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MS Suggests Using Shims For XP-To-Win7 Transition

eldavojohn writes "Windows XP (and a lot of MS OS code before that) had a fundamental security flaw whereby the default setting made the ordinary user run as the superuser. Vista & Windows 7 have fixed that and implemented The Correct Paradigm. But what about the pre-Vista applications written to utilize superuser privileges? How do you migrate them forward? Well, running a virtualized instance of XP in Windows 7 is an option we've talked about. But Microsoft is pushing the idea of using 'shims,' which are a way to bypass or trick the code into thinking it's still running as user/superuser mode in Windows XP. This is an old trick that Microsoft has often employed, and it has brought the Windows kernel a long ways, in a duct-tape sort of fashion. At the TechEd conference in LA, Microsoft associate software architect Chris Jackson joked, 'If you walk too loudly down the hall near the [Windows] kernel developers, you'll break 20 to 30 apps.' So for you enterprise developers fretting about transitioning to Windows 7, shims are your suggested solution."

9 of 316 comments (clear)

  1. An alternate solution? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought it said "shivs". I guess that would be another way to coerce people into giving up their precious XP.

  2. if youve got to go through a bunch of hacks by wjh31 · · Score: 4, Funny

    just to get the software to work properly, you may as well just move to linux

  3. if i were a microsoft public relations flak by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Funny

    i would downplay this notion of shims, and ballyhoo this notion of duct tape

    shims just sound like a lame hack. using a shim means you've given up on elegance and respectability

    but duct tape is awesome! if you use duct tape to solve a problem you are a manly mcgyveresque resourceful type

    windows 7: the duct tape os, is a mark of pride dude!

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  4. Re:I know you slashdotters hate to hear it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is that a whoosh I hear?

  5. Re:Win kernel devs + loud noises = broken apps by VGPowerlord · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why "Woooooooohoooooooo!?" He could just as easily run around shouting "Developers, developers, developers, developers!"

    --
    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  6. Re:I know you slashdotters hate to hear it by x2A · · Score: 3, Funny

    I dunno, does your computer play 'whoosh' sounds at you when you scroll down or anything? If it's confusing you, you should turn that off.

    --
    The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
  7. Re:SysInternals BGInfo for the win by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow, what a great guy... I bet he's a really nice Santa Claus too... Oh wow... Is he for hire? Does he have a beard? He'll hafta bring his own fake beard if not... Oh, you sound like a nice guy too... I bet you'd like to sit on his lap... Do you wanta sit on santa's lap? I'll take a piiicture... Smile... Margosis... Sounds like osmosis... Did he work as a chemist? I bet he had some supplies for you! Wow... what a great guy...

  8. Re:I know you slashdotters hate to hear it by Joe+U · · Score: 4, Funny

    Funny, Apple was able to make the transition from insecure, single-user based OS to more secure, multi-user OS without too much trouble and keeping a compatibility layer for older apps. Why can't Microsoft do the same?

    When you only have about 20 apps for the platform, it's easy.

  9. Re:I know you slashdotters hate to hear it by sjames · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's why I refuse to get one of those newfangled autoMObiles until it knows what Giddap and Woah mean. I tried on once, but no matter how much I yelled or whipped it, it just wouldn't move.