Saturday, June 19, 2010

So you love Windows?

Here is what MS Developers have to say about their own code!!. Having been there, I can vouch for the fact that the development practise is still to put 20 developers in a room and ask each one to go and do something by himself/ herself!!!

http://www.vanwensveen.nl/rants/microsoft/IhateMS_2.html

In the file private\ntos\rtl\heap.c, which dates from 1989:
// The specific idiot in this case is Office95, which likes
// to free a random pointer when you start Word95 from a desktop
// shortcut.

In the file private\ntos\w32\ntuser\kernel\swp.c from 11-Jul-1991:
// for idiots like MS-Access 2.0 who SetWindowPos( SWP_BOZO )
// and blow away themselves on the shell, then lets
// just ignore their plea to be removed from the tray.

Morons are also to be found in the file private\genx\shell\inc\prsht.w:
// We are such morons. Wiz97 underwent a redesign between IE4 and IE5

And in private\shell\shdoc401\unicpp\desktop.cpp:
// We are morons. We changed the IDeskTray interface between IE4

In private\shell\browseui\itbar.cpp:
// should be fixed in the apps themselves. Morons!

As well in private\shell\ext\ftp\ftpdrop.cpp:
We have to do this only because Exchange is a moron.
Microsoft programmers also take their duty to warn their fellow developers seriously against unsavory practices, which are apparently committed on a regular basis. There are over 4,000 references to "hacks". These include:

In the file private\inet\mshtml\src\core\cdbase\baseprop.cxx:
// HACK! HACK! HACK! (MohanB) In order to fix #64710
// at this very late date

In private\inet\mshtml\src\core\cdutil\genutil.cxx:
// HACK HACK HACK. REMOVE THIS ONCE MARLETT IS AROUND

In private\inet\mshtml\src\site\layout\flowlyt.cxx:
// God, I hate this hack ...

In private\inet\wininet\urlcache\cachecfg.cxx:
// Dumb hack for back compatibility. *sigh*

In private\ispu\pkitrust\trustui\acuictl.cpp:
// ACHTUNG! HACK ON TOP OF HACK ALERT:
// Believe it or not there is no way to get current height

In private\ntos\udfs\devctrl.c:
// Add to the hack-o-rama to fix formats.

In private\shell\shdoc401\unicpp\sendto.cpp:
// Mondo hackitude-o-rama.

In private\ntos\w32\ntcon\server\link.c:
// HUGE, HUGE hack-o-rama to get NTSD started on this process!

In private\ntos\w32\ntuser\client\dlgmgr.c:
// HACK OF DEATH!!

In private\shell\lib\util.cpp:
// TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD HACK

In private\ntos\w32\ntuser\client\nt6\user.h:
// The magnitude of this hack compares favorably with that
// of the national debt.

3 comments:

  1. So a product with millions and millions of lines of code written by thousands of people over the span many, many years has comments like 'Hack' and 'such and such a product is stupid' and 'wow, this was dumb'? I am shocked. Do you think this is different for any non-MS, large, complex, backwards compatible app?

    ReplyDelete
  2. These comments are very old news. The exact strings here made rounds on tech websites years ago. They are also outdated, as is much of the commentary in your link.

    There is a lot of fair and harsh criticism of Windows to be made. This is not it. Do you have anything original to say?

    ReplyDelete
  3. >Yes.

    Name one in particular, and what is your evidence their code isn't littered with the same dietrus?

    ReplyDelete