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From: campbell@maynard.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Major bug in all(?) versions of MS-DOS.
Message-ID: <829@maynard.BSW.COM>
Date: Thu, 12-Feb-87 07:40:08 EST
Article-I.D.: maynard.829
Posted: Thu Feb 12 07:40:08 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 13-Feb-87 05:52:39 EST
References: <4274@utah-cs.UUCP> <10056@cgl.ucsf.edu.ucsfcgl.UUCP> <2368@homxb.UUCP>
Reply-To: campbell@maynard.UUCP (Larry Campbell)
Organization: The Boston Software Works, Inc., Boston, MA
Lines: 32
Keywords: bug or feature?
Summary: MS-DOS -- Threat or Menace?

In article <2368@homxb.UUCP> gemini@homxb.UUCP (Rick Richardson) writes:
>
>No overhead, the directory is (should) be in a buffer, too.  Note that
>UNIX does exactly this (actually updates the inode, not the directory).
>Otherwise, commands like "tail -f" wouldn't work.  I'm tempted to
>call this DOS behavior a bug although it could be a (mis)feature if it is
>documented.  It will certainly be called a bug when multiprocessing
>DOS arrives (if ever).

One of the many reasons I hate MS-DOS is Microsoft's

    Rule Number One:
	"Once a bug, always a feature."

There are many good business reasons for this, and I suspect Microsoft
hates it worse than we do, but it's reality.  Note that in a sense,
multiprocessing DOS is here, since file servers serve multiple clients
concurrently.  Microsoft's MS-NET file server has the bug too (not surprising,
since it just calls DOS to do file system work).  I designed an MS-NET
file server for a client, and we discovered this the annoying way:
we believed the specs (ha!), implemented the "correct" behavior, and
discovered that it conflicted with what Microsoft's server and with
raw MS-DOS.  Solution:  break our server, too.  Grumble.

    Rule Number Two:
	"The IBM PC and PC-DOS have no bugs.  They're all features."

-- 
Larry Campbell                                The Boston Software Works, Inc.
Internet: campbell@maynard.uucp             120 Fulton Street, Boston MA 02109
uucp: {alliant,wjh12}!maynard!campbell              +1 617 367 6846
ARPA: campbell%maynard.uucp@harvisr.harvard.edu      MCI: LCAMPBELL