20030414   

Michael considered fate at 15:10   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment

I'm a technical dude but even I like a thoughtful and heartfelt message from a mail daemon:

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at machineold.wworks.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following
addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up.
Sorry it didn't work out.

I'm sorry too, and I'm glad you took the time to let me know. I'm glad to hear that you sympathize with me and that I am in your thoughts and prayers. Why can't all machines be so friendly? My microwave just beeps curtly at me. My alarm clock is silent and reproachful until it's rage boils over and it yells at me till I give it some attention. My television just talks and talks and talks as if it were lonely all day and has soooo much to get off it's chest when I finally come home. Sometimes I don't think they get it. I don't think they appreciate that I have feelings too. If once, just once, I could come home to a nice bouqet of flowers and thoughtful note of appreciation from my blender... well.. then... I'd be a happy happy man.

Sometimes people have used Haiku's in lieu of error messages.

A file that big?
It must be very useful.
But now it is gone.

Chaos reigns within.
Stop, reflect, and reboot.
Order shall return.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.

And they say software isn't art.

And they say the computer is not a friendly machine.