The Old New Thing

Why are HANDLE return values so inconsistent?

March 2, 2004 Mar 2, 2004 03/2/04

Raymond Chen

If you look at the various functions that return s, you'll see that some of them return (like ) and some of them return (like ). You have to check the documentation to see what each particular function returns on failure. Why are the return values so inconsistent? The reasons, as you may suspect, are historical. The values were chosen to...

Why 16-bit DOS and Windows are still with us

March 1, 2004 Mar 1, 2004 03/1/04

Raymond Chen

Many people are calling for the abandonment of 16-bit DOS and 16-bit Windows compatibility subsystems. And trust me, when it comes time to pull the plug, I'll be fighting to be the one to throw the lever. (How's that for a mixed metaphor.) But that time is not yet here. You see, folks over in the Setup and Deployment group have gone and...