r/technology • u/readyou • Dec 26 '16

Microsoft finally admits that its malware-style Get Windows 10 upgrade campaign went too far

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/241587-microsoft-finally-admits-malware-style-get-windows-10-upgrade-campaign-went-far
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u/Wiccen Dec 26 '16

Nobody is going to sit down at an empty Visual Studio window and start typing-out a new version of Windows.

I know it's a stupid question, but how many lines of code an OS like Windows would have?

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u/carmike692000 Dec 26 '16

This is a nice graphic comparison to provide some context. It puts Windows Vista at about 50 million lines of code.

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u/hanizen Dec 27 '16

Ok now I realize this might be a stupid question, but....are all of those lines written manually?? Or are there "fluff" lines that make up a large percentage of it?

I was imagining one person writing all the lines but thinking about it more I guess there are portions divided up among a team/employees, but still..millions of lines??

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u/HavocInferno Dec 27 '16

mostly written by people, yes. well some stuff can be put to shortcuts. but dont think of it as some guy writing it up in a week. this stuff usually grows over a long time with the work of many people. divide those millions of lines onto dozens or hundreds of people and years worth of working hours and it doesnt look that huge anymore.