The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

dkf · 2013-09-21 Reply Admin

chubertdev:
Yeah, "Works perfectly and doesn't need to be changed any more" isn't a thing.

That sounds like the Stockholm Syndrome talking there. Stable ABIs are an awesome thing in the real world, but too many languages pretend there's no such thing.

I'm particularly looking at you, C++.

Gunslnger · 2013-09-21 Reply Admin

Gene Wirchenko:
John:
Be thankful that software vendors are even still willing to support legacy 32-bit systems.

Why? I would rather continue to use my older apps without having trouble because of getting a new system. Microsoft, in their less than infinite wisdom, does not allow XPMode to run on some versions of Windows 7. So much for using some of my 16-bit apps that I have developed and used for years. The code works; why should I have to rewrite it?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

More than just my code. I have games that I still like to play that worked fine in XP and now in Win7 I have to use VirtualBox to run an XP system so I can play them. Very annoying.

2013-09-22 Reply Admin

John:
To all those bitching about the 32-bit vs 64-bit thing. The machine word size is THE MOST KEY dimension in any computing system. NOTHING LITERALLY NOTHING is more fundamental, goe more to the core of what underlies EVERYTHING a computer does.
Use applications built for the machine word size of your CPU. If you must run 32-bit apps on 64-bit machines, then virtualise, and don't bitch about the performance.

Or use a CPU that can support the word size you want. Like all Intel and AMD processors can, because that's built into the hardware.

And use an OS that will allow 32-bit and 64-bit libraries to coexist. Like EVERY FUCKING OS BUT WINDOWS.

Be thankful that software vendors are even still willing to support legacy 32-bit systems.

Um, since about half the vendors of the software I use are still only shipping 32-bit apps, why would I be "thankful"? 32-bit is not "legacy," expect it to hang around for quite some years as there are few benefits for most apps from switching.

For any app that doesn't use anywhere close to 2 gigs of RAM, the only benefit of a 64-bit app is a slightly optimized ISA. (More registers means less stack thrash.) And the downside is a bigger heap footprint from larger pointers.

2013-09-22 Reply Admin

Well, be grateful Google's leaked the truth - I always knew Kim and friends were really hostile extra-terrestrials pretending to be of social benefit of some kind. Moving to Mars is clearly a military strategy with little scientific value. Now we just have to convince the Federation of the truth - oh it's too late, they're everywhere. We should have listened to Benjamin Maxwell. Never mind, at least we can go to Martian rock concerts. I've heard they no longer dilute their liquor there... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wounded_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation))

2013-09-22 Reply Admin

Why do people always say "Sydney, Australia"? Granted there's also a Sydney in Nova Scotia and possibly others floating around somewhere, but I'd've thought it was pretty clear (unless otherwise specified) that we're talking about the Australian one. If you google "Sydney" the first page of results is about Sydney (city), New South Wales (state) and/or Australia (country), and Wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney assumes you mean the city that Yanks and others think is the capital of Australia.

Also, I think "Sydney, Australia" sounds funny. Although we Australia has a smallish population, its geographical size is pretty big (granted smaller than the us by some 800,000 square miles, but big nonetheless). Saying "Sydney, Australia" is a bit like saying "Los Angeles, USA".

2013-09-22 Reply Admin

Josh:
TheCPUWizard:
Not an Equation (though written as one), it is more of a function with the right hand side being a result as defined below:
Warm rating 1 Quilt best for a warm night during summer, homes with air-conditioning or for those who sleep warmly. Coolest quilt available.

Warm rating 2 Quilt best for a slightly cooler autumn or spring night, homes without air-conditioning or for those who like a little more warmth.

Warm rating 3 Quilt for all purposes and all-year round. Suitable for many homes.

Warm rating 4 Quilt best for a cool night in most air-conditioned homes, or for those that need less warmth in the middle of winter.

Warm rating 5 Quilt best for a cold night during winter and for those that like to sleep warm.

I take it air-conditioning means both cooling and heating where this was written up, is that correct? Otherwise, why would you need a warmer quilt where there's no air-conditioning? Here in the states, air-conditioning only refers to cooling (houses have heating and air-conditioning). I've always thought it strange that heating wasn't considered air-conditioning - the air is being conditioned, right?

<disclaimer>I have absolutely no qualification to say this, so I might be wrong</disclaimer>

Air-Conditioning refers to the process used to change the temperature. These days, reverse-cycle air-conditioners will do their job frontwards and backwards to do both heating and cooling. This is Air-Conditioning. OTOH a system that heats using a gas fire or some sort of electrical heater (yeah, ok, bad word....so sue me) is often not referred to as AirCon - but is instead called Central Heating, or just heating.

I haven't read it and it might disagree with what I say, but Wiki has an article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Conditioning

2013-09-23 Reply Admin

Dan:
Why does a database engine needs to have a language?

Collation, for one.

anonymous:
But he IS running 32-bit and 65-bit versions of Office components side-by-side... so he's a liar and needs to go away?

It doesn't say you can't run any combination of 32-bit and 64-bit Office components side-by-side, but there are clearly certain combinations that won't work if you also install Skydrive Pro. There's nothing WTF-y about it.

Gene Wirchenko:
So much for using some of my 16-bit apps that I have developed and used for years. The code works; why should I have to rewrite it?

Er, because it doesn't work on a 64-bit OS. And for very solid technical reasons. Frankly it was hacky enough to make passing 16-bit pointers to 32-bit kernel functions possible at all and extending that to 64-bit was never, ever going to work.

Well written code won't need re-writing anyway, just recompiling for an appropriate CPU.

chubertdev · 2013-09-23 Reply Admin

Mick Dundee:
Why do people always say "Sydney, Australia"? Granted there's also a Sydney in Nova Scotia and possibly others floating around somewhere, but I'd've thought it was pretty clear (unless otherwise specified) that we're talking about the Australian one. If you google "Sydney" the first page of results is about Sydney (city), New South Wales (state) and/or Australia (country), and Wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney assumes you mean the city that Yanks and others think is the capital of Australia.
Also, I think "Sydney, Australia" sounds funny. Although we Australia has a smallish population, its geographical size is pretty big (granted smaller than the us by some 800,000 square miles, but big nonetheless). Saying "Sydney, Australia" is a bit like saying "Los Angeles, USA".

When someone says "he arrived in Sydney", it's definitely ambiguous. Maybe they're talking about a female.

2013-09-23 Reply Admin

Never, ever, ever, ever install 64-bit office products -- all kinds of weird compatibility issues, not to mention they're less stable. Macros don't work right, VSTO gets weird... Just seriously, there is no reason to ever do this.

2013-09-23 Reply Admin

vali1005:
For the cat drop-down box, it's quite possible the code calculates the lowest year based on current year, considering the average lifespan of a cat is 12-14 years, with females living 1-2 years longer, so 14-16 years.
Maybe they wanted to be more "generous" in code and bumped it to 17 years going back, but I think it makes sense not to give you a possible list of birth years that are unrealistic for a cat...

Yah, my 18-year old cat thanks them for making him feel only 17. And he remembers fondly our younger cat, the female, who passed away at 14.

Life was easier when I was a cat.

2013-09-24 Reply Admin

Sarcasto:
"TRWTF is people who make their houses so cold with air conditioning in the summer that they need to cover themselves with a warm blanket to keep warm inside their house!"

During a vacation in Singapore I had to turn on the air-conditioning during the night, or else it would have been too hot. But on the other hand, I had to use a blanket, or else it would have been too cold (the bed was directly in the draft of the AC). Sounds stupid, yes. But just sleeping without a blanket would have been too hot. :/

2013-09-24 Reply Admin

If he's already got Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013, then why is he trying to install Office again anyway?

2013-09-24 Reply Admin

I like the idea of the post.

Gene Wirchenko · 2013-09-24 Reply Admin

David:
Anon:
Gene Wirchenko:
John:
Be thankful that software vendors are even still willing to support legacy 32-bit systems.

Why? I would rather continue to use my older apps without having trouble because of getting a new system. Microsoft, in their less than infinite wisdom, does not allow XPMode to run on some versions of Windows 7. So much for using some of my 16-bit apps that I have developed and used for years. The code works; why should I have to rewrite it?

You're going to be sad when real 64-bit takes over, and you can no longer use any < 64-bit apps without a massive performance hit.

You shouldn't use 16-bit apps because they haven't been updated in what? 20 years? One of the major reasons our infrastructure is constantly failing is that it sits in top of ancient, unmaintained code. Even "modern" infrastructure tends to simply be a layer of Pretty Interface on top of the same, ancient, unmaintained code.

Does "Unmaintained" mean "Works perfectly and doesn't need to be changed any more"?

I did not state anything about not maintaining the code. I continue to make minor changes from time to time. That is quite a bit different from having to rewrite the code in another language.

OTOH, sometimes, I do not have to modify the code for years.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Gene Wirchenko · 2013-09-24 Reply Admin

AndyC:

Gene Wirchenko:
So much for using some of my 16-bit apps that I have developed and used for years. The code works; why should I have to rewrite it?

Er, because it doesn't work on a 64-bit OS. And for very solid technical reasons. Frankly it was hacky enough to make passing 16-bit pointers to 32-bit kernel functions possible at all and extending that to 64-bit was never, ever going to work.

I really do not care about the "solid technical reasons". Microsoft has broken my utilities and my workflow.

There is no solid, technical reason why XPMode does not run on Win 7 Home which is what my laptop came with.

Their funeral. It just makes it easier to switch since I have no guarantee that my code will continue to run on a Microsoft OS.

Well written code won't need re-writing anyway, just recompiling for an appropriate CPU.

You are assuming that the language has not changed (including deprecating features used). Better test, too: the newer version of the compiler (if such exists) may have bugs that the code hits.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

2013-09-24 Reply Admin

http://spammer.site.com/:
I like the idea of the post.

Hey, who censored me? That's not the URL I posted.

2013-09-25 Reply Admin

The fourth law of thermodynamics was recently revealed to James in a very understated way in a Target store in Sydney, Australia.

Hey look! They have Common Core in Australia!

2013-09-27 Reply Admin

re 64 bit, there is likely a fix here: http colon slash slash blog.codefluententities.com/2011/01/20/microsoft-access-database-engine-2010-redistributable/

32 bit office is the standard, and is almost always the only thing you need.

However if you want a 64 bit application to connect to an MS Access database, you need to install the MS Office 64 bit ODBC Access driver. I have needed this myself.

To do that, you CAN install the 64 bit driver, but each time you open MS Access (32 bit), it somehow reverts the driver or something.

So the link above describes a little registry hack you can do to avoid that problem.

This wouldn't be a problem if MS Office 32/64 side-by-side installations were properly supported.

2013-09-27 Reply Admin

More info on the hack: http colon slash slash social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/abf34eea-1029-429a-b88e-4671bffcee76/why-cant-32-and-64-bit-access-database-engine-aceoledb-dataproviders-coexist

2013-09-27 Reply Admin

Paul:
More info on the hack: http colon slash slash social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/abf34eea-1029-429a-b88e-4671bffcee76/why-cant-32-and-64-bit-access-database-engine-aceoledb-dataproviders-coexist

Hi, welcome to TDWTF. Do us a favor and please post normal, non-obfuscated, non-short URLs, preferably wrapped in BBCode [url][/url] tags so they make a proper link. More infos to be found here. Thanks.

2013-09-29 Reply Admin

anonymous:
Paul:
More info on the hack: http colon slash slash social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/abf34eea-1029-429a-b88e-4671bffcee76/why-cant-32-and-64-bit-access-database-engine-aceoledb-dataproviders-coexist
Hi, welcome to TDWTF. Do us a favor and please post normal, non-obfuscated, non-short URLs, preferably wrapped in BBCode [url][/url] tags so they make a proper link. More infos to be found here. Thanks.

Can't do the url thing, as the forum says its spam.

Perhaps you can help everyone out here and adjust the link? All I did was change the starting colon slash slash into words. The rest of the url works fine if you copy-paste it into a browser.

2013-09-29 Reply Admin

Been there. Done that. TWO years ago.

http://combatdba.com/2011/11/20/ill-just-leave-this-here-2/

2013-09-30 Reply Admin

Paul:
anonymous:
Paul:
More info on the hack: http colon slash slash social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/abf34eea-1029-429a-b88e-4671bffcee76/why-cant-32-and-64-bit-access-database-engine-aceoledb-dataproviders-coexist
Hi, welcome to TDWTF. Do us a favor and please post normal, non-obfuscated, non-short URLs, preferably wrapped in BBCode [url][/url] tags so they make a proper link. More infos to be found here. Thanks.

Can't do the url thing, as the forum says its spam.

Perhaps you can help everyone out here and adjust the link? All I did was change the starting colon slash slash into words. The rest of the url works fine if you copy-paste it into a browser.

Usually if you type "this comment is not spam" at the bottom it'll accept it. Or any other filler text to make the comment look less like the "good post, please visit my website" spam. Wrapped in [color=#eee][/color], of course. If you're clever, you can use [color=inherit;display:none]

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