Microsoft prepares Visual Studio 2013 for retirement

Microsoft is warning developers that only months remain before extended support for Visual Studio 2013 is pulled on April 9. The product has been gathering dust since its last major release, Update 5, which received support starting July 20, 2015. Its successor, Visual Studio 2015, is already in extended support, which is due …

[karlkarl]

I can't recall, is 2013 the last one with proper deterministic install media via DVD before it went, "just grab a bunch of random crap off the servers and call it an install"?

These days even the VS offline backups just feel like a random cludge of files with no real versioning.

[Mostly Irrelevant]

It's possible to download an offline installer for 2022.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/create-an-offline-installation-of-visual-studio?view=vs-2022

[karlkarl]

Indeed. As I mentioned "offline backups just feel like a random cludge of files with no real versioning"

[ldo]

So Much 32-Bit Code Still On Windows

It came as a shock to me to discover that such a major piece of Windows software was still 32-bit-only up until so recently.

But then, there’s a reason the API is still called “Win32”, not “Win64” ...

[spireite]

Re: So Much 32-Bit Code Still On Windows

To be honest, it probably wasn't the most likely platform to benefit from 64bit that much. In my usage I haven't appeared to gain much benefit at all!

The other thing is that it probably is the buggiest/slowest POS whether it is 32bit or 64bit

[ldo]

Re: So Much 32-Bit Code Still On Windows

The Win32 APIs were never designed around POSIX-style concepts like “time_t” and “size_t”, which could be whatever size (32-bit or 64-bit) was convenient. Instead, it made explicit use of 32-bit and other sizes. There is some call that returns the size of a file, which could take up 64 bits. So the call returns the high 32-bit half in one variable, and the low half in another.

In 64-bit Windows, you’d think they would merge the two halves and return them in a single 64-bit integer. But noooo...

[Mostly Irrelevant]

Re: So Much 32-Bit Code Still On Windows

The real advantage of 64bit Windows is restricted to applications that use 64bit math (mostly scientific models) or applications that need more than 2GB of RAM. 2GB because of Windows' 50/50 app/kernel memory partitioning.

[ldo]

Re: So Much 32-Bit Code Still On Windows

The AMD64 ABI gives you access to many more registers. This alone would lead to more efficient code, even if you don’t need 64-bit addressing.

I wonder why Windows wastes process address space on something (the kernel) which the user isn’t allowed to access anyway?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have some legacy software used by maybe 2 users that rely on a .net/fortran interface that most assuredly is long out of development. We have the development environment and source code for this rusting application backed up in a VM; so we can get back to it if for some reason we have to make a minor update to it.

It's obviously in need of a respec and redo, but, you know, usual cost/benefit nonsense, and who pays arguments.

There are some commercial packages out there with similar functionality; though black box is a major blocker. A Canadian offering we've tested in the past had some subtle, but detectable errors in the maths and so was not suitable for the fine margins we need... And having found "some" errors, it raises questions about what else is lurking. I'm aware of another outfit in Austria that have done a webapp with similar functionality and has a few users from other operators whose opinions I value, so there is probably something in it... But we do like having the source to interrogate.

I am fairly certain given the small user base however, that the parent org will do nothing until something breaks; which is par for the course.