The Old New Thing

History - The Old New Thing

To be a leader you must know when to follow

November 3, 2005 Nov 3, 2005 11/3/05
Raymond Chen
Many people misinterpreted my use of the term "reluctant" to describe the attitude of the designers in changing the way the Date/Time control panel functions. It was a reluctance of shame, not a reluctance of defiance. Your software is there for the users, not vice versa. If you find that your users are using the software in a manner ...

Why is inline autocomplete disabled by default?

November 2, 2005 Nov 2, 2005 11/2/05
Raymond Chen
Earlier versions of Internet Explorer used inline autocomplete, but newer versions use drop-down autocomplete that requires you to press the down-arrow key to select an item from the drop-down. Why the change? Because it interferes with normal keyboard operation. Suppose is in your history, but you want to go to . As you type the desired...

The Hallowe’en-themed lobby

October 31, 2005 Oct 31, 2005 10/31/05
Raymond Chen
During the Windows 95 project, the window manager team stayed late one night and redecorated the lobby. They suspended a variety of Hallowe'en-themed objects from fishing lines: spiders, ghosts, witches, jack-o'-lanterns, that sort of thing. The fishing line went up and over pulleys, rigged so that the objects spookily rose and fell ...

When programs assume that the system will never change, episode 1

October 26, 2005 Oct 26, 2005 10/26/05
Raymond Chen
An example, all too frequent, of ways programs assume that the user interface will never change is reaching into system binaries and sucking out undocumented resources. In the shell, we have fallen into the reluctant position of carrying "dead" icons around for the benefit of programs that assumed that they would always be available. However, ...

New device detected: Boeing 747

October 24, 2005 Oct 24, 2005 10/24/05
Raymond Chen
Once again, airplane manufacturers have been giving serious consideration to offering Internet access in the skies. Back in 1994, Boeing considered equipping each seat with a serial modem. Laptop users could hook up to the modem and dial out. (Dial-up was the primary means of connecting to the Internet back in those days.) We chuckled at ...

Why is it even possible to disable the desktop anyway?

October 21, 2005 Oct 21, 2005 10/21/05
Raymond Chen
Some time ago, I mentioned the dangers of disabling the desktop window. But why is it even possible to disable the desktop anyway? This is simply an artifact of the history of philosophy of Windows operating system design. Back in the old days, memory was tight, hard drives were luxuries, the most popular CPU for the IBM PC didn't have ...

Be careful what you name your product group

October 18, 2005 Oct 18, 2005 10/18/05
Raymond Chen
They thought they were so clever when they named the Desktop Applications Division. "And the abbreviation is 'DAD', isn't that cute? Complements the Microsoft Office Manager toolbar (MOM)." And then the troubles started. Shortly after the new product group was formed, everybody in the product group started getting email talking about ...

The history of the path separator in Japanese and Korean Windows

October 14, 2005 Oct 14, 2005 10/14/05
Raymond Chen
Why is the path separator on Japanese Windows the ¥ character? And why is it the ₩ character on Korean Windows? I've been prodding Michael Kaplan to delve into the history of this quirk, and he finally gave in to my repeated badgering. (Additional discussion on the Korean Won sign, the Japanese Yen sign, and currency symbols in...