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Timeline for Why is software OS specific?

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Jul 10, 2014 at 11:20 comment added user541686 @MSalters: Not quite -- if you (and Marcin) read my very first comment, you will see I was already aware of that and mentioned it before either of you did. However, that's not what Marcin is saying, even though maybe that's what he thinks he's saying. He's making a stronger claim: that there exists a "POSIX binary format" that Windows can execute, for which I'm asking him to provide a reference, because (correct me if I'm wrong) I'm fairly sure that even the "POSIX" executables in Windows in fact use the PE file format, not some "POSIX binary format" (if such a thing even exists).
Jul 10, 2014 at 11:12 comment added MSalters @Mehrdad: Marcin is right; Windows SUA (Subsystem for Unix Applications) is POSIX compliant
Jul 9, 2014 at 21:05 comment added user541686 @Marcin: What kind of a reference is that supposed to be?! The word POSIX doesn't even appear on there, let alone a mention of executable file formats. As for yours, here you go; your turn.
Jul 9, 2014 at 20:18 comment added Marcin technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb496474.aspx
Jul 9, 2014 at 20:15 comment added Marcin I'm sorry, if you're going to play the references game, why don't you provide a reference for what POSIX stands for? Bolding the word "Unix" is not a reference.
Jul 9, 2014 at 20:03 comment added user541686 @Marcin: (1) Like I said, the X in POSIX stands for UNIX. It is not a standard that was meant to be followed by other OSes, it was just an attempt to reach a common denominator between the various Unixes, which is great but not that amazing. The fact that there are multiple flavors of Unix OSes out there is completely irrelevant to the point I've been trying to make regarding compatibility across other operating systems than Unix. (2) Can you provide a reference for #2?
Jul 9, 2014 at 19:56 comment added Marcin 1. Something can run across multiple OSes without running across all OSes; 2. Windows since NT has been able to run posix binaries.
Jul 9, 2014 at 19:49 comment added user541686 @Marcin: Seems like you don't consider Windows to be an OS. (Or are you saying Windows can run POSIX binaries?!) For the purposes of my answer POSIX isn't the kind of standard I'm referring to. The X in POSIX stands for Unix. It was never intended to be used by e.g. Windows, even though Windows does happen to have a POSIX subsystem.
Jul 9, 2014 at 16:08 comment added Marcin Fun fact: there is a standardised posiz binary format, which can be run across OSes. It's just not commonly used.
Jul 9, 2014 at 10:07 history answered user541686 CC BY-SA 3.0