Omitting unused global variables

[metr0]

Although the MSDN doesn't directly say so, my guess would be that manually assigning a section the string shall be placed in (explicitly allocating the space) makes the linker think of it as something external - why would one want to explicitly allocate/assign it if not for specific reasons? You're taking the trouble, so the linker might assume you know what you're doing.

Or it's just due to some internal MS design issues no one will ever know more about.