What algorithm did Windows XP use to choose your initial user picture?

 (devblogs.microsoft.com)

28 points | by soheilpro 1 hour ago

5 comments

  • bombcar 2 minutes ago
    Does it also check existing users so you don't match one?
  • cgio 18 minutes ago
    The times when people spent an extra brain cycle to avoid billions of second passes.
  • bhaney 28 minutes ago
    100 seems like a very unnecessarily low limit, even for the time
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    • daveoc64 14 minutes ago
      It's well above the number of images that were in the applicable folder by default, so seems pretty appropriate to me.
  • jasonvorhe 40 minutes ago
    A couple of screenshots would've been useful for the post-millennial generations that never got to see the "beauty" (cough) of XP.
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    • moritzwarhier 29 minutes ago
      Here's a blog post from 2003 with beautiful pictures.

      https://jakeludington.com/2003/12/17/create_your_own_windows...

    • PalmPilotProMax 5 minutes ago
      I don't see how that's relevant? Article is about the RNG implementation, it doesn't matter what the profile pictures are.
    • Maken 16 minutes ago
      XP is Microsoft's prettiest OS by far.
      [-]
      • mrweasel 4 minutes ago
        That's a matter of taste, but for many it was the Windows they used first and/or spend the most time on and there's a lot of love for that reason alone. I never used XP all that much, but I always changed the theme to the Windows 2000 look. I really didn't like the default, it looked unprofessional and clunky in my eyes. Upon release XP was also pretty universally mocked as a Fisher Price-like UI.

        To me Windows 95/NT 4 is still the gold standard in Windows UI. It's certainly not the prettiest, that would be Windows 2000, but it was easy to use, easy to navigate and efficient with space.

    • CalRobert 22 minutes ago
      I thought it looked great :-/
  • moritzwarhier 27 minutes ago
    Some say the Admin account defaulted to a chessboard.

    I think it's true, but not sure if I'm just falling victim to false memories... help?

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    • bombcar 3 minutes ago
      It might be that the randomization code was bypassed in some cases - like creating an account in safe boot mode or similar.
    • abhinavk 7 minutes ago
      I remember it like that too. Or is it Mandela effect?