Windows O/S - Puzzled and curious

Many years ago I was an Atari user hooked up to a HD. If/when the OS crashed, I never had to reinstall all the software back onto the machine, because GEM-TOS, held this stuff in a separate folder outside the OS. Now this sounds to me an extremely logical way of working, and with the vast amounts of memory and computing speed of modern PCs, I just cannot understand and am puzzled why MS Windows, doesn't/hasn't implemented the same principle. After all, it's only going to take a few nanoseconds to read data held in a folder outside the OS, instead of burying 'bits' of Apps, deep inside the OS.

Is there a logical reason why MS cannot or don't want to do the same thing? Just think of the hours of misery users would no longer be subjected to, if you could reinstall windows without having to also reinstall all their software again! I'm wondering if there is a patent/copywrite on this type of configuration, which prevents them from implementing something like this?

If the Windows OS installed the data other Apps need to put inside the OS, and also saved a copy of it, in another folder OUTSIDE the OS, when you have to reinstall the OS, the install process could read the contents of this file, and put this stuff back into the OS when you reinstall Windows. Why not employ a 'plug-in' system similar to what Adobe uses on many of their products.

Hi,

As first response: -

Windows "Incorporates software" into the system & therefore does not work in the same way. Most of the software from back then was "Stand alone" in configuration & even ran from floppy disks.

Any thoughts?

Well, yes, burying stuff inside the O/S means that when windows crashes, you have to reinstall all your Apps again. Presumably MS thinks their Apps installation setup is 'quite acceptable' and users love wasting their time doing this! If that is the case, I'd love to see them run a 'Poll' open to the public, asking if customers like reinstalling all their Apps after their O/S has crashed!

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