The Daily Guardian: Windows feature left unupdated for 30 years
Microsoft’s Windows 11 still features a dialog box that was created almost 30 years ago, revealing the fascinating story behind its origin. Dave Plummer, a former developer at Microsoft, recently shared the details of how the Format drive dialog box was developed as a temporary solution during the early days of Windows NT.
Plummer explained that the basic UI for the dialog box was intended to be temporary until a more sophisticated solution could be implemented. When Windows NT was in the process of being ported over from Windows 95, the Format drive dialog box was introduced to meet the immediate needs of the operating system.
Interestingly, Plummer revealed that he made an arbitrary choice one morning to limit the format size of a FAT volume to 32GB in Windows. This decision was made despite FAT supporting volumes of up to 2TB, forcing users to resort to third-party tools in order to create larger FAT drives that Microsoft’s OS could read correctly.
The dialog box, which has become a familiar sight for Windows users over the years, remains a reminder of the temporary solutions that sometimes become permanent fixtures in technology. Despite its humble beginnings, the Format drive dialog box continues to serve its purpose in Windows 11, highlighting the enduring legacy of decisions made decades ago at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond.