Will all the programs that work on xp work on vista?

  • Thread starter Thread starter exciter
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exciter

Will all the programs that work on xp work on vista?
I have old fashioned programs which work on xp with no
problem. These are english dictionaries of oxford, collins and so on
which I bought some years ago.
I would be very disappointed if they will not work on vista.
So what will be the situation?
 
No, not all programs that worked on XP will work on Vista. That is always
the case with a new version of Windows (or any other operating system).
Most programs will work but you will have to do some research and read the
newsgroups to find out. Of course, if you have a spare computer you can
always download RC1 and try your programs.
 
1) No.
2) Some will, some won't-- you won't know until you try them (unless they
are "Utility" type applications that are known to have compatibility
issues).
Actually, I have been quite pleasantly surprised at just how many 'old'
(some dating back to the 90's) apps happily install/run on Vista.
 
exciter said:
Will all the programs that work on xp work on vista?
No.

I have old fashioned programs which work on xp with no
problem.
Click to expand...

If these programs are 16 bit, they will not work with Vista.
Otherwise Microsoft says "Most applications just work".

Also if they work with XP try the Windows XP Compatibility mode.
These are english dictionaries of oxford, collins and so on
which I bought some years ago.
I would be very disappointed if they will not work on vista.
So what will be the situation?
Click to expand...

You could dual boot Windows XP with Vista, or run them both under VM.
 
exciter said:
Will all the programs that work on xp work on vista?
Click to expand...

The vast majority of typical programs will run just fine since the
codebase of Vista is 2003, so compatibility should be similar to
XP/2003.
I have old fashioned programs which work on xp with no
problem. These are english dictionaries of oxford, collins and so on
which I bought some years ago.
I would be very disappointed if they will not work on vista.
Click to expand...

There's no guarantee they will work, but they probably will.
So what will be the situation?
Click to expand...

The problems are going to be with old 16-bit programs that are not
supported, and utility software like CD/DVD burning, antivirus, and
firewall programs that hook into the system. Many of these programs
will need to be updated to work with Vista.
 
Well exciter,

So far everything I have put on that machine old programs such as
Radmin and Nascar Racing 2003 Season, Office I haven't tried yet I have
Office 2003 Professional, I will install this weekend and let you know. But
the afore mentioned programs as of this point work fine to my knowledge.

I will be hammering it this weekend,

Just so you know the system in Question is a:

Dual Core P4 3
2 GB Ram Dual Channel
800 gb of hd space
Video Card: GeForce MX 4000 128 mb ram AGP

Originally this was ear marked as a game server but then RC1 came out so I
just had to try it.

Happy Beta Testing Folks.
 
Thanx people for swift answers.
How can I understand if a program is 16 bit or 32 bit or whatsoever?
 
The thing is this:
It may sound strange to you but I am interested in english language
dictionaries
and I use 8 dictionries on my laptop.
They all work fine and date back to early 90s.
And these dictionaries are essential to me that I use them almost everyday.

Now, when I upgrade to vista in excitement and if the my dictonaries will
not work
I will be very disappointed.
I dont want to sacrifice my current convenince in exchange of some fency GUI
graphics stuff.
I hope u understand.
 
There is confusion about whether 16bit programs can work. They cannot work
in Vista x64. But that is true of all 64bit operating systems, not just
Vista. Vista x86 should not matter.
 
Colin Barnhorst said:
There is confusion about whether 16bit programs can work. They
cannot work in Vista x64. But that is true of all 64bit operating
systems, not just Vista. Vista x86 should not matter.
Click to expand...


"Should" being the key word...but they don't seem to work.

:-)
 
The thing is this:
It may sound strange to you but I am interested in english language
dictionaries
and I use 8 dictionries on my laptop.
They all work fine and date back to early 90s.
And these dictionaries are essential to me that I use them almost
everyday.

Now, when I upgrade to vista in excitement and if the my dictonaries will
not work
I will be very disappointed.
I dont want to sacrifice my current convenince in exchange of some fency
GUI
graphics stuff.
I hope u understand.
Click to expand...

Get a copy of RC1, load it on a test system, and try out your dictionaries.
 
I have had luck with right-click on the program, go to Properties ->
Compatibility Tab and checking the box to Run in XP SP2 compatibility mode.
I had to do this with some of the actual install programs too.

I got 95% of my programs to work. The only one that didnt was an older java
based app, but I am using the java 6 beta.
 
Had I known about some of these incompatibilities, I would not have
installed Vista. Maybe I'll learn to read before installing? Today I learned
that Oxford English Dictionery is not compatible with Vista and will not run.
OED tech supports says they are not compatible and now I wonder when they
might be. And if they do revise, what will I spend for the upgrade? Perhaps
MS can come up with a fix for this problem?

I previously ran into a problem with OED due to a MS security update that
knocked them out of the water. All owners of OED had to remove this update in
order to get it to run. Seems that a huge and important package like OED
would be part of the testing? Terrible when all my games worked ok but not
something like OED.

I'd like to know if anyone has a solution to this problem.

Wayne
 
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