The Old New Thing

October 2011 - Page 2 of 3 - The Old New Thing

No, modifying the DLLs that come with Windows is not supported

October 20, 2011 Oct 20, 2011 10/20/11
Raymond Chen
From the I can't believe I had to write that file comes this question from a customer: Our customer is modifying the ABC.DLL file that comes with Windows in order to accomplish XYZ. Is this supported? No, of course this isn't supported. I can't believe I had to write that. if you modify a system file, then the thing you're running isn't ...

Seeing the world through arbitrage-colored glasses

October 18, 2011 Oct 18, 2011 10/18/11
Raymond Chen
On the mailing list with a negative service level agreement, one of my colleagues posted the message Free Nerf guns in my office. I've decided I'm no longer a collector. Not one to miss the opportunity to cause some trouble, another colleague posted the message Nerf guns for sale: $1 each. Get'em while they're hot. That earned a chuckle...

When your vice president tells you to stop replying to a mail thread, you probably should stop replying to the mail thread

October 14, 2011 Oct 14, 2011 10/14/11
Raymond Chen
Some time in the early part of this century, somebody sent a message to the Windows NT Development Announcements mailing list at Microsoft. It went something like, "My car was parked in «location X» and somebody ran into it and didn't leave a note. Does anybody have any information about this?" Now, one thing you need to know...

The question mark lets you make up anything you like

October 13, 2011 Oct 13, 2011 10/13/11
Raymond Chen
A trend I've noticed in journalism is to make some sort of outrageous statement, but then stick a question mark at the end to disavow any responsibility for the statement. By changing it to a question, you're avoiding actually having to back up what you write. "I'm not saying this is actually true. I'm just raising the question." For example...

How do I set an accessible name on an unlabeled control?

October 13, 2011 Oct 13, 2011 10/13/11
Raymond Chen
A customer asked for advice on accessibility. This was great news, because it meant that somebody actually cared about accessibility! We have a property sheet page that contains an unlabeled list view. The list view is not labeled because its meaning is implied by its placement on the dialog. This works great as long as you can see the ...

Microspeak: Bug jail

October 11, 2011 Oct 11, 2011 10/11/11
Raymond Chen
Bug jail is not a place where bugs are sent as punishment for their crimes. Rather, it's a (virtual) place that developers are sent when they have too many bugs. Project management establishes some maximum number of bugs (known as a bug cap) each developer is permitted to have on his or her plate, and developers whose bug count exceeds the ...