Programs run on an operating system, the operating system runs on real hardware.
The real hardware gets old, wears out, parts become difficult and perhaps even impossible to source.
The operating system accumulates known vulnerabilities until it's no longer safe to connect to anything.
You can work around the latter two problems with emulation, but it's never the same--display technology if nothing else is different and presents differently. Emulation is dependent on the fidelity of the emulation. It's much harder to make it exactly cycle-and-timing accurate, though in most cases (like Word 2007) it doesn't matter.
The instructions might exist, but they are not runnable without other supporting infrastructure.
This also ignores programs that are wholly reliant on third party compute and instructions you have no access to that can be shut down and no longer available, like your MMOs.
Security vulnerabilities only really matter if you're going to have the system online.
George R.R. Martin still writes using WordStar 4.0 in DOS.
I remember reading a news story years ago about a guy who brought a vintage Mac from the 80s into the Apple Store to see if it could be a little faster. He had been using it for his accounting (or something) for the past 30 years.
Air gapped systems like these, with some degree of physical security, are pretty safe.
The sole purpuse of a “set of instructions” is to serve end users, to fulfill some business function. Without it it is useless bunch of symbols.
The set contain bugs itself that are getting revealed over time. But more importantly end users and businesses function evolve and change and if people have no choice but to adapt to such a “hammer” - it’s a piece of crap, not a software.
Espressosaurus|7 months ago
The real hardware gets old, wears out, parts become difficult and perhaps even impossible to source.
The operating system accumulates known vulnerabilities until it's no longer safe to connect to anything.
You can work around the latter two problems with emulation, but it's never the same--display technology if nothing else is different and presents differently. Emulation is dependent on the fidelity of the emulation. It's much harder to make it exactly cycle-and-timing accurate, though in most cases (like Word 2007) it doesn't matter.
The instructions might exist, but they are not runnable without other supporting infrastructure.
This also ignores programs that are wholly reliant on third party compute and instructions you have no access to that can be shut down and no longer available, like your MMOs.
mikewarot|7 months ago
I sometimes emulate a DEC VAX 11/780 running OpenVMS 7.3 on my phone.
thom|7 months ago
al_borland|7 months ago
George R.R. Martin still writes using WordStar 4.0 in DOS.
I remember reading a news story years ago about a guy who brought a vintage Mac from the 80s into the Apple Store to see if it could be a little faster. He had been using it for his accounting (or something) for the past 30 years.
Air gapped systems like these, with some degree of physical security, are pretty safe.
aristofun|7 months ago
The set contain bugs itself that are getting revealed over time. But more importantly end users and businesses function evolve and change and if people have no choice but to adapt to such a “hammer” - it’s a piece of crap, not a software.