Vim thinks a directory is an illegal filename on Windows

[William S Fulton]

run: gvim .
on Windows at bottom it will say, eg: "C:\" Illegal file name
on Solaris and Linux at the bottom it will say, eg: . is a directory
The Unix message is less confusing. Can this for Windows versions as it 
still occurs in vim7.0f? Same message appears when doing
:new .

Thanks
William