On: NTFS bug lets anyone hang or crash Windows 7 or 8....

[phkahler]

They did it wrong then. IFF you have to map stuff to files they should all be located under /dev/ and not confuse the system if someone happens to use those strings for their own file names in their own places.

[diet_mtn_dew → phkahler]

Those special files date back to MS-DOS 1.0, which did not have directories. There's some explanation in the blog post below.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20031022-00/?p=...

[sixbrx → phkahler]

Agree but these came from DOS days, and were just always brought along for compatibility. I think it could be argued that there's such a thing as too much attention to compatibility...

Edit: MOST of the no-no file names come from DOS, not this $MFT one which is NTFS related so must have come later!

[phkahler → sixbrx]

>> I think it could be argued that there's such a thing as too much attention to compatibility...

I'm convinced that most problems people face are rooted in the conflict between short and long term goals.

[peteri → sixbrx]

Well they really come from CP/M and PIP which sort of inherited from DEC OS/8 (certainly they're in the 1973 manual)