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posted by Fnord666 on Friday March 24 2017, @06:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the didn't-need-those-folders-anyway dept.

in with a story on Robert Elder Software blog entitled Silently Corrupting an Eclipse Workspace: The Ultimate Prank:

Next time your co-worker asks:

"What's the best way to back up my Eclipse workspace on Windows?"

you can tell them "Just right-click on it and select 'Send to Compressed (zipped) folder' and save the zip file". Unbeknownst to them, you just pulled the ultimate prank by telling them to make a corrupted backup!

          What your friend probably doesn't realize is that the Windows 'Send to Compressed (zipped) folder' utility has a mandatory optional feature to automatically not include certain folders in the archive without telling you. This is a great feature because it demonstrates the excellent sense of humour that the authors of Microsoft Windows have. This feature was no doubt included to allow you to play a variety of hilarious pranks on others by causing them lose data, only to find out about it years later when they want to open the archive and recover it.

The blog post goes on to identify other idiosyncrasies with how Windows mishandles directories whose names start with a period and/or contain Unicode characters.

Reasons you haven't switched to Linux (cont.):

  • 3. Windows has superior development tools.

What other issues have you found with how Windows handles filenames?


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  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday March 25 2017, @12:59AM

    by driverless (4770) on Saturday March 25 2017, @12:59AM (#483970)

    It became a mission to delete that fucking file and directory and it simply could not be done. Not even in safe mode, or with special tools claiming to delete anything.

    Deleting preteen_boys_sodomizing_hamster_gerbil_satanic_sex_orgy_lesbian_dildo_inferno.mpg before you boss sees it would be a priority, I can certainly see that.

    Before you get too hung up about how bad Windows is, check what the Unix command dsw (delete from switches) does, and why it was written. That problem predates Windows by many years. It later turned into the -i command, present for the same reason, and also predating Windows by years.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2