Why Windows’ 30‑Year‑Old Formatting Dialog Still Looks the Same

Background

In 1994 Microsoft engineers, including Dave Plummer, were porting the large Windows 95 code base to Windows NT. The existing “Format” dialog needed redesign because NT introduced new requirements.

Implementation

Plummer sketched the required options on paper and used the Visual C++ 2.0 resource editor to create a simple dialog consisting of a vertical list of check boxes. The vertical arrangement was chosen so users could tick items in roughly the intended order. The dialog was deliberately built as a quick, functional prototype rather than a polished UI.

Result and longevity

The prototype was released as the official format dialog and, despite being intended as a temporary fix, remained unchanged for three decades, persisting through Windows XP, Windows 10 and the current Windows 11 preview.

Technical side‑effects

During the design Plummer also set the “cluster slack” size based on intuition. That decision fixed the maximum FAT volume size at 32 GB, a limitation that still exists in modern Windows implementations.

Takeaway

The story illustrates how short‑term engineering shortcuts can become permanent components of an operating system, and why developers should treat “temporary” solutions with caution.

Related link: https://twitter.com/davepl1968/status/1772042158046146792

Code example

往
期
推
荐
1、
不引入ES，如何利用 MySQL 实现模糊匹配
2、
不正当抓取高德地图“拥堵延时指数”，被判赔偿1250万
3、
【SpringBoot】 如何做到无感刷新token？
4、
为什么国外JetBrains做 IDE 就可以养活自己，国内不行？区别在哪？
5、
相比高人气的Rust、Go，为何 Java、C 在工具层面进展缓慢？
6、
中国Flutter“先驱者”——闲鱼即将上线网页版
点
分
享
点
收
藏
点
点
赞
点在看