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I want to implement Google Gears in the application which i am developing. I am using windows 2k for past 5years without any problems. Now for implementing google gears i need to update to XP/Vista.

My Question is why it needs XP/Vista? Why can't we install it in 2k?

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The question is, why are you still using a 9 years old OS ? – Livinloud Aug 15 at 15:23
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XP was released in 2001! And you've only been using 2k since 2004? – jason Aug 15 at 15:26
belongs on Superuser. – Chacha102 Aug 15 at 15:28
Is that answer my question? LOL – Niger Aug 15 at 15:30
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Ask a stupid question, don't complain about the answers you'll get. – Chacha102 Aug 15 at 15:33
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migrated from stackoverflow.com

5 Answers

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Because Google didn't feel they'd get an adequate return on investment for the effort and overhead of supporting an outdated operating system.

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Outdated? come on. still i know people useing Windows 98 for there businuess. Effective running till today. – Niger Aug 15 at 15:29
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blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/27/422721.aspx. I don't know how to state it any more clearly than that. – chaos Aug 15 at 15:31
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Also, if you know people using Windows 98, their business is not the main thing it is in use for. For the main thing it is in use for, see here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_botnet – chaos Aug 15 at 15:32
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Yes, with an operating system that even Microsoft will not support after the middle of next year, there isn't enough ROI. Most corporations are already moving away from it. Further, XP and 2000 are not entirely compatible systems. There are enough differences that some of the features would have to be reprogrammed to support 2000. – BBlake Aug 15 at 15:32
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@Niger "Still using" and "up to date" are entirely different things. Windows 98 is outdated, even if people still use it. – ceejayoz Aug 15 at 17:14
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To support it on Windows 2000 isn't just the coding (which is probably wouldn't be huge amounts of work), but having extra developers working on it, and having Windows 2000 machines around to test on..

To what end? The operating system is 9 years old, and has been superseded by 3 new versions (XP, Vista and soon Windows 7), and it's something that isn't required, it's just a nice addition..

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Here's how to get Google Gears working on Windows 2000: SEE BELOW

It involves using a set of XP API wrapper DLLs that intercept the XP-specific calls and translate them to Win2K-compatible calls. It works like a champ, and I use Google Gears on all my Wordpress sites I administer.

The direct source is here: SEE BELOW

Here is the actual download tool that makes Google Chrome work on Windows 2000: SEE BELOW

Since I'm new to SuperUser, I can't post the direct links. So I posted all 3 on Pastebin for easy access: http://pastebin.com/f1f1031ff

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It doesn't need XP or Vista. Google Gears works on OS X and most Linux distros too (though you need to compile it yourself if you're using a 64-bit OS).

If you're really determined, you can fix the source code to compile for Win2k. You are assumed to have basic programming knowledge if you're on SO.

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Not very helpful for someone asking why it won't run on Windows 2000. – Johannes Rössel Aug 15 at 17:29
Title of the question was inaccurate. I was going to answer the same way until I read the question. – sirlancelot Nov 20 at 8:51
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Google was lazy, and not willing to go through the minimal effort needed to implement Gears on Windows 2000.

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It's not exactly minimal effort. You need to re-write thsoe things that aren't available on Windows 2000, you need to test and support that code, etc. That's quite a major effort for an OS that only has a marketshare around 1 percent left. – Johannes Rössel Aug 15 at 17:32

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