The “Netscape engineers are weenies” reference in Microsoft Visual InterDev 1.0 earlier this month might not be just an isolated incident. In Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-025, Microsoft mentions only Visual InterDev 1.0 and the associated file dvwssr.dll as containing the now-famous phrase in reverse-character order, “!seineew era sreenigne epacsteN.” However, a reader’s sharp eye has led to the discovery that the reference appears in as many as two other DLLs that install with Visual InterDev 6.0, Visual Studio 6.0, and Visual Studio 97. The same phrase has turned up in the dynamically linked libraries mdt2lv.dll and mdturet.dll.
According to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) DLL Help database, mdt2lv.dll is also part of Visual InterDev’s Link View function--the same function to which the previously reported dvwssr.dll contributed. Mdturet.dll is also a part of the much older Visual Studio 97. Microsoft is aware of this new discovery and is currently investigating it.
--Allen Jones (aj@io.com)