Pascal added forced variable declaration which is something that BASIC definitely needed

Disagree. The fact that BASIC didn't have that is one of the things that makes it a better teaching language. Teaching beginning programmers Pascal is like teaching first graders analytic geometry before you teach them arithmetic.

Well, then, let's build all libraries into the OS, then. Compile them right into the kernel!

If you'd been around as long as I have, you'd know computer vendors (like DEC and Data General) were trying to do just that, for a while. Thankfully, someone invented shared libraries and it became unnecessary.

And I think you know I don't mean all libraries - just enough code (most of which you'll need, anyway) to make physical devices look like files.

Sorry to reply to myself, but I accidentally clicked "Submit" when I meant to click "Preview".

I forgot to add "If I want to take advantage of multi-core CPUs", I need to rewrite my program to support multi-threading.

If you need such an abstraction system wide, write a library.

Real world example: I'm actually having a problem with SANE (the scanner library), exactly because it's only accessible with a library. Because I can only use the library, I have to completely rewrite my (Gnome) program to support multi-threading. If I could access it as a file, I could just throw the file descriptor into a select(2) or poll(2) system call and be done with it.

Unless you're willing to migrate to Linux - which does have some administrative headaches in the standard office

Sorry, but I can't really feel bad for people who don't want to run Windows 11, but feel like they can't use anything else, especially if we're talking about a commercial entity. They had more than 20 years to get Linux working they way they wanted, and did nothing. Sure, it would have cost them money, but how much money have they wasted since then, dealing with Windows?

I typed in (and modified) most of the games in this book: https://www.atariarchives.org/...

Also, BASIC was a far better teaching language than Pascal

but when will we see an ECC option on consumer hardware?

Agreed. I can't understand why people are even willing to buy non-ECC computers. And yes, unless you have absolutely no important data on your machine, you need ECC memory.

A few years ago, I had a non-ECC computer at work with bad memory. It mostly worked, but every so often I'd have an inexplicable error, or the system would crash. It took me two weeks to figure out what the problem was, and by that time, I had discovered a lot of my data was corrupted. And before you say, "that's what backups are for", I'd been backing up from bad memory for at least two weeks; those were corrupted, too.

lots of states have annual inspection requirements and worn tires mean no vehicle registration for the year.

Good luck getting this passed in my state. I'm originally from Pennsylvania, where they do have inspections. When I mention that to coworkers, they complain about government overreach.

along with structured files

Most minicomputer operating systems at the time had structured files (e.g. Data General). I'm strongly inclined to believe no one has them today, because it was a dumb idea.

I don't have a horse in this race because I don't use Windows.

But dealing with low memory situations seems to be a problem with all modern operating systems, doesn't it? I have to ask why there isn't a mechanism the OS can use to tell applications, "Hey, you're using a lot of memory, and we're low, right now. Can you free some up, please?" I'm a Linux user, so I'd expect that mechanism to be a signal. I don't know what it would be on other operating systems.

nobody wants IBM and people will reinvent or write around them as much as possible, even when they already have the product people need. I don't know what's the deal, since I don't see the contract side, maybe IBM just doesn't promote this, or maybe it's a price problem or a trust issue.

I can't really speak for anyone else, but for us, it was the combination of the expense and the vendor lock-in. If I remember correctly, the straw that broke the camel's back was when we tried to connect a non-IBM SCSI tape drive to the IBM SCSI controller in our Power 5, and it didn't work. We finally switched to HP DL-series machines. They're almost as reliable, cost significantly less, and they're mostly vendor-agnostic.

I am using the local one.

Desktop Apps are barely a thing anymore. If your platform can run a web browser, there is almost nothing you can't do

Except for the fact that accessing a web site on a mobile device is awful. Have you ever tried using Slashdot on mobile? I think maybe Newegg gets pretty close to having web site that's usable on mobile, but that's about it.

The office apps are so overpowered and overcomplicated for what most people do they are ridiculous.

I can't speak for Word or Excel, because I don't use them, but Outlook is - by far - the worst email client I've ever used. It makes me miss the days when I was using Eudora.

Oh, yeah. This one too: https://xkcd.com/1357/