• fred (unregistered)

    Surely The Real WTF is that Chris should have paid his Mastercard bill.

  • dkf (unregistered)

    What's the Curie point of the magnetic material used in hard drives?

  • (cs)
    (from Mike Douglas)

    I remember his TV show!

    Actually, I worked in the studio at KYW named "The Mike Douglas Studio"

  • Ralph Wiggum (unregistered)

    "Me fail English?, That's unpossible!"

  • (cs)
    Before you say that the Real WTF is that Chris didn't block-out his account number, you should know that his real account number isn't 5434600000000000, or even 5.4346E+15 for that matter...
    Sure, that's what Chris wants you to think.
  • (cs)

    "Potřebete více času?" means "Do you need more time?". Offhand I don't know the Czech for "Tough luck, buster!"

  • anon (unregistered)

    I am very thankful my task bar is not that cluttered.

  • (cs)

    Its a pretty freaking common temperature error there. Seen it before. Sensors do go kaput occasionally.

    Now that Windows error on ATM machine that's a classic. An ATM machine once ate my card, blue-screened and then rebooted XP without returning the card before my eyes. I haven't been completely at ease with ATM-s ever since. I really DO NOT understand why of all things Windows, the classic black hole in security and reliability, is used for this. I dread the day somebody gets a genius idea to stick a Vista in one of those. Yuck. Wouldn't it be much safer to use a properly locked down, read only media fire-walled FOSS software for the base system and top that off with a nice encrypted ATM control software?

  • Dean Menezes (unregistered)

    Hey! Eugene uses the same antivirus that I do!

  • Drasha (unregistered) in reply to The General
    The General:
    "Potřebete více času?" means "Do you need more time?". Offhand I don't know the Czech for "Tough luck, buster!"
    Well I think "Máš smůlu, vole" should do the trick...
  • Crash Magnet (unregistered)

    The language of the OS is not the same language as the application.

    This reminds me of a Pascal compiler written in Franch we used in engineering school. The compiler always printed error messages in English; except every once in a while an error message would be in French. The program was like a rude Frenchman; the program would respond in English, but then make a very rude commen in French then hide behind a smile.

  • s. (unregistered) in reply to death
    death:
    I really DO NOT understand why of all things Windows, the classic black hole in security and reliability, is used for this.

    Because bank managers are hardly ever technically literate, but they are certainly impressed by Microsoft's financial success and can't believe it could be achieved by anything but a greatest of products.

    Microsoft is very Enterprisey, and banks are a quintesence of Enterpriseyness. Of course they wouldn't trust their assets to what was made by a bunch of hackers all over the world.

  • Phil (unregistered) in reply to death
    death:
    Its a pretty freaking common temperature error there. Seen it before. Sensors do go kaput occasionally.

    Now that Windows error on ATM machine that's a classic. An ATM machine once ate my card, blue-screened and then rebooted XP without returning the card before my eyes. I haven't been completely at ease with ATM-s ever since. I really DO NOT understand why of all things Windows, the classic black hole in security and reliability, is used for this. I dread the day somebody gets a genius idea to stick a Vista in one of those. Yuck. Wouldn't it be much safer to use a properly locked down, read only media fire-walled FOSS software for the base system and top that off with a nice encrypted ATM control software?

    That can easily attributed to the manufacturers of the money-counter-controller cards or whatever the heck they're called... For the most part they only write windows drivers and the don't let other people write drivers for other OS's. Though I do recall there were several O/S2 ATM around here and still are as well as Win NT.

    Cheers Phil

    btw. Is damnum as a captcha test on this site considered a WTF? :D

  • s. (unregistered) in reply to Crash Magnet
    Crash Magnet:
    The language of the OS is not the same language as the application.

    The similar WTF is translating of language keywords to native language. Say, Excel, polish version.

    Instead of 'IF()' you type 'JEZELI()' and so on. Now the trick is to interface it to Visual Basic, which still uses english counterparts, so you get a total mess and you have to guess how is given english keyword called in polish...

  • s. (unregistered)

    Please Tell <Report Destination Name> about this

    "Congratulations, <SUBJECT NAME HERE>! You must be the pride of <SUBJECT HOMETOWN HERE>!"

  • D2oris (unregistered) in reply to s.
    s.:
    Crash Magnet:
    The language of the OS is not the same language as the application.

    The similar WTF is translating of language keywords to native language. Say, Excel, polish version.

    Instead of 'IF()' you type 'JEZELI()' and so on. Now the trick is to interface it to Visual Basic, which still uses english counterparts, so you get a total mess and you have to guess how is given english keyword called in polish...

    This is one of the most insane designchoices I have come across. Here in Holland, the english version is very popular , and so is the Dutch version. Both use completely different functionnames.

  • Martin (unregistered)

    AANDCIA? Is it some CIA spyware?

  • Anonymous Coward (unregistered) in reply to death

    I once had a similar situation. A static spark while swiping my card (must have contacted the read sensor) caused the Diebold ATM to restart. Needless to say, I tried again, but to no avail.

    -captcha- "abigo" hmmmm...

  • (cs) in reply to death
    death:
    Its a pretty freaking common temperature error there. Seen it before. Sensors do go kaput occasionally.

    Now that Windows error on ATM machine that's a classic. An ATM machine once ate my card, blue-screened and then rebooted XP without returning the card before my eyes. I haven't been completely at ease with ATM-s ever since. I really DO NOT understand why of all things Windows, the classic black hole in security and reliability, is used for this. I dread the day somebody gets a genius idea to stick a Vista in one of those. Yuck. Wouldn't it be much safer to use a properly locked down, read only media fire-walled FOSS software for the base system and top that off with a nice encrypted ATM control software?

    And of course they'll leave the sidebar up so you always know what (analog) time it is and the current temperature... at their main office in Los Angeles.

  • (cs) in reply to s.
    s.:
    death:
    I really DO NOT understand why of all things Windows, the classic black hole in security and reliability, is used for this.

    Because bank managers are hardly ever technically literate, but they are certainly impressed by Microsoft's financial success and can't believe it could be achieved by anything but a greatest of products.

    Microsoft is very Enterprisey, and banks are a quintesence of Enterpriseyness. Of course they wouldn't trust their assets to what was made by a bunch of hackers all over the world.

    I doubt bank managers have a clue - or care - what software runs on their ATMs. However, it should be compatible with whatever else they've got, and many of them run Windows these days. My bank just upgraded to new Dell POS (Point of Sale, not that other acronym... but maybe that too...) machines with integrated card and check scanners, etc. I'm sure their software is a case study in WTFery.

    There are only a couple of ATM manufacturers, and they're the ones who decide on the platform anyway. But everyone knows that Linux machines still run Windows.

    This post is </sarcasm> delimited for the humor impaired.

  • Tassos Bassoukos (unregistered)

    Bah, that temperature is nothing compared to the 5000+ degrees Celsius of my laptop's CPU. That's not a laptop, that's a Nuclear Reactor!

    Of course, borken ACPI was to blame.

  • Jake (unregistered)

    Speaking of Prague, I came across this error message while walking by a building that was projecting images on their front window.

  • (cs) in reply to death
    death:
    Its a pretty freaking common temperature error there. Seen it before. Sensors do go kaput occasionally.

    Now that Windows error on ATM machine that's a classic. An ATM machine once ate my card, blue-screened and then rebooted XP without returning the card before my eyes. I haven't been completely at ease with ATM-s ever since. I really DO NOT understand why of all things Windows, the classic black hole in security and reliability, is used for this. I dread the day somebody gets a genius idea to stick a Vista in one of those. Yuck. Wouldn't it be much safer to use a properly locked down, read only media fire-walled FOSS software for the base system and top that off with a nice encrypted ATM control software?

    They used to use OS/2. That being said, you seem to be assuming that Windows cannot be firewalled or use encrypted communications.

    By the way, the "m" in ATM stands for "machine."

  • G (unregistered)

    if they would have used signed char, everything would be ok at -2 C. the cooler, the better, right? not

  • (cs) in reply to T $
    T $:
    Before you say that the Real WTF is that Chris didn't block-out his account number, you should know that his real account number isn't 5434600000000000, or even 5.4346E+15 for that matter...
    Sure, that's what Chris wants you to think.

    Or maybe TheRealWTF is that Chris's account number is actually 1503294955. Which would happen if an integer was interpreted as a float (i.e. with a bad printf statement).

    @see System.out.println(Float.floatToRawIntBits(5.4346E+15F));

  • (cs) in reply to D2oris
    D2oris:

    This is one of the most insane designchoices I have come across. Here in Holland, the english version is very popular , and so is the Dutch version. Both use completely different functionnames.

    I don't suppose either version understands the other language. We can't have anyone sharing spreadsheets with the Dutch.

  • MBV (unregistered)

    Did anybody notice the 'debug'-button on the ATM? AFAIK that does only appear when someone installs Visual Studio or the like. Why on earth would you need that on an ATM?

  • Villa (unregistered)

    The Real WTF is that ridiculously overloaded taskbar. I'm so happy I no longer have to use Windows as my main OS.

    CAPTCHA: transverbero Huh?

  • Redundancy (unregistered) in reply to operagost
    operagost:
    By the way, the "m" in ATM stands for "machine."

    "ATM machine" is about as redundant as "hot water heater". People can't help but be redundant and repeat themselves.

  • (cs) in reply to kipthegreat
    kipthegreat:
    T $:
    Before you say that the Real WTF is that Chris didn't block-out his account number, you should know that his real account number isn't 5434600000000000, or even 5.4346E+15 for that matter...
    Sure, that's what Chris wants you to think.

    Or maybe TheRealWTF is that Chris's account number is actually 1503294955. Which would happen if an integer was interpreted as a float (i.e. with a bad printf statement).

    @see System.out.println(Float.floatToRawIntBits(5.4346E+15F));

    Nice, I was waiting for someone to do the legwork that I did not want to do.

  • (cs) in reply to Villa

    Is the third one running WindowBlinds? If so, that would explain why the "unvisible" window is shown, the bizarre hacks that WindowBlinds uses just broke on an edge case. SOP for WB.

  • (cs) in reply to anon
    anon:
    I am very thankful my task bar is not that cluttered.
    Eugene seems to be heavily into weather. He's got two taskbar icons showing the temp(and disagreeing on it), and two umbrellas.
  • ChiefCrazyTalk (unregistered) in reply to death
    death:
    Its a pretty freaking common temperature error there. Seen it before. Sensors do go kaput occasionally.

    Now that Windows error on ATM machine that's a classic. An ATM machine once ate my card, blue-screened and then rebooted XP without returning the card before my eyes. I haven't been completely at ease with ATM-s ever since. I really DO NOT understand why of all things Windows, the classic black hole in security and reliability, is used for this. I dread the day somebody gets a genius idea to stick a Vista in one of those. Yuck. Wouldn't it be much safer to use a properly locked down, read only media fire-walled FOSS software for the base system and top that off with a nice encrypted ATM control software?

    Could be worse. I once toured a company that made software for controlling machines that perform brain surgery - and they ran on XP.

  • Shinobu (unregistered) in reply to SuperousOxide

    [quote user="SuperousOxide"][quote user="D2oris"]I don't suppose either version understands the other language. We can't have anyone sharing spreadsheets with the Dutch.[/quote]I have in the past used an ancient version of Excel that even had a Dutch Visual Basic... I found it very funny. However, I had no compatibility problems. Open the file in English Excel and the keywords were in English, open the same file in Dutch Excel and the keywords were in Dutch. Perhaps it translated. Or perhaps it didn't store keywords as text?

  • (cs)

    TRWTF is that not only the ATM runs windows and something crashed, but the ATM has some kind of a debugger installed on it and registered for JustInTime debuging. Otherwise the [Debug] button wouldn't show up.

  • (cs)

    And this is why you should never, ever, launch Minesweeper on an ATM.

  • (cs)

    Let's see. While operating an ATM, could I possibly "Be in the middle of something?" Nah... I was just pushing buttons randomly.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward:
    A static spark while swiping my card ... caused the Diebold ATM to restart.
    Diebold also makes those controversial electronic voting machines. That static spark was probably detected by one and caused and extra vote for [insert favorite candidate, or least favorite if funnier] somewhere.
  • (cs) in reply to bdew
    bdew:
    TRWTF is that not only the ATM runs windows and something crashed, but the ATM has some kind of a debugger installed on it and registered for JustInTime debuging. Otherwise the [Debug] button wouldn't show up.

    How is that a WTF? It seems to me to be a pretty good way to deal with crashes on ATM software... once the developer gets notified that the ATM is down, they can TS in and hit the Debug button, and they get a continuable debug session.

  • jc (unregistered)

    I'm Czech, pretty cool to see something from our 'top quelity' IT level on this great site :D Strangely enough, the headline on the ATM says "Do you need more time ?" with yes/no options...

  • (cs) in reply to Maurits
    Maurits:
    bdew:
    TRWTF is that not only the ATM runs windows and something crashed, but the ATM has some kind of a debugger installed on it and registered for JustInTime debuging. Otherwise the [Debug] button wouldn't show up.

    How is that a WTF? It seems to me to be a pretty good way to deal with crashes on ATM software... once the developer gets notified that the ATM is down, they can TS in and hit the Debug button, and they get a continuable debug session.

    The mere thought of someone TSing to an ATM gives me the willies.

  • Andrew (unregistered) in reply to Crash Magnet
    Crash Magnet:
    The language of the OS is not the same language as the application.

    This reminds me of a Pascal compiler written in Franch we used in engineering school. The compiler always printed error messages in English; except every once in a while an error message would be in French. The program was like a rude Frenchman; the program would respond in English, but then make a very rude commen in French then hide behind a smile.

    It must have that "Je ne sais por quoi".

  • (cs) in reply to Maurits
    Maurits:
    bdew:
    TRWTF is that not only the ATM runs windows and something crashed, but the ATM has some kind of a debugger installed on it and registered for JustInTime debuging. Otherwise the [Debug] button wouldn't show up.

    How is that a WTF? It seems to me to be a pretty good way to deal with crashes on ATM software... once the developer gets notified that the ATM is down, they can TS in and hit the Debug button, and they get a continuable debug session.

    There are much better (and safer) ways to find out what happened.

    Please NEVER work on ATM software.

  • rast (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous Coward

    [quote user="Anonymous Coward"]I once had a similar situation. A static spark while swiping my card (must have contacted the read sensor) caused the Diebold ATM to restart. Needless to say, I tried again, but to no avail.[quote]On the plus side, you just voted twice for Hillary.

  • anon (unregistered) in reply to FredSaw
    FredSaw:
    anon:
    I am very thankful my task bar is not that cluttered.
    Eugene seems to be heavily into weather. He's got two taskbar icons showing the temp(and disagreeing on it), and two umbrellas.

    Not to mention running three anti-virus suites simultaneously...

  • PeriSoft (unregistered)

    Hooo, boy. Heads are gonna roll at <report destination name> tonight!

  • Hey Steve! (unregistered)

    At 254C the soldier would be coming off of the disc controller... [and probably other worse things]

  • (cs) in reply to Hey Steve!
    Hey Steve!:
    At 254C the soldier would be coming off of the disc controller... [and probably other worse things]

    Clearly our society is becoming increasingly militarized. We've gone from angels dancing on the head of a pin to soldiers melting on a disc controller.

  • (cs) in reply to rast
    rast:
    Anonymous Coward:
    I once had a similar situation. A static spark while swiping my card (must have contacted the read sensor) caused the Diebold ATM to restart. Needless to say, I tried again, but to no avail.
    On the plus side, you just voted twice for Hillary.

    If it's a Diebold machine, I think it's safe to assume that it's absolutely not going to record any extra votes for Hillary. Maybe you meant to say Huckabee?

  • John the 4294967295th Smith (unregistered)

    There are so many WTFs in these comments...

    ChiefCrazyTalk:
    Could be worse. I once toured a company that made software for controlling machines that perform brain surgery - and they ran on XP.
    Now I'm scared. o_o

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