[garaetjjte]

>how does this amaze anyone? how do people think backwards compatibility works?

That doesn't have anything with backwards compatibility. Nothing forces MS to stick to old ad-hoc memory dump format. Neither there is anything that would suggest registry is deprecated, new Windows components keep using it and adding piles of junk into it.

[naikrovek]

not everyone uses the APIs to interact with the registry. some manipulate the file itself. it's not supposed to be possible, but it is, and people do it. you have to keep the registry itself to keep backwards compatibility.

if everyone used the API, then yes you're correct. in my opinion, Microsoft should do what you stated, but they don't want to, out of fear of breaking backwards compatibility for people who do the wrong thing. their needs are just as valid as yours or mine.