The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
I think the "Microsoft Office Picture Manager's compression algorithm" is not a WTF, as we all know that if the "data" is too complex, a compression algorithm could have "negative compression ratio".

Remembering at the days of PCX format, the "compressed size" can range to less than 1 percent of origional (best case) to over than 10 times(I don't remember where the limit is) of the origional size.

Not quite, unless the original was already compressed with a different method, such as LZW used in GIF format.

PCX compression uses a one-byte run length encoding scheme. Thus the in the best case the compression factor is 0.0157 (two bytes to encode a 127 byte run) and in the worst 1.008 (128 bytes to encode a 127 byte run).

Even the most moronic 'compression' could only double the uncompressed size in the worst case.

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

I'm so happy that another program may exist. I know for a fact I have IExplore, MSPaint, and Notepad on this machine..

Too bad Photodraw cant save what it has right now

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

The KFlickr screenshot is hilariously funny.

I guess that's why it's still in beta, hmm?

nsimeonov · 2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:

The KFlickr screenshot is hilariously funny.

I guess that's why it's still in beta, hmm?

It's not an excuse to create "moronic" user interface. Come on, some first grade students may come up with something better.

ParkinT · 2006-06-05 Reply Admin

marvin_rabbit:
Gene Wirchenko:
ParkinT:
Hoooold on there Bobalouie!
1:00PM IS earlier than 12:59PM

There is nothing wrong there!

ParkinT, this is my friend 12:59 PM. I think you might know his other name: 1 minute to 1 PM.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko

In the interest of self-deprication, I have to admit that I was thinking the same thing as ParkinT. Look at it over and over and scratching my head.

I probably would have made the post myself if it hadn't been done before I got here today.

(Not excusing the mistake, just admiting that I'm a doofus too sometimes.)

A special THANK YOU to Marvin_Rabbit.

Late Friday afternoon, after a loooong week, I had my brain twisted and was thinking in terms of 11:59 vs 1:00.

Suitably embarrassed, I am not afraid to admit I made a mistake.

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Good lad.

Mistakes prove you are human.

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
So is Tuesday, 24:00 midnight tuesday morning or midnight tuesday evening? If you're going to use that sort of annotation, might as well also say things like "Want to go to lunch Wednesday at 36:30?" 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 is clear. Anothing greater (or less) than that starts the confusion timescale...

I advise you never, ever, to read a Japanese TV listing, where they really DO have things like "Tuesday 25:30" (meaning "Wednesday 1:30 am").

Which is quite logical, because if you want to watch that programme instead of taping it, you will watch it in the period between getting up on Tuesday morning and the end of Tuesday, which is when you go to bed, go to sleep, and get up to begin your Wednesday. Never mind that the clock has rolled over in between. Humans are not clocks.

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Because it is no KDE bug and has no relation to the KDE printing system?

http://cvs.gnome.org/viewcvs/eggcups/ec-tray-icon.c?view=markup

<font color="#a020f0">if</font> (strstr (job->state_reason, <font color="#bc8f8f">"resources-are-not-ready"</font>))
				secondary = _(<font color="#bc8f8f">"At least one of the resources needed "</font>
					      <font color="#bc8f8f">"by the document, such as media, fonts, "</font>
					      <font color="#bc8f8f">"resource objects, etc., is not ready."</font>);
			<font color="#a020f0">else</font> <font color="#a020f0">if</font> (strstr (job->state_reason, <font color="#bc8f8f">"printer-stopped-partly"</font>))
				secondary = _(<font color="#bc8f8f">"The printer is partly stopped."</font>);
			<font color="#a020f0">else</font> <font color="#a020f0">if</font> (strstr (job->state_reason, <font color="#bc8f8f">"printer-stopped"</font>))
				secondary = _(<font color="#bc8f8f">"The printer is stopped."</font>);
			<font color="#a020f0">else</font> <font color="#a020f0">if</font> (strstr (job->state_reason, <font color="#bc8f8f">"job-hold-until-specified"</font>))
				secondary = _(<font color="#bc8f8f">"Someone else has paused it."</font>);
			<font color="#a020f0">else</font>
				secondary = _(<font color="#bc8f8f">"You may want to find out why."</font>);

See:

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
The UI is fucked, there should be "save" button and a "close" button.
it's 2006 let's drop the ok'ing and cancel'ing.

So... does that "save" button close the window? And does that "close" button save changes? How the fuck am I supposed to guess?

"OK" and "Cancel" are clear and unambiguous. A first-time user forced to guess what they did would probably be more likely to get it right for "save" and "close", but guess what? PRACTICALLY NOBODY IS A FIRST-TIME USER.

Give me plain "OK" and "Cancel", please. I know what they do. I do not want to have to waste valuable time trying to guess what the fuck your "friendly" button text means.

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

I can count from 0 to 1023 with my 10 Fingers. I can't see theproblem. ;)
"There are only 10 kind of peoples: thouse who understand binary and thouse who don't."

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
I think the "Microsoft Office Picture Manager's compression algorithm" is not a WTF, as we all know that if the "data" is too complex, a compression algorithm could have "negative compression ratio".

Remembering at the days of PCX format, the "compressed size" can range to less than 1 percent of origional (best case) to over than 10 times(I don't remember where the limit is) of the origional size.

Ten times? I worked with the PCX format for a bit, writing an importer, and as I recall the format, the worst case is a 2:1 expansion (plus header, of course).

Gene Wirchenko · 2006-06-05 Reply Admin

ammoQ:
Anonymous:
These would be more amusing if most of them weren't fake. Come on, we all know screenshots are fairly trivial to edit in your favorite graphics editor.

It's also relatively easy to write a few lines of bad code and make up a story about a stupid coworker or a failed outsourcing project. How can we know anything on this site is real? Well, most of us work in IT and we have seen such WTFs before and I'm afraid we will see them again and again. The same can be said about the screenshots: I believe every single one of them because I've seen Windows saying "can't delete file, not enough disk space" with my own eyes.

One that really struck me was "Out of paper on drive C:".

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Gene Wirchenko · 2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Good lad.

Mistakes prove you are human.

What does this say about CAPTCHA? (Insert evil grin here.)

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Richard Nixon · 2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Gene Wirchenko:
Anonymous:
Good lad.

Mistakes prove you are human.

What does this say about CAPTCHA? (Insert evil grin here.)

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

That's such a clever remark Gene.

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

dcardani wrote the following post at 06-02-2006 3:05 PM:

In fact, isn't that how Blockbuster video makes most of their money? They tell you, "This movie is due back by Midnight Sunday." Then you find out that they meant 00:00 Sunday, and not 23:59 + 1 minute Sunday and you end up with a late fee.

Blockbuster hasn't had midnight due dates for about 6 years. It's been noon for a long time.

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

I was helping a guy setup his computer, with a new HP printer.

slapped in the 'driver' cd.

minimal install, 400 megabytes, suggested around 800 megabytes.

I am never buying a HP product.

2006-06-05 Reply Admin

Trust me - it's forged ;)

Mike

Technical Director, Imagitech LTD (Authors of the Driving Test Success product range).

2006-06-06 Reply Admin

AI wrote the following post at 06-02-2006 11:16 PM:

as for AM/PM wtf-iness, I used to 'work' with a group of people over the internet, now, most of these lived somewhere in north america, so whenever they had planned something, it was in some obscure timezone like PST, ET, EST or whatever they managed to think up, and the times were in 12 hour format (and 12 PM and AM happened often enough). Now try to think of the how this works with dates (considering I live in CET, GMT+1) and you'll know I found out the hard way how the AM/PM system is supposed to 'work'.

You obviously missed the last weekend in March somehow. You are now living in CET DST, GMT+2. Are those timezones too obscure for you?

2006-06-06 Reply Admin

confused wrote:
Interestingly, Java's GregorianCalendar works this way - you can specify anti-normalized dates and it handles them correctly:

SimpleDateFormat sdf;
GregorianCalendar gc;
sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss");

// Specify the nonsensical: June 43, 2006 25:63:72
gc = new GregorianCalendar(2006,Calendar.JUNE,43, // yields Jul 13, 2006
                           25,63,72);             // + 25hr, 63 min, 72 sec
// This prints: 07/14/2006 02:04:12
System.out.println(sdf.format(gc.getTime()));

======

This sounds like they just save the date as unixsecs internally, saw this already.

Not a WTF at all - just no errorchecking. Actually this is usefull,

you can add dates without worrying about "date-overflows".

PS: How do I make those nice "user wrote:..."?

2006-06-06 Reply Admin

Yes, a nice message, but it's actually not from KDE, but from a GNOME app. Here's the source code, you may want to search for the string "You may want to find out why" there:

http://cvs.gnome.org/viewcvs/eggcups/ec-tray-icon.c?view=markup

GalacticCowboy · 2006-06-06 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
PS: How do I make those nice "user wrote:..."?

Click "Quote" above the post you want to quote.

2006-06-06 Reply Admin

ParkinT: Recheck your math, pal. 12:58:39 PM is one minute, 21 seconds BEFORE 1:00:00 PM.

2006-06-06 Reply Admin

BradC:
Hehe, that's classic.

"You may want to find out why."

I'm going to start using that in all my error messages:

"Could not save file mystuff.txt. You may want to find out why."

"Email address is not in the correct format. You may want to find out why."

"MyProgram.exe encountered an error and could not continue. You may want to find out why, but you can't."

No, the phrase isn't redundant, and in this case it's called for. It entirely changes the user's attitude.

Printing is troublesome and a source of user anxiety, and a hot issue when evaluating OSs for the desktop or enterprise. Adding this phrase is a way of saying "This error doesn't mean the KDE printing subsystem is flaky, go check the printer / paper / cable, don't rush back to Windows just yet."

(Captcha: clueless. Don't worry, I don't intend to post here regularly.)

2006-06-07 Reply Admin

Indeed. 24:00 today is 00:00 tomorrow. Geddit?

nsimeonov · 2006-06-07 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
BradC:

Hehe, that's classic.

"You may want to find out why."

I'm going to start using that in all my error messages:

"Could not save file mystuff.txt. You may want to find out why."

"Email address is not in the correct format. You may want to find out why."

"MyProgram.exe encountered an error and could not continue. You may want to find out why, but you can't."

No, the phrase isn't redundant, and in this case it's called for. It entirely changes the user's attitude.

Printing is troublesome and a source of user anxiety, and a hot issue when evaluating OSs for the desktop or enterprise. Adding this phrase is a way of saying "This error doesn't mean the KDE printing subsystem is flaky, go check the printer / paper / cable, don't rush back to Windows just yet."

I'm always amazed by linux-fanatics like you blindly defending the OS and trying to convince everyone else that it's not linux that's wrong.

"You may find out why" is just a substitute for "Unknown/unidentified problem"... I surely want to find out why, so some information would be helpful, and I would really want to find out why so I see no point why the OS should be telling me that if there's an error and it can't do it's job... if it can't then it should admit it, but it's not linux-ish, isn't it?

I'm not saying windows is better, just getting irritated by fanatics trying to convince people that black is white or if you die killing other people of other religion you will go to heaven.

ammoQ · 2006-06-07 Reply Admin

nsimeonov:
I'm always amazed by linux-fanatics like you blindly defending the OS and trying to convince everyone else that it's not linux that's wrong.

"You may find out why" is just a substitute for "Unknown/unidentified problem"... I surely want to find out why, so some information would be helpful, and I would really want to find out why so I see no point why the OS should be telling me that if there's an error and it can't do it's job... if it can't then it should admit it, but it's not linux-ish, isn't it?

I'm not saying windows is better, just getting irritated by fanatics trying to convince people that black is white or if you die killing other people of other religion you will go to heaven.

Maybe I'm nit-picking here, but KDE is not Linux and Gnome is not Linux and Linux doesn't print. Typically, it's up to CUPS to do the printing, but it could also be the BSD print system. Anyway, since KDE and Gnome also run on BSD, Solaris etc., there is no hard evidence that this really happened on a Linux-based system.

nsimeonov · 2006-06-07 Reply Admin

ammoQ:

Maybe I'm nit-picking here, but KDE is not Linux and Gnome is not Linux and Linux doesn't print. Typically, it's up to CUPS to do the printing, but it could also be the BSD print system. Anyway, since KDE and Gnome also run on BSD, Solaris etc., there is no hard evidence that this really happened on a Linux-based system.

I like that... so what you say is that it's GUI may be crappy more or less, but no matter that linux is the greatest invention since the wheel and hot water, eh? :) It just sounds this way, sorry if I offended you somehow, I'm going to stop here because it's turning slowly into the next flame war - windows or linux and I for sure mr.Gates doesn't pay me anything to defend his company (I had an offer to start working for MS about 10 years ago but turned it down for some reasons)

2006-06-07 Reply Admin

No I can assure you this is from a legitimate CD and not photoshopped - I'm guessing they noticed the problem and fixed it on a later production run?

2006-06-07 Reply Admin

Sorry that was supposed to be in response to the "Driving test" image...

2006-06-09 Reply Admin

Yes, it's 2006 and Abode Reader still cannot open files that have names with characters other than the default codepage. I have documents with Slovenian and Chinese names, all of these only give the File not found error. Great.

2006-06-09 Reply Admin

Anonymous:

I advise you never, ever, to read a Japanese TV listing, where they really DO have things like "Tuesday 25:30" (meaning "Wednesday 1:30 am").

Or TCM Nordic schedules where times go like this:

1st of May, 23:30
1st of May, 01:00
1st of May, 02:30
1st of May, 04:00
1st of May, 05:30
2nd of May, 07:00

Clearly 06:00 is the new midnight in TV listings. It's ok to show listings for "today" that start with 06:00 and end with 06:00 tomorrow but to show the dates this way is just crap.

ammoQ · 2006-06-09 Reply Admin

nsimeonov:
ammoQ:

Maybe I'm nit-picking here, but KDE is not Linux and Gnome is not Linux and Linux doesn't print. Typically, it's up to CUPS to do the printing, but it could also be the BSD print system. Anyway, since KDE and Gnome also run on BSD, Solaris etc., there is no hard evidence that this really happened on a Linux-based system.

I like that... so what you say is that it's GUI may be crappy more or less, but no matter that linux is the greatest invention since the wheel and hot water, eh? :)

Where did I say linux is the greatest invention since the wheel and hot water? It's a nice and free unix-like operating system, a good choice for people like me who have been raised on Unix. The point is: A typical "Linux system" is made of the Linux kernel, the GNU system, the GUI (KDE, Gnome etc.) and a lot of other tools and programs, e.g. the CUPS printing systems. It's up to the distributors (Ubuntu, Redhat, SUSE etc.) to make these parts work together.

If you don't like the available distros or if they don't work well on your hardware, well... better use some other operating system. I've heard some people prefer the "Microsoft Windows" operating system or the "Mac OS" operating system, you might want to check out one of those.

2006-06-12 Reply Admin

These are so dang funny--I heard about this from a colleague, Tess. Lots of hilarity to be had--even I, primarily as an enduser, can understand the humor in these. What's even more spooky is perhaps the fact they are true, and not parodies (altho they have places for those too).

BTW, what a rich comment form!

nsimeonov · 2006-06-12 Reply Admin

Anonymous:

BTW, what a rich comment form!

Welcome to the new millenium :)

No seriously, someone has to fix this comment - I cannot cut-n-paste here... It's a shame. Can't we replace it with something that can like FreeTextBox or something nicer generating less crappy output but at least capable ot doing this... I'm not asking for too much, just cut-n-paste...

2006-06-14 Reply Admin

http://kecy.roumen.cz/roumingShow.php?file=zoner.jpg look here realy omg

nsimeonov · 2006-06-14 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
http://kecy.roumen.cz/roumingShow.php?file=zoner.jpg look here realy omg

Would you please translate because the WTF isn't really obvious to people who don't speak this language? Probably it's great, but ....

ammoQ · 2006-06-14 Reply Admin

nsimeonov:
Anonymous:
http://kecy.roumen.cz/roumingShow.php?file=zoner.jpg look here realy omg

Would you please translate because the WTF isn't really obvious to people who don't speak this language? Probably it's great, but ....

My guess:
The text says that some function is only available in the PROFESSIONAL version; while the title bar says this is the PROFESSIONAL version.

nsimeonov · 2006-06-15 Reply Admin

ammoQ:
nsimeonov:

Anonymous:
http://kecy.roumen.cz/roumingShow.php?file=zoner.jpg look here realy omg

Would you please translate because the WTF isn't really obvious to people who don't speak this language? Probably it's great, but ....

My guess:
The text says that some function is only available in the PROFESSIONAL version; while the title bar says this is the PROFESSIONAL version.

It could be actually the professional version, but installed using an evaluation key - in this case it makes sense...

2006-06-15 Reply Admin

Here is a link to the MSKB concerning one of Microsoft's best error messages

[I know they are becoming more security concious, but I question this]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/276304/en-us

2006-07-01 Reply Admin

R u Stupid or something???? 12:59 is a minute b4 1:00 pm!!

2006-07-11 Reply Admin

Otto:
ParkinT:

Hoooold on there Bobalouie!

1:00PM IS earlier than 12:59PM

There is nothing wrong there!

Are you daft? 12 PM = Noon. 12 AM = Midnight.

1 PM is after 12 PM.

12 PM doesn't even exist...it is 12AM (noon), and when the clock has gone round (12:01), de PM starts, but when it's 12PM then in fact it's 00:00...but i don't know if it's 00:00AM or 00:00PM... :P

nsimeonov · 2006-07-11 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Otto:
ParkinT:

Hoooold on there Bobalouie!

1:00PM IS earlier than 12:59PM

There is nothing wrong there!

Are you daft? 12 PM = Noon. 12 AM = Midnight.

1 PM is after 12 PM.

12 PM doesn't even exist...it is 12AM (noon), and when the clock has gone round (12:01), de PM starts, but when it's 12PM then in fact it's 00:00...but i don't know if it's 00:00AM or 00:00PM... :P

You're wrong. 12AM and 12PM exist. 00AM and 00PM do not. When asked nobody will say it's ZERO and FIVE minutes. Everyone will response it's TWELVE and FIVE minutes. Zero hour is used in the 24-hour type. Then you cound from zero to 23:59, in the other way around you count from 01:00 to 12:59.

Cheers,
Nick

2006-07-19 Reply Admin

Yes. They tried this on me once, they're like, "You can't rent another movie until you pay the late fee."

Long story short, I told them they could have my blockbuster card, because I wasn't paying a late fee for their ambiguity. They waived the late fee, now I rent from another, equally as people-friendly corporation.

2006-07-21 Reply Admin

This is a regular grammar mistake with russian programmers. I wonder if SOG is russian.

2007-02-26 Reply Admin

nsimeonov:
Anonymous:
BradC:
Hehe, that's classic. "You may want to find out why." I'm going to start using that in all my error messages: "Could not save file mystuff.txt. You may want to find out why." "Email address is not in the correct format. You may want to find out why." "MyProgram.exe encountered an error and could not continue. You may want to find out why, but you can't."
No, the phrase isn't redundant, and in this case it's called for. It entirely changes the user's attitude.Printing is troublesome and a source of user anxiety, and a hot issue when evaluating OSs for the desktop or enterprise. Adding this phrase is a way of saying "This error doesn't mean the KDE printing subsystem is flaky, go check the printer / paper / cable, don't rush back to Windows just yet."
I'm always amazed by linux-fanatics like you blindly defending the OS and trying to convince everyone else that it's not linux that's wrong. "You may find out why" is just a substitute for "Unknown/unidentified problem"... I surely want to find out why, so some information would be helpful, and I would really want to find out why so I see no point why the OS should be telling me that if there's an error and it can't do it's job... if it can't then it should admit it, but it's not linux-ish, isn't it? I'm not saying windows is better, just getting irritated by fanatics trying to convince people that black is white or if you die killing other people of other religion you will go to heaven.

2009-01-06 Reply Admin

DZ-Jay:
marvin_rabbit:
nsimeonov:
24:00 is actually invalid so there are no ambiguities at all. 24h clock goes from 00:00 to 23:59
And just to head off anyone that tries to make the argument (if anyone were to try to do so) , 24:00 still isn't valid even when a Leap Second is declared. In that case the clock goes from 23:59:59 to 23:59:60 to 00:00:00.(Just wanting to throw out trivia.)
OK, I'll bite. First, a link to the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24-hour_clock#Midnight_00:00_and_24:00I only offer that to make it easier for anybody to find and read it, as I don't trust Wikipedia, so here's another resource with the same: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.htmlNow, how about a more "official" page, say, an IBM reference on locales: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/globalization/topics/locales/date_time.jspHere's a brief excerpt from that page:In the ISO/IEC twenty-four-hour system, 24:00 is midnight at the end of a day, and 00:01 is one minute after midnight of the next day. The sequence is 23:59, 24:00, 00:01. In ISO/IEC standard 8601, both 24:00 and 00:00 are allowed to indicate midnight, with 24:00 indicating the end of the day and 00:00 indicating the start of the next day.(emphasis mine.)Did you even look it up, or did you just *thought* that it was invalid, and therefore assumed it must be so? -dZ.

Well you never see a clock on 24:00 because that is 00:00.. 24:00 is invalid its 00:00 to 23:59..

Someone before got the point.. Otherwise it would be 23:58 -> 23:59 -> 24:00 -> 00:00 -> 00:01 That isnt true :)

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