From your one can tell that Windows is really engrained in your workflow. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's sometimes good to open up a bit and acknowledge the weaknesses of a system such that you can use this knowledge for future decisions.
So let me give you examples of why the registry is wrong. Let's say you or a user that you administer has a problem with Complex GUI application - for some reason it won't start anymore. What's your usual solution in Windows? Right, reinstall the thing and hope for the registry being cleaned ine the process. POSIX systems? Delete the config files either in the home folder or globally per app. OSX even has forma and location of these files standardized.
Then again, why even install an app? A userland application should never feel the need of any 'installation'. That's again how it works in OSX, mostly thanks to being registry free.
The main benefit of the Windows way is how registry settings can be pushed with the AD - but there's no reason this couldn't be solved without a registry. Containerization is where I see POSIX going in order to solve this.
Wait just a minute. The topic was registry corruption. Not whether the registry is a good or bad idea as a whole.
All I said is that the registry corruption is a non issue. It was a slight problem on Windows 9x; but it never happened to me personally. But was never an issue at any point on Windows NT based systems.
I've known for years that the registry in itself is a software design anti-pattern. It's just a giant bag of global mutable state. Of course it is bad by design. But don't let a bad design be misconstrued as something that is also buggy and prone to corruption. Because it isn't.
PS: It's not that Windows is "engrained in my workflow". Full disclosure: I use a MacBook. It's just me defending it against senseless and baseless attacks and accusations here on HN. I notice for example that people shut up when I pointed out that Windows has the most advanced pluggable driver model of any mainstream OS and that it is laughable to suggest it requires improvement to catch up; because they know it is correct.
"What about the registry? Any idea if they'll make that easier to manage for regular people? Am I still fucked if it corrupts?"
Which I also understand as a criticism on how it works in the first place. Also, I see 'corruption' not just when the whole registry is rendered unusable (which never happened to me at least and I've never read about such a case), but when applications create a state that renders them unusable, and that state persists in the registry such that one either has to reinstall his whole OS or go hack the registry (which even most electronics store supporters can't do, so without enterprise level support or deep technical know how any user is out of luck).
So let me give you examples of why the registry is wrong. Let's say you or a user that you administer has a problem with Complex GUI application - for some reason it won't start anymore. What's your usual solution in Windows? Right, reinstall the thing and hope for the registry being cleaned ine the process. POSIX systems? Delete the config files either in the home folder or globally per app. OSX even has forma and location of these files standardized.
Then again, why even install an app? A userland application should never feel the need of any 'installation'. That's again how it works in OSX, mostly thanks to being registry free.
The main benefit of the Windows way is how registry settings can be pushed with the AD - but there's no reason this couldn't be solved without a registry. Containerization is where I see POSIX going in order to solve this.