsolete,   
   > unsupported software?   
      
   In the real world, you don't always have the luxury of running the latest   
   and greatest. Sometimes, you could have millions of dollars tied up in a   
   mission critical piece of hardware which is controlled by software that   
   cannot function properly on a later OS than what it was written for.   
   Sometimes, the vendor of said hardware will not take the time to rewrite it   
   to function under a more modern flavor of Windows. So, you can either   
   consider the very expensive hardware a total loss and replace it, OR, do   
   what you need to do to keep it running. It doesn't make business sense to   
   toss the uber expensive piece of hardware that you rely on for your job over   
   an 'outdated' OS.   
      
   Since the system running the CNC machine was not in any way tied into any   
   network and had no internet access whatsoever, it wouldn't do any harm to   
   continue running it. As for the pharmacy controlled robot, the access it had   
   was very restricted. And again, it wasn't upto me which OS it was running   
   under. Changing the machine out for a later OS would disable the robot. You   
   don't have that luxury in the real world.   
      
   Would it surprise you to learn that your banks ATM machines are most likely   
   PCs running Windows and aren't running the latest and greatest version of it?   
   They might still be running Windows XP in many cases.   
      
      
      
      
      
   --   
   Liar, lawyer; mirror show me, what's the difference?   
   Kangaroo done hung the guilty with the innocent   
   Liar, lawyer; mirror for ya', what's the difference?   
   Kangaroo be stoned. He's guilty as the government   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)