One of my college professors was a hard-core EDIT fan, even in the late 1990s.
He also refused to move beyond LaTeX 2.09.
Maybe MS should take a look at Zed: https://zed.dev/
28 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Sep 2007
Many years ago, I was working on an application that would be delivered to the users on a DVD. (Not too long ago: software delivery by DVD was already exceptional rather than the rule.)
First DVDs were created and they didn't work.
I couldn't reproduce the issue with a fresh build.
I retrieve the application from the staging area (where we assembled the ISO): no problem.
I download the ISO, extract the application: still no problem.
I ask for a new DVD to be burned from the ISO: it works.
To this day, I claim "cosmic rays" caused the error.
svn commit
like it's the year 2000: Apache celebrates 20 years of Subversion
I still have nightmares about PVCS.
- UI doesn't tell you about newly created files. Broken builds were usually due to someone forgetting to add a file to the repository.
- BOFH added a script to the "update" action. Getting other people's work caused 100s of CMD windows to pop up and close immediately.
- Server remembers the file location. If one user decides to move their workspace to their D: drive, it moves for all other developers as well.
A former coworker (also IT) had a laptop that wouldn't boot anymore. He bought a replacement.
Then, he tried to boot the old laptop one more time: it worked. The culprit was a defective mouse.
The laptop had been set in a fixed spot and the mouse was plugged in all the time. He never thought of booting without it.
It happened to me as well: USB stopped working on my desktop. After a reboot, everything worked for a few hours until the OS shut down the USB system. Since I didn't add any devices recently, I assumed the motherboard was failing and I ordered a new one.
The next day, I noticed the problem did not occur when I unplugged my USB hub.
I canceled the motherboard order and removed the faulty device.
There was a popular shareware download manager back in the day. I can't remember the name.
The author provided a number of sound files for this application, spoken by his sister. As expected, there were sound bites for "Download completed," "Download failed" and so on.
It also contained replacements for the standard Windows sounds.
I used just one of those.
For a week, my PC would cheerfully announce "You've got mail!" for every incoming message. No regrets on changing it back.
Some years ago, this sign was posted in the restroom (I have moved to a different location since then.):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/G6MgK7HWqhkxSiAA2
One of the toilets was out of order for more than a year - despite several plumbing attempts. I never found out how accurate the warning had been.
I don't think I ever had a scam support call.
I did have some fun with an investment scammer. They claimed Apple would be buying a fairly unknown Chinese car company. (I did recognize the name, and I knew they would be too large to be bought).
I let him make his sales pitch, promising incredible returns. I was tempted to say "There is just one problem here: Apple is not going to buy this company." Instead, I asked for more time to think it over. When he called back, I just declined the call. He tried a couple more times and gave up.
USB connectors should have a USB logo on the top side. Some of my cables have it, but not all. And the logo's that are there, aren't always easily visible.
And then there are vertically-aligned USB ports. Where the "up" can be either left or right.
Worst of all are the ports at the back of a desktop PC: it's hard enough to try and fit the cable blind without having to wonder if it should be turned over.
.gz
and the app won't work? Sigh
This reminds me:
Technician is called in to fix a tape drive. After he's done, the operator pops in a tape to test if everything is OK. After a few seconds, the tape comes out again. The operator says: "Everything is OK, backup is done"
The technician is highly suspicious and takes a look at the console:
INITIALIZING TAPE...
SYNTAX ERROR
After a simple edit to the script, the backup takes considerable longer. The operator looks at a cupboard filled with tapes and realizes these are all empty...
Our (all male) engineering group had a "naughty photos server"
A former coworker of mine used to work in a team like that. Every day, they would assign one team member to search all of Usenet for naughty pictures (back when it was actually feasible to go through "all of Usenet", probably around 1990). Anything he found good enough was stored on a share for the rest of the team.
before you bring the machine for service, perhaps a little housecleaning is in order?
Unless you know beforehand when your computer is going to give up, that might be difficult.
systemd
on Monday
>>I would be interested to hear from those that have tried a distribution version upgrade in .deb land
I have been running Debian testing for years now. I made the switch to systemd when Gnome would no longer shut down my PC.
Switching to systemd is as easy as installing the systemd-sysv package and rebooting. Migration done. (For those who feel less adventurous: install systemd and add "init=/sbin/systemd" to the kernel command line.)
What has changed? I can shut down from the Gnome/GDM menu again. Booting might be a bit faster (I never timed it) and I'm still adjusting to doing things the systemd way.
Courier could have been a game changer. At the time it was announced, the iPad still had to earn its place as the reference tablet where every slate is compared to. Android tablets were practically non-existent.
Microsoft could have defined a new category of devices separate from single-screen tablets.
They lost all that because it wouldn't sell Office.