Leythos <void@nowhere.lan> wrote in
news:ZGlof.190999$tD4.178442@tornado.ohiordc.rr.co m:
>
> Recode your application to make use of the Windows XP and 2000 User
> Level access restrictions. Sure, it's not going to work for 98/95/Me,
> but it means that your application will also work with Vista if you
> follow the User Level norms as documented by MS.
>
That is our problem in a nutshell. The majority of our users still use
Win95/98. That is why we don't code "properly". It's not by choice, its
by necessity. Worse still, some customers have a mixed bag of OS's; with
XP and 9x systems being used side-by-side.

No software shop can seriously hope to market their product by opening
with the line "First you have to upgrade all of your hardware...". So
what do the options become then? Market two separate versions of the
product? That would be a logistical nightmare.
>
> A User Level account CAN read the registry, just not where you've
> decided to place your information.
>
But again, we didn't decide WHERE to place the entry; REGSVR32 did. Is
there another way to register a DLL in Windows that allows me to place it
where I want? This is the only thing we use the registry for.

<snip>
>
> LOL, we design medical centers and their networks, HIPAA makes us a
> LOT of money. We also have to deal with developers that don't code to
> the secure way, they still code like it was windows 95/98 and don't
> pay attention to the restrictions - they don't teach that in schools
> you have to be kicked in the arse by it a few times to learn it
>
And then there are the developers who code like it was Win 9x because for
their clients, IT STILL IS. Regardless of what anyone says, customers
just want to get their job done; they don't give a c**p about having the
latest version of Windows to do it. Win 2K/XP and Vista may be the best
thing to ever happen to computers, but if a client doesn't want to spend
the money to have them and they decide to stick with Windows 95 what are
you supposed to do? In our case, we had a client base that was happy on
Win98 across-the-board. Then someone got a new computer pre-loaded with
WinXP SP2. When they tried to run our product it didn't work.

Please tell me, what would your suggestion be to the client.
1) Tell him to purchase 100 more workstations to upgrade the rest of his
staff so we can put them all on a WinXP-friendly version of the product?
2) Tell him to downgrade his fancy new workstation so our product will
run? (clients really DON'T like to hear that)
3) Drop them as a client because they are stirring up the waters and
causing the product not to run?

Sorry, but the point I am trying to make is it is very easy to state we
simply decided to ignore restrictions and didn't code properly. The fact
of the matter is we coded according to the restrictions placed on us by
our target market. Just like in the old days we couldn't develop 32 bit
Windows apps for DOS systems, today we can't develop an application based
on the Win2K User Level access restrictions and expect it to be properly
supported on our existing Win9x installations.
(But I do agree with you about the getting kicked in the arse part.)
>
> The ISV program is great for getting free help/info on methods and
> even 5 free MSDN Universal Subscriptions. You just have to comply with
> their requirements.
>
May have to look into this.