• Cappuccino wins every time (unregistered) in reply to Jonathan Levy
    Jonathan Levy:
    Oh no! I've been out-nit-picked!

    :)

    You wouldn't have those nits if you just used Windows!

  • (cs) in reply to snoofle
    snoofle:
    Hell, Tim Berners Lee hadn't even thought up the internet yet.
    And he still hasn't! He should be a saint of laundry!
  • Kay Bærulfsen (unregistered)

    I aso used a Miele based system when I was a student. The funny thing about that system was that it would broadcast UDP messages over the student network, including the userid and the amount of laundry in kg. I never tried to inject packets, but Im sure its connected directly to the billing system(!).

  • DOLS (unregistered)

    Denial Of Laundry Service: Reserve alla the machines :) !

  • Unfortunate Victim (unregistered)

    The OP forgot to mention this that while the username is a terribly long string of random letters that cannot be memorized, the password is a simple four digit number. And while the web interface will not let you change your password, it is more than happy to provide you with a new username!

  • (cs) in reply to Meganne
    Meganne:
    Right. But I must remind you that Norway is the most expensive country in the world, so one wash costs 12 NOK (Norwegian Kroner) which is about 1,5 dollars and something like 1,3 Euros. And that does not include the so-called drying!
    Okay, so the weekly laundry costs you about one beer a month. Doesn't seem exorbitant to me. Way back when I was a student, a wash at my beautiful launderette cost six Deutschmarks. Take into account the leap of prices that came with the Euro and inflation on top, that roughly corresponds to €6 - €6.50 in today's money (I've not been to a launderette since then, so I don't know how much they actually charge nowadays in Germany, but heck, it's gotta be much more than in Norway).
  • Josh (unregistered)

    TRWFT is no-one hacked it

  • DiverKas (unregistered) in reply to samanddeanus
    HTML is a web-based platform. It should be easy to make a laundry web site that works in Firefox, especially as Firefox has about 50% usage share and that the UI doesn't require anything except a few links, forms and radio buttons. Then just make sure you don't use any IE specific CSS.

    Firefox 50%??? lol, no.. last check under 23%.

  • (cs) in reply to elb01
    elb01:
    Drop ze apostrophe und schtep avay from ze keybordt.

    Oh great now we have vampires making comments..

    go back to taking pictures, otto.

  • Zapp Brannigan (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    A networked dryer. There is no greater WTF in this story than the delicious absurdity of a networked dryer.
    And yet who wouldn't pay to watch a live web cam of Megan Fox's panties fight with her bra in the dryer?
  • rainer (unregistered) in reply to Zapp Brannigan
    Zapp Brannigan:
    Few things burn through excess cash like a bungled SAP implementation.

    Not quite true. In fact, here we basically can't spend money because of a bungled SAP implementation (no way to account for expenses). Well, there's a workaround in place to keep our University afloat (since 01. Jan !!), but as far as I know, once the system works, all financial transactions will have to be re-entered...

  • Fnord (unregistered) in reply to rpresser
    rpresser:

    Ouch. I can tell from the URL that not only do they use Seriously Annoying Programs, they also use a certain portal server from a different software company. I do not want to work there. EVER.

  • (cs) in reply to Dlareg
    Dlareg:
    elb01:
    Drop ze apostrophe und schtep avay from ze keybordt.
    Oh great now we have vampires making comments..
    Or perhaps Jägermonsters. Hard to tell from the evidence.
  • m0ffx (unregistered) in reply to stevelaudig
    stevelaudig:
    Unless there is some compelling reason not to maybe hanging the laundry out to dry should be encouraged. Level of sympathy for the inconvenienced is close to zero.
    Well there's this really weird phenomenon. In some places it's quite common, but in others extremely rare.

    Basically, what happens is you hang your laundry out to dry. However, when you come to take it inside, it's wetter than it started! Everything else outside is wet as well - the ground, walls, benches, etc. all get coated in this mysterious layer of water. It's been known to happen day after day for well over a week sometimes. In winter it can even be frozen!

    No-one's quite sure why this happens. There's a fringe theory that the water falls from the sky, but most people think that's nonsense.

  • AndyL (unregistered) in reply to Lon Wett
    Lon Wett:
    Mac users (true, less than 50% of the population, so who really cares) Linux users (OK, less than 5%)
    Fascinating. You seem to have multiplied your percentages by 10.
  • Toodle (unregistered) in reply to pedro
    pedro:
    Follow this link to get to an information page at the university - the link itself is a wtf http://nexus.student.no/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4r3DATJgFjuJvqRyCIG8Y5wAV-P_NxU_YDg1JzU5JKAxPRU_SCgokhzoCJTH0v9qJzU9MTkSv1gfW_9gtzQiHLndEcAiB0W2Q!!/delta/base64xml/L0lDU0lKTTd1aUNTWS9vQW9RQUFJUWdTQUFZeGpHTVl4U21BISEvNEpGaUNvMERyRTVST2dxTkM3OVlRZyEhLzdfMF9QMy8x?WCM_PORTLET=PC_7_0_P3_WCM&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/SiO/Housing+Units/Resident/Book+a+washing+machine+and+pay+online

    Hahaha! Classic SAP friendly URL.

    SAP must have the best salespeople in the world, but I don't think those salespeople ever have to actually use anything built by the company. If they did, they would be curled up in a corner of a padded room, caught in an endless feedback loop of self-recrimination for all the horror they've inflicted on their customers.

    Oh, and on $14m? Wow, for SAP that's a steal!

    (I'm not bitter or anything)

  • meh (unregistered) in reply to AndyC
    AndyC:
    kastein:
    That's all well and good, but most enterprisey software is retarded and uses gobs of custom nonsense (think ActiveX controls, browser specific scripting etc etc) that only works on IE, or they detect your user-agent and refuse to let you even try viewing the site unless you fake it.

    That's because, in the enterprise world, if you aren't using IE you're wasting money. None of the other major browsers (Firefox, Opera, Safari) have proper enterprise support, they can't even update themselves without administrator intervention. Epic Fail.

    No amount of freetards getting jizzy over how much more standards compliant browser X is counts for a damn out there in the real world.

    Stop the presses, this post -and the fact the guy actually seems to buy it - was the real WTF.

    captcha: odio (hatred)

  • Taylor (unregistered) in reply to Kirt
    Kirt:
    Lon Wett:
    I mean, really, W. T. F. are you thinking?
    Chill out dude. I'm thinking that practically everyone has access to a Windows machine somewhere nearby, so why should I be expected to code for every oddball platform no one's ever seen before?

    This is true for desktop software in many cases. As much as I like my Linux system, I know the business case doesn't always exist to support it. But for web apps there's really no excuse. It's not hard to create a web app that will work on any platform. It also means that the next IE update wont break your app.

  • m0ffx (unregistered) in reply to meh
    meh:
    AndyC:
    kastein:
    That's all well and good, but most enterprisey software is retarded and uses gobs of custom nonsense (think ActiveX controls, browser specific scripting etc etc) that only works on IE, or they detect your user-agent and refuse to let you even try viewing the site unless you fake it.

    That's because, in the enterprise world, if you aren't using IE you're wasting money. None of the other major browsers (Firefox, Opera, Safari) have proper enterprise support, they can't even update themselves without administrator intervention. Epic Fail.

    No amount of freetards getting jizzy over how much more standards compliant browser X is counts for a damn out there in the real world.

    Stop the presses, this post -and the fact the guy actually seems to buy it - was the real WTF.

    captcha: odio (hatred)

    Wooosh.

    Key word bolded to help you.

  • stevelaudig (unregistered) in reply to m0ffx

    "some compelling reason not to" rain would be such a compelling reason. Irony and satire are among the hardest forms of writing to master. They call for keen observation and honesty and should not be attempted by anyone not capable of either.

  • (cs) in reply to Zapp Brannigan
    Linux users don't wash their clothes or bathe.

    True. I only wear clothes when meeting Windows users. Upsets the beautiful women licking my naked body, but hey, work is work.

  • Craig (unregistered)

    Only $14 mil for a system from SAP? I don't believe it for a seconc!

  • Jimmy Jones (unregistered)

    The "dryers don't dry" problem is one I encountered many times when I was a student. It happens when you stuff a dryer absolutely full of clothes, stomp them a bit to pack them tightly together, then add another load of clothes to the tiny gap you just created, finally needing a friend to help you close the door.

    All to save money - because why pay for two loads when it all goes in one machine.

    But yeah, if this story is true it's truly worthy of a WTF award.

  • NorwegianDelight (unregistered)

    I've googled (in Norwegian, okay???) and searched and I can't come up with a scrap of verification for this story.

    Seems odd that no one would be bitching about the "Sogn Studentby vaskerier" on blogs/Twitter/FB. I only find a few twitters about the WTF.

    Is this just an excuse to do some Strange Accounting Purposes bashing?

  • Michael (unregistered)

    I've actually used that system for the better part of a year. It was horrible!

    Another issue with the system is that it fully relies on an internet connection. Which went down now and then, resulting in some tenant having to call the janitor, to get the janitor to open the system so we got to wash for free while they fixed the internet. The problem, of course, was that more often than not, the janitor spent 2-3 days before even showing up. Very fun.

    This system is employed at all student villages in Oslo, which are 5-6 places or so.

  • JTSandvik (unregistered) in reply to Thomas Misund
    Thomas Misund:
    A great deal of IT students in Oslo are using different GNU/Linux distributions as their preferred tool.

    I was thinking the same. If you design for students, you have assume they use all kinds of browsers. They are not your aunt.

    Bye the way, you are the first person here I have actually met in real life. And not for IT-related reasons either. (NGMF Veterankorpset.)

  • JTSandvik (unregistered) in reply to DiverKas
    DiverKas:
    HTML is a web-based platform. It should be easy to make a laundry web site that works in Firefox, especially as Firefox has about 50% usage share and that the UI doesn't require anything except a few links, forms and radio buttons. Then just make sure you don't use any IE specific CSS.

    Firefox 50%??? lol, no.. last check under 23%.

    Was that amongst your students or amongst the genral population? There is quite a difference, you know. Especially amongst IT students.
  • Heine & Marte (unregistered)

    Oh yeah! We have the same system at Bjølsen student village! We have just decided to establish the Bjølsen support group for the WSS (wet smelly students).

    Keep up the good work, we are with you in spirit!

  • Shea (unregistered)

    Bill changer. Token machine. Fixed.

    Just because you can IP enable a device, build a network and build an IE interface does not mean you should.

    Shea

  • (cs) in reply to DiverKas
    DiverKas:
    HTML is a web-based platform. It should be easy to make a laundry web site that works in Firefox, especially as Firefox has about 50% usage share and that the UI doesn't require anything except a few links, forms and radio buttons. Then just make sure you don't use any IE specific CSS.

    Firefox 50%??? lol, no.. last check under 23%.

    Last I checked, the Firefox usage was under 23% world-wide - but it's not evenly distributed. Most specifically pertinent to this particular story, Norway is way up there in Firefox usage. I'm not sure it's 50%, but I think it was around 43% last I checked - and it's been long enough to be 50% now.

  • (cs) in reply to Chris
    Chris:
    Martin Milan:
    You shouldn't be coding for any particular platform, but rather to simply dish out lovely, clean, standards compliant HTML, CSS etc, and have it actually work on the market leading browser.

    This kind of pious attitude has no concept of reality. The standards are not holy scripture but, believe it or not, are written by humans who make mistakes, or miss important details that browser vendors are forced to try to interpret. For instance, you could write a fully standards compliant site and still have it fail in every single browser out there (yes, Firefox too!)

    The fact is, if you're writing web sites or web apps, the only way to make sure they work everywhere is by testing them on each and every version of every browser you want to support. This is very expensive for most companies and this is why many have chosen to pick only 1 or 2 browsers that they're willing to support.

    It may be theoretically possible to write a standards-compliant site and have it fail in all browsers. It does not seem very likely to me.

    In my experience, if one writes in standards compliant HTML, runs their web pages through a validation checker, and tests on just one GUI browser, the site will work, more or less, on everything. Placement may be off on some browsers, and it's possible some might not render everything, but they'll all be able to handle a significant portion of the site.

    Note that if you add on JavaScript and other client-side processing, things change. If you add Active-X, you're IE only. I don't believe I've ever heard anyone point out any real benefits to Active-X (I've heard people point out benefit claims, but they were all things that could be done as well or better in other languages - or they were fundamentally security holes, which I don't think are benefits any way you slice it (and I think those have all been patched out of existence now anyway).)

  • (cs) in reply to dkf
    dkf:
    Code Dependent:
    Yeah, customers digging for money in a bag is an annoyance (why not have it out and ready when you give the order?) but if the store has keypads for debit cards, that's quicker because there's no wait while the cashier counts out the change.
    You might think so, but no. In normal circumstances, cash is fastest. Cards (all of which are about the same) are much slower because of the amount of time spent on verification of the card.

    Actually, dedicated system cards can be the fastest, because the entire processing of the card is handled by local systems. That having been said, you still need to have an efficient implementation with sufficient hardware to pull that off. It's no cake walk, but it is doable.

  • (cs) in reply to Christian
    Christian:
    The system is also integrated with the accounting system, and you can actually se WHO is using each machine. (I believe we use the same accounting system as Sogn..) This is WAY better than the reservation scheme, and it works great :D

    Check it out here: http://www.bsn.no/portal/vaskeri

    I take it Norway is free of stalkers, organized crime, and gangs? Because otherwise, you've just made it a lot easier for specific people to be targeted...

    I'm also fairly astounded at the amount of laundry Jobber Gunvor Helen S has...

  • Ajax (unregistered)

    wtf - no SOAP interface?

  • Jonathan Wilson (unregistered) in reply to Christian

    If you guys figured out the proprietary protocol, why not post it on-line somewhere for others using the same proprietary machines? Or are there legal issues (being sued for posting the info) involved?

  • csrster (unregistered) in reply to tgape
    tgape:
    DiverKas:
    HTML is a web-based platform. It should be easy to make a laundry web site that works in Firefox, especially as Firefox has about 50% usage share and that the UI doesn't require anything except a few links, forms and radio buttons. Then just make sure you don't use any IE specific CSS.

    Firefox 50%??? lol, no.. last check under 23%.

    Last I checked, the Firefox usage was under 23% world-wide - but it's not evenly distributed. Most specifically pertinent to this particular story, Norway is way up there in Firefox usage. I'm not sure it's 50%, but I think it was around 43% last I checked - and it's been long enough to be 50% now.

    Aren't there also a fair number of Opera users in Norway?

    I used to live in an apartment rented from SiO who also run the student accomodation in Norway. I'm not saying they're incompetent, but in three years there we never found out who was paying the electricity and heating bills and frankly we didn't like to ask.

  • csrster (unregistered) in reply to csrster
    csrster:
    tgape:
    DiverKas:
    HTML is a web-based platform. It should be easy to make a laundry web site that works in Firefox, especially as Firefox has about 50% usage share and that the UI doesn't require anything except a few links, forms and radio buttons. Then just make sure you don't use any IE specific CSS.

    Firefox 50%??? lol, no.. last check under 23%.

    Last I checked, the Firefox usage was under 23% world-wide - but it's not evenly distributed. Most specifically pertinent to this particular story, Norway is way up there in Firefox usage. I'm not sure it's 50%, but I think it was around 43% last I checked - and it's been long enough to be 50% now.

    Aren't there also a fair number of Opera users in Norway?

    I used to live in an apartment rented from SiO who also run the student accomodation in Norway. I'm not saying they're incompetent, but in three years there we never found out who was paying the electricity and heating bills and frankly we didn't like to ask.

    "in Oslo", I should have said.

  • kuba (unregistered)

    I my own experience regarding this company producing Seriously Annoying Programs. A few years ago, my university (fu berlin) spent several millions euro for a system managing student records. It was intended to make life easier for everybody (and very probably to manage the then-proposed tuition fees and dump the staff managing the paper-versions of students records) This turned out as a disaster, and I will surely write several TDWTF contributions. This being a five-stars WTF material, I wont spoil it now. But on the other hand, it might be a reason why there is still no tuition fee on my university. :)

  • Nicole (unregistered)

    As a former disgruntled user of the Stupid Ass Program that those "wacky Germans" use, I can safely give it the Worst Program ever award. We implemented it at my job and I can only say awful, negative things about it. Whoever had a hand in designing it is clearly a sadomasochist.

  • (cs) in reply to Meep
    Meep:
    Laundry machines crashing with each other, how sad :(
    That's raundly machines, you nincompoop.
  • Unix Dev Head (unregistered) in reply to Kirt
    Kirt:
    Lon Wett:
    I mean, really, W. T. F. are you thinking?
    Chill out dude. I'm thinking that practically everyone has access to a Windows machine somewhere nearby, so why should I be expected to code for every oddball platform no one's ever seen before?

    You're not expected to code for "every oddball platform". you're expected to code to W3C standards. IE just ignores alot of them!

  • Unix Dev Head (unregistered) in reply to brazzy
    brazzy:
    Besides the possibility of robbery or someone cracking the machine to get at the cash, the person emptying the machines wants to get paid, as does the bank (commercial cash deposits carry a fee, especially for coins). Also, you constantly have to look out for people figuring out what foreign coins or simple discs of metal can be used.

    Ditching the cash can probably lead to substantial savings.

    Yeah, I can see how all those fees quickly add up to $14mil in savings....

  • Someone out there (unregistered) in reply to Quango
    Quango:
    a) what Germans? I didn't see any reference to Germans?

    Miele.

  • Someone out there (unregistered) in reply to Americium
    Americium:
    25 Euro cents is a quarter Euro. I have no idea how many Euros it takes to clean laundry in Oslo, or the Norweigen word for "quarter", but it is a valid concept.

    Except there is no Euro 25-cent coin.

  • Kristian (unregistered) in reply to Kirt

    You shouldn't. You should code platform-independent web-applications for things like this.

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