- Feature Articles
- CodeSOD
-
Error'd
- Most Recent Articles
- Stop Poking Me!
- Operation Erred Successfully
- A Dark Turn
- Nothing Doing
- Home By Another Way
- Coast Star
- Forsooth
- Epic
- Forums
-
Other Articles
- Random Article
- Other Series
- Alex's Soapbox
- Announcements
- Best of…
- Best of Email
- Best of the Sidebar
- Bring Your Own Code
- Coded Smorgasbord
- Mandatory Fun Day
- Off Topic
- Representative Line
- News Roundup
- Editor's Soapbox
- Software on the Rocks
- Souvenir Potpourri
- Sponsor Post
- Tales from the Interview
- The Daily WTF: Live
- Virtudyne
Admin
Why does this make me think of Douglas Adams and crumbling spaceports? I
imagine, millenia later, archaeologists discovering the dust-covered remains of
the entire staff, still staring at their screens through empty eye-sockets, waiting for
the message that never comes. Waiting, waiting, while the stars slowly spiral,
until the Red Giant finally releases them from their hell.
Admin
The real WTF is that you're not even supposed to move the mouse while the script is running. How would that be able to break anything?!
Admin
What if the screen saver was on? And you've already moved the mouse - AND possibly pressed a key on the board - what then? What then?????????????????????????????
Admin
I have indeed met the Queen, and told her that 'I work with computers, Ma'am.' Her reply - in the Queen's English - was 'Oh, mouses and all that.'
Debate over. Thank you very much.
Admin
Yes, but everyone knows that the Queen is up to her eyelids on crack from dawn until dusk.
Debate reopened. Wooo.
Admin
Okay, so if the plural of "Mouse" is "Mice"...
...what does that make the plural of "Spouse"....?
;)
Admin
Admin
Sometimes, simpleton script writers create installation scripts that actually programmatically move the mouse, then programmatically click it, etc. to perform some action, as opposed to just having the code do said action. Think about the following sequence:
What if after (3) but before (4), you grab the mouse, select start, shutdown, and move the mouse over the OK button. What do you think will happen when the script then submits the 'mouse-click'?
It's a really stupid way to write scripts, but rather than just writing the script correctly, some code-monkeys will resort to dialogs like this, hoping you'll obey.
Admin
I don't know, but it better coincide with the plural for "house"
Admin
However, "THREE(!)" would then be "THREE910"
Admin
However,
The Mice (several mouse animals) are all assembled in the corner.
But the Mouses (several mouse devices) are all assembled i the corner.
The device you handle all day long is not an animal, it is a device.
"...
Admin
The screensaver intercepts and captures the first mouse movement or keypress.
Admin
42...seconds? If the message wasn't gone by the time I came back to my desk with my coffee, it's goin' bye-bye...
Admin
So, if they look for more than one piece of cheese, would it be
The Mice went out to find the Chice (plural)?
dZ.
Admin
Ah, yes... Interesting.... lol... Although if the shift key was broken to where it was permanently depressed, I would definitely look into getting another keyboard in case the shift key decided to shoot up all the other keys before commiting suicide.
Admin
But the name was coined because of its similarity to the animal, so it is strange to assume that new gramatical rules would be implemented for the same word. From the Merrian-Webster dictionary:
Main Entry: 1mouse
Pronunciation: 'maus
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural mice /'mIs/
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English mus; akin to Old High German mus mouse, Latin mus, Greek mys mouse, muscle
1 : any of numerous small rodents (as of the genus Mus) with pointed snout, rather small ears, elongated body, and slender tail
2 : a timid person
3 : a dark-colored swelling caused by a blow; specifically : <font size="-1">BLACK EYE</font>
4 : a small mobile manual device that controls movement of the cursor and selection of functions on a computer display
HINT: No mention of the usage of "mouses". Do not believe everything you read on the web.
dZ.
Admin
Mooon.
See, it just happened again.
Admin
I'd just drag it to my 3rd virtual desktop and leave there to be dealt with sometime next week. That's what I do to all those "Click OK to restart your computer." notices too.
Admin
Ah, searching for 'amature' on the Web, eh? Nudge, nudge!
Admin
<font face="Verdana" size="3">I have a idea for a phone new service: </font><font size="3">
</font>
Admin
Well, that's because your average Help and Readme files are useless junk. They'll contain the full text of the license and a detailed description of the UI elements, but no explanation of what they actually do beyond repeating their name, or troubleshooting help beyond "Is your computer turned on? Are you running Windows 98 or higher? Have you installed the program?"
Admin
Umm......
Bigamy?
;-)
Dave
(captcha = null)
Admin
In my company, on each logon you have a big messageBox exeplaining the "company charter" in a few 20 lines (about a half 1024x768 screen), and asking you to click "OK" if you agree.
The WTF is "if you agree"
1. There is no "NO" button
2. if you are not OK with the charter, you must leave the company because the contract of employment is bind with the company charter (like in every company).
So WTF a "if you agree with the above charter, click OK" of death ? I can neither click "NO" nor choose to refuse the charter !
catcha : paula (jones ? Bill, tell me...)
Admin
I make for good Message boxing Words all the time. Dont click anything but click OK. OK?
Admin
That's because if you don't agree, you are not allowed to use the computer. It's ok to stare at the message, but nothing more.
Admin
Actually, if you moved the mouse while Windows 95 was booting up, it would often cause the system to crash, requiring a hard boot (B.O.S. moment). Pressing a keyboard key would often do the same thing.
Admin
So mice are the new horde race in WoW?
Admin
Ok - so these mouses... What would they be doing all together and if they couldn't move what would they want to be doing there???
A better dialog - because people do the last thing they read on the screen I think would be:
Press OK when you have read the following Instructions:
Do NOT press any key on your keyboard or move your mouse before the program has terminated otherwise you computer will crash, you will get fired and lose your house, end up on the streets and sell pieces of string to strangers walking by.
--OK--
Or something to that effect anyway
Admin
I asked my wife, an averag computer user, what would you do if you saw a message like this.
"Oh", she said, "I would click on the X"
Admin
Seeing as how much fun you can have with a little pluralistic grammar, just imagine how boring old Windows settings dialogs such as
Accessibilty Options
could be made a little more interesting...
MiceKeys
Admin
That's why I renamed one of my computers "PROZAC". It seemed a little depressed, and I thought that might cheer it up.
Admin
The plural of 'agendum' is 'agenda'. The plural of 'agenda' is 'agendas'.
Admin
I now have to mention the time I saw a cash machine booting up. It ran Windows 2000, and at startup it appeared to run several batch files, at least one of which had a (2 minute) time delay built into it. (I expect they were run from the Startup folder - yes, this did have the full Explorer shell running). I smell a race condition...
Admin
The mouses/mice thing.... I always thought it was mouses since it's not the animal but the name of a device. BTW, you can have persons so why not have mouses?
I would have waited about 30 seconds and then hit the OK button. If they'd made it look too much like any of the OK only dialogs I see regularly, then I wouldnt have even waited that long :P
Admin
Must be. An ordinary technician would have remembered that there are users like me, that don't own a mousepad, but have to move a 300kg late-empire-style desk.
Admin
You're taking grammar lessons from cartoons ??? We are doomed to go the way of the dinosaurs (not Barney that purple sh*t).
Admin
It's pretty easy to do that with VB. Just take the xy coordinates and get a random number above 20---add the x+the first random number and the y+ the second one and it moves all around the screen, all jittery. Virtually impossible to catch, unless you have a self looping screen...you know, one of the things that when your mouse goes up through the top, it comes up through the bottom. Like a pacman game. :)
If anyone's interested, I can post the code to move the dialogue around :P
Admin
Actually, there wouldn't be any lost productivity. As soon as they sit down, users will click "OK" without reading the message and merrily check their email to see what jokes their friends have sent them.
Only people in IT think that end users actually read messages.
Admin
It looks like you're an human resources employee planing a huge layoff... :-)
Admin
My computer is my slave. I do not wait for it, and I do not put up with programs that require me to wait for my computer. I'll just keep right on using MY computer, and if your program screws up, I will never let your programs run on it again.
Though I'm reminded of the old Joke "Your mouse has moved, you must reboot Windows for your changes to take effect, would you like to reboot now?" Back in the Windows 95 days this often seemed the trust and not a joke.
Admin
Don't treat computers as if they are human.
They hate that.
Admin
hmm, or would make use of them to have a day to read books and have fun at the cost of another department.
Just sit there doing anything but using the computer until the message goes away as you're told and book the time to systems administration.
Then when you get criticised for failing a deadline point to the downtime of your systems due to their failure ;)
Admin
Hey, Watch it pal! That message is for use on a touch-screen kiosk. I wrote it!!! :-)
Admin
Do u know how and where to find the mod 2 and 3 codes number?? I need it urgent.