On: Starting emails with "BEGIN PGP MESSAGE" will fool...

[gitgud]

So MS recommended to “stop using the word begin at the beginning of a new line”… insanity

I would love to see a link for this, blows my mind!

[xeeeeeeeeeeenu → gitgud]

Here's an archived version of the Microsoft Knowledge Base article about the bug:

Outlook Express: https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php?title=Microsoft_K...

Outlook: https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php?title=Microsoft_K...

[tivert → xeeeeeeeeeeenu]

Apparently they think it's easier to change the English language than fix their buggy code.

Seems sensible.

[gpderetta → tivert]

To be fair it is listed as workaround, pending an actual fix.

[wongarsu → gpderetta]

And to be fair in normal English orthography the word begin is never followed by two spaces. This is more like Microsoft wanting everyone to write proper English than Microsoft wanting to change the English language

[hostyle → wongarsu]

I have vague memories of it being a Microsoft thing to insert two spaces at the end of every sentence? I could be misremembering.

The bug here was not "begin" followed by two spaces, but rather its "begin" followed by some other text followed by two spaces, which if i recall correctly is exactly what Microsoft would auto-format your text to.

[TeMPOraL → tivert]

If they make the spellchecker flag this, then yes, they might effectively change the English language over several years.