MaximumPC 2006 09

!IHt?HtM

Ed Word

Please send feedback and sugar

cookies to WILL MAXIMUMPCCOM

SEPTEMBER 2006 MA XIMUMPC 

I

hear a lot about backward-compatibility: Windows

XP can run apps that are more than 10 years old

without problems, and Vista will include much the

same functionality. But is this level of backward-

compatibility really necessary anymore? When was

the last time you ran a non-game app that came out in

the last millennium, much less 1995?

The oldest app I regularly run is Offi ce 10,

and that’s just on my aged laptop, which I haven’t

bothered to upgrade to OpenOffi ce. Offi ce 10 shipped

in 2001. I don’t have any reason to run apps more

than three or four years old, and I’d bet that most

home users are in a similar situation.

I do occasionally play older games, such as

TIE Fighter, but I’ve had a ton of success playing

my old DOS games using the Dosbox emulator.

When legacy DirectX support is completely

removed from Windows, I’d bet that an emulator

for old Windows games, similar to Dosbox, will be

developed in no time.

What about those “mission-critical enterprise

apps” that we always hear about? That’s right,

I’m talking to you, Mr. DOS-Database-That-The-

Company-Can’t-Live-Without. Many companies are

converting these critical applications into server-based

web applications, which will work in any browser, are

automatically backed up, and will continue running

even if your client machine goes down. It’s time to get

rid of all those ancient DOS apps!

A massive effort went into making Vista work

properly with legacy apps written by folks who fl outed

Microsoft’s development guidelines. Those legacy

apps save settings and fi les to verboten directories.

If Microsoft had the chutzpah to eliminate support for

legacy apps that misbehave, it could have devoted

development resources to more benefi cial tasks—like

improving Vista’s end-user experience.

Five years. That’s the magic number. There’s no

way in hell I’m going to be running the same hardware

in fi ve years. Please, Microsoft! Ditch your overzealous

backward-compatibility rules, for all our sakes!

On an unrelated note, I want to let you all know

about Showdown, the fi rst ever Maximum PC LAN

party. We’re sponsoring Showdown with our sister

mag PC Gamer, and it’s coming up fast! We’ll be in

San Jose, California, on August 25, 26, and 27. In

addition to a 500-person, 24-hour-a-day “Bring Your

Own Computer” LAN party, we’ll also have a ton of

new games, hardware clinics, and other fun activities.

For more info, check out http://www.showdownlan.com.

Hope to see you there!

54

Water

Cooling

Chucking your rig in a pool

is a bad idea. Here’s how to

properly water-cool your PC.

Features

MA XIMUMPC 09 / 06

22 Dream Machine

We built the ultimate PC.
Need we say more?

42 BSOD Survival Guide

Our secret blue-screen decoder ring will

solve all your crashing problems.

Its 4ime to

"iD "acKWarD

#ompatiBility

ADieu