Win95 programming for Win8 [closed]

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I know some of you will think this silly, but I want to compile a Windows program on Win95 that will run on Win95/98/98SE/2K/ME/XP/VD/7/8 but not necessarily WinCE/3.1/RT as they don't implement Win32 API natively. I realize the Win32 API has evolved since its Win95 specification, but it should be backwards compatible as that is the main reason people use Windows as I understand it. What levels of API emulation must take place to make this possible? How does WinVD/7/8 implement compatibility? I ask so that I can write windows software that runs as seamlessly as possible across the Windows OSes.

Also, while slightly different but related, is it possible to cross-compile for Metro from other Windows distributions or from Mac or Linux? I realize debugging or running wouldn't be possible but I figure compilation should be.

Answer 1

There is absolutely no problem. If you can compile and run a program on Windows 95, that same program should run on Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7 and 8. But you'll probably need an old development environement such as Visual Studio 6.

But if you are writing a program that should run on Win 95, you cannot use the APIs that have been introduced after Windows 95.

But honestly today there are not many reasons why Windows 95 should be supported.

Seel also here.