Windows easier to use...

[Kelsey Bjarnason]

I'm online at the moment, trying to help someone with a programming
problem. His code, which isn't as bad as it could be, is trying to open a
file "file.in".

The file exists, is called "file.in" and is in the right place - but the
code won't open it - can't find the file.

Say what? Can't find the file? But it's right there, with the right
name, so why can't it find it?

Some poking around reveals the problem. First, the file was created with
notepad - which insists upon appending a .txt to everything. Fine so
far... but Windows Explorer *shows* the file as being simply "file.in" -
because the default setting is to hide file extensions.

So the user _sees_ "file.in" and can't tell what's going wrong - the fact
that the file is actually called "file.in.txt" and will never be found
with his application.

Ah, ease of use. Doesn't get any better than this.

 

[Kelsey Bjarnason]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 21:52:33 -0700, Kelsey Bjarnason wrote:

Arrgh. What is with this newsreader? Twice in one week, the post goes to
the wrong newsgroup... sigh.

 

[MG]

Well...the solution is that the file has the icon of that of a notepad ( or
that of the default pgm to open the .txt files)...
this is a common thing that pops up...

 

[Russell Hanneken]

<off-topic>

Suggested fix: remove notepad from your computer system.


Suggested fix: remove Windows Explorer from your computer system.

I think I have a better solution:

In Windows 2000:

1. Select Start->Settings->Control Panel.
2. Double-click on "Folder Options."
3. Select the "View" tab.
4. Uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types."

In Windows XP:

1. Select Start->Control Panel.
2. Select "Appearance and Themes."
3. Select "Folder Options."
4. Select the "View" tab.
5. Uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types."

Definitely an irritating default setting. I've known several students who
have experienced exactly the same problem Kelsey did.

Yesterday, I picked up a new computer for my sister, and set it up for
her. We were horrified to discover that the operating system insisted on
an Internet connection so that it could phone home. Since my sister
doesn't /have/ an Internet connection, she has two choices - get one, in
the next thirty days, or have an operating system, that she has paid for,
refuse to "work" any more.

Are you talking about Windows XP and the "product activation" system? If
so, your sister does not have to have an Internet connection. See Myth #4
on this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/myths.asp

"Product Activation provides two methods to activate: Internet and
telephone. The Internet method requires that the PC be able to make a
connection to the Internet. The telephone method requires the user to
provide information to a customer service representative over the
telephone."

</off-topic>

 

[Richard Heathfield]

I'm online at the moment, trying to help someone with a programming
problem. His code, which isn't as bad as it could be, is trying to open a
file "file.in".

Does it exist?

The file exists,

Sure about that?

is called "file.in"

Sure about that?

and is in the right place - but the
code won't open it - can't find the file.

Perhaps it doesn't exist, at least not by that name.

Say what? Can't find the file? But it's right there, with the right
name, so why can't it find it?

Perhaps it doesn't have the right name after all.

Some poking around reveals the problem. First, the file was created with
notepad - which insists upon appending a .txt to everything.

Suggested fix: remove notepad from your computer system.

Fine so
far... but Windows Explorer *shows* the file as being simply "file.in" -
because the default setting is to hide file extensions.

Suggested fix: remove Windows Explorer from your computer system.

So the user _sees_ "file.in" and can't tell what's going wrong - the fact
that the file is actually called "file.in.txt" and will never be found
with his application.

Write him a decent text editor. Well, a text editor better than Notepad.
This is strictly a two-banana problem.

Ah, ease of use. Doesn't get any better than this.

Oh, but my dear chap, it does; it really, really does. Vastly better.
Incomparably better.

Yesterday, I picked up a new computer for my sister, and set it up for her.
We were horrified to discover that the operating system insisted on an
Internet connection so that it could phone home. Since my sister doesn't
/have/ an Internet connection, she has two choices - get one, in the next
thirty days, or have an operating system, that she has paid for, refuse to
"work" any more.

Unfortunately, she's already invested quite a lot of money in buying Windows
applications, so she's more or less locked in already.

 

[Joona I Palaste]

<off-topic>

Are you talking about Windows XP and the "product activation" system? If
so, your sister does not have to have an Internet connection. See Myth #4
on this page:

"Product Activation provides two methods to activate: Internet and
telephone. The Internet method requires that the PC be able to make a
connection to the Internet. The telephone method requires the user to
provide information to a customer service representative over the
telephone."

</off-topic>

And how would the Windows itself know that the information has been
provided, if there's no possibility of a data connection between it and
Microsoft? You could give your bank account number and bank card PIN to
Microsoft, and tell them it's all right to empty your whole bank account
into their pockets, and the Windows would be none the wiser, and accuse
you of stealing it.

--
/-- Joona Palaste ([email protected]) ---------------------------\
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" G++ FR FW+ M- #108 D+ ADA N+++|
| http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste W++ B OP+ |
\----------------------------------------- Finland rules! ------------/
"A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do."
- Anon

 

[Simon Biber]

And how would the Windows itself know that the information has been
provided, if there's no possibility of a data connection between it and
Microsoft?

The client software generates a unique identifier for the particular
installation of Windows by looking at the CD Key, the timestamp plus
the hardware environment. You quote the unique identifier to the
phone operator who enters it into his/her terminal. Once you have
been identified and registered, the server generates the unlock code
corresponding to the given unique identifier. The phone operator
relays this back to the customer, who enters it into the text field
in the registration wizard.

This could link with public/private key cryptography -- the unlock
code is generated by microsoft encrypting the unique identifier with
its private key, and every copy of Windows contains the public key
with which it verifies the unlock code.

When the client validates that the unlock code matches the unique
identifier, if so, it knows that Microsoft generated it and so the
information has been provided.

 

[Arthur J. O'Dwyer]

Suggested fix: remove notepad from your computer system.


Suggested fix: remove Windows Explorer from your computer system.


Write him a decent text editor. Well, a text editor better than Notepad.
This is strictly a two-banana problem.

Hmm. Judging from the popularity of Emacs, are you sure it's not
simply a "banana" problem?

http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?banana+problem

-Arthur, poor fool,
who uses Notepad and likes it

 

[Tobias Oed]

I'm online at the moment, trying to help someone with a programming
problem. His code, which isn't as bad as it could be, is trying to open a
file "file.in".

The file exists, is called "file.in" and is in the right place - but the
code won't open it - can't find the file.

Say what? Can't find the file? But it's right there, with the right
name, so why can't it find it?

Some poking around reveals the problem. First, the file was created with
notepad - which insists upon appending a .txt to everything.

<OT>
It is rumored that enclosing the file name in "" in the save as dialog will
prevent notepad from adding the .txt.
<\OT>

Tobias

 

[Richard Bos]

Are you talking about Windows XP and the "product activation" system? If
so, your sister does not have to have an Internet connection. See Myth #4
on this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/myths.asp

Are we supposed to trust a page that states, amongst others, "Microsoft
absolutely respects the privacy of its customers"? 'Cause I don't, no
matter how pleasantly they smirk.

Richard

 

[Derk Gwen]

# Some poking around reveals the problem. First, the file was created with
# notepad - which insists upon appending a .txt to everything. Fine so
# far... but Windows Explorer *shows* the file as being simply "file.in" -
# because the default setting is to hide file extensions.

MacOSX added a similar feature. The theory is that people are using double
clicks and drag-drops to pass file paths to programs instead of typing in
the file paths. That way the user doesn't need to know the actual file
path.

 

[Derk Gwen]

# > an Internet connection so that it could phone home. Since my sister
# > doesn't /have/ an Internet connection, she has two choices - get one, in
# > the next thirty days, or have an operating system, that she has paid for,
# > refuse to "work" any more.

# http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/myths.asp

Is that information available without making an internet connection?

 

[Dan Pop]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 21:52:33 -0700, Kelsey Bjarnason wrote:

Arrgh. What is with this newsreader? Twice in one week, the post goes to
the wrong newsgroup... sigh.

Is it the newsreader or is it you? ;-)

Dan

 

[Bertrand Mollinier Toublet]

And how would the Windows itself know that the information has been
provided, if there's no possibility of a data connection between it and
Microsoft? You could give your bank account number and bank card PIN to
Microsoft, and tell them it's all right to empty your whole bank account
into their pockets, and the Windows would be none the wiser, and accuse
you of stealing it.

Aw, c'mon ! Don't be ingenuous.
Microsoft might have debatable business practices, but they're no fool
as far as software development is concerned.

 

[Dan Pop]

# Some poking around reveals the problem. First, the file was created with
# notepad - which insists upon appending a .txt to everything. Fine so
# far... but Windows Explorer *shows* the file as being simply "file.in" -
# because the default setting is to hide file extensions.

MacOSX added a similar feature. The theory is that people are using double
clicks and drag-drops to pass file paths to programs instead of typing in
the file paths. That way the user doesn't need to know the actual file
path.

And it makes sense. The default settings are supposed to be optimised for
the average user, not for programmers. And the average Windows/MacOS
users are not supposed to ever type a file name (except when creating
their own files).

I have very little sympathy for people who want to program on a platform
*before* becoming *competent* users of that platform. Once you're a
competent user, you can alter the default settings in whatever way suits
your needs best and the original problem simply goes away.

I'm far from being a competent Windows user, yet one of the first things
I've changed on my installation was the hidden file extensions. Soon
after that, I've also enabled the listing of "hidden" files and
directories.

Dan

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Dan Pop wrote:

[...] The default settings are supposed to be optimised for
the average user, not for programmers. And the average Windows/MacOS
users are not supposed to ever type a file name (except when creating
their own files).

I have very little sympathy for people who want to program on a platform
*before* becoming *competent* users of that platform. Once you're a
competent user, you can alter the default settings in whatever way suits
your needs best and the original problem simply goes away.

/One/ of the original problems, in this case. The other - the problem of
Notepad appending an extension of .txt - can be solved with a little care,
by saving via the *.* "template" (or whatever the word is) rather than
*.txt, and surrounding the filename in "quotation.marks".

I'm far from being a competent Windows user, yet one of the first things
I've changed on my installation was the hidden file extensions. Soon
after that, I've also enabled the listing of "hidden" files and
directories.

Quite so. In fact, IIRC just about all the default Explorer settings are
"wrong" (as far as I'm concerned), and it is indeed a good idea to hack
them into shape just as soon as the installation process is finally
complete.

 

[Malcolm]

I have very little sympathy for people who want to program on a platform
*before* becoming *competent* users of that platform.

Maybe you'll have some sympathy for me. We signed a contract for a prototype
(chargeable demo) of a racing game. Management had no way of knowing whether
that concept would be signed or not.
Absolutely vital to the game was a track editor that would allow us to
create and modify tracks easily. So someone had to produce an editor in
double quick time.
Now I had just finished work on the Sega Saturn. For market reasons, Saturn
development came to an end. So I receive orders to develop a track editor as
a 3ds max plug-in, despite having no experience of Windows programming and
despite not knowing 3ds Max.
These things happen, particularly in small companies. Ideally we'd have got
an experienced Windows programmer to do it, but I happened to be the person
most available.

 

[Joona I Palaste]

Maybe you'll have some sympathy for me. We signed a contract for a prototype
(chargeable demo) of a racing game. Management had no way of knowing whether
that concept would be signed or not.
Absolutely vital to the game was a track editor that would allow us to
create and modify tracks easily. So someone had to produce an editor in
double quick time.
Now I had just finished work on the Sega Saturn. For market reasons, Saturn
development came to an end. So I receive orders to develop a track editor as
a 3ds max plug-in, despite having no experience of Windows programming and
despite not knowing 3ds Max.
These things happen, particularly in small companies. Ideally we'd have got
an experienced Windows programmer to do it, but I happened to be the person
most available.

I sometimes get selected to use a certain technology, even if I have no
previous experience with it. But these technologies are usually simple
stuff like XSLT, not an entirely new operating system API (or in a worst
case, an entirely new computer architecture) like Windows or the Sega
Saturn. So I usually learn the basics in about a week.

--
/-- Joona Palaste ([email protected]) ---------------------------\
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" G++ FR FW+ M- #108 D+ ADA N+++|
| http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste W++ B OP+ |
\----------------------------------------- Finland rules! ------------/
"That's no raisin - it's an ALIEN!"
- Tourist in MTV's Oddities

 

[Programmer Dude]

Suggested fix: remove notepad from your computer system.

Alternate suggestion: Putting quotes around any filename prevents
NOTEPAD from doing that.

Suggested fix: remove Windows Explorer from your computer system.

[grin] Less extreme suggestion: change the default. Programmers
should probably see the whole filename anyway.

Well, a text editor better than Notepad.

IOW, nearly *anything* else! ;-)

 

[Russell Hanneken]

# http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/myths.asp

Is that information available without making an internet connection?

Yes, of course. Checking my wife's laptop, I see that the information is in
the Windows help files. Plus there's a product activation wizard--I would
guess the information is also there, though my wife hasn't given me enough
access to run the program. :^( It wouldn't surprise me if Windows XP also
came with paper documentation that discusses activation by phone.

Regards,

Russell Hanneken
(e-mail address removed)