4 ms·

Why doesn't .com have the same effect? It was a common extension in DOS/Windows years back. I haven't been on those operating systems in decades so has it has b

Why doesn't .com have the same effect? It was a common extension in DOS/Windows years back. I haven't been on those operating systems in decades so has it has been fully replaced by .exe?

spicybright 3y ago
It's been completely replaced with .exe since 16-bit computers became common.
- postalrat 3y ago
  Another comment says Windows still has some. Are they wrong or are you wrong?
  - Delk 3y ago
    At work and not on Windows at the moment, but AFAIK there are some command-line tools that are still named .com to avoid breaking batch files etc. that might call them by full name. They're actually PE executables or whatever, so they're .com in name only. There's probably little potential for confusion with the domain, though, considering that people without significant experience probably never encounter those com executables in the first place and wouldn't even know they exist. Even people who do know enough have to ask if they're even named that way anymore. Edit: Also 16-bit processors weren't the point where com executables became replaced. PCs have been at least 16-bit since the beginning (8086) and actual com executables were still a thing.
scrapheap 3y ago
I've had a quick look at a Windows 10 install and while there are still some .com files in there, they all appear to actually be the modern Portable Executable format. This makes sense given the old .com format was really just a binary blob that would be loaded into a single 64k memory segment. Keeping backwards compatibility for running them on modern 64bit processors would be difficult. At the same time Microsoft wouldn't want to break people's batch files if it can be avoided. By replacing the .com file's contents with logically equivalent code in a more modern executable format they can keep those batch files running without having to actually support legacy .com executable format. (note, that's all guesswork, Microsoft could have had a different reasons for doing it :) )
pixl97 3y ago
There are a massive number of windows applications that end up with special consideration around .com, and any potentially executable content like .exe, .cpl, .scr and others. Also, .com tld was created around 4 years before the word cybersecurity was coined. So you have really old stuff that was created before the vast majority of modern internet software was written and that ecosystem grew up with the expectation and quirks of the behaviors of the tld. Simply put when .com files were common, internet users were far less common, and generally more experienced computer users, and the number of bad actors was far lower. Way back in the IE3/4/5 days visiting a .com website would commonly leave files with a .com extension in your temporary internet files with random non executable content inside the files, which made anti-virus really happy. Microsoft went about hiding the temporary internet files in more convoluted fashion over time also so the end user would not stumble upon it. Now with the .zip domain, we're getting back into new and fun issues with file:// vs https:// https:// context.
jahsome 3y ago
Twitter didn't exist. There was no echo chamber of fear mongering.

Why doesn't .com have the same effect? It was a common extension in DOS/Windows years back. I haven't been on those operating systems in decades so has it has been fully replaced by .exe?

spicybright 3y ago

It's been completely replaced with .exe since 16-bit computers became common.

postalrat 3y ago
Another comment says Windows still has some. Are they wrong or are you wrong?
- Delk 3y ago
  At work and not on Windows at the moment, but AFAIK there are some command-line tools that are still named .com to avoid breaking batch files etc. that might call them by full name. They're actually PE executables or whatever, so they're .com in name only. There's probably little potential for confusion with the domain, though, considering that people without significant experience probably never encounter those com executables in the first place and wouldn't even know they exist. Even people who do know enough have to ask if they're even named that way anymore. Edit: Also 16-bit processors weren't the point where com executables became replaced. PCs have been at least 16-bit since the beginning (8086) and actual com executables were still a thing.

scrapheap 3y ago

I've had a quick look at a Windows 10 install and while there are still some .com files in there, they all appear to actually be the modern Portable Executable format. This makes sense given the old .com format was really just a binary blob that would be loaded into a single 64k memory segment. Keeping backwards compatibility for running them on modern 64bit processors would be difficult. At the same time Microsoft wouldn't want to break people's batch files if it can be avoided. By replacing the .com file's contents with logically equivalent code in a more modern executable format they can keep those batch files running without having to actually support legacy .com executable format. (note, that's all guesswork, Microsoft could have had a different reasons for doing it :) )

pixl97 3y ago

There are a massive number of windows applications that end up with special consideration around .com, and any potentially executable content like .exe, .cpl, .scr and others. Also, .com tld was created around 4 years before the word cybersecurity was coined. So you have really old stuff that was created before the vast majority of modern internet software was written and that ecosystem grew up with the expectation and quirks of the behaviors of the tld. Simply put when .com files were common, internet users were far less common, and generally more experienced computer users, and the number of bad actors was far lower. Way back in the IE3/4/5 days visiting a .com website would commonly leave files with a .com extension in your temporary internet files with random non executable content inside the files, which made anti-virus really happy. Microsoft went about hiding the temporary internet files in more convoluted fashion over time also so the end user would not stumble upon it. Now with the .zip domain, we're getting back into new and fun issues with file:// vs https:// https:// context.

jahsome 3y ago

Twitter didn't exist. There was no echo chamber of fear mongering.