Windows features have not been updated for 30 years

The programmer created the Format drive dialog box in an arbitrary minute when uploading the code for the dialog box he was working on to the system database. At that time, he was not worried about its simple design and features because this dialog box was only temporary.

But unexpectedly it has existed for 30 years on Windows until Windows 11 today and no one has changed it.

The interesting story of how the Format drive dialog box was born was recently told by Dave Plummer, a former Microsoft developer, on his personal X account.

Plummer said he wrote down all the options that users can perform related to disk formatting tasks such as file system, label, size, compression, encryption. on a piece of paper. Then he created a basic interface for the dialog box.

This dialog box along with billions of lines of code from the Windows 95 interface were ported to Windows NT in 1977.

At that time, this dialog box was only considered a temporary solution 'until there is a better interface'. However, after nearly 30 years, that interface never appeared and Plummer's temporary solution is still used in Windows 11 to this day.

Plummer said the format size of FAT drives in Windows was limited to 32 GB due to an arbitrary decision he made that morning, but unexpectedly it stuck with Windows as a permanent feature. .

In fact, FAT32 has a maximum capacity of 2TB, but to create a drive of this large capacity you will need to use a third-party tool in Windows.

In addition to the Format Drive dialog box, there are still many other old Windows designs that still exist today simply because Microsoft thinks 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

Micah Soto

Update 30 March 2024