inkpen@dalcsug.uucp (tom inkpen) (04/04/88)
Have you heard the story about the lady who tried to use her microwave to dry her wet poodle (it was a bit messy)? This and many other stories like it have been called urban legends (see Jan Brunvand's "The Vanishing Hitchhiker"). I would like to hear of any urban legends concerning computers. One story that I think has possibilities as a piece of folklore is one concerning worm copy protection software. If you know of any others please reply to inkpen@dalcsug.uucp. Tom Inkpen
crscott@sdrc.UUCP (Scott Klosterman) (04/07/88)
As a consultant for a PC based network at the University of Cincinnati I had the opportunity to witness and hear of some astounding feats of ignorance from novice users A certain user, having been informed by his teacher that he needed to insert his disk before starting, removed it from it's plastic shrink wrap and inserted it jacket and all into the disk drive, for some unknown reason he was still unable to save his work. An unnamed client called in to inform their consultant (who also did outside work) that the instructions he had left for booting up the computer were incorrect, in fact she had followed the instructions more than ten times, each time inserting another diskette in the drive, and nothing happened When the consultant informed her that in no way would ten diskettes fit in the drive she responded "Well it took all of them". Upon arriving at the clients house he found that the diskettes we being inserted through a miniscule crack between the floppy drives and were littering the inside of the chassis. Quote of the week: "Oh, I don't need a computer, I'm here to do word processing" Scott Klosterman story credits to the fine folks at the UCCC Microcomputer Lab
beryl@oresoft.UUCP (Beryl Gray) (04/07/88)
I remember a few years ago I read a story in several of the micro trade publications (Infoworld, PC WEEK, etc.) about a worm copy-protection routine. The code was embedded in a Microsoft product that was copy protected. A writer for the Washington Post had installed this product on his hard disk. One day while using the product (database? editor?) The following message popped up on his screen: "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Now erasing your disk." The program then trashed his hard disk's directory. Microsoft eventually admitted that the code had been incorporated into the product years earlier by a zealous programmer and had never been removed. The product was fixed. Beryl Gray
QQ65@IBM.LIVERPOOL.AC.UK (Steve Riley) (04/12/88)
In regard to Scott Klosterman's comments; Is there any need for sarcasm in your description of users problems with microcomputers at UCCC? What point were you making? People need patient and understanding help when they are just beginning. They may have real fears about using a computer, fears which have had to be overcome just to sit in front of the machine. Don't put them off before they get started. It's all very well we experts having a laugh between ourselves, but surely attitudes like that carry over to the expert/novice interface. More Human Factors please! Yours benevolently. Steve Riley
gcf@actnyc.UUCP (Gordon Fitch) (04/20/88)
As far as the various computer folklore stories being related in this digest, I don't find any of them astounding. Ignorance is the condition of all when confronted by unfamiliar machinery. Generally the instructions given to the ignorant are poorly written and assume that the instructee will supply the missing knowledge. When the knowledge isn't there, malfunction is not only to be expected, it's almost inevitable. > Quote of the week: > "Oh, I don't need a computer, I'm here to do word processing" Many people don't consider a device dedicated to word processing to be a computer. A friend of mine manages a group of word-processing people who are part of a data-processing department. For her and her colleagues, the computer is the 3081 down the hall, not the little boxes they work with. Yes, they know that the boxes contain computers, they just don't use the word that way, since it would lead to confusion -- actually, it would lead to derision. Gordon Fitch
sjmz@otter.hple.hp.com (Stefek Zaba) (04/20/88)
Heard second-hand, therefore "legend" status... Computer support desk, tries to figure out problem of s/o with early PC, not obvious, instructs Other End "send us a copy of your disc in the post and we'll try to reproduce the problem". Next morning (you can tell this is a legend, *my* post doesn't work that fast!) in a nice envelope arrives... a lovely photocopy of the floppy. Stefak
bayes@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Scott Bayes) (04/27/88)
> "send us a copy of your disc in the post and we'll try to reproduce > the problem". Next morning in a nice envelope arrives... a lovely > photocopy of the floppy. This really happened with an HP Series 200 machine about 5 years ago. I was the lucky Support Engineer who received the photocopy (two-sided, as the disk was two-sided!!) from a to-remain-unnamed System Engineer out there in the real world. Not a legend, but valid folklore. Scott