Morons in Microsoft (Apparently)

[Gef]

http://ww.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/2/15/71552/7795

Quite funny if its real, if its not then there are some very sad individuals out there .. well okay we already knew that, but this would take it to a whole new level of sadness.

Seems real though

 

[xane]

I've been in the programming business for 20 years and most of what he said is atypical of hard core development, if it was a fake its a good one.

 

[Wij]

There are also various references to idiots and morons, some external, some within Microsoft. The file private\ntos\rtl\heap.c, which dates from 1989, tells us
// The specific idiot in this case is Office95, which likes
// to free a random pointer when you start Word95 from a desktop
// shortcut.


-----------------------------------------

A file from 89 referencing Office 95 ?

 

[nath]

That did make me wonder..

Xane, do you mean typical or is it very rare?

 

[Wij]

// THIS IS A HACK !!!! REMEMBER TO REPLACE WHEN DEADLINES ARENT SO TIGHT !!!!

...is a common comment from any coder who has to deliver unspecified requirements by last week as most IT projects for in-house developers end up

 

[TdC]

too right

 

[xane]

A file from 89 referencing Office 95 ?

He might mean the file dates back to 1989 but has been updated since.

 

[Wij]

He might mean the file dates back to 1989 but has been updated since.

*whistle x-files theme*

 

[Wij]

too right

I feel your pain brother

 

[TdC]

*wince*

 

[Wij]

*apply soothing cream*

 

[granny]

I thought it was interesting that the code generally puts Microsoft coders in a pretty good light.

Also, any conscientious coder will put in prominent comments warning others about the trickier parts of the code. Comments like "UGLY TERRIBLE HACK" tend to indicate good code rather than bad: in bad code ugly terrible hacks are considered par for the course.

Despite the above, the quality of the code is generally excellent.

Therefore, a superficial look at the code finds no evidence that Microsoft has violated the GPL or stolen other open source code.

In short, there is nothing really surprising in this leak. Microsoft does not steal open-source code. Their older code is flaky, their modern code excellent. Their programmers are skilled and enthusiastic. Problems are generally due to a trade-off of current quality against vast hardware, software and backward compatibility.