--- title: "If Windows were designed today, would the Registry exist?" url: https://daily.dev/posts/if-windows-were-designed-today-would-the-registry-exist--zikckzdfe source_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkrbew3Ls60 type: video:youtube source: "Microsoft Developer" published: 2026-05-20T16:26:53.557Z updated: 2026-05-20T16:27:11.511Z tags: ["linux", "windows"] reading_time: 1 upvotes: 0 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # If Windows were designed today, would the Registry exist? **[Microsoft Developer](https://daily.dev/sources/microsoftdeveloper)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A reflection on whether the Windows Registry would be designed the same way if Windows were built today. The Registry is essentially a structured configuration database (internally called the Configuration Manager) with hierarchical hives, fine-grained ACLs, and its own API surface. In contrast, Linux uses flat text files per application with no global configuration store. The argument is that a more human-readable, file-based approach — similar to Linux — would likely be chosen over the opaque, schema-driven Registry if Windows were redesigned from scratch. Windows 8 partially acknowledged this with app hives for modern apps carrying their own configuration. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I got tired of hunting through Windows for every setting, so I built my own control center](https://daily.dev/posts/i-got-tired-of-hunting-through-windows-for-every-setting-so-i-built-my-own-control-center-bgdrgxw2g) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Microsoft desperately needs to steal this one Linux feature to fix Windows 11, and it's not the package manager](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-desperately-needs-to-steal-this-one-linux-feature-to-fix-windows-11-and-it-s-not-the-pack-txqtceg25) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [These 5 Windows defaults don't exist on Linux, and that's exactly why I prefer it](https://daily.dev/posts/these-5-windows-defaults-don-t-exist-on-linux-and-that-s-exactly-why-i-prefer-it-rjosjyonq) · XDA Developers · 4 upvotes · 3 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/if-windows-were-designed-today-would-the-registry-exist--zikckzdfe)