How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

Neil — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 08:29:05 GMT

@Marcel Kilgus: Ah yes, I'd forgotten that the 3F byte would go there.

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

ender — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 07:44:18 GMT

@JamesJonhson: google for beta and archive, and you just might find what you're looking for.

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

JamesJohnston — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:22:49 GMT

@cheong00: I actually had an MSDN Universal academic subscription at the time - it was several years ago. The trouble was that DOS 6 and Windows 3.1 was the oldest available, and I wanted to learn what the older stuff was like. I highly doubt they have put anything older up in the last several years. And I've owned full versions of Visual Studio and Microsoft Office, as well. One could argue I was just downgrading the license, since I was just experimenting in a virtual machine. Unfortunately all I ever found was end-user software as I recall... (Like I said... what was the SDK for developing Windows 1.0 or 2.0 apps in C, for example? and where would one find it?)

Really - let's be realistic. How much money did Microsoft lose on me from my learning more about Microsoft products in this way?

That mentality is what's putting us into the new "digital dark age" that one sometimes reads about. In another 20 years you'll be hard-pressed to find any of this stuff. It's sad.

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

Yuhong Bao — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 06:38:29 GMT

IMO Intel should have released the 386SX years earlier given the problems of the 286.

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

cheong00 — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 01:53:09 GMT

@JamesJohnson: Since MSDOS 6.0 and 6.22 is still available to be downloaded as part of MSDN Subscription (i.e.: Technically Microsoft is still selling it as part of a service), I'll remind you that if Microsoft intend to, they can claim considerable amount of fine from you. So better not saying something like that in the public.

I think they still keep DOS available because up until a few years ago, DOS is still the way people preferred to access bare metal.

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

Yuhong Bao — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:14:39 GMT

@lefty: I don't think so.

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

Joshua — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 22:04:22 GMT

I agree on one part of that. The old SDK and documentation would come in handy from time to time and asking for very big $$$ for extended support for what already exists in the archives does not seem reasonable to me.

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

lefty — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:35:35 GMT

@JamesJohnson:

I think that the MS-DOS and 16-bit Windows source code might be version controlled on the old shell.windows.com server: blogs.msdn.com/.../9317706.aspx

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

David Walker — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:28:46 GMT

I think "movable" is the preferred spelling, although "moveable" seems more logical. I also want to put two h's in threshold, which seems more logical than one h. But of course, spelling in this language is not always logical.

re: How did real-mode Windows fix up jumps to functions that got discarded?

JamesJohnston — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:36:00 GMT

You know, it would be really awesome if Microsoft would publicly publish these old versions of their software, for free download, for posterity: all Windows <= 3.x, DOS, and associated documentation. **And then post the SDKs for the above.** For example, the SDK/compilers necessary to write software for Windows 1.x, and 2.x, etc.

I've tracked down old versions of Windows/DOS on the Internet - that's not hard to do (legal? maybe not, but what's a collector to do?). SDKs/compilers are much harder to come by, it seems. (Why do I find it fascinating to collect these old things? I don't know...!)

I would hope they haven't lost the source code. It's such an important part of company history. I would hope it isn't rotting on some floppy disks in some closet...