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The true reason is that intel didn't support coexistence of Virtual 8086 mode with 64-bit mode. So adding 16 bit app support would require loads of work to get
by sarbaz 7y ago
The true reason is that intel didn't support coexistence of Virtual 8086 mode with 64-bit mode. So adding 16 bit app support would require loads of work to get it working as part of a 64 bit OS.
Regular protected mode code has built in support that allows easily running 16 bit apps, so maintaining compatibility was a no-brainer. The moment the trade-off changed, Microsoft decided to drop support for 16 bit apps.
Personally, I don't mind that very much, because dosbox is a great product that bridges the gap perfectly.
- LocalH 7y agoReally, all they'd have to do is drop a v86 emulator into NTVDM. There actually exist a handful of projects attempting to bring emulated 16-bit support to 64-bit Windows, including one that's based on that leaked Windows source code (which apparently had a copy of the CPU emulator they used on other platforms back when there were actually non-Intel builds of Windows).