Most Cryptic Error Messages
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Messages of All Time They're rarely helpful. Actually, they usually add insult to injury. But what would computing be without 'em? Herewith, a tribute to a baker's dozen of the best (or funny computer error messages is that worst?). By Harry McCracken | Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 5:28 am types of error messages in computer "To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." So goes an old quip attributed to
Computer Error Messages List
Paul Ehrlich. He was right. One of the defining things about computers is that they-or, more specifically, the people who program them-get so many things so very wrong. Hence the need for error messages,
Worst Error Code
which have been around nearly as long as computers themselves.. In theory, error messages should be painful at worst and boring at best. They tend to be cryptic; they rarely offer an apology even when one is due; they like to provide useless information like hexadecimal numbers and to withhold facts that would be useful, like plain-English explanations of how to right want went wrong. In multiple ways, most shut er down clancy she's a pumping' mud of them represent technology at its most irritating. In fact, people have an emotional attachment to many of them-like Proust's Madeleine, an error message from a machine out of your past can transport you back in time. That's a big part of why people form clubs to celebrate them, have them tattooed on their person, chronicle them for Wikipedia, and name albums after them. An entire company, the wonderfully-named Errorwear, exists to emblazon the images of such classic errors as the Blue Screen of Death (in four variations!), Guru Meditation, Red Ring of Death, and Sad Mac on T-shirts. And then there's this article-my stab at rounding up the major error messages of the past thirty years or so. I ranked them on a variety of factors, including how many people they bedeviled over the years, their aesthetic appeal or lack thereof, and the likelihood that they were notifying you of a genuine computing disaster. Your rankings probably differ from mine, which is why this story ends with a poll on the last page. Ready? Let's work through the list, starting with number thirteen and working our way up to the greatest error message of 'em all. 13. Abort, Retry, Fail? (MS-DOS) In many ways, it
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Common Computer Error Messages
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are getting Error 1609 and still others 0x80240022. This isn't an isolated incident. The latest release candidate of Team Foundation Server also returns error codes during install: Most of my installations of TFS have been pretty straight forward. However, certain instances where my installation https://blog.codinghorror.com/error-codes-must-die/ failed, I would get weird, cryptic error messages. For example, one common error I keep getting when http://www.mactalk.com.au/11/60407-favourite-most-frustrating-most-cryptic-error-messages.html trying to install TFS on a certain server configuration is: The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 26105. Can anyone decrypt this error message? I've seen this error so many times that the number 26105 is now tattoo'd into my brain! Looking at the log files helped me pinpoint the error, error messages but I still couldn't figure out the problem. I thought error codes went out with 8-bit computers over a decade ago. Is it unreasonable to expect human-readable error messages instead of undecipherable error codes in the year 2006? Allow me to channel Alan Cooper's classic About Face for a second, because here's how users see that error code dialog: It really isn't that hard to build a decent error dialog. Just try to communicate like a human being instead of a computer error messages computer. Alan Cooper provides these three guidelines: Be Polite Never forget that an error message box is the program reporting on its failure to do its job, and it is interrupting the user to do this. The error message box must be unfailingly polite. It must never even hint that the user caused this problem, because that is simply not true from the user's perspective. The customer is always right. Be Illuminating The error message must illuminate the problem for the user. This means it must give him the kind of information he needs to make an appropriate determination to solve the program's problem. It needs to make clear the scope of the problem, what the alternatives are, what the program will do as a default, and what information was lost, if any. The problem should treat this as a confession. Be Helpful It is wrong for the program to just dump the problem on the user's lap and wipe its hands of the matter. It should directly offer to implement at least one suggested solution right there on the error message box. It should offer buttons that will take care of the problem in various ways. If a printer is missing, the message box should offer options for deferring the printout or selecting another printer. Error code dialogs go 0 for 3: they're rude, unhelpful, and about as illuminating as a mineshaft. This is one scenario where it's easy for us to write better
Lost Password Forum Mac Stuff Mac OS X Favourite/Most frustrating/Most cryptic error messages Results 1 to 10 of 10 Thread: Favourite/Most frustrating/Most cryptic error messages LinkBack LinkBack URL About LinkBacks Thread Tools Show Printable Version Subscribe to this Thread… Display Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode 6th March 2009,01:51 PM #1 poisontofu Join Date Jul 2008 Location Sydney, NSW Posts 48 Favourite/Most frustrating/Most cryptic error messages Hi all, Hope this hasn't already been done, but I thought a thread where we could share some of our favourite/weirdest error messages could be a fun distraction. To start things off, I've had Illustrator CS3 spring this one on me at least 3 or 4 times in the last few days: AARGH WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!? Anyway, what have you got? Reply With Quote 6th March 2009,02:10 PM #2 Phase Everything is true Join Date May 2007 Location Brisbane Posts 3,660 Adobe Air requires Adobe Air to be installed. Really Adobe is a giant room of monkey's banging on keyboards. I am the tech savvy at-risk youth. Reply With Quote 6th March 2009,02:19 PM #3 Lutze Yatta! Join Date Mar 2007 Location Ellenbrook, WA Posts 6,102 Why do I get the feeling that this thread is going to be full of Adobe error messages pretty quickly? iPhone & iPhone 3GS, Macbook Pro 17" C2D 2.8ghz. iMac alu. 20" C2D 2ghz. iMac 20" CD 2ghz & Cube 450mhz. Website Reply With Quote 6th March 2009,09:14 PM #4 tintinaujapon Aut inveniam viam aut faciam. Join Date Apr 2004 Location Perth Posts 3,102 From my latest failure of the screen to wake up after sleep: purple_presence_set_status_active: assertion `status != NULL' failed . Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book. - Cicero (106BC-43BC) Reply With Quote 8th March 2009,04:53 PM #5 iPirate Cannons don't handle p2p nicely Join Date Dec 2006 Location Sydney Metropolitan Posts 2,079 I have been told these are all true. Windows is like that I hear. Should/Could/Would Reply With Quote 8th March 2009,06:00 PM #6 marc Moderator Join Date Apr 2005 Posts 8,385 Originally Posted by Lutze Why do I get the feeling that this thread is going to be full of Adobe error messages pretty quickly? Because they are the undisputed kings of useless errors! Adobe Gripes FTW! Adobe UI Gripes CATASTROPHIC FAIL!! bjango.com ★ @bjango ★ @marcedwards ★ dribbble ★ ping Reply With Quote 8th March 2009,06:45 PM #7 Dust For Eyes Join Date Jun 2008 Location Sydney Posts 905 "Murder, she says. At a time like this?" Reply With Quote 8th March 2009,07:04 PM #8 cosmichobo Join Date Mar 2004 Location Gee