Top all-time · #3989
the sporks space
Personal blog · sporks.spaceprogrammingsystemsweb
the sporks space is a personal blog at sporks.space about programming, systems and web. Since 2020, 19 different Hacker News readers have linked it 45 times, most often “Win32 is the stable Linux userland ABI (and the consequences)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-08-19, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (5) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog's posts on Windows' stable Win32 API and backward compatibility as a counterpoint to Linux native-app and Wine debates, and on Linux desktop and voice chat design.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 5 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
party with sporks in space
Most-linked posts?
- Win32 is the stable Linux userland ABI (and the consequences)4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2022-02-27
- A few design decisions for a new chat platform4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2026-02-10
- Is Linux collapsing under its own weight? On Rust for Linux3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-09-05
- Portable software is more complex than you think2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-10-30
- Potemkin Villages and the Autocracy of Design2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-06-07
- Things I want in a modern relational query language2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-08-19
- My experience at community college2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-05-11
- Sleeping through a decade of Cocoa: Retrospective from modernizing an old Mac a2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-01-07
- There is no 64-bit type in C892 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-07-03
- RISC-V isn’t as interesting as you think2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-02-01
What Hacker News says?
I love comparing these kinds of comments to articles like this: https://sporks.space/2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-us... You really think businesses like Repography should just ignore the OS with 80% marketshare?
Comment linking /2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-userland-abi-and-the-consequences/
on “How to take credit for someone else's work on GitHub”Submitted Win32 is the stable Linux userland ABI (and the consequences) as a story · 336 points
HN discussion> My recommendation for happiness with Linux is: Always use native apps. Don’t use WINE. Don’t try to be compatible to inherent hostile things. Rather: don't try to be compatible with inherently unstable APIs: https://sporks.space/2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-us... https://blog.hiler.eu/win32-the-only-stable-abi/ Just to be clear: I consider it to be a good idea to write native apps for GNU/Linux, but first…
Comment linking /2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-userland-abi-and-the-consequences/
on “WinBoat: Windows apps on Linux with seamless integration”Submitted Tips for installing Windows 98 in QEMU/UTM as a story · 129 points
HN discussionMuch of the Linux desktop is balkanized and fragmentation is indeed a huge issue. People's obsession with choice is irritating given that doing more or less the same thing in 10 different ways half-right is worse than doing it once correctly. The entire distro-zoo built on top of the same distributions with different DE's on top of it is an example. The problem with Windows or Mac isn't that it looks, feels and work…
Comment linking /2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-userland-abi-and-the-consequences/
on “I love the Linux desktop, but that doesn't mean I don't see its problems”Submitted RISC-V isn’t as interesting as you think as a story · 121 points
HN discussionYes. Someone blogged about this last year and it generated a lot of discussion here as well. https://sporks.space/2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-us...
Comment linking /2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-userland-abi-and-the-consequences/
on “Microsoft's backwards compatibility is insane”Submitted Things I want in a modern relational query language as a story · 116 points
HN discussionSure, but I think this article makes a good point: there's a demographic that uses voice chat as more of a space, not an event: https://sporks.space/2026/02/10/a-few-design-decisions-for-a...
Comment linking /2026/02/10/a-few-design-decisions-for-a-new-chat-platform/
on “Zulip.com Values”- b8 · 2022-05-11
Submitted My experience at community college as a story · 102 points
HN discussion Submitted Portable software is more complex than you think as a story · 62 points
HN discussionSubmitted Mastodon is crumbling – and it will only get worse as a story · 41 points
HN discussionSubmitted Is Linux collapsing under its own weight? On Rust for Linux as a story · 11 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why ThinkPads are overrated and misunderstood as a story · 11 points
HN discussionSubmitted Is Linux collapsing under its own weight? On Rust for Linux as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted Poor schemas, poor cataloguing: why music tagging sucks as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted Portable software is more complex than you think as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted Portable software is more complex than you think as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Portable software is more complex than you think as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Ghosts of OSI: the spectre haunting the Internet. (2021) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Sleeping through a decade of Cocoa: Retrospective from modernizing an old Mac a as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Downgrading binary packages with pkg on FreeBSD as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted It never had to be like this: the Git “index” as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Potemkin Villages and the Autocracy of Design as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted A few design decisions for a new chat platform as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Is Linux collapsing under its own weight? On Rust for Linux as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Making mailing lists nicer: Writing a mail extension for macOS with MailKit as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Sleeping through a decade of Cocoa: Retrospective modernizing an old Mac app as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted There is no 64-bit type in C89 as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted There is no 64-bit type in C89 as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
