[[art of unix programming]] points out that Windows registry are sometimes corrupted. ( Remember the standard advice to always back up the registry before editing it? ) When corrupted, the registry “frequently” breaks the entire system and requires a complete reinstall, as the book claims.
- weakness — the registry is a centralized hierarchical config data store shared in RW mode by all (dozens of) applications.
- weakness — single point of failure
In contrast, Unix config data is decentralized, but I won’t elaborate.
Centralized hierarchical configuration sounds plausible but isn’t reliable in practice.
