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Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

devblogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#131

Post by IAmBroom »

bradrn wrote: post #78
DonHopkins wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least you didn't install BSD! https://halfblog.net/2011/12/04/daemon-worship/ >I just got a call from the owner of a hotel for which we provide hotspot service. She says that a guest spotted the “Powered by FreeBSD” logo at the bottom of the login page, and was offended; the guest was convinced that either we or the hotel management “worshipped the Devil” and refused to stay at the hotel unless the logo was remove…

Reminds me of this classic: https://web.archive.org/web/20010803131841/http://www.lemis.... > ``Pardon us, ma'am. Mind if we ask you a question?'' > Well, people keep telling me that Texans are real friendly, so I nodded. > ``Are you a Satanist?'' > Well, at least they didn't ask me if I liked to party. > ``Uh, no, I can't say that I am.'' > ``Gee, ma'am. Are you sure about that?'' they asked. > I put on my biggest,…

I was accused of being a Satan worshipper because I explained my clothing was because I was going to a "medieval event".

The cashierist couldn't comprehend the word "medieval", and decided I was going to an "evil event".

Not making this up.

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#132

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

karolinepauls wrote: post #105
bluedino wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the earlier releases (when they would send you free CD's) got flack for people in their underwear https://www.zdnet.com/article/canonical-turns-20-shaping-the...

This is completely off topic but I'm shocked that zdnet autoplayed a video with audio on after I opened the page and scrolled down a little. Incredible that we still have websites whose primary purpose isn't playing audio automatically play audio. There's no way this doesn't annoy a vast majority of users. This phenomenon terrifies me greatly - how large organisations can be ignorant of the basics of their purpose. I…

You can use a browser from a non-ad company that lets you block auto-played A/V.

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#133

Post by jodrellblank »

DanielHB wrote: post #112

somewhat related: I have had to do a last-minute fix on a build because a developer added emojis to success messages a fire emoji on software for handling industrial machinery that can explode our QA department was not happy about that let me say that...

I dunno why this gets instantly under my skin, but it's like a cross between those Youtube clickbaits "She walked into the meeting and they all laughed at her, then she revealed she was the new CEO" and "forwards from grandma: you'll never believe, Mavis had white flowers instead of yellow, and the home owner's association wsan't happy about that, I'll only say that much..."

What do your two things have to do with each other at all?

Are they not bothered by fire emoji because they are employees who could be fired?

because they work in an office building which could burn down?

Do they dislike cooking with gas, rocket emoji, or smoke testing because industrial machinery can explode?

Do they hate hearing about software crashes because they drive cars which could crash?

Do they hate tests of software resource use because of Climate Change?

Do they hate Continuous Deployment because they know people in the military who could be deployed?

Do they hate Test Suites because they're diabetic?

Do they dislike Black Box Testing because it should be African-American Box Testing?

Can they really not tell the difference in context between a picture of a fire in a status update on a computer screen, and an actual industrial fire??

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#134

Post by opan »

stefs wrote: post #27

years ago my father got a decomissioned, wiped clean notebook from work and asked me to set it up for him. i didn't want to shell out a hundred bucks for windows, so i suggested trying linux (ubuntu) and he agreed. "intrepid ibex" was installed without issues. a few weeks later i asked him if everything was ok and how he liked it, and he had no complaints, except one: he didn't like the edgy skull on the desktop wall…

It's funny that this keeps happening to them. More recently one of their wallpapers had some sort of hippo with hair all over that looked like hairy balls[1]. I wonder how many people look at the wallpapers before they get the okay.

[1] https://linux-cdn.softpedia.com/screenshots/Ubuntu-Hirsute-H...

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#135

Post by jspann »

srvmshr wrote: post #48

Raymond Chen's articles are true wealth of contemporary tech-lore. My favorite is the one where a user reported error on Flight Simulator map [0] and it escalated all the way up to Bill Gates & the then chief of FS division. [0] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20170418-00/?p=95...

This got a laugh out of me! Thanks for sharing!

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#136

Post by Grombobulous »

ntstatusquo wrote: post #121
Grombobulous wrote: post #86

I’ve never heard these criticisms about Windows before. My challenge to the author would be to address the much more serious criticisms of Windows that have been frustrating real users and have been left unresolved. Address the forced Microsoft login in Windows 11. Even walled garden Apple doesn’t force that in their desktop OS. Address the pre-installed junkware games that plagued Windows 10. Address the Bing and Ed…

I can guarantee you that Raymond had zero input on any of these decisions. He values fundamentals, quality, and customer satisfaction more than anybody. But ultimately, is just an "individual contributor" engineer down in the trenches following orders. He probably feels the same way you do about this stuff. The real question for me is, why does a famous person like him, with so many options open to him about where he…

I imagine it’s one of those “if you want to work on operating systems, where else are you gonna work? things.

Of course you wouldn’t catch me working at all if I had “Microsoft since the 1990s” money.

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#137

Post by bombcar »

ntstatusquo wrote: post #117
srvmshr wrote: post #48

Raymond Chen's articles are true wealth of contemporary tech-lore. My favorite is the one where a user reported error on Flight Simulator map [0] and it escalated all the way up to Bill Gates & the then chief of FS division. [0] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20170418-00/?p=95...

My personal favorite is the classic "Walls and Ladders" post about topmost windows: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20110310-00/?p=11... Raymond's work often uses analogies to everyday, real life situations to make the technical stuff more relatable. Sometimes, these end up being bizarre and even nightmarish. It's like a glimpse into some alternate world where the denizens are adversarial, hyper pedantic,…

Anyone who has done enterprise development immediately recognizes the cheeseburger.

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#138

Post by eru »

anthk wrote: post #97
eru wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Some public spaces' is underselling the prevalence of FKK a bit.

TBH I don't have many problems on that and even changing clothes on public beaches in Spain neither. I've gotten far more aroused with a nerdy/metalhead woman talking about geeky stuff (and her outfit) than just average naked bodies where in the end most of the "mistery" runs away and, well, it shows up the whole mediocre shapes everyone has, myself included. Tons of anorexya/bulimia issues would dissappear once peop…

> Tons of anorexya/bulimia issues would dissappear once people discovered that, well... almost no one it's a supermodel at all, and even that-supposedly-all-hot-girl for sure has some sort of issue with some spot or whatever in her body.

I'm not so sure: people in Germany still have these issues. (But I haven't done a quantitative analysis.)

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#139

Post by ehnto »

When we were young in a small rural town outside the US, we would borrow copies of Windows 95 or 98 from the school. In order to get them activated, rather than a keygen or other kind of crack we figured out that we could call the Microsoft help hotline from a payphone and tell them our key simply wasn't working.

We would give them a plausible sounding fake key then they would give us a new real key. Nothing seemed to get verified or cross checked but it worked at least 4 or 5 times for our little gang of proto-nerds.

Re: Windows brings out the Rorschach test in everyone (2003)

#140

Post by cindyllm »

wartywhoa23 wrote: post #21

> Until we got a complaint from a government (who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons) that was upset with Windows 95 because it depicted naked children. How dare you violate the government's exclusive right to naked children!

[dead]
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