I had a 486DX running DOS for writing and editing CAM programs for CNC mills, lathes, pipe bender, and a laser cutter. And for funsies, an even older Macintosh that booted from a 5 1/4" floppy that ran a CMM, (co-ordinate measuring machine). And the software for the CMM ran from another 5 1/4" floppy.

This was about 2017 before I retired as a toolmaker.

https://www.fedoraproject.org/
https://linuxmint.com/
https://archlinux.org/
https://www.debian.org/
https://elementary.io/
https://system76.com/pop/

There are many safe open source options. If you need help there are ample resources available. If you want to you can also DM me.

=Let(), Lambda and Regex were good additions to Excel imo

We are far away from the release of the Raspberry Pi if that screen is running an early version of Windows CE. Putting a PC in the elevator to drive the screen was probably the most cost effective solution.

"stuck" more like happy to not have to deal with the last 15-ish years of microsoft ruining everything they previously excelled at.

I hate that you are right.

I like the little typo ... c://

Yeah, I'm well aware. But how much of my time would it take to get a bunch of windows software running smoothly on Linux?

I do appreciate the offer of personal help, that's an extremely generous offer to an internet stranger. Sincerely, thank you!

Was but theres no reason to keep doing that

I like that idea bit it'll never fly. That software is an asset. A bankrupt company needs every asset to be sold to cover as much percentage of their debt to their vendors as possible.
I've been in a company that went bankrupt and I've been the vendor of a company that went bankrupt. Being the vendor was the harder experience.

New ones probably use something newer. The 20 year old elevator in a hospital will only be upgraded if something breaks.

Idk, it was horrendously insecure, would freeze a lot, and missing creature comforts like window tiling.

Tbh I think you're letting nostalgia blind you to XP's flaws a little.

If they kept refining Win7 it would've been great.

Man, remember when people used to break into offices to steal the RAM?

My work experience in around 1995 was spent at a local computer firm.

At one point a group of men in balaclavas showed up, the boss stopped playing Doom long enough to cover the security camera and hand over a bunch of crumpled banknotes, and I was handed this pile of SIMMs to put in a test rig to make sure they were OK to sell.

I also had to straighten the pins on used/stolen 486 CPUs, and pretty sure at one point was taken to break into a warehouse. There was certainly nobody else in the whole building, and we loaded the van with a bunch of cheap looking boxes before taking them back to HQ.

The boss was also banging a girl in my class, which in later years I learned makes him a paedo. Times sure were simpler in 1995.

aside from radio shack and texas instruments that i used at camp, i think i was sadly too young to do anything but windows 3.1 our first computer was a tandy sensation in the early 90s and i didn't really play with linux until maybe the mid 2000s

except for playing with apple IIe and radio shack computers through school and camp, that is.

MS DOS 6.6 for me - I enjoy the power of a 286 processor and much smaller instruction sets.

Yup, also especially for industrial applications, requirements and needs absolutely can change, and that means having to work around the equipment. I have seen firsthand the experience of trying to get new features into ancient applications. (Made worse by the fact that we took on support for it because the original company which had created the program had gone under).

Never thought I'd miss Ballmer, but here we are.

Technically, they did, and it was not great.

I've been trying tk get family to switch to Linux, but some are irrationally attached to MS Word. I wonder if Office 2003 will run in Wine?

and how to use is safely.

Such as by disconnecting the ethernet and power cables