Syntax explanation using typedef

Question

I want to understand why FAR is used in the below typedef syntax?

#define FAR
//some other instructions
//.....
//.....

typedef struct tagDEVICE_BUFFER_W
{
 ....
 ....
}DEVICE_BUFFER_W;

typedef DEVICE_BUFFER_W FAR * LPDEVICE_BUFFER_W; //Why FAR is used here?

What if I dont use FAR as mentioned below? Will it make any difference?

typedef DEVICE_BUFFER_W * LPDEVICE_BUFFER_W;

Answer 1

It's legacy from the olden days. 16-bit Windows code had near and far pointers. I think it was to distinguish between inter-segment and intra-segment addressing, but the memory has faded (a lot).