Long-time techno-pundit David Strom and blogger Jason Perlow are of the opinion that the operating system doesn't matter anymore and that maybe the simplicity of that bygone era of the 1990's would seem relaxing. So Strom decided to install NT4 just to re-experience the state of the art from 10 years ago.

Rather than go through the trouble of assembling a computer still capable of running an unsupported operating system, Strom installed it in a VM on his Mac, which is sort of slick, if unconventional. I suspect that if he really pressed the installation he'd run into software support problems through his virtual drivers, but I'm just guessing. It's not like he's putting in a 3270 card.

Of course he found that a lot of software, even non-Microsoft software, doesn't support NT anymore and will refuse to install on it. Even Firefox 3. The latest Firefox he could install was 2.0.0.20, the version from which phishing protection was removed. The latest IE was version 6 which lacks a lot, including phishing protection. Office 2000 is the latest version to install on NT; note that extended support for this version of Office will end in about 6 months, and with it all security updates.

To make NT4 sound like a worthwhile exercise Strom comes to the conclusion that not only does the operating system not matter, but neither does security. He explains that running NT4 in his VM isolates it from the rest of the system, protecting the system from problems that might ensue from the NT4 environment, but claiming that you therefore don't need a personal firewall or anti-virus is going too far with this argument. Maybe a SYN flood wouldn't get past the Mac's firewall, but PC personal firewalls block many other types of attacks, and malware would just fly on through.

The virtual computer Strom built is running all manner of vulnerable software; Strom disparages the troublesome Office 2007 and its new formats, but the new formats solve security problems that were not solvable in the old formats. He is right that there's little in the way of features that most people would miss going from Office 2007 to 2000, but it's a far less secure version. At least he can install the Office 2007 file compatibility pack.

As he mentions, it's hard to find anti-malware these days supported on NT4. This is a major problem, despite his attempt to brush it under the virtual rug. And he does regret not having a current browser version but it's because sites don't render properly in the old versions with which he is stuck. Me, I would be concerned about some drive-by attack.

And what if we decide to take the training wheels off this experiment and run NT4 on a real computer, not a fake one? Strom would have a lot of driver support problems trying to run it on a modern PC. His computer would lack a lot of networking features, including Wifi, that come built into modern versions, and he'd have to dig deep to find a currently-supported 3rd party stack that worked on NT. Put it on the Internet and my guess is that Strom's NT box is 0wned in hours at the latest.

So after all that trouble, how was it? Kinda simple, kinda speedy, kinda retro... I don't get it. Maybe in 1996 NT4 seemed slick, but by the time XP came out I thought NT4 felt awkward and inefficient. Honestly, if he ran XP SP3 in a VM would it really seem any slower? Or would it just not be as cool because it's still a supported product? Running NT4 today, let alone Office IE6 and Firefox 2 and Office 2000, is like driving a 73 Lincoln. It may have been a good car back then, but today it's just plain unsafe and irresponsible.

I like David's writing. It's entertaining and creative. This one got under my skin. Don't listen to David! Run current versions of software keep them up to date!