The Old New Thing
The Old New Thing by Raymond Chenby Raymond Chen
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 9 computer history books by recommenders
Fun, historically rich engineering stories about Windows and MS-DOS that explain why things work the way they do. One critic notes it is not official documentation.
Fun, historically rich engineering stories about Windows and MS-DOS that explain why things work the way they do. One critic notes it is not official documentation.
32 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 31
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 97%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 31 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 31 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Consistently solid, enjoyable articles
“Nearly every single entry is interesting, informative, and illuminating”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone” “delivering consistently solid stories about Windows”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “The time the x86 emulator team found code so bad they fixed it during emulation” “one of the best things coming out of Microsoft”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “The Microsoft SoftCard for the Apple II: Getting two processors to share memory” - Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone”
- Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “GitHub: A case study in link maintenance and 404 pages (2013)”
- Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “The little-known winstart.bat batch file”
- Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: What are your favorite blogs not about AI?”
Historical stories about Windows
“I love Raymond's periodic peeks into how Windows/386 and later were not just shells atop DOS shells”
Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “The little-known winstart.bat batch file” “Raymond Chen has been sharing stories about Windows 95 development for decades at this point.”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Why Microsoft Entertainment Pack had a sticker announcing that it had Tetris?” “Raymond Chen's articles are the true wealth of contemporary tech-lore”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone” - Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “How did Windows 95 get permission to put the Weezer video Buddy Holly on the CD?”
- Comment from 5 May 2026 in “IBM didn't want Microsoft to use the Tab key to move between dialog fields”
Real engineering behind odd behaviour
“Every weird thing I've ever seen him address turns out to be something that has had real thought and engineering put into it”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Understanding the rationale behind a rule when trying to circumvent it” “The Old New Thing is very much engineering.”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “The Microsoft SoftCard for the Apple II: Getting two processors to share memory” Relatable analogies and no fluff
“Raymond's work often uses analogies to everyday, real life situations to make the technical stuff more relatable.”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone” “no fluff and straight to the point”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Swapping two blocks of memory inside a larger block, in constant memory”
Other computer history books people recommend
The four most recommended other computer history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Soul of a New Machineby Tracy Kidder | 59 | 0 | 100% | 8 | 28 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| The Old New Thingby Raymond ChenThis page | 31 | 1 | 97% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Accidental Empiresby Bob Cringely | 15 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| A History of Lisp | 11 | 3 | 79% | 1 | — | — |
| Turing's Cathedralby George Dyson | 10 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
28 of the 33 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The closest thing we get to art appreciation thus is blogs like Raymond Chen's Old New Thing”
“To get the human perspective about something from an expert.”
“Raymond's work often uses analogies to everyday, real life situations to make the technical stuff more relatable.”
“Raymond Chen's articles are the true wealth of contemporary tech-lore”
“Nearly every single entry is interesting, informative, and illuminating”
“Raymond Chen is my favorite MS blog writer”
“Raymond Chen has been sharing stories about Windows 95 development for decades at this point.”
“Raymond Chen certainly publishes such tidbits on his Microsoft blog”
“Always enjoy a Raymond Chen article”
“I love Raymond's periodic peeks into how Windows/386 and later were not just shells atop DOS shells”
“This is my favorite from him”
“Every weird thing I've ever seen him address turns out to be something that has had real thought and engineering put into it”
“delivering consistently solid stories about Windows”
“I love Raymond Chen's historical posts.”
“you realize what people click isn't always what they want”
“Probably the blogs helped make me appreciate it (especially Raymond Chen's The Old New Thing)”
“consistently write historical yet fun blog posts for decades”
“Raymond Chen's blog isn't exactly official documentation, even if it's frequently better than the documentation.”
“Raymond Chen's articles are excellent”
“no fluff and straight to the point”
“I loved to read The Old New Thing back in the day”
“Raymond Chen's The Old New Thing is also required reading for anyone that works with Windows”
“My favorite story about garbage collection”
“has been blogging about maintaining legacy systems, Windows and MS-DOS for over 2 decades”
“Raymond chen has shared enough insights for us to build a whole wiki out of it”
“Any contemporary engineers who don't think they have anything to learn from the experience of the past”
“The Old New Thing is very much engineering.”
“one of the best things coming out of Microsoft”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.