Should I offer my 8 year old to Microsoft to teach them the alphabet and how to count

[Steve]

This issue with Windows XP not correctly displaying multiple file names that
contain numbers is really stupid. And the thing that gets me the most is
Microsoft's lame explaination of why....


"Basically, instead of sorting character-by-character in the file name, any
numeric string is handled as a number. Therefore in the Windows XP example
earlier in this article, 401 is a higher number than 6, so Ie401sp2 is
sorted after Ie6. 501 is higher than 401, 4, and 6, so Ie501sp2 is sorted
last. "


This assumption is just plain stupid. How long has Windows been in
existence. 25+ years and now they try to fix something that should have been
fixed at the beginning. While this rule is technically correct, everyone has
been taught to look at a file name digit by digit to determine its sort
order. Now that everyone is used to seeing it one way, lets throw a monkey
wrench into the mix and confuse everyone.

Lets hope service pack 1 fixes the sort order because the registry fix
didn't

 

[Mike Mulligan]

This is a self-help group for people with questions about Windows XP.
Perhaps you like to post in one of the rant groups, where you will meet many
people of like mind.

Mike Mulligan

 

[Balberith]

"Basically, instead of sorting character-by-character in the file name,
any

numeric string is handled as a number. Therefore in the Windows XP example
earlier in this article, 401 is a higher number than 6, so Ie401sp2 is
sorted after Ie6. 501 is higher than 401, 4, and 6, so Ie501sp2 is sorted
last. "

It would appear that they already know the alphabet and how to count.
Alphabetic characters are sorted alphabetically and numerical values are
sorted numerically. Just because YOU would rather this was not the case it
does not mean that the rest of the world agrees with you.

I find that being able to list a collection of like named files, each of
which are suffixed by an increasing numerical value, in correct numerical
sequence to be quite sensible. It always irritated me that something with a
suffix of 11 would be listed before something with a suffix of just 2.

You may wish this to be 'fixed', but others of us, including it would appear
Microsoft, do not consider it to be broken. I am aware that you will not be
alone in your opinion, but I thought I would at least point out that neither
is Microsoft.

 

[Randall Arnold]

I've just gotten into the habit of using zeros to force proper sorting, eg,
"01", "02", etc. If nothing else, the filenames are parallel, too.

Randall Arnold

 

[Stephen]

Is what he talking about a change in behaviour from say Windows Millennium
to Windows XP ?

Stephen

--

Drop 123 to email me.


| This is a self-help group for people with questions about Windows XP.
| Perhaps you like to post in one of the rant groups, where you will meet
many
| people of like mind.
|
| Mike Mulligan
|
| | > This issue with Windows XP not correctly displaying multiple file names
| that
| > contain numbers is really stupid. And the thing that gets me the most is
| > Microsoft's lame explaination of why....
| >
| >
| > "Basically, instead of sorting character-by-character in the file name,
| any
| > numeric string is handled as a number. Therefore in the Windows XP
example
| > earlier in this article, 401 is a higher number than 6, so Ie401sp2 is
| > sorted after Ie6. 501 is higher than 401, 4, and 6, so Ie501sp2 is
sorted
| > last. "
| >
| >
| > This assumption is just plain stupid. How long has Windows been in
| > existence. 25+ years and now they try to fix something that should have
| been
| > fixed at the beginning. While this rule is technically correct, everyone
| has
| > been taught to look at a file name digit by digit to determine its sort
| > order. Now that everyone is used to seeing it one way, lets throw a
monkey
| > wrench into the mix and confuse everyone.
| >
| > Lets hope service pack 1 fixes the sort order because the registry fix
| > didn't
| >
| >
|
|

 

[Balberith]

I've just gotten into the habit of using zeros to force proper sorting,
eg,

"01", "02", etc. If nothing else, the filenames are parallel, too.

I confess I got into the same habit myself, out of necessity, particularly
back in the dark ages of fixed length filenames. It's a habit I'm more than
happy to have been able to lose.

 

[Joh N.]

Mike Mulligan, after spending 3 minutes figuring out which end of the pen to

This is a self-help group for people with questions about Windows XP.
Perhaps you like to post in one of the rant groups, where you will meet many
people of like mind.

This is a *general* XPee NG, therefore ranting is just fine in here. After
all, *you* just bitched in here.

Joh N.

 

[Duncan McNutt [FTSE]]

Self help? They why the **** do you ask us!¨

Help youre bloody self

 

[Alex Nichol]

"Basically, instead of sorting character-by-character in the file name, any
numeric string is handled as a number. Therefore in the Windows XP example
earlier in this article, 401 is a higher number than 6, so Ie401sp2 is
sorted after Ie6. 501 is higher than 401, 4, and 6, so Ie501sp2 is sorted
last. "


This assumption is just plain stupid. How long has Windows been in
existence. 25+ years and now they try to fix something that should have been
fixed at the beginning. While this rule is technically correct, everyonehas
been taught to look at a file name digit by digit to determine its sort
order. Now that everyone is used to seeing it one way, lets throw a monkey
wrench into the mix and confuse everyone.

I remember right through Win95 and Win98 there being a constant stream
of complaints from people that the sort was *not* based on numeric
value.

If you want to go back to the old method, there is a fix at
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
in IIRC line 170 for Sort Order

 

[Steve]

Hence my argument "25+ years and now they try to fix something that should
have been
fixed at the beginning" , not before everyone got used to the feature over
25+ years. Also, this fix didnt work on my system for some reason. I am
going to install sp1 hoping it fixes it

"Basically, instead of sorting character-by-character in the file name, any
numeric string is handled as a number. Therefore in the Windows XP example
earlier in this article, 401 is a higher number than 6, so Ie401sp2 is
sorted after Ie6. 501 is higher than 401, 4, and 6, so Ie501sp2 is sorted
last. "


This assumption is just plain stupid. How long has Windows been in
existence. 25+ years and now they try to fix something that should have been
fixed at the beginning. While this rule is technically correct, everyone has
been taught to look at a file name digit by digit to determine its sort
order. Now that everyone is used to seeing it one way, lets throw a monkey
wrench into the mix and confuse everyone.

I remember right through Win95 and Win98 there being a constant stream
of complaints from people that the sort was *not* based on numeric
value.

If you want to go back to the old method, there is a fix at
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
in IIRC line 170 for Sort Order

 

[Mike Mulligan]

PLONK

Mike Mulligan

Self help? They why the **** do you ask us!¨

Help youre bloody self
--

Duncan McNutt
Microsoft Product Deactivation Team
--

Mike Mulligan, after spending 3 minutes figuring out which end of the

pen

to

meet

 

[Alex Nichol]

Hence my argument "25+ years and now they try to fix something that should
have been
fixed at the beginning" , not before everyone got used to the feature over
25+ years. Also, this fix didnt work on my system for some reason. I am
going to install sp1 hoping it fixes it

If you go to SP1 you can get the SP1 version of TweakUI - one of the XP
Powertoys from
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Once installed you will find it in Start - All Programs - Powertoys for
Windows XP

Its 'Explorer' page has a 'use intuitive file sorting' check box.

I think the fix (which this does) is probably an SP1 matter