September 14, 2000: That's the day Microsoft released Windows Millennium Edition, the second-worst iteration of Windows in its long history. It also marked the final release of MS-DOS, which for so many years had undergirded its operating systems. In 2006—two decades ago—Microsoft ceased long-term support for Windows 98 and Me, meaning that MS-DOS's life was truly over.
Two days ago the latest update for NetHack dropped, and you bet your ass it still supports MS-DOS, just like it did when it first released in 1987.
We already covered NetHack's surprise 5.0 release and some of its fun patch notes, but I had to dwell on this for just a minute. In the era of multimillion-dollar games releasing and shutting down within weeks, here's a game that's been steadily updated since 1987. It's only two years younger than Windows.
Microsoft supported MS-DOS for a total of 25 years, from 1981 to 2006. NetHack's closing in on 40.
Perhaps even more absurd is that the NetHack de...
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