What was so horrible about the FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER flag that the Windows Store disallowed it for so long?

Raymond ChenAugust 6, 2020Aug 6, 202008/6/20

Letting in the riffraff.

What does it mean when it says that FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER can be used in Store apps starting in Windows 10?

Raymond ChenAugust 5, 2020Aug 5, 202008/5/20

What happens if you use it anyway?

Peeking inside the implementation of AnsiUpper and AnsiLower in Windows 1.0

Raymond ChenAugust 3, 2020Aug 3, 202008/3/20

Some retro-reverse-engineering and the weird micro-optimizations.

A look back at memory models in 16-bit MS-DOS

Raymond ChenJuly 28, 2020Jul 28, 202007/28/20

Ways of dealing with the fractured address space.

Excuse me, has anybody seen the FOCAL interpreter?

Raymond ChenJune 16, 2020Jun 16, 202006/16/20

I thought you had it.

Why did the message on the Start menu change from Start to Ship It! for one build?

Raymond ChenMay 5, 2020May 5, 202005/5/20

A rogue expression of mixed encouragement and impatience.

We called it RAID because it kills bugs dead

Raymond ChenMarch 17, 2020Mar 17, 202003/17/20

The history of defect tracking databases in Windows.

The sad but short story of the SM_AccessoriesName registry value

Raymond ChenMarch 10, 2020Mar 10, 202003/10/20

Another victim of programs that reach into undocumented sections of the registry.

Why does MS-DOS put an int 20h at byte 0 of the COM file program segment?

Raymond ChenMarch 9, 2020Mar 9, 202003/9/20

In case you end up there, but how?

The only thing preventing them from going home was two AA batteries

Raymond ChenMarch 3, 2020Mar 3, 202003/3/20

I wonder where we can find them.