Subject: Amusing article on Computer Error Messages... No matter how good our
intentions are, I'm sure there are a few error messages in FOMS/FUSA that would do well in
this contest. A good reminder how important clear and useful error messages are for even
the most idiotic problems.
From CNN:
'Stupid' computer error messages leave users befuddled
October 6, 1998
by Steve Ulfelder
(IDG) -- You know what ticks off Ben Ezzell? Bad error messages. Messages that
"offer no intelligence, don't tell the user what's wrong [and] frustrate
people," he says. Ezzell is a veteran programmer and author (how many books has
he written? "I think 23," he says with uncertainty) who lives in Guerneville,
Calif. While researching his latest book, "Developing Windows Error Messages,"
Ezzell and publisher O'Reilly & Associates held a contest in which they asked people
to send in their favorite bad error messages. Ezzell was the sole judge. Of course,
there are degrees of rottenness. "Some bad error messages," Ezzell says,
"are just placeholders that slip through. We've all been there." Ezzell
acknowledges he once wrote a message that addressed the user as "Dumbkopf" and
was mortified when the dialog made its way into production. Thus, he sympathized with
Orem, Utah-based Viewpoint DataLabs, which managed to include the following in its LiveArt
install:
Setup is unable to locate a suitable version of DirectX on your machine. You will need
to install DirectX before you can use LiveArt98, dumbass!
Sympathy notwithstanding, Ezzell awarded the entry third prize.
Red-faced developers at Viewpoint noted that the message had simply slipped through the
quality-assurance cracks and that they'd fixed the problem "about 4 seconds after we
realized it was still there." Ezzell hastens to point out that he isn't a
Microsoft hater; some of his favorite error messages are from Unix, including this
succinct goody:
Printer on fire.
Contest entries
The procedure failed with the following error: The command completed successfully.
Not enough memory to display this dialog.
Error: Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue.
And its cousin:
Your mouse is not working, please click here to acknowledge.
Cannot delete tmp150_3.tmp: There is not enough free disk space. Delete one or more
files to free disk space, and then try again.
Unexpected error, quitting.
What makes this entry, found in Internet Explorer 4.0, is the attached comment:
An Internet error occurred.
Submitter Jeffrey Schmitz writes: "Yeah, right, Bill, the Internet is broken and
Internet Explorer is working perfectly."
Windows has found an unknown device and is installing a driver for it.
When using Windows 95 with a Compaq Computer Corp. Presario:
Your system shell has changed. The Compaq software will work with your new shell, but
the new shell will not work with your Compaq software. Do you wish to keep your Compaq
software working? Click yes if you are unsure.
Error 0000: No errors found, restarting computer.
And finally, the grand-prize winner:
You need to supply a fax number in order for your request not to receive fax
notifications to be processed.
