Comments on: Microsoft Yet Again Confounds Me In Ways I Never Would Have Predicted – A Trajedy in One Part http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/ So many lines, so little time Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:41:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Leslie Viljoen http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-81 Leslie Viljoen Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:07:48 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-81 What I mean is, this is bad, even if your excuse is "DOS 1". What I mean is, this is bad, even if your excuse is “DOS 1″.

]]> By: Leslie Viljoen http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-80 Leslie Viljoen Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:04:54 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-80 Why not just use a reserved character to indicate a special file? Like '#CON'? Why not just use a reserved character to indicate a special file? Like ‘#CON’?

]]> By: cranley http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-78 cranley Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:49:43 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-78 that, Tony, is astoundingly incredibly sadly awesome. that, Tony, is astoundingly incredibly sadly awesome.

]]> By: tony arkles http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-77 tony arkles Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:40:26 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-77 On Windows 95/98, you could use this to crash any machine with file sharing turned on. From the malicious machine: Start -> Run -> \\victim-machine\con\con Bam, BSOD :) On Windows 95/98, you could use this to crash any machine with file sharing turned on.

From the malicious machine: Start -> Run -> \\victim-machine\con\con

Bam, BSOD :)

]]> By: cranley http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-71 cranley Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:57:03 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-71 @Jayakrishnan, I'll definitely check out that article - I'd like to get some more insight simply from a learning perspective. @Gigixu - heh, admittedly I'm young'ish? 29, been developing for 7 years but have worked with computers for about 15. I've just never come up against this problem the whole time... kinda caught me off guard. @Ryan (the other ryan) - yea, I can understand backwards compatability, and I can understand reserving device names - what I don't get, however, is why that reservation is a blanket reservation across the entire FS as opposed to, say, simply under a certain directory as it is in *nix (/dev). I'll read jay's article that he linked. I'm interested. Thanks for all the comments guys - mucho appreciated. @Jayakrishnan, I’ll definitely check out that article – I’d like to get some more insight simply from a learning perspective.

@Gigixu – heh, admittedly I’m young’ish? 29, been developing for 7 years but have worked with computers for about 15. I’ve just never come up against this problem the whole time… kinda caught me off guard.

@Ryan (the other ryan) – yea, I can understand backwards compatability, and I can understand reserving device names – what I don’t get, however, is why that reservation is a blanket reservation across the entire FS as opposed to, say, simply under a certain directory as it is in *nix (/dev).

I’ll read jay’s article that he linked. I’m interested.

Thanks for all the comments guys – mucho appreciated.

]]> By: Ryan http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-70 Ryan Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:37:40 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-70 Unfortunately, people will complain no matter what Microsoft does. What would happen if they took that out and it broke legacy code? Unfortunately, people will complain no matter what Microsoft does. What would happen if they took that out and it broke legacy code?

]]> By: Gigixu http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-69 Gigixu Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:35:07 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-69 You're pretty young , right ? :) That's like that since the dark ages You’re pretty young , right ? :)
That’s like that since the dark ages

]]> By: ivan http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-68 ivan Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:39:51 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-68 not only con, but com1, com2... lpt1, lpt2 ... - device names not only con, but com1, com2… lpt1, lpt2 … – device names

]]> By: Jayakrishnan K http://lostinloc.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-yet-again-confounds-me-in-ways-i-never-would-have-predicted-a-trajedy-in-one-part/#comment-67 Jayakrishnan K Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:57:49 +0000 http://lostinloc.wordpress.com/?p=83#comment-67 This is holdover from the early DOS days. The simple reason it is supported even today is that there is a lot of legacy and existing programs that depend on these device names NUL, CON, COM1, COM2 etc.. Microsoft choose to provide backward compatibility rather than force people to re-write applications. I suggest that you read this informative article and its comments to really understand the actual issues involved - http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/10/22/55388.aspx This is holdover from the early DOS days. The simple reason it is supported even today is that there is a lot of legacy and existing programs that depend on these device names NUL, CON, COM1, COM2 etc.. Microsoft choose to provide backward compatibility rather than force people to re-write applications.

I suggest that you read this informative article and its comments to really understand the actual issues involved – http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/10/22/55388.aspx

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