Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Japanese Haiku PC Messages

In Japan , they have replaced the impersonal Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages. Haiku Poetry has strict construction rules: Each poem has only 17 Syllables - 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, 5 in the third. They often achieve a wistful, yearning, and powerful insight through extreme brevity. Here are some actual error messages from Japan.

(Aren't these better than "your computer has performed an illegal
operation?")

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ------

The Web site you seek
Cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.
------------ -------- ------------ --------- ---
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Program aborting.
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask far too much.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Your file was so big.
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
I ate your Web page.
Forgive me; it was tasty
And tart on my tongue.

No comments: