Windows API is Successful Cross-Platform API (2024)

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Win32 as a Stable, Successful ABI

  • Many commenters praise Win32 for extraordinary backward compatibility: binaries from the 1990s often still run unmodified on modern Windows.
  • This stability is seen as a deliberate design/organizational choice: Microsoft treats system DLLs as a long‑term ABI contract and discourages direct syscalls.
  • Win32’s language‑agnostic ABI and strong documentation are cited as key strengths.
  • Some call Win32 “the only stable desktop API on Linux” because a Windows binary under Wine often works more reliably across distros than a native Linux binary.

Linux Userspace, ABI, and Fragmentation

  • Linux kernel syscalls are stable, but user‑space ABIs (glibc, graphics/audio stacks, desktops) are described as fragile and inconsistent over time and across distros.
  • Shipping proprietary, binary‑only software on Linux is portrayed as painful: glibc version issues, dependency mismatches, differing distros.
  • Attempts to fix this (Flatpak, Snap, AppImage, Steam runtimes, containers) help but add layers and have their own lifecycle/EOL constraints.

Wine, Proton, and Gaming

  • One camp: Wine/Proton demonstrate Win32’s practical success; Linux lacked a unified stable ABI, so emulating Win32 became the best option for games.
  • Opposing camp: Wine/Proton exist because Windows monopolized the desktop market; they’re a workaround for lock‑in, not proof of Win32’s design quality.
  • Game studios rarely ship native Linux builds, even when engines support it, due to testing/maintenance cost and ABI churn; targeting only Win32 is simpler.
  • Some note that consoles and mobile platforms are also extra work, but their huge markets justify it; Linux’s share often doesn’t.

Business, History, and Standards

  • Several comments argue Windows dominance was driven by OEM deals, embrace‑extend‑extinguish tactics (e.g., Java, web, document formats), and lock‑in.
  • Others counter that all big vendors behaved similarly and that backward compatibility and broad hardware support are real technical merits.
  • Broader standards tangent: TCP/IP’s success vs the OSI model is used as an analogy for “worse is better” and bottom‑up, widely adopted but imperfect systems.

Open Source, Incentives, and Stability

  • Some criticize FOSS desktops as driven by ideology and volunteer incentives, leading to frequent rewrites and little accountability.
  • Others insist the real issue is lack of a single, stable, enforced desktop ABI, not openness itself.