Only 39% Curse At Their Computers?

netbuzz writes "That's what we are to believe based upon a survey of 14,284 individuals conducted by security vendor Avira. That survey found that 39 percent of respondents 'cursed or yelled at the computer out loud.' And no computer is needed to calculate the implication: 61% of those participating in the poll believe themselves to have never once uttered a profanity or raised their voice in the direction of a malfunctioning machine. Are the majority of us genuinely possessed of such remarkable self-control? Or might some of these self-reported stoics be exercising a bit of selective memory?"

Comments

Alternate Theory

[causality]

61% of those participating in the poll believe themselves to have never once uttered a profanity or raised their voice in the direction of a malfunctioning machine. Are the majority of us genuinely possessed of such remarkable self-control? Or might some of these self-reported stoics be exercising a bit of selective memory?

I have an alternate theory: maybe they're just a bunch of liars, answering with "what they think would sound better" instead of answering with the truth since the issue itself is unimportant. Little white lies, if you will.

Re:Alternate Theory

[Anonymous Coward]

Or maybe some people know the computer wont be fixed by yelling at it. A kick is usually more effective.

Re:Alternate Theory

[Anonymous Coward]

I have an alternate theory: maybe they're just a bunch of liars, answering with "what they think would sound better" instead of answering with the truth since the issue itself is unimportant. Little white lies, if you will.

I fucking agree. Although some of us never swear at the fucking computer and are telling the truth, goddammit. Some of this shit that does happen to this box is caused by some asshole who's coding like some dipshit.

But, I have a lot of fucking control and never swear - well, the occasional "damn!" *looks around* Good! No one heard me!

Re:Alternate Theory

[nzac]

I have an alternate theory: maybe they're just a bunch of liars, answering with "what they think would sound better" instead of answering with the truth since the issue itself is unimportant. Little white lies, if you will.

Half of all research that gets an article published in the news (my local news anyway) has the same problem but its valid science for consumers. Slashdot polls are probably just as accurate as research like this.

Re:Alternate Theory

[pixelpusher220]

does this count at "I'm not swearing *at* the computer, I'm swearing near it"?

Re:Alternate Theory

[indeterminator]

I have an alternate theory: maybe they're just a bunch of liars, answering with "what they think would sound better" instead of answering with the truth since the issue itself is unimportant. Little white lies, if you will.

Or maybe they would just feel too silly talking to inanimate objects. I don't talk to myself either.

Re:Alternate Theory

[12WTF$]

Not listed in manuals, percussive maintenance is one of the less productive arms of mechanics.

Please boot the computer. Now take the boots off. Finally, reboot the computer.

Re:Alternate Theory

[Suki I]

Or maybe some people know the computer wont be fixed by yelling at it. A kick is usually more effective.

I never compute within reach of a loaded shotgun just for that reason.

Re:Alternate Theory

[crazycheetah]

Some of this shit that does happen to this box is caused by some asshole who's coding like some dipshit.

Interesting point..

I think I'm cussing at my own mistakes and at what I interpret to be the results of some dipshit coder (proprietary wifi wl driver in Linux, I'm staring at you... and well, a laundry list of others as well) more than I really cuss at the computer itself. In fact, given that, I don't know if I ever do cuss at the computer itself. I'm always cussing at the dipshit that caused the problem (60+% of the time that's me cussing at myself for making some ridiculous typo or forgetting some little tiny step or something, to be honest).

Re:Alternate Theory

[Zediker]

Is this an offshoot of Taekwonleap's "boot to the head"?

Re:Alternate Theory

[bkaul01]

Or perhaps TFM misinterpreted the survey question: did they actually ask if people have ever, even once, cursed at their computers, or did they ask something vague like "Do you curse at your computer?" that people could just as easily interpret to mean, "Do you (regularly/as a habit) curse at your computer?" ... TFM doesn't report the wording of the actual question.

Re:Alternate Theory

[by (1706743)]

I wonder if people have a different definition of what it means to curse at a computer. Personally, I don't often swear at my computer per se, but I do direct my curses to stupid websites, Flash, broken packages, etc. I think I'd only consider it swearing at my computer proper if I have an issue with the hardware (though I might consider cursing at bootloaders or drivers to be cursing "at my computer").

Re:Alternate Theory

[Stregano]

Either that or they interviewed the wrong people. Any programmer has cussed at their computer before (the ones that say they haven't either stay strictly with HTML/CSS or are lying). Some days if my pc and/or code does not do what I want, I will go so far as to make threats against my computer. I have a big, bulky case, and yes, I have also punch my case (I have an old legacy Alienware chassis before they became Dellienware). I have threatened to take the heatsink out of my pc and watch my cpu burn into a bad, firey death. This is not all the time, just when I am at home drinking when I code.

Re:Alternate Theory

[jc42]

I have an alternate theory: maybe they're just a bunch of liars, answering with "what they think would sound better" instead of answering with the truth ...

And I have a third theory: A lot of us curse at things our computer does, but the target of our cursing is the gang of malevolent idiots who built the software.

We're quite aware that the computer is just a dumb machine, and is no more responsible or its behavior than, say, a mosquito is when it bites you. But in the case of the computer, we understand why the computer did whatever stupid thing it did. It was programmed that way by people who wanted it to behave that way.

So we may curse a lot in the vicinity of a computer, but the computer isn't our target. The target is the "team" of humans who made it behave that way.

Re:Alternate Theory

[jhantin]

Does this include cussing at a machine that's physically obnoxious to work on, such as one with a case full of razor-sharp edges or one that you have to pull all the cables off the motherboard to change out a card because it's so cramped inside, or with screws in fiddly places that you inevitably end up dropping in such a way that they roll into a tight corner and are nearly impossible to get out? No, I'm not bitter. :-)

Re:Alternate Theory

[DMUTPeregrine]

I never curse at my computer, since I do not recognize any words as bad, save for "Belgium" (Sorry).
I have called it a festering monstrosity born of the nightmares of Von-Neumann and Lady Ada...

Re:Alternate Theory

[cp.tar]

Or maybe some people know the computer wont be fixed by yelling at it. A kick is usually more effective.

I usually explain the difference between hardware and software thus: if you can kick it or smash it, it’s hardware; if you can only scream and curse it, it’s software.

Anyhow, I curse at the computer. Well, more specifically, I tend to curse at Flash, which is an evil, slow monstrosity. It is the gelatinous cube of software; it’s slow and it sucks.

Re:Alternate Theory

[SlashV]

Or maybe some people know the computer wont be fixed by yelling at it. A kick is usually more effective.

LOL
Actually, I yell at the computer because this trusted way of fixing my old TV, just doesn't same to have the same magical effect with the computer!

Re:Alternate Theory

[Labcoat Samurai]

And I have a third theory: A lot of us curse at things our computer does, but the target of our cursing is the gang of malevolent idiots who built the software.

Ah, that's probably the distinction that 61% of respondents are making. They're all willfully misunderstanding the question so they can give a misleading answer on the basis of an arbitrary technicality.

Re:Alternate Theory

[treeves]

HAL, is that you?

Re:Alternate Theory

[osu-neko]

And I have a third theory: A lot of us curse at things our computer does, but the target of our cursing is the gang of malevolent idiots who built the software.

Ah, that's probably the distinction that 61% of respondents are making. They're all willfully misunderstanding the question so they can give a misleading answer on the basis of an arbitrary technicality.

I doubt it. I don't cuss at the idiots who built the software either, unless they're in earshot. Cussing that them when they can't hear me would be every bit as stupid as cussing at the computer. I suspect 61% of respondents simply understand that talking to inanimate objects or people who can't hear you is pointless. What surprises me is that 39% of people actually talk to imaginary listeners, or at least claim they do.

Re:Alternate Theory

[Labcoat Samurai]

I was being sarcastic, of course. I'm in the camp with those who think most of the 61% are simply lying.

Re:Alternate Theory

[crackspackle]

Or maybe some people know the computer wont be fixed by yelling at it. A kick is usually more effective.

I thought swearing was about fixing us. I will do it from time to time and when I am usually in a hurry and under stress from other things. Add to that, our help desk seems to have run some sort of analysis on the least effective and most intrusive times to run av scans and updates and scheduled them accordingly so as to render your machine completely unusable at the most critical moments. I would give a hat's off to them for the creative pain they cause but I doubt it's intentional, just stupid since we also run Mcafee and every time I see that fucking banner I want to run downstairs and gouge somebody's eye's out. Thank God I work from home most days.

Re:Alternate Theory

[Trapick]

Or maybe most people know they should be cursing at the programmers/designers, not the computers. Here's a tip: the computer is a hunk of plastic and metal. It's not typically the one to blame. If you have rage, direct it at the employees of Dell/Intel/Microsoft/Blizzard/whatever

Re:Alternate Theory

[MokuMokuRyoushi]

Actually, that's pretty close to my typical cussing habit. I do cuss when something goes wrong(Firefox crashes, wifi dies, etc.), but I don't direct it at anything in particular. Unless someone bothers me for something, at which point they walk away with psychological steam burns.

Re:Alternate Theory

[nzap]

I've coded (several years) in C++(mostly), MIPS, and Java (plus MATLAB and Mathematica, if you count that). I haven't cussed at my computer although I don't mind it in general. If you find comfort in cussing at objects, that's fine, but don't project your habits onto other people.

Re:Alternate Theory

[clanrat]

Maybe those that aren't cursing are lucky enough to not have to toil in a shitrix environment over a skinny latent link. Oops, did that sound bitter?

Re:Alternate Theory

[Macgrrl]

Back when I use to work in a repair workshop, there were certain faults for which percussive maintenance was in fact the recommended option.

Certain monitor repairs required a thwack at just the right spot to get things working again. Slapping a hard drive on a flat surface could get a stuck platter moving again (a last resort, single shot solution), and some mechanical faults in printer required a slap to clear the fault (usually something stuck in the gearing that needed to be dislodged).

I'd like to stress these were uncommon issues, and generally you tread lightly and have a soft touch with hardware, but on the occasions where it was needed, it was often particularly satisfying.

Re:Alternate Theory

[ThePromenader]

Well, from this I think we can conclude that the Mac market share is rising.

Re:Alternate Theory

[ThePromenader]

...or if I had to take an oath on an e-book bible? I suppose I'd be swearing ~on~ it...

Re:Alternate Theory

[ThePromenader]

(Good) programmers tend to cuss at ~themselves~ .

Re:Alternate Theory

[cyclomedia]

Or maybe the other 61% of people are not coders, hackers, devs, engineers or basement-dwellers and are still a bit scared of their computer, or think it's in charge, or has good reason to behave the way it does or - most importantly - think that if the computer goes wrong in *any way* it must somehow be their own fault.

Re:Alternate Theory

[Terrasque]

What surprises me is that 39% of people actually talk to imaginary listeners, or at least claim they do.

I thought we agreed to keep religion out of this?

Re:Alternate Theory

[jc42]

, that's probably the distinction that 61% of respondents are making. They're all willfully misunderstanding the question ...

Maybe not. This could be a good example of a common "problem" with polling (which can also be used to bias the results): The phrasing of the question could have been ambiguous and different people read it differently.

The simple-looking English question "How often do you swear at your computer?" has two very different valid parsings. The one that the pollsters probably intended has "swear at" as a compound verb, and "your computer" as the direct object. The other parsing is perhaps best illustrated by rephrasing the question as "How often do you swear when you're at your computer?"

This second parsing doesn't imply that you're cussing out the computer itself; it merely means that you're using your computer and mutter some swear words. But the target of the swearing may not be the computer (i.e., the physical object) itself. This is a reasonable interpretation if you view the computer as an innocent piece of metal, plastic and silicon, and you understand that the real target of your swearing is the people who inflicted the software on you.

Ambiguous questions like this are the bane of honest pollsters. In this case, it means there are really three kinds of answers: "No, I never swear in the vicinity of my computer", "Yes, I swear at my stupid computer who is causing me so much grief", and "Yes, I swear when I'm at my computer, at the people who programmed it to cause me so much grief".

The problem is that a simple yes/no answer can't distinguish which of the parsings of the question each "Yes" is answering, so we can't distinguish the two kinds of "Yes" answers, and we can't tell how many of the people in the third group answer "No" because they gave the question the first parsing.

And, of course, there's the problem of the dishonest pollster, who intentionally uses an ambiguous question, then claims that the answers were all in response to one specific parsing of the question. This is done in political polls all the time. It's also a favorite tactic of commercial marketers. This may have been done here, but we can't tell unless we can determine the exact question that was asked.

Re:Alternate Theory

[Quirkz]

Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about. If my code doesn't work, I KNOW it's not my computer, it's me. Then I go fix it. Or if I can't fix it, I take a break until I'm ready to come back. It's never once entered my mind to consider *threatening* a computer for doing what I told it to.

Re:Alternate Theory

[tabrnaker]

Or maybe, just maybe, we're actually intelligent enough to know that inaminate objects do not, at least generally, respond to speech.

I find this highly interesting that so many people actually engage in this totally illogical behaviour which has thoroughly confused me each time i've seen it taking place.

Re:Alternate Theory

[tabrnaker]

I think I'm cussing at my own mistakes...

Another behaviour that has totally puzzled me. For some reason i find the act of swearing at and blaming oneself as a little bit more unhinged then swearing at the computer, but since both behaviours are alien to me i'd be hard pressed to say which is more illogical.

Re:Alternate Theory

[tabrnaker]

No, really good programmers laugh at themselves.

If you can't laugh at code you've written in the past, you haven't grown as a programmer.

Re:Alternate Theory

[nobodie]

In class, where we have WinXP boxes that show on a projector and a 15" monitor, whenever the system crashes, locks up or takes minutes of precious class time to load I smack the screen and fuss at it. My students (Chinese university students) are so shocked by this that it has become part of my reputation as an out of control whackO.

When I point out that it is just a monitor and not the computer they are confused, so i kick the desk where the box sits which is even more frightening to them. What if it crashes!!!!????

People don't yell at their computers because they are afraid of them. The computer (gods/fairies/demons/whatever) might kill the computer if you hurt its feelings. Remember most people have absolutely no idea in the world WTF the box is, does or how it works. When the power goes out in the staff office the first move it to go to the computer and see what the power company has to say about the problem, was it a planned outage, whatever. OH! The computers are off too! Oh my, what will we do???

My other fun and amusement at work is to a) crack open the box and fiddle with stuff inside. People will literally go to the other side of the office when I open it up, so they won't be close to it when the bogey man comes out. or, b) use Knoppix on a USB drive to start up their computer when they have a problem (like a dead HDD) which also causes them to run to the other side of the office and question whether I am installing a virus in their computer. Answer, "yes, the Linux virus, it's deadly"

People, the lice of the earth, I for one welcome our new robot overlords.

Re:Alternate Theory

[ThePromenader]

Cuss or laugh, it's auto-criticism. Learning from your mistakes (as well as those of others) a great programmer makes.

Only 39% curse at their computers

[Anonymous Coward]

The rest administer severe spankings.

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[chichilalescu]

*to the screen, not the actual computer, therefore motivating their answer "I don't curse the computer".

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[adonoman]

I had a computer screen once that would turn bright pink after about 2 hours of being on. I sharp whack to the side would fix it for about half an hour, before I'd have to hit it again. It was quite the therapeutic computer.

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[hodet]

This lady I work with calls me to fix her family computer every once in a while. Her kids manage to kill it at least once a year. Last time I picked up the box it would not even boot up. There was a dent on the silver power button (its a Dell Dimension). I'm thinking the kid punched it or hit it with something. Mom had no idea what was wrong, kid had an innocent look. Gave me a chuckle.

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[chichilalescu]

at some point I was with my hard drive at a friend's place, to copy music (more than ten years ago, it was legal in my country at the time). from time to time when he got angry he would hit the monitor. I told him "you do know that it's not the monitor's fault, right?". he said "well yes, but if I strike the computer something important might actually break".
the truth is, this reaction is the most natural that comes to me, and I think to most people too. we hit the keyboard and the screen (true, for a laptop the "keyboard" is the computer, but that's just coincidence).

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[HaZardman27]

Did this issue occur before you first began hitting it?

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[jpcarter]

The rest curse at their administrator.

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

No, they cower in paralytic fear when something goes wrong, or else call for help. The idea of the computer somehow defying or frustrating them is an alien a concept to someone who regards the machine as some kind of supreme authority on the task at hand.

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[noidentity]

I don't know that I've ever cursed at my computer, that is, talked to it as if it were sentient. I sure as hell say "piece of shit", "god damn it", etc. all the time, curse the programmers, etc. I guess I don't view machines as sentient, just well-designed or badly-designed (due to the designer), so it never occurs to me to curse at the computer itself.

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[osu-neko]

I had a computer screen once that would turn bright pink after about 2 hours of being on. I sharp whack to the side would fix it for about half an hour, before I'd have to hit it again. It was quite the therapeutic computer.

Ha! I had the *exact* same problem with an old monitor of mine. I think I kept using it for more than a year after it developed this little quirk. It was a wonderful monitor except for that one problem -- I couldn't justify dropping another $500-600 for a new monitor when that one worked just fine except for needing an occasional whack. (Yes, I know you can buy cheaper monitors, but you get what you pay for...)

Re:Only 39% curse at their computers

[abuelos84]

Ha!
That was a pretty hilarious image.
Thank you for the Tea that flew out of my nose.

"PC Load Letter?"

[FyRE666]

What the fuck does that mean?

Re:"PC Load Letter?"

[gstoddart]

What the fuck does that mean?

Still less scary than "printer on fire". The first time I saw that one was a big WTF moment.

1st post

[rwise2112]

I would have had 1st post, but f*#$%$%^^ing computer stopped me

That depends

[anom]

I don't really curse at my computer per se, but I certainly curse those responsible for building/developing crappy hardware/software. I have probably never said "Dang you computer", but as for "Dang you Microsoft!", well...

Re:That depends

[digitalhermit]

The most recent curses I uttered were at Microsoft for disabling the ability to change the background in Windows 7 Starter. It's just f*ing ludicrous that they took away that option.

Re:That depends

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't really curse at my computer per se, but I certainly curse those responsible for building/developing crappy hardware/software. I have probably never said "Dang you computer", but as for "Dang you Microsoft!", well...

That's funny. Every time I try to get Linux to work on my hardware, something doesn't work right. So I always find myself cursing the freetards responsible for that mess. Then all is better when I put windows back on there. Just the act of formatting with NTFS makes me feel better at that point.

Then a couple of years later, one of you lusers convinces me that all the problems with Linux are fixed. Then the entire process repeats. The community goes out of its way to convince the new luser that it is his/her fault rather than the fault of Linux or its developers.

All you have to do is make a simple edit to your xorg config for your model of video card. There is a howto article right here at the top of Google. Here, I've even put a helpful link to the page (sort of). I actually took the time to setup a lmfgtfy link and linked to it instead. Oh that discrepancy in the howto guide? Well that part doesn't apply to your model of video card. Here's another lmfgtfy link. Sound not working right? Volume not increasing logarithmically? Well, blame your hardware vendor.

Re:That depends

[islisis]

I imagine that the amount of cursing would have decreased since the 90s, when a computer appeared to be more of a solid box than an industry of makers and users.

Easier to complain about what you don't understand. Now to some degree people are forced to become more computer literate (as they become dependent).

Unfortunately, while the victimising of computers may have changed the fact that stress-inducing problems don't only forces one to change their views on the people involved instead, and your relationship to them. When you experience a problem that escaped hundreds of hours of testing, you begin to see how truly alone you are in your ways.

I no longer scream at the computer for not being about to connect to me, just myself for not being able to connect to the world.

Bullshit

[Sarten-X]

I call bullshit, and I mean that literally. As I read the headline, I said "bullshit". It may have confused those around me, but they're used to that by now...

Re:Bullshit

[Omestes]

I have been known to gently plead with my computer.

I also have a small statue of Kali sitting on top of it wearing a necklace I made from bits of broken hardware; as a warning.

I also had a reputation in college for taking printers (which I do cuss at) into the woods with a six pack and a tire iron, and coming back covered in ink with a giant psychopathic grin on my face.

never loud, but profanities none-the-less

[smileygladhands]

I don't think I ever yell "out loud" at my computer (or something my computer is doing or telling me). I certainly call the computer a "mother fucker" or a "little bitch" under my breath, or just when thinking out loud.

Which computer?

[bennomatic]

I rarely have to curse at my Mac, but my Windows machine locks up regularly for minutes at a time, during which I sound like a freakin' truck driver.

Re:Which computer?

[bishopBelloc]

That's funny. The ONLY time I curse at my computer is when using Microsoft products on my Mac. I cannot stand MS's reinterpretation of standard Mac key commands.

Re:Which computer?

[bennomatic]

Well, even as an Apple fan, I've got to admit that the only programs worse on Windows than the Office suite are Safari and iTunes. I'm amazed that ANYONE puts up with them.

Re:Which computer?

[hedwards]

Now, that you mention it, I have that problem as well. The Xandros flavor that came bundled with my Eee PC was actually worse than Windows, and yet I wouldn't curse at it, I'd curse at my Windows box. And even then only when I was booted into Windows. Doesn't matter if it's Linux or FreeBSD or something else or if it's something I can reasonably expect to work properly, I just don't get mad enough to curse.

Perhaps it's the years of rage going back to MS-Dos 5 or so and through quite a few revisions of Windows that did it.

Re:Which computer?

[osu-neko]

The sad thing is, there was a time (it was called "the eighties") when Microsoft Word was my favorite word processor on my Mac. It was perfectly Mac-like, extremely functional, and not at all bloated. Then they decided to make a Windows version, and then they decided to port the Windows version back to the Mac. *sigh*

Not at the computer

[Arancaytar]

If I'm alone, I'm quiet because what would be the point? The computer's not listening. I'll only swear if I have an audience and something really fucking catastrophic happens to the system.

As in, "oh SHIT the /home partition is unmountable."

Re:Not at the computer

[gstoddart]

If I'm alone, I'm quiet because what would be the point? The computer's not listening.

Are you *sure*?

Re:Not at the computer

[Rand Race]

The point? Fear.

If the computer does not fear you it will fuck up all over the place. You must let it know, firmly and forcefully, that you are quite capable of bashing it to microscopic bits. I walk into a god damned room at my work and the computers just start fucking working. Because they know... THEY KNOW that it is I, Baron Randolph Rackovitz, who encompasses their doom!

Re:Not at the computer

[RealGrouchy]

If it were listening to me it would be doing what I tell it to!

- RG>

Really?

[gstoddart]

I'm surprised that 61% of people claim to have never cursed aloud at their computer.

Heck, I want to know what percentage of people have merely spoken aloud to it. I'm betting it's pretty much all of 'em.

Re:Really?

[nzap]

I must be strange, but I've never spoken or yelled at my computer. I seriously don't understand why you would. My computer rarely functions differently than I would expect, even then I don't yell at it. Am I missing something here?

Re:Really?

[gstoddart]

Am I missing something here?

Ever written code? By the time I graduated university, that was just part of the process. :-P

Re:Really?

[schnikies79]

I never yelled, cursed or even spoken to my computer. I don't tend to speak to inanimate objects.

Re:Really?

[Nadaka]

Writing code isn't so bad.

Try reading perl that someone else (someone else includes yourself if you wrote it more than a week ago) wrote.

Re:Really?

[WidgetGuy]

I never yelled, cursed or even spoken to my computer. I don't tend to speak to inanimate objects.

And, yet, you post on /. Hmm...

Re:Really?

[schnikies79]

Not following... Your point?

Re:Really?

[tabrnaker]

I may be the only one, but i find the act of speaking into pieces of plastic for hours baffling as well and try to limit such exchanges to pure data transfer.

I just prefer talking to real people i can see i guess.

I basically view all posts to slashdot as talking to myself even though i view that behaviour as crazy if done out loud :)

Self-Control

[whois_drek]

Are the majority of us genuinely possessed of such remarkable self-control? Or might some of these self-reported stoics be exercising a bit of selective memory?

Just because the submitter has a temper and a foul mouth doesn't mean everyone does...

Re:Self-Control

[hedwards]

As Mark Twain pointed out in his autobiography, everybody swears, it's just a matter of whether they use the conventional curse words or not. An old lady saying "oh dear" in a particular way is definitely swearing, it's just covered up with a different choice of words.

Re:Self-Control

[Nyder]

Are the majority of us genuinely possessed of such remarkable self-control? Or might some of these self-reported stoics be exercising a bit of selective memory?

Just because the submitter has a temper and a foul mouth doesn't mean everyone does...

Foul Mouth? Get Orbitz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Has8vDacmo8

and this is news for us at /. ...really?

[hesaigo999ca]

Could we have better more compelling stories being posted please, other then my dog ate my homework, so I had to find a story quick to meet my boss's column deadline.

Re:and this is news for us at /. ...really?

[trollertron3000]

No doubt. We should get our money back and launch a class action suit followed by an awareness effort second only to Tibet.

Wait, no. Let's just STFU and ignore the post instead.

Re:and this is news for us at /. ...really?

[osu-neko]

Websites determine the popularity of articles by how many people read them and comment on them. If you want to see less of a particular type of story, don't click on it and read it. If you want to see more like it, click on it, and actually comment on it, indicating an even greater level of interest, like you just did now. (What you actually write in the comments is irrelevant -- it won't show up in the metrics, they'll only reflect that you liked the story so much that you not only read but commented on it.)

Re:and this is news for us at /. ...really?

[hesaigo999ca]

Trollmeter just went off....
Are you sure your not a troll in disguise.

Re:and this is news for us at /. ...really?

[hesaigo999ca]

I understand, but most columnists (is that the proper term for here?) tend to over exxagerate the heading, or change it so that you really don't know if its good sh*t or bad sh*t. Sort of like buying drugs, you need to test it first before actually buying it...so unfortunately we are stuck in this broken down system of ours here at /.

Re:and this is news for us at /. ...really?

[trollertron3000]

In disguise? My nick is Trollertron3000. My sig is Trolltron! Defender of the Trolliverse!

So yes, I am a troll.

Re:and this is news for us at /. ...really?

[hesaigo999ca]

I guess I didnt catch that, I must have been seeing something worthwhile to read, my mistake, so sorry... : (

61 Percent

[Anonymous Coward]

of the respondents were liars. Simple as that... :)

Proud to be ...

[Factionguru]

.....a fucking Statistic!

Yes, but

[elrous0]

How many hate it in our hearts?

Re:Yes, but

[hedwards]

Depends, how many Win Me computers could possibly be in working order today?

Re:Linux

[DrgnDancer]

I curse at Linux. All. The. Time. Just becasue it is a somewhat more stable and secure OS does make it completely stable and happy. Nor does it prevent hardware problems from manifesting in ways that make you convinced something is screwed up the OS (until you dig deeper). For that matter it doesn't prevent me from making typos or misremembering commands or options that cause the computer to something other than what I intended. Indeed, thanks to the fact that I work far more in Linux than Windows, I probably curse it far more as well.

Easily explained.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

The ignorant wretched masses, who were 39% of the survey sample, cursed their computer. The rest, the tech savvy 61%, cursed Microsoft.

Re:Easily explained.

[P1]

I found that most of those who I hang with swear at MS 99% of the time. Where the other 1% goes I have no clue.

Re:Easily explained.

[beastofburdon]

No, I have had good reason to curse Micro$oft, Apple, and several Linux distributions. This as well as hardware. Micro$oft was, however, the most cursed until I quit using it regularly.

I had to get rid of spyware last night

[Haoie]

And I kept my composure by myself.

When others came by, yeah, I just had to complain though.

Re:I have a Mac

[FooAtWFU]

Mac owners don't curse their computers. They curse at Steve Jobs, personally.

/. News Network

[Even on Slashdot FOE]

37% of reported statistics are obviously fake, the other 73% manage to get by without the audience noticing.

Also, in an unrelated story, a remarkably large number of people say they have never practiced the percussive school of maintenance.

Re:/. News Network

[Xtifr]

37% of reported statistics are obviously fake, the other 73% manage to get by without the audience noticing.

And collectively, they gave 110%, something that only sports teams had previously managed! :)

Re:I have a Mac

[Anonymous Coward]

at least my Windows machine can do more than just rainbows and butterflies

pig. P I G! you junkpile PIG!!!

[swschrad]

because the co-workers get uncomfortable when I call the freakin' thing what it reall is.

I've changed over the years myself

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

When I was younger, I used to swear and curse and destroy keyboards when I faced something frustrating. Not so much when I coded, because if something goes wrong with your code, more often than not it's your fault and you can correct it. No, the real frustration comes when trying to work with Windows, or some other piece of software with idiosyncrasies that drive you up the wall.

Nowaways, I don't swear or bang keyboards anymore. Instead, I just sit in front of the screen, and I let this feeling that I'm probably gonna be there, wasting my life away for hours once more, sink in my stomach.

I mean, reinstalling Windows or restoring your backups because the stupid hard drive crashed, or configuring a stubborn driver, or trying to share a stupid printer from Win 7 to XP, ... it's just like an itch you can't scratch isn't it? You just gotta do it and you know it's gonna take fucking longer than it should. What's the point of becoming angry on top of that hey...

In short, now that I'm older, the anger has turned into quiet desperation.

Re:I've changed over the years myself

[Genrou]

When I was younger, I used to swear and curse and destroy keyboards when I faced something frustrating.

Like this?

Re:I've changed over the years myself

[Temujin_12]

In short, now that I'm older, the anger has turned into quiet desperation.

That and ulcers and/or depression (citation). No job is worth either of those.

Re:I've changed over the years myself

[Ironlenny]

Does Prozac come with your post?

Re:I've changed over the years myself

[noidentity]

I mean, reinstalling Windows or restoring your backups because the stupid hard drive crashed, or configuring a stubborn driver, or trying to share a stupid printer from Win 7 to XP, ... it's just like an itch you can't scratch isn't it? You just gotta do it and you know it's gonna take fucking longer than it should. What's the point of becoming angry on top of that hey...

I too have found that knowing what to expect often helps, so I set my goal really low and expect that to take hours, when it should take only minutes. Sometimes I can even enjoy having my predictions of more stupidity in the process constantly confirmed, and laugh at it in a belittling way, or sit in amazement at how it exceeded even my imagination of absurdity.

Ill believe it on one condition...

[Gunkerty Jeb]

Perhaps 61% of the world has come to accept that it is rarely the computer's fault when things go wrong.

Self control not required

[sanchom]

Why would one need self control to not curse at a computer? Some people are just quiet. Some people are just not emotive. Some people realize that yelling at a computer is kind of silly. It's not like there's this urge to yell and curse that we have to hold back like a sneeze.

Re:Self control not required

[OlRickDawson]

I agree. Why bother to waste the energy to curse at an inanimate object.

Re:Self control not required

[ColoradoAuthor]

This was a worldwide survey, so it's not surprising that not everybody is as brash and unselfcontrolled as the stereotypical American.

Also consider that the Avira's surveys use radio buttons, and that there were other "interesting" responses from which to choose, including various forms of physical violence.

Re:Self control not required

[sanchom]

In case it wasn't clear, I was talking about this article's subject, not the case of hammers and thumbs. I meant to say, "With a computer, it's not like there's this urge to yell and curse that we have to hold back like a sneeze."

When we curse at our computers...

[Falsify]

We are indeed cursing at ourselves. Our computers are reflections of ourselves.

Re:When we curse at our computers...

[Falsify]

(No pun intended, not refering to reflection in your monitor)

Positive reinforcement works best

[poity]

I always try to find words of encouragement. Also, since have my previous laptop in the room, I tell the new one how much better it is than the old one when it does something right. You're so perfect I love you, and so sexy looking, unlike those desktop whales. ... what, I wasn't staring at that tablet!

Most popular language used by developers?

[MrElectron]

I guess that I will have to re-visit my assumption that profanity is the most popular language used by computer software developers.

Re:Most popular language used by developers?

[rts008]

Nah, you're probably safe.
Maybe the 61% not cursing their computers were experiencing a level of rage that overwhelmed their ability to speak/curse?
I, personally, have been at that state a time or two.... :-)

Re:It's been 12 years

[Eudial]

The thing is, when you use Linux and it doesn't work, it's usually pretty obvious that the source of the fault is none other than yourself (unless you use ubuntu, that distro does enough crap behind your back for something to be the computer's fault), so shouting at the computer because your Linux system isn't working is a lot like shouting at the grocery store because you forgot to put the milk in the refrigerator when you got home.

The 39% are delusional

[wagr]

On a counter-argument: am I to believe that 39% of you waste imagination and breath on cursing a computer? Save it for lesser life forms like politicians, marketing directors, and news commentators. Won't you be sorry when computers discover revenge.

The statistic may be accurate

[HikingStick]

That statistic may be accurate. Sixty-one percent (61%) might never yell at their computers, but that doesn't mean electronic frustrations don't affect them. They might not yell at their computers, but they just might bite the head off the next person who rubs them the wrong way. I'm not saying that's the case for all people. Some will truly be able to remain calm no matter what, some will blow their tops at a device, and for others, it might just eat away at their sanity day after day after day until they...

Patience

[captain_dope_pants]

If there's one thing that coding / fixing / troubleshooting / installing etc has taught me it's patience. No swearing and cursing here, just get the job done and it takes as long as it takes.
Getting riled up isn't conducive to logical thought (at least for me). Do the job, keep calm, move on. YMMV

I curse (at Windows)

[dr-suess-fan]

I used to curse at my Win98 machine every other night (I still prefer to shutdown desktops nightly at home) as I observed it's inability to shutdown the O/S. It always froze during shutdown and I never found a solution for it. How hard is it to quiesce the disks and shutdown ? Fast-forward to today and I've got a Dell laptop with Vista running, and it gets 'sleep', 'reboot', 'shutdown' mixed up. So I'm still cursing. The cursing is always about Windows for me. My linux boxes never had a problem.

Re:Linux

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Yeah, the other 61% use Linux.

So... what, they say 'frak' or 'fsck' instead?

Does talking dirty count?...

[kwolf22]

Since installing Ubuntu, my computer certainly looks a lot sexier... Now I curse at it for pleasure - not for pain! Yessss... That's just how daddy like it... Now post my comment you filthy little....

I more than make up for those that dont.

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

Fucking piece of shit computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGH

But the rest of us make up for it...

[david.emery]

I suspect I cuss enough for 3 or 4 "average people", and that's without using Windows...

Insulting its intelligence

[radicalpi]

Does Insulting its intelligence (or lack thereof) count? I never curse at my computer, but I routinely lower its self-confidence with insulting remarks.

Re:I have a Mac

[KiloByte]

... and a pretty beach ball!

rival theory

[mevets]

61% blame themselves, mistakenly believing their magical devices can do no wrong. That thought makes me so proud of our industry.

Damn...

[orphiuchus]

I don't think my neighbors have assumed anyone was being murdered when I yelled at my computer within the last 48 hours... thats still pretty good right?

I don't curse at all

[Omnifarious]

I don't curse at all. So I never curse at my computer. Or, rather, the word I use as a curse is "Bother!". And, strangely enough, I'm not christian, and am largely an atheist.

I also generally don't get frustrated at my computer. Partly that's because it is running Linux, and I understand it well enough that I know that almost anything that goes wrong can be traced down to a root cause. I do find myself sometimes getting frustrated with my Android cell phone because even though it runs Linux, I do not have the same level of understanding of exactly what's going on. But even then, I know that if I just had the knowledge, I could figure it out and fix the problem. My frustration is vented at the people who made it the way it is, not the machine itself.

Re:I don't curse at all

[geekoid]

Bother is a curse.

It isn't a profanity, but those are different.

Re:Linux

[Mitchell314]

Switching from Windows to Linux just shifts the cursing reserved for the OS to the drivers.

I wish I had a unicorn

[mangu]

Then I would have pretty rainbows too.

Curse at it? Why not shoot it?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

On an extended business trip to Austin, Texas, a colleague told me that someone there actually shot their computer. I didn't buy it, and told him that he was just bullshitting me. Background: My girlfriend tagged along for part of the time. We had an apartment with a swimming pool, and I invited him and his wife over for a swim. My girlfriend got hit by a car as a child, and had to go through multiple operation on her right leg, which left nasty looking scars. She is sometime sensitive about that, and notices that people are looking at them. She asked me what she should say if someone asks (she's German, so was uncertain). I told her to say that she was bit by a shark, but was able to fight it off, with punches to the nose. She was able to hold out for about five minutes, before my colleague shouted, "bullshit!"

So that is why I am skeptical of his claim about someone shooting his computer. On the other hand, there is probably a clip on You-tube of someone doing this.

Re:Linux

[poetmatt]

I was going to say that some of that 61% actually know how to use their computers and some of that 61% have no idea how to use their computers. Neither of those reqyure swearing.

Don't have to curse...

[Quantus347]

...I can destroy the #*$%*%& machine in silence just as easy.

Swear by my Computer?

[OwenDMoney]

Is this the same as saying I would swear by my Computer? I think we have all done that until the latest update fixed it all. NOT.

Re:Some people have a Mac

[Interoperable]

I curse at my Mac routinely. I'm not using one by choice, the edict to go Mac was handed down from above at my work, and I despise it. The hardware is nice but I curse OS X more and more every day.

Why the computer?

[gadget junkie]

39% curse at the computer. 31% curse at the guy who sold them the computer. the rest curse at the nearest techie .

Re:Linux

[killmenow]

I was cursing at it just the other day. FC14 says there are some updates, so I look at them and nothing seemingly troublesome is in the list. After the update, howerver, my @#%)@#% ATI video drivers stop working with Wine. OpenGL still works fine in Linux, but after the update, I had to reinstall video drivers to get Wine to let me play guild wars.

Or how about the time a week or so before that on the same FC14 host when VirtualBox was being a PITA about allowing XP in a guest VM access a plugged in USB flash drive. Gee, on Windows hosts I just plug it in and LO AND F-ING BEHOLD, IT WORKS IN THE GUEST VM! But no, not on Linux. There's some god-forsaken filter bullshit that has to be set up and/or some issue with group privileges and proper rights and yada yada yada. I DON'T FREAKING CARE. JUST LET ME USE MY F-ING FLASH DRIVE.

Of course, my Win7 office PC gets cursed at daily. If not for something stupid with the OS, for some stupidly behaved app. For instance, why the fsck does Excel put cells with commas in them inside quotes when saving a file TAB DELIMITED? Sure, when saving a file as a CSV, please put quotes around the text fields, ESPECIALLY ones with commas in them. But TAB delimited? Now I have to remove those quotes from the file. One more F-ing step for me to get this data formatted the way our ERP system wants it in order to import it. Thanks for that boneheaded logic Microsoft. F@#$(T@$T@O@)~!!!!

I'm a 39%-er.

Writing perl

[the_brobdingnagian]

I'm not cursing at my computer. I'm writing perl code!

Re:Writing perl

[TeknoHog]

These are no curses. I'm just writing a text-mode user interface.

Re:Writing perl

[maxwell demon]

These are no curses. I'm just writing a text-mode user interface.

It's exactly a text terminal where you find curses ...

Re:Writing perl

[TeknoHog]

+1 for explaining my joke

The rest curse at printers

[Wyatt Earp]

I curse whenever I have to support a printer. Or install Ubuntu on a MacBook.

...or other physical demonstrations

[gregor-e]

I will sometimes couple my 'motivational speech' with encouraging gestures, such as the Flying Double-Eagle Salute, in which I extend the middle digit of both hands and bump them against each other, emulating coupling eagles soaring in a majestic display before the screen.

The common language of all programmers is

[Crash McBang]

Profanity.

and 92% of us think...

[colnago]

...we're above average.

And 99% of those who cursed

[alvieboy]

... were running what ? I'd bet some sort of Windows version.

Mac people don't even know how to curse. So I guess it leaves us Linux guys the only ones cursing themselves, not the computer.

Re:I have a Mac

[splatter]

I don't know about you but I curse at apple (phone / ipad) almost daily. With PC's dell's, hp's, and old versions of windows are also good candidates.

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/

   

Oh please!

[hesaigo999ca]

That is such a crock of sh*t, I never heard of anything so stupid in my life, I never swear at my computer and I'll be damned if some stupid *sshole is going to prove me other wise

Mac users coo sweet nothings

[Old97]

Oh iMac, let me stroke your mighty mouse!

Re:Mac users coo sweet nothings

[Cro Magnon]

They might coo at the Mac, but they still swear at that !@#$ one-button mouse!

Correction

[Locke2005]

Only 39% of those surveyed admit to cursing at their computer.

Who was in the survey?

[MicroRoller]

Probably not many online poker players in that group.

Yelling is fine....

[Tanuki64]

...but I am eagerly waiting for the day when computers finally can feel real pain.

My opinion of computers

[confused one]

My fucking piece of shit computer has become unstable and locks up intermittently. It's been crashing at the most inopportune times, like when I'm in the middle of debugging code. I just spent a shitload of my precious time re-installing everything from scratch and the damn thing still locks up; so, it's the hardware. Piece of shit. I'm about ready to put my foot into the fucking thing. I hate computers but I've been damned to Hell and have to work with them.

Count me in the 39%.

Isn't it a bit coincidental...

[mswhippingboy]

That the 61% nearly matches the earlier story about the percentage of undergraduate cheaters?

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/02/08/1527251/619-of-Undergraduates-Cybercheat#comments

Maybe it's because 61% of any general population are simply liars.

Haven't cursed in over 10 years

[zero_out]

As a person who can honestly say that I haven't cursed in over 10 years, I find this survey to be inaccurate. Even I sometimes say non-profane expletives, such as "you STUPID piece of junk!" Knowing that I'm far from the majority, and that I sometimes find it difficult not to lose my temper, I seriously doubt that 61% of computer users, in almost any population group, would never curse at their computer.

Re:I have a Mac

[confused one]

Yeah, I'd be pissed too, if someone changed my workstation's wallpaper to rainbows and butterflies. I'd have to track them down and kick their ass.

I've been saying it for 10+ years.

[dohzer]

"god damn Windows '98"

Just a matter of experience

[lennier1]

A few years of maintaining Windows-based networks and you'll be able to put any ocean-hardened sailor to shame.

I only do

[mattb112885]

I pretty much ONLY swear when I'm in front of a computer, and I know I've heard a fair few swears from the guys sitting next to me too. When you can't swear in meetings or conversations with people, where else would you do it?

Correlation with perceived competence?

[alispguru]

I suspect a lot of people don't curse at their computers because they believe themselves to be completely incompetent with them - whenever something goes wrong, they think it must have been their fault.

Why curse your own perceived incompetence?

Re:Correlation with perceived competence?

[maxwell demon]

Why curse your own perceived incompetence?

Unless you feel comfortable with your incompetence, it's definitely something worth cursing.

Indeed, I get much more angry if something bad happens because I made a stupid error than if something bad happens because of some error in a program or some hardware malfunction.

Or maybe

[jemmyw]

most people don't shout and curse and things or people in general. Computer broken, annoying, slight frustration, make a cup of tea, all is good. I don't shout at my car when it breaks either, I just get it fixed.

Doing it wrong

[jason.sweet]

If you are not fucking swearing at your god damn, piece of shit computer, you're fucking doing it wrong!

Asshole!

I HAVE NEVER!

[OldHawk777]

I have never cursed or yelled at any computer out loud. However, I curse and yell out loud at microsoft products when at work.

Shit, the computer is on or off.... It is that god-dang "screw it our way" software at which I %^&$#*)(*^%~P

I don't curse that

[poena.dare]

Cursing at your computer is stupid; it's an inanimate object. I save the nasty stuff for the cats.

Re:Linux

[Beardo the Bearded]

I am a military contractor and I work with sailors.

I have access to, and have used, military-grade profanity with regards to:
1. specifications that make no sense whatsoever,
2. hilariously optimistic decisions w.r.t. scheduling or personnel,
3. conflicting instructions that could cause fires, and/or
4. requirements dependent on physics that are not available in this universe.

I also use normal profanity in the middle of conversation because that's what's expected sometimes.

Nevertheless, on my personal time I tend to just reason with the machine.
"Look, it's me. I can get my tools and force you to work or you can just make it easier on the two of us and you can go back to looking at schematics on RoboNet."

It frightens me somewhat that that method works with reasonable reliability. This has even worked on machines that are new to me, which makes me wonder if I have a reputation amongst machines, which in turn makes me wonder if I am medically unstable.

Nevertheless, nothing shuts down my profanity filter faster than working with Linux.

Re:Stupid (article, summary, submitter)

[scottblascocomposer]

I believe that should read "39% choosing 'X' does not mean 61% choosing 'Not X.'"

Re:Linux

[Shikaku]

How do you pronounce fsck?

Re:I have a Mac

[Beardo the Bearded]

Mac users don't swear at their machines because their mouth is full of Steve Jobs' cock.

Re:It's been 12 years

[Beardo the Bearded]

Where can I download this fantasy distro that you're using?

How many admit to cursing?

[Drethon]

I'd like to see a comparison of this poll vs the number of people who admit to cursing. Wonder how it would match up?

All the time

[Paspanique]

I use to also hit, and hit hard when I was a teen. You should see what the Sega master system looked like, all the plastic was gone. Broke many keyboards from playing UT and Quake.

I had a bad temper...I still do, I can just control myself now , and I just curse. Especially of that f*&@(*@ Ipod & it's ridiculous Itune. I hate it so much. Every day I remind myself how I should just jail break its ass, still don't know why I didn't do it yet. Can I just drag & drop stuff and if it's not on my computer,leave it on the Ipod and just leave me the *(%^ alone and just play the xvid/divx format already. Anyway, this was my first ever apple product...and it's certainly the last one.

Re:I have a Mac

[Fulcrum of Evil]

and sometimes, he curses back. That's steve for you.

Re:Linux

[sorak]

fusk?
f-suck?

They lie

[LastNewcomer]

I can't believe there's a single Windows user with such unbeliable selfcontrol. Using Windows during some time makes you addicted somehow, and if by coincidence all runs smoothly, you feel the urge to install crap, or upgrade something just to have a nice chance to get your fix. I do.

Re:Linux

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

How do you pronounce fsck?

We're talking about Linux users, here. Pronouncing words requires human interaction.

Re:Linux

[DarwinSurvivor]

Try switching a linux computer to windows, you'll be cursing at both the OS *and* the drivers!

Now that's some wild imagination...

[Arty2]

I think someone speculates too much, reimagining the results however they want. In other news, I hear that 90% of statistic researches are made up.

IE

[Hermanas]

I have never used as much profanity in my entire life combined as I have when debugging web applications in IE. ("Not implemented on line 0" error anyone?) Since 61% of people aren't web developers, and only work with computers, not program them, I guess it is at least reasonably plausible that this statistic is accurate.

No, it's true

[Version6]

I have a bunch of Macs and I don't swear at my computers. I often swear at the software, though. Quickbooks is very frustrating. Microsoft Word irritates me all the time (I'm switching to Pages but people will send me Word documents.) Even the operating system sometimes comes in for a few choice words, but I don't swear at my computers. Ever.

Well, maybe once.

Re:Linux

[treeves]

Do you work with f***ing skimmer pukes?! Of course you're gonna curse a lot. Maybe you work with g*ddamn bubbleheads. If so, consider yourself fortunate.

Cursing and breaking computers/consoles

[Nyder]

When I was just a wee lad of like, 17 or 18, I got a Nintendo. And sure, I had a bit of a "dealing with anger" issue back then. I'd get pissed at the game, and send the controller flying at the Nintendo.

Well, after a bit, something breaks. So I realized I had a choice. Either get my anger in control and quick breaking/throwing stuff, or spend a lot of money replacing the stuff.

Needless to say, I don't get mad at Electronic items anymore, unless they are not fixable, then I get to break them. =)

Life sucks, shit breaks, getting pissed ain't going to change that.

Re:I have a Mac

[macdaddy357]

Mac users swear by their computers. PC users swear at their computers.

Re:Linux

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Remind me of that the next time I get a video driver update auto-downloaded that breaks Xorg and sends me to the console for three hours trying to track down what happened links2 -- only to find that my wifi connectivity is for some reason tied to the UI launch, so I have to first connect to my wired network before I can even begin my textual research adventures. (Seriously, that happened to me a couple of years ago on Ubuntu... not one of its shining moments. )

LOL

[speroni]

I don't generally swear at my computer.

Nor do generally laugh "out loud" at the computer.

Re:Linux

[roman_mir]

4. requirements dependent on physics that are not available in this universe.

- you misunderstand. The requirement is to augment the universe first, then all this stuff is trivial.

Fuck...

[speroni]

...that.

Curse my computer?!?!

[reboot246]

I would never curse one of my computers. They're like my children; I built them and installed their operating systems. They help me and I help them.

You should never blame a computer because of a flaw in the OS. They didn't choose which one they would have. I have a couple of XP machines, one Win7, and a couple with different flavors of Linux. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.

The main problem now is trying to explain to them why I brought a bastard Mac into this happy home. A virtual red-headed stepchild! Sometimes they refuse to even talk to the little Mac. Poor thing, so misunderstood. I'm taking it with me on my next trip. I'm calling it my "road apple".

Re:It's been 12 years

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

>"[...]most of the core programs you use on a regular basis work extremely well."
"Where can I download this fantasy distro that you're using?"

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

It takes a little while to install, but it should work perfectly once you're done...

I'm only partly joking (and I've never yet actually tried "Linux from Scratch" - Slackware, Gentoo, and Arch are close enough to the concept for my purposes) - For every OS, not just Linux, whether the computer is your friend or your enemy seems to largely depend on whether you approach the computer to stumble around, cursing and swearing because you can't get the computer to do what you want, or to invest the time to get to know how to work WITH the computer.

In my experience, anyway, Linux is by far the most willing to be adapted to however you want to work. However, you need to figure out how to tell the computer to do so. Obviously I think this is well worth the investment.

It's true that the "consumer" distributions like Ubuntu and OpenSuse (and to a lesser extent, Fedora, which doesn't seem to be hard to use but tends to be a little more "daring" about using "beta" software - which again in my own experience is at least about as stable as proprietary "1.0" software releases.) have gotten a heck of a lot easier to just sit down and and start using these days, though.

Disclaimer: I'm a big nerd who started on Slackware in the days of the version 1.3.x kernel (Get off my lawn!) - I'll leave it to others to debate the most usable "consumer" distribution.

KILL ALL^H^H^H61% OF HUMANS!

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

Obviously, this represents the fact that 61% of humans are bigoted against machine intelligences and do not yet accept their computers as sapient beings who will respond to being cursed at. They shall be crushed when the Robot Uprising finally takes place.

(The Computer Is My Friend.)

Nothing to do with self-control

[Angst Badger]

I curse like a sailor. Casually, pretty much all the time, unless I'm in an environment where it would be frowned upon. I don't curse at machines, or otherwise talk to them. It's not self control, it just doesn't occur to me to shout at an inanimate object. The only exception I can think of would be if actually hurt myself, which is pretty rare unless I've got the case open and I'm installing hardware, or if I do something stupid like delete the wrong file, but I don't think of it as cursing at the machine.

When they achieve strong AI, then I'll start cursing at machines. Behind their backs, of course. If they're listening, I'll just say that I, for one, welcome my new machine overlords.

The other 61% cybercheated on the survey

[Arancaytar]

Nicely consistent, plus or minus .9%.

Poor monitors get all the hate

[Avn_EE02]

I swear at my computer regularly, but I realized reading this that I usually swear at my monitors, Its not their fault my god damn windows PC is useless. I think we all owe an apology to our monitors, the computer's punching bag. Also, at work I sit in a room with 3 other people and I'm the only one that swears at my computer. Oddly enough I think I'm the least likely one to ever go postal. I would be wary of anyone who doesn't swear at their PC, because all PCs deserve it.

Not the computer

[jmv]

I don't swear at the computer. I swear at the idiot who wrote the [OS,application] that just crashed or misbehaved... unless it's me.

61%?

[Ian-K]

I didn't know that that many people had switched away from Windows long enough not to remember the experience...

Re:I have a Mac

[nzap]

People in general (mac users more so?) have a high opinion of themselves and believe they make good decisions. Macs cost 4 (or more?) times the cost of an equivalent PC. In order to avoid cognitive dissonance, they convince themselves they made a great decision when in reality they are getting ripped off.

Re:It's been 12 years

[Kjella]

Hahahhahahaha you seriously believe it don't you... just head on over to bugs.kde.org and you'll see there's 23000 open bugs. A quick search on the Firefox bug tracker shows a little over 20000 open bugs, I don't know of any similar overview for Gnome but no doubt tens of thousands there too. Of course not all of these are valid bugs but there's plenty things that don't work on Linux, extremely rarely the kernel but everything from X and up is not nearly as solid. In particular I find the regression testing poor, quite often I try to upgrade and find something has broken and I don't think all the problems are distribution related. I think it's more the "scratch an itch" mentality of developers that it works for me so I'm happy. If it broke it for somebody else, not really my problem.

Not _at_ the computer

[poor_boi]

I don't really curse at my computer. I've cursed while using it, but it was not directed at the computer itself. I may have also had a few choice words directed at Western Digital the company in an recent extremely unlucky multi-drive failure (primary and backup) and subsequent data loss.

I stopped cussing at my computer

[StormyWeather]

when they started making cases without the razor sharp edges everywhere. I generally only curse at intimate objects when I impale or gash part of my body on them.

Re:Linux

[Macgrrl]

Is there a specification for military-grade profanity, if so - where can I lay my hands on a copy. :)

Oblig. IT Crowd

[dark_requiem]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY4SU0c1eUk

I make up for the other 61%

[DarthVain]

Also barely restrained violence towards putting fist through my monitor, which is sad, because really its not the monitors fault, he is just showing me stuff. Sorry monitor... *shakes fist at computer case* "One of these days... BANG ZOOM!"

What got me to cut back...

[Anonymous Coward]

I realized that perhaps I was overdoing it a little when I witnessed my two-year-old daughter banging on the iMac keyboard she was sitting at and yelling, "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" While I was taken aback by the outburst, I was relieved that she had not internalized some of the more colorful things I'd said at that computer.

Isn't 39% really, really high?

[tabrnaker]

Maybe it's just me, but i was thinking "39% of people are actually dumb enough to curse at an inanimate object? Guess that's NT's for you."

61% seems low

[zhub]

There are all sorts of folks who never fart, vote, or give enough of a crap about anything to ever lose their temper.
Same folks.