First, the program communicates with the operating system differently. To perform input and output, it must talk to the OS with a system call, using a particular protocol, and they use different protocols. Second, the libraries are different. Linux programs expect libraries with functions like printf and whatnot to be in particular places; Windows programs expect them somewhere else. Third, the filesystem and arrangement of where things are stored is different. Fourth, the executable file format is different. The Linux procedure which launches programs expects executable files to be in a particular format (or one of a set of formats?). The .exe file format(s?) is (are?) different. The general scheme of how GUI output is performed is different. The notion of processes is different. And on and on and on.
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