> More importantly, separating the dynamic linker from the C library itself would allow multiple versions of libc to coexist, eliminating a major source of compatibility issues. This is exactly how Windows handles it, which is one of the reasons Windows maintains such strong binary compatibility. You can still run decades-old Windows software today because Microsoft doesn’t force everything to be tied to a single, ever-changing libc.
The REAL reason windows maintains binary compatibility is because it is commercial and nobody ships source code.
In fact, many applications ship a whole boatload of DLLs, which I think is the commercial equivalent of static linking.