The Old New Thing

June 2008 - Page 3 of 4 - The Old New Thing

There are only twelve function keys, and who says there's somebody there to push them?

June 10, 2008 Jun 10, 2008 06/10/08
Raymond Chen
One of the proposals for adding hidden features to Windows Setup is to have a bunch of hidden function keys, one for each hidden option. Well, first of all, there are only twelve function keys and there are way more than twelve possible Setup features. (Yes, there may be a few function keys still active during Setup, but they exist only for ...

Money: The new plagiarism

June 9, 2008 Jun 9, 2008 06/9/08
Raymond Chen
It appears that the country of Burundi used a freelance photographer's image on their currency without permission. (If the article goes down, BoingBoing saved a side-by-side comparison for your inspection.) The article adds that Fajack says he's talked about his case with several lawyers, editors and people experienced in photography and ...

Why are DLLs uninitialized in the "wrong" order?

June 9, 2008 Jun 9, 2008 06/9/08
Raymond Chen
This is really just a corollary to Why are DLLs unloaded in the "wrong" order. Exactly the same logic that explains why DLLs are unloaded in the "wrong" order also explains why they are uninitialized in the "wrong" order. Once you understand the first issue, the second comes for free; just change DLL_PROCESS_DETACH to DLL_THREAD_DETACH in ...
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Million Dollar Password: At least it shares a name with the original

June 6, 2008 Jun 6, 2008 06/6/08
Raymond Chen
Password was one of the classic game shows. Its methodical pace encouraged thoughtful play, as opposed to today's game shows which appear to rely on dramatic music and ominous spotlights for their appeal. This is not a clip from the game show but rather a scene from the comedy The Odd Couple in which the two characters are contestants, and ...

Why does OpenProcess succeed even when I add three to the process ID?

June 6, 2008 Jun 6, 2008 06/6/08
Raymond Chen
A customer noticed that if you add three to a process ID and pass it to the OpenProcess function, it still succeeds. Why is that? Well, first of all, I need to say up front that the behavior you're seeing is an artifact of the implementation and is not part of the contract. You're passing intentionally invalid parameters, what did you expect...
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Portugal TechDays 2008: A report

June 5, 2008 Jun 5, 2008 06/5/08
Raymond Chen
Back in March, I agreed to make a brief appearance at Portugal TechDays 2008. My arrival was delayed due to heavy traffic: I had taken the number 15 tram, which was jam packed, and the traffic on the road didn't help either. And then when I found the building labelled Centro de Congressos, I found the doors locked. That's because the big ...

Isn't the Learning Annex for total losers?

June 4, 2008 Jun 4, 2008 06/4/08
Raymond Chen
Marketplace's Cash Peters pays a visit to The Learning Annex, home to classes like Bending Spoons with Your Mind and Lap-Dancing 101. But he signs up for How to be a TV producer. Listen to the story and you can save yourself twenty bucks...

Why has my clipboard stopped working?

June 4, 2008 Jun 4, 2008 06/4/08
Raymond Chen
You may be minding your own business and discover that your clipboard has stopped working. You try to copy something to the clipboard, and it's not there. You try to paste something from the clipboard, and nothing comes out. What's going on? The clipboard is a shared resource. (More specifically, shared among programs that run on the same ...

Food products that are offenses against nature: Bisquick Shake 'n Pour

June 3, 2008 Jun 3, 2008 06/3/08
Raymond Chen
Yes, it's another entry in the extremely sporadic series of food products that are offenses against nature. Today it's the incorrectly-punctuated Bisquick Shake 'n Pour. For people for whom adding a half cup of milk and one egg to two cups of Bisquick powder is too complicated, now they've even dehydrated the milk and egg and pre-measured ...

Dlaczego Microsoft zatopił Polskę?

June 3, 2008 Jun 3, 2008 06/3/08
Raymond Chen
A colleague of mine stopped by my office to tell me that he got a telephone call from his father in Poland asking him why Microsoft sunk Poland. My colleague was somewhat baffled by this question, since his father isn't a computer nerd, but his father explained that he saw the story on the front page of the newspaper. Apparently, the story ...