Why does Windows use a registry?

And Unix - Linux, Leopard dont.

They use config files but isnt that similar to pre 32bit windows or even DOS?

 

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I guess, if i were to answer my own question, is that MS developed the concept of a registry and it did'nt take off with other OS's.

What is it's purpose?

I know it is a configuration database but what else?

What are the Pro's and con's?

 

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Before Windows 95 you had .ini files, just like config files in Linux. I don't know why Microsoft decided to go from that to a registry, to me it seems like a step backward. Instead of keeping program settings in their logical place (in the same place as the program) you get every little setting piled into a giant trash heap they call the Registry.

The biggest mistake they made was making it so open. It should have been tucked away in the bowels of the OS, reserved for the most important things. Instead you get every little program dumping all kinds of keys into it, then not bothering to clean them up they're uninstalled.

I don't like it. Could have been designed better...

 

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I think the Registry was designed for Development compatibility. The understanding probably was that to make settings placed in one location to be available for other programs to access allowed developers to integrate programs together or used shared libraries.

Obviously though over the years rogue programmers have abused this ability by viruses/trojan's and hijacking methods being deployed to corrupt a persons registry.

It's all about integration at the end of the day, which Linux hadn't really been about (Linux is suppose to be Built to do a particular job with what ever programs/servers you install, not just start with a bunch of bloatware off the bat.)

[Edit]
Found something that goes a little more indepth into it.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000939.html

 

the primary reason for the registry is to make money for Microsoft...

it is one of the worst ideas ever implemented in any software package in the history of computing...

it was done purely for monetary reasons...

 

So how does it make MS any money? Oh, it doesn't.

 

I was thinking about it the other day when i moved a bunch of programs to different folders on a mac and they all still worked.

From the users standpoint it has no benefits that i am aware of. When you uninstall programs most uninstallers leave hundreds of keys behind.

Why would a developer even need to us the registry? It is a good place to hide program registration info. Nothing like punishing the people who actually pay for a product with call in activations and 55 character reg codes but this is not exclusive to MS os's.

Another question i would like to ask is:

Can you develop application for XP and Vista without writing files to registry? I know that you can but what is the benefit if your program had its own cinfiguration filess?

One thing that was somewhat confirmed after reading the link -http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000939.html - is that programs do seem to load faster on Windows

 

That's actually the proper way to do it, unless you have settings that'll require constant updating. For that the registry is faster, for everything else you should use config files.

I think programmers use the registry too much because it gives a little sense of security through obscurity. It makes it seem more internal to the program than having this information in a simple .ini file in the program's directory. Course anyone who bothers to look for it is still going to find it.

 

Thanks.

"Course anyone who bothers to look for it is still going to find it."

Except whehn they use keys that give no indication of where they came from. Then it just complicates things.

 

i've begun to notice you are quite bold and forthright in revealing the things you are ignorant of...

 

I'm an IT professional and I've never paid MS to fix a registry, and I've never known that to happen, ever.

That said, the registry therefore is not a money spinner for MS, and does not appear to prevent many and various people developing software for MS OS's, and making lots of money for themselves.

That said, you were talking bollocks.

 

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at least you're entertaining...

 

The registry is great. From a programmers point of view it is the best place to put configuration data. We programmers are not forced to use it, we have the freedom to use config file if we want.

The register is a great way to store system wide, and user specific data without having to mess about with user names, privileges etc..

It is true that some programmers do not completely remove registry data. But that is not the fault of the registry. A program can create a file anywhere the user has allowed it to have access to. The uninstall program is not forced to remove all data the program created an nor should it.

I say, love the registry

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. It seems that the only ones that hate it dont understand its purpose

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. I Use it all the time and would hate to loss it.

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When Windows 3.1 originally was released, .ini files (text files) were used for system and application configuration settings. Parsing through mass quantities of text at the time was very slow, so microsoft turned to a binary pseudo-database that they dubbed the registry. It was introduced with windows 95 and resulted in a significant performance increase.

Starting with Windows Vista and Windows 2008 server, Microsoft is only allowing programs with admin-permissions to write to the registry and seeing as 99% of all programs will be running with normal user permissions, programmers are going to have to write to data files. XML seems to be the standard for configuration file processing.

 

interesting ... could you elaborate?

Rick

 

On what specifically?

 

Probbly this:

"Microsoft is only allowing programs with admin-permissions to write to the registry and seeing as 99% of all programs will be running with normal user permissions, programmers are going to have to write to data files. XML seems to be the standard for configuration file processing."


BTW, thanks for the responses.

Blindman, that was a great post.

I dont think a databese such as registry and it's functions is bad either except for the potential of system corruption due to manually editing it or even programs that edit the registry which can make mistakes and cause problems. Also fragmentation of the rgistry and the fact it can get very large but then the data would have to be written somewhere anyway.

I had an interesting discussion with an Administrator once and asked him why dont certain OS's have disk defragmentors, his response was they dont need them. Why is that?

I do find that large programs load faster with registry based OS but then maybe that is due to other reasons. Would you attribute this to the registry?

 

Carefull you don't bang your head while riding that high horse of yours, ...

 

Windows has shitloads of settings; the registry is a sensible idea.

What isn't sensible, is that any software can write all over it. Huge registry = pain in the backside.

The only thing that confuses me, when it comes to software settings, is when programs need to insert themselves in the various computing layers. So if you install a program that monitors all IP packets, how the hell does it integrate itself into that layer?