OT: Rant - Programmers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Luc The Perverse
  • Start date Start date
L

Luc The Perverse

My c: drive is my swap drive and hence completely full.

My D drive is my windows install directory.

So . . .java won't install because it says I don't have enough disk space

Windows pesters me telling me my drive is full, and I have to do a registry
tweak to shut it up

Yahoo pager installs folders on my C drive in a documents and settings
folder that doesn't exist

Starcraft gives me a warning when loading that it might not run correctly
because there is not enough room

Enough of that

Microsoft has appearantly permanently blocked the ability to send any kind
useful file through Microsoft Outlook or MSN Messenger. This is touted as
a feature of windows XP SP2, to protect us from our ignorant selves. I'm
not insulted that they put it in there, just that the didn't leave a way to
turn it off. Now every time my wife needs to send me a VBS/REG/EXE or even
MP3 file she has to fire up the old FTP server.

Thank you microsoft for making me 9 years old. Do they not realize this is
going to piss off anyone even slightly computer savvy? Like they are trying
to push people into other products. This is the only reason I started
using Yahoo - to be able to send files like I should be able to. Windows XP
is my favorite operating system, but I think it is going to keep getting
worse. Next they won't allow me to turn off the automatic update service
or something because I obviously don't know what I am doing.
 
Send all your important messages before installing the next service pack.

Best regards,
Alejandro Lapeyre
 
You can edit it in the registry, but it's probably better to rename or zip
up the files as making this change to the registry will leave you vulnerable
to script attachments.

If you don't care then here's the key (may be different for other versions
of office):

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security]
"Level1Remove"=".vb"

Change the value to allow other file extensions.

I have two *.reg files setup to temporarily disable and then reset this
feature when I know the source of the attachments.
 
Well, I would suggest that your subject might be a little off.
Yes, sometimes the programmers could have done a better job, but to maintain
backwards compatibility, or maybe they are just lazy, they take shortcuts.
But the problem isn't necessarily the Programmers, it's the average
consumer. In general, the average consumer is a computer moron, and
Microsoft has had little choice but to treat them like virtual children to
protect them from themselves.

It is moronic that their "fix" to prevent the spread of worms is to make it
so the user just can't send/open them. People "should" be smart enough to
figure this out. But the simple fact is that I know many seemingly highly
intelligent people that if you send them an email with the subject "Hi, I am
a virus, DON'T open me!!!", the dumb-asses will STILL OPEN IT! Even mice
learn that if you touch something and get shocked that you shouldn't touch
it. But I guess humans are more, um, evolved?

It sucks that they make it so difficult to circumvent that only a virus
writer knows how to do it though. The problem is that the programmers can do
all they can to develop something idiot proof, but the universe conspires to
balance the equation and develops a better idiot.

So yeah, I feel your pain and totally agree.

Gerald
 
Oh, for goodness sakes, if you want to send executable code, zip it or
change the extension. That is NOT HARD.

As for a C drive that is a swap area, and therefore completely full... it
sounds like you have a comparitively small C drive (and a really unusual
configuration). For less than the cost of the OS, you can buy an upgraded
hard drive. Try it. You might like having more than 2GB for a C drive :-).

And, yes, Outlook screens out viruses by screening out just about everything
else. Every moron who installs a spam virus, that turns around and sends me
e-mail about hair loss and viagra is one more system, run by a clueless (and
probably hopelessly innocent) user, that I can do without. Yes, we need to
protect them from themselves. And we need to protect ourselves from them as
well.

Seatbelts. Motorcycle helmets. Required auto insurance. Smoke detectors.
Building inspectors. Zoning laws. I could go on...

--
--- Nick Malik [Microsoft]
MCSD, CFPS, Certified Scrummaster
http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and not
representative of my employer.
I do not answer questions on behalf of my employer. I'm just a
programmer helping programmers.
--
 
Nick Malik said:
Oh, for goodness sakes, if you want to send executable code, zip it or
change the extension. That is NOT HARD.
Click to expand...

LOL - Perhaps not hard, but it shouldn't be necessary.

It is a deliberate removal of features, which bothers me.
As for a C drive that is a swap area, and therefore completely full... it
sounds like you have a comparitively small C drive (and a really unusual
configuration). For less than the cost of the OS, you can buy an
upgraded hard drive. Try it. You might like having more than 2GB for a C
drive :-).
Click to expand...

My C drive is deliberately exactly the size that I set my virtual memory to.
It is just a partition on my hard drive, usually 772 MB, to allow for a 768
Mb virtual memory. My C drive is swap space (at the beginning of the disk
as close to the system files as possible to avoid a lot of unneeded head
movement during boot if swap space is needed) Then D is my system space
and the E drive is my data files. This makes it very easy to wipe C and D
drive with DoD wipe, and reinstall without deleting any data files.

What bothers me is programmers are just assuming that C is my system drive;
microsoft makes it extremely easy to find out which drive is the system
drive, so I don't know why people wouldn't take advantage of that.
And, yes, Outlook screens out viruses by screening out just about
everything else. Every moron who installs a spam virus, that turns around
and sends me e-mail about hair loss and viagra is one more system, run by
a clueless (and probably hopelessly innocent) user, that I can do without.
Yes, we need to protect them from themselves. And we need to protect
ourselves from them as well.
Click to expand...

Except it is a suicide move for Microsoft. Suddenly, all the computer
geeky people stop using microsoft products altogether because of
deliberately introduced - and it's not long before people start to hear
about it. Seriously, most hopelessly innocent people aren't configuring
and installing their own software, either Joe down the street, or Dell is
doing it for them. And all the Joe followers are going to use the software
Joe suggests.
Seatbelts. Motorcycle helmets. Required auto insurance. Smoke
detectors. Building inspectors. Zoning laws. I could go on...
Click to expand...

No. Innocent people die when seatbelts are not worn. We're talking about
files and passwords here. Kinda like if Honda somehow made it impossible
to pick up a hitchhiker, because they might snoop through your glovebox.

-LTP

:)
 
About the topic: Well I got started ranting about programmers being stupid,
hard coding the path to the C drive, and didn't want to stop when I ran out
of examples :)

Well thanks for agreeing.
 
Back
Top