• (cs) in reply to EvanED
    EvanED:

    And why's that awful? If you were installing DX8.1 and it quit apparently doing nothing, wouldn't you wonder what's up?


    Yes, if you decide to somehow install DirectX 8.1 all by yourself and download it and double-click on the icon thing, I'd be puzzled if it said nothing at all.

    But it's not necessary if it's in middle of game installation. "To run this game, you need DX8.1. You hear me? DX8.1. ATTENTION: You REALLY need DX8.1 to play the game! I shall install it now! ...Whoops! You already have that one. Sorry. Never mind! I'm so sorry! I'm an idiot! Should I stop whining?"

  • (cs) in reply to woodle
    woodle:
    Otac0n:
    That "-531.-8" happens because the speed is calculated from the download size. Since thie computer sees the downlooad size as negative, the speed is negative as well.

    WTF #2:  it gives the file size as -17665622 kB and also says "unknown file size".


    Obviously, the download consists of negative information.

    --

    The first message reminds me of the classic "Warning: A screen is needed to run this application." Now where does that get displayed?
  • koning_robot (unregistered) in reply to foxyshadis
    foxyshadis:
    Anonymous:
    He is probably uploading and not downloading.

    Yeah. He's uploading... with firefox's download manager. Which only says "download" twice.

    I hate explaining jokes, but... Moving northward at -3m/s is the same as moving southward at 3m/s. Downloading at -500kB/s is in the post you quoted, by means of a joke, considered the same as uploading at 500kB/s.

  • (cs) in reply to i

    Job transferred to "%s".

    I think %s = "India"

  • (cs) in reply to vDave420

    So it is, my mistake.

  • (cs) in reply to vDave420

    Err, that would be...

    vDave420:
    woodle:
    Otac0n:
    That "-531.-8" happens because the speed is calculated from the download size. Since thie computer sees the downlooad size as negative, the speed is negative as well.

    WTF #2:  it gives the file size as -17665622 kB and also says "unknown file size".


    Um, no.

    That is the "number of bytes completed so far" not "total file size".

     -dave-


    So it is, my mistake.
  • (cs) in reply to WWWWolf
    WWWWolf:
    EvanED:

    And why's that awful? If you were installing DX8.1 and it quit apparently doing nothing, wouldn't you wonder what's up?


    Yes, if you decide to somehow install DirectX 8.1 all by yourself and download it and double-click on the icon thing, I'd be puzzled if it said nothing at all.

    But it's not necessary if it's in middle of game installation. "To run this game, you need DX8.1. You hear me? DX8.1. ATTENTION: You REALLY need DX8.1 to play the game! I shall install it now! ...Whoops! You already have that one. Sorry. Never mind! I'm so sorry! I'm an idiot! Should I stop whining?"



    My thoughts exactly. Why in heaven's name those installers are unable to check whether DX version xyz is installed or not? However, nowadays that DX installer does not tell you anymore that it's already installed. It just seems like it's installing something and finishes it quite fast. At least something done right, IMO.


  • Iago (unregistered) in reply to Magic Duck

    Incidentally, the Firefox negative download speed bug has been fixed for quite a while now.  Perhaps the submitter of that one should consider upgrading to Firefox 1.5.

    See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=228968

  • AAARGGH (unregistered) in reply to jspenguin
    jspenguin:
    My favorite error message:

    [image]



    Hey, this looks like blender 3d... aaah, good old blender :)

  • (cs) in reply to AAARGGH

    @WWWolf:  Because I would expect a game to install DirectX if it needs to, and quite often there's a checkbox to say whether or not it should do this.  Of course, whether you prefer to be notified of its decision is a matter of taste.  As an installation developer, I like installations to be quite verbose.

    @Magic Duck:  Because what you're suggesting means the installer would have to accept more responsibility for getting DirectX working.  If DirectX fails in some non-obvious way, it can impact on the host installer meaning people come back to [insert game developer] with complaints about their installs.

    Case in point:  our product uses MSDE, which you can ship with an installation using merge modules (predefined components that you can just drop into an MSI install, for those not familiar with the term).  We used to use these merge modules, until we realised that they were rubbish.  MS realised they were rubbish as well, and said "erm, actually, they don't work properly, don't use them."  By then, installs were failing left right and centre, and because it was all integrated into our install, it looked like our install was causing the errors, and our install got the blame.  We separated the installs, creating an extra step (install MSDE using its own installer, then install our software).  Not as convenient, and the MSDE install still fails (being crap), but now people know that it's MSDE, and that means that a) I don't get the blame for MSDE's installation failings, and b) it's easier to figure out what happened and do something about it.

  • Anonymous Coward (unregistered) in reply to Iago

    Anonymous:
    Incidentally, the Firefox negative download speed bug has been fixed for quite a while now.  Perhaps the submitter of that one should consider upgrading to Firefox 1.5.

    See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=228968

    The real WTF is that the submitter was downloading a Linux .iso with Firefox and not Bittorrent.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous Coward

    Well, maybe not.  If he (like me) works at a company that has restrictions on what ports you can use, then BitTorrent might not actually work at all, leaving him with no choice.

  • (cs) in reply to johnl
    johnl:
    MS realised they were rubbish as well, and said "erm, actually, they don't work properly, don't use them."


    Would you mind pointing to where you heard that please? Could be useful.


  • (cs) in reply to rikkus

    Would you mind pointing to where you heard that please? Could be useful.

    If I remember rightly it was on the InstallShield forums that I first saw that.  I've posted a couple of links, though.  The last one is especially interesting because it's essentially an MS developer saying "we do not recommend you do it this way anymore".

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/distsql/distsql_8yeq.asp

    http://www.sqljunkies.com/Article/484612DD-0416-42C8-9695-9572CA762ED6.scuk (scroll to the bottom)

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats/transcripts/windows/windows_070803.aspx (about half way down - look for "MSDE")

    Hope that helps.

  • (cs) in reply to EvanED

    EvanED:
    Anonymous:

    For people who actually read the comments, here is a criminally awful error dialog I got yesterday:

    [image]

    This could be a useful dialog... if I were debugging the installer. As it is, the "OK" button should read "Who the fuck cares?".


    And why's that awful? If you were installing DX8.1 and it quit apparently doing nothing, wouldn't you wonder what's up?

    You have to keep in mind that the MO for Windows programs is to give some sort of indication that they were successful, unlike the standard Unix "if you don't see output it worked" idea.

    Depending on the context, this message isn't so bad. I just hate the ones that pop up with "Blah-blah was installed successfully!" accompanied by the yellow triangle with the exclamation point. Looks like an error, smells like an error... but it's not. And sometimes the buttons will be 'OK' and 'Cancel' - both do the same thing.

  • George (unregistered)

    It's interesting that, in the Penske example, the time period is exactly equal to 1900 years (365.2425 * 693963 = 1900).  I suspect some year-2000 two-to-four-digit conversion shenanigans is going on here.

  • (cs) in reply to George

    I kinda like this one:
    [image]

    nonDev

  • chuck (unregistered) in reply to Nemo

    When early betas of MS Visual Studio crashed, the "dismiss" button on the dialog box read "Lame!"

  • The 2-Belo (unregistered) in reply to aeg

    Funny.CoffeeSpit();

     

    --

    US$.02

     

  • AnonyBob (unregistered) in reply to Anaerin

    It may be excusable, but that color scheme isn't. I thought speshul app-specific color schemes were killed along with the bulk of the crappy Windows 95 shareware.

  • shadowex (unregistered) in reply to BiggBru

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=6>Whats up my son... atm i am hacking into your computer... your probly saying to your self this cant be done ... will gess what it is and you can not stop me.... BY the way if your trying to find out who this is its too late .... </FONT>

  • Kelly (unregistered)

    oh my god cut the shit n get to the porn already i am sittin here fistin myself coz every dick iv ever had in my pussy is either 2 small or he dnt no what the fuck he is doin now cum on help me out here and there may even be a reward (privet cam show just for you!!) ohhhhhhh fuck gotta go just squirted al ova the place

  • John (unregistered) in reply to Kelly

    Anonymous:
    oh my god cut the shit n get to the porn already i am sittin here fistin myself coz every dick iv ever had in my pussy is either 2 small or he dnt no what the fuck he is doin now cum on help me out here and there may even be a reward (privet cam show just for you!!) ohhhhhhh fuck gotta go just squirted al ova the place

     

    Tell ya wot babe u give me just 1 chance to try it out n i bet ya ul love it and il only shove it in once n ul be screamin

  • Bratmon (unregistered) in reply to AnonyBob

    Yes, because everybody knows MS Word was devloped in Britian.

  • Joshua (unregistered) in reply to WWWWolf

    I beg to differ. I like Motif. I think it's one of the most professional-looking and well-built UIs ever. I like industrial, hard-edged widgets that do their jobs well. They remind me of the elder days of DEC video terminals, pre-DECWindows VMS, the unifying effect of a CDE desktop, and the unmatched innovation of SGI's ViewKit widgets, most especially the thumbwheel and drop pocket, which still have no decent modern replacements.

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