4 ms·

Microsoft haven't even rewritten Office in C#/.Net yet, what makes you think they are ready to rewrite/replace the Windows kernel with it? https://news.ycombin

Microsoft haven't even rewritten Office in C#/.Net yet, what makes you think they are ready to rewrite/replace the Windows kernel with it? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17305332 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17305332

monocasa 8y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if it's easier to rewrite the kernel than to rewrite Office.
- dmarlow 8y ago
  Why is that?
  - ahartmetz 8y ago
    It is probably easier to figure out what it should be doing. With Office, sometimes you just have to line break like Word 97 (I am not making this up, it was a bad example of the so-called open format "OOXML"), which is much easier when you can just call the original Word 97 code, bugs and all.
  - monocasa 8y ago
    Office is somewhere around an order of magnitude of so more code, everything I've heard is that it's nightmare fuel levels of legacy code that defies even refactoring within the same language, and has a bad habit of slurping up binary formats and doing crazy internal YOLO pointer chasing.
    - nineteen999 8y ago
      > and has a bad habit of slurping up binary formats and doing crazy internal YOLO pointer chasing. ... you know that this about what 9/10th's of an operating systems device driver code look like, right?
      - monocasa 8y ago
        Not from externally imported data. That's a privilege escalation vulnerability when the kernel pulls that crap.
pjmlp 8y ago
How do you think Office 365 works?
- nineteen999 8y ago
  A bunch of tiny pjmlp's running around in a hamster wheel providing electricity maybe? Are you suggesting the post I linked above from someone claiming to be an engineer on Office is inaccurate? It may be well be, but it sounds more plausible and supportable than whatever question it is you seem to be posing. If you have evidence to suggest that Office365 is written in C# these days I'd like to see it please, because I have read on more than one occasion over the last 10 years that MS had attempted this and given up.
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    I was referrring to Office 365 on Azure, which happens to run on the browser in case you missed it. Quoting your favourite engineer "The desktop app’s are fully native".
    - nineteen999 8y ago
      So you are talking about "Office 365 Mobile" and/or "Office 365 Online". There is also "Office 365 Desktop" which is what I think you'll find most large corporations that have migrated from Office 2016 Desktop apps are using. https://www.howtogeek.com/334597/whats-the-difference-between-microsoft-offices-desktop-web-and-mobile-apps/ https://www.howtogeek.com/334597/whats-the-difference-betwee... Office 365 Mobile/Online are much cut down, more comparable from Google Docs from the sounds of it, and hardly a 1:1 replacement for the Desktop apps. Which are still C/C++. In addition, if you have any hard evidence that the majority of the Office Mobile/Online web apps are written in C# I would like to see that, because I can't seem to find any. Thankyou.
      - pjmlp 8y ago
        If you have any hard evidence that the majority of the Office Mobile/Online web apps are written in C++ I would like to see that, because I can't seem to find any. Thankyou.

monocasa 8y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if it's easier to rewrite the kernel than to rewrite Office.

dmarlow 8y ago
Why is that?
- ahartmetz 8y ago
  It is probably easier to figure out what it should be doing. With Office, sometimes you just have to line break like Word 97 (I am not making this up, it was a bad example of the so-called open format "OOXML"), which is much easier when you can just call the original Word 97 code, bugs and all.
- monocasa 8y ago
  Office is somewhere around an order of magnitude of so more code, everything I've heard is that it's nightmare fuel levels of legacy code that defies even refactoring within the same language, and has a bad habit of slurping up binary formats and doing crazy internal YOLO pointer chasing.
  - nineteen999 8y ago
    > and has a bad habit of slurping up binary formats and doing crazy internal YOLO pointer chasing. ... you know that this about what 9/10th's of an operating systems device driver code look like, right?
    - monocasa 8y ago
      Not from externally imported data. That's a privilege escalation vulnerability when the kernel pulls that crap.

pjmlp 8y ago

How do you think Office 365 works?

nineteen999 8y ago
A bunch of tiny pjmlp's running around in a hamster wheel providing electricity maybe? Are you suggesting the post I linked above from someone claiming to be an engineer on Office is inaccurate? It may be well be, but it sounds more plausible and supportable than whatever question it is you seem to be posing. If you have evidence to suggest that Office365 is written in C# these days I'd like to see it please, because I have read on more than one occasion over the last 10 years that MS had attempted this and given up.
- pjmlp 8y ago
  I was referrring to Office 365 on Azure, which happens to run on the browser in case you missed it. Quoting your favourite engineer "The desktop app’s are fully native".
  - nineteen999 8y ago
    So you are talking about "Office 365 Mobile" and/or "Office 365 Online". There is also "Office 365 Desktop" which is what I think you'll find most large corporations that have migrated from Office 2016 Desktop apps are using. https://www.howtogeek.com/334597/whats-the-difference-between-microsoft-offices-desktop-web-and-mobile-apps/ https://www.howtogeek.com/334597/whats-the-difference-betwee... Office 365 Mobile/Online are much cut down, more comparable from Google Docs from the sounds of it, and hardly a 1:1 replacement for the Desktop apps. Which are still C/C++. In addition, if you have any hard evidence that the majority of the Office Mobile/Online web apps are written in C# I would like to see that, because I can't seem to find any. Thankyou.
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      If you have any hard evidence that the majority of the Office Mobile/Online web apps are written in C++ I would like to see that, because I can't seem to find any. Thankyou.