Microsoft's Format Drive Dialog Box was created 30 years ago at the company's headquarters in Redmond.
Nearly three decades later, Plummer's temporary solution is still in use in Windows 11 today.
The software developer responsible for it, Dave Plummer, recounted how he and his team were porting the user interface from consumer-focused Windows 95 to more stable but resource-intensive Windows NT when they decided to create a basic UI that would be used as a temporary solution until an elegant one arrived.
Microsoft's Format drive dialog box was created 30 years ago at the company's headquarters in Redmond. The software developer responsible for it, Dave Plummer, recounted how he and his team were porting the user interface from consumer-focused Windows 95 to more stable but resource-intensive Windows NT when they decided to create a basic UI that would be used as a temporary solution until an elegant one arrived. However, nearly three decades later, Plummer's temporary solution is still in use in Windows 11 today.
The Format dialog box is still used in fully updated Windows 11 installs to this day when you format a disk using Windows Explorer.
Dave Plummer wrote the Format dialog in late 1994, when he and his team were busy porting the user interface from consumer-focused Windows 95 to more stable but resource-intensive Windows NT.
Accuracy
No Contradictions at Time
Of
Publication
Deception
(30%)
The article is deceptive in that it presents the Format dialog box as a temporary solution to formatting disks. The author states that this UI has been used for over 30 years and yet they claim it was only meant to be a placeholder until an elegant UI arrived. This implies that there have been no updates or improvements made to the format tool since its creation, which is not true as Windows NT version of the Format dialog still survives today.
The author states that this UI has been used for over 30 years and yet they claim it was only meant to be a placeholder until an elegant UI arrived. This implies that there have been no updates or improvements made to the format tool since its creation, which is not true as Windows NT version of the Format dialog still survives today.
Fallacies
(70%)
The article contains an appeal to authority fallacy by citing Andrew Cunningham as the author without providing any evidence of his expertise or qualifications. Additionally, there is a dichotomous depiction in the sentence 'some things never change' which implies that either everything changes constantly or nothing ever changes at all.
The article contains an appeal to authority fallacy by citing Andrew Cunningham as the author without providing any evidence of his expertise or qualifications.
Bias
(70%)
The author has a clear bias towards the history of Windows and its user interface. The article is focused on the Format dialog box in Windows which was written by Andrew Cunningham himself. This creates a personal connection between the author and this specific piece of software that may influence their perspective.
]Formatting disks
Site
Conflicts
Of
Interest (50%)
The article discusses the disk formatting UI in Windows 11 and how it is a placeholder from Windows NT. The author of the article, Andrew Cunningham, has a financial tie to Microsoft as he works for Ars Technica which is owned by Condenast. Additionally, Dave Plummer who created the Visual C++ Resource Editor mentioned in the article also works at Microsoft.
The disk formatting UI in Windows 11 is a placeholder from Windows NT.
The Format drive dialog box was created 30 years ago at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond.
Dave Plummer wrote the Format dialog in late 1994 when he and his team were busy porting the user interface from consumer-focused Windows 95 to more stable but resource-intensive Windows NT.
Accuracy
Dave Plummer wrote the Format dialog in late 1994, when he and his team were busy porting the user interface from consumer-focused Windows 95 to more stable but resource-intensive Windows NT.
Deception
(50%)
The article is deceptive in that it implies that the Format drive dialog box was created as a temporary solution and never updated. However, this is not entirely accurate. The author states that Plummer's UI improvement never came and nearly 30 years later it is still in use in Windows 11 today. This suggests that there were updates made to the format size of FAT volumes over time, but they did not go beyond the limit set by Plummer at some point. The article also implies that this particular Format dialog box was never touched since its introduction, which is again not entirely accurate as it has been updated in Windows 11.
The article implies that there were no updates made to the Format drive dialog box since its introduction, which is not entirely accurate as it has been updated in Windows 11.
The author states that the format size of a FAT volume in Windows is limited to just 32GB, but this limit was set by Plummer and could have changed over time.
Fallacies
(80%)
The article contains an example of a fallacy known as 'appeal to authority'. The author cites the words of Dave Plummer without providing any evidence that his claims are true or reliable. Additionally, there is no clear distinction between what Plummer said and what Warren reported in the article.
On a Thursday morning nearly 30 years ago at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, a software developer checked-in some code for a dialog box he was working on.
Bias
(85%)
The article is biased towards the author's perspective and presents a negative view of Microsoft. The author uses language that dehumanizes Microsoft by saying 'Microsoft forgot to update this Windows feature for 30 years'. This statement implies that Microsoft was negligent or incompetent which is not necessarily true. Additionally, the author quotes former developer Dave Plummer who has a personal vendetta against Microsoft and presents his perspective as fact without providing any evidence to support it.
The article uses language that dehumanizes Microsoft by saying 'Microsoft forgot to update this Windows feature for 30 years'.
The Format dialog is a temporary solution in Windows that has lasted for almost 30 years.
Dave Plummer wrote the Format dialog in late 1994, when he and his team were busy porting the user interface from consumer-focused Windows 95 to more stable but resource-intensive Windows NT.
Accuracy
No Contradictions at Time
Of
Publication
Deception
(30%)
The article is deceptive in several ways. Firstly, the author claims that the Format dialog is a temporary solution that has lasted for almost 30 years. However, this statement is misleading as it implies that there was an elegant UI to replace it at some point but none ever came about. In reality, the Format dialog was never intended to be beautiful and its purpose was simply to allow users to format their drives with different file systems and allocation sizes.
The author claims that the Format dialog is a temporary solution that has lasted for almost 30 years.
Fallacies
(70%)
The article contains an appeal to authority fallacy by citing the story of Dave Plummer without providing any evidence that his account is reliable. Additionally, there are several examples of informal fallacies throughout the article such as hyperbole and sarcasm.
You are probably familiar with the Format dialog in modern (and not-so-much) Windows versions.
Bias
(75%)
The author uses the phrase 'temporary solution' to describe the Format dialog in modern Windows versions. This implies that there is a permanent and better solution available for this feature.
> The UI of the Format dialog looks slightly out of place in modern Windows versions.
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