A recurring comment among Windows users is the identity crisis that afflicts its modern versions, which can seem like two operating systems in one. Microsoft keeps moving features to the new Settings menu, and more than once we've noticed that certain advanced parameters have been left behind. However, there's one detail that has remained intact for the last 30 years: the dialog for formatting drives. The most impressive part? It was supposed to be temporary…
The concept of the steering wheel for ground vehicles dates back over 150 years. 150 years later, the wheel hasn't gone anywhere, and the reason is simple: it works. "Change for the sake of change" has its share of negative effects, and we've learned that lesson many times thanks to Windows. Microsoft has changed its main interface three times (8.x, 10, and 11), and still hasn't found the right solution. However, there are also elements that haven't received any adjustments in decades... and one of them has kept the same appearance since 1994.
The Format Dialog: A 'Temporary Solution' That Lasted 30 Years
The explanation comes from Dave Plummer, a retired Microsoft engineer we've mentioned several times on NeoTeo. Dave reveals on his Twitter account that he wrote the disk formatting dialog on "a rainy Thursday morning" in late 1994. Microsoft programmers were converting the Windows 95 interface code for use in Windows NT, but the format function was so different in NT that it needed a custom interface.
With the help of VC++ 2.0 and the Resource Editor, Dave created a vertical list with all the actions the user needed to define, following a more or less correct order. A classic example of "form follows function," but it was an adequate placeholder until the new interface was finished. What Dave never imagined is that 30 years later, his improvised vertical list would still be the default option in Windows 11.
Back then, Dave also had to specify the maximum limit for the slack of clusters, thus creating the famous 32 GB ceiling on FAT32 partitions... but that's another story.
Source: Dave Plummer on X/Twitter
