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Ridiculous Software Bug Workarounds?
theodp writes "Ever get a workaround for a bug from a vendor that's so rigoddamndiculous that there has to be a clueless MBA or an ornery developer behind it? For example, Microsoft once instructed users to wiggle their mouse continuously for several minutes if they wanted to see their Oracle data make it into Excel (yes, it worked!). And more recently, frustrated HP customers were instructed to use non-HP printers as their default printer if they don't want Microsoft Office 2007 to crash (was this demoed in The Mojave Experiment?). Any other candidates for the Lame Workaround Hall of Fame?"
HP and Microsoft repeatedly suggest re-installing the operating system to cure a network configuration issue.
urban dictionary = idiots making up words.
At 27 years old I am now an old fart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification
Audio CDs have a secret history of screwing up things, and I'm not just talking about Sony audio CDs.
In practice, step 2. involves sending the request off to the developers where it never gets actioned, ever.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
I agree with you we should kill them. Language, the English language anyway, is so widely used that correctness is usually defined as an use such that audience is not distracted from the intended message. That means there is lots of flexibility to get creative with spelling in certain situations. It may on occasion be acceptable or even appropriate to make up new words or use existing words in very unconventional fashion with alternate meanings implied. These things are all ok to do provided that you know your audience will pickup on it without extra effort on their part.
Due to all of the above its a simple fact there is going to be some symbol creep, from time to time new words will be created. Its also true others will fall into disuse although more gradually due to their appearance in print. I am no language snob that is insisting we should all run around talking and writing the way Jane Austin did 160 years ago or even Fitzgerald did eighty years ago. Its ok to make up some words with your pals because they share enough experience with you they will know them.
Here the poster has made a terrible choice and he proves he knows it by virtue of him having referenced it. I should not need a dictionary to read your mostly informal Slashdot post. That is not to say I never will but if I do it should have been something I would have reasonably been expected to know, and therefore could find in my own dictionary rather they Urban. Beyond that the word does not flow well at all. Its hard to speak and hard to read. It adds nothing in particular to the more accepted expression "that's God damn ridiculous" and offers us a savings of only a few syllables. If it actually better conveyed the authors emotional response, or helped to clarify which specific definition he or she wanted us to use it might have value. It does non of these things, its utter rubbish and should never be repeated.
This is how the language is destroyed rather than evolved.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
speaking of HP printers, especially the networked ones, why is it that the network driver is 350 megs in size? I had to download two of those damn things, even after using a custom install option, to remove as much of the cruft as possible I still installed some 700 megs of drivers for two printers, and a scanner.
Guess what happens when the drivers get corrupted. you have to manually uninstall the registry settings and deleted all files manually in order to reinstall the drivers or they won't work.
HP decent printers, Software coded by monkey banging on keyboards.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Profiling has to be done with same flags enabled as for the production code. Otherwise the result will be meaningless.
Because you can't sell bug fixes, only new features!!!
The Good Life
There should be a +1, Sad But True.
- chrish
Software problem: The autorun vulnerability in Windows only fails for CD drives.
Hardware solution: Make a flash drive with an extra partition that presents itself as a CD drive to the OS.
Fixed that for you.
93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
Oh, 9.04 was crap and everybody knows it. At least on the Intel driver front, and that's just for starters.
They said that about 8.10, and 8.04.
-1 pedantic
Argh, I hate this. Why is it that so many programs make copying the formatting when pasting the default? In my experience, it's almost never what I want. Now, granted, I'm a programmer, so I'm normally much more concerned with the content of the text than its appearance. But even when I am created a formatted document, 9 out of 10 times I want the pasted text to confirm to the formatting I'm already using, rather than creating an ugly mismatched clash of styles.
I'm not wholesale against copying formatting, but it shouldn't be the default option. Unfortunately, it's often much more difficult (e.g. 3-4 clicks deep through a menu option) or impossible (falling back to the aforementioned copy-through-notepad hack) to paste without styling.