The Very Worst Uses of Windows 816
bigplrbear writes "I found an interesting article revealing the many places that Microsoft products reside, and what they're used for, ranging from elevators to ticket scanners."
From the article: "Thanks to VMWare Windows is spreading throughout the datacenter. And, of course, there is only one operating system to use if you are dependent on Microsoft apps like Outlook, Word, and Excel. While I have joined the chorus of security folks who rail against the Microsoft Monoculture I still cannot believe some of the uses for Windows. Some of them are just downright silly, some you may claim are criminally negligent." Note: I'm making no claim of criminal negligence!
Obligatory... (Score:4, Funny)
What, you mean other than as a desktop OS?
WARNING (Score:2, Funny)
Not for use in nuclear submarines!
There can be only ONE (Score:5, Funny)
Mac OS X?
Houston's problem discovered (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Cars? (Score:3, Funny)
System crash.
Launch Air Bag? Abort/Retry/Cancel
Re:Plants (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cars? (Score:5, Funny)
How about x86? (Score:2, Funny)
My favorite was... (Score:5, Funny)
Windows for Warships
Re:Medical equipment (Score:3, Funny)
Let's see. I use Windows, and when did I last have a BSOD?
Most recently (about a year ago): Installed the wrong driver for my sound card. I highly doubt this will be a problem in a medical context.
Less recently: Played Half-Life 2 on my laptop. With Intel's integrated graphics chip. It actually ran pretty well (for a laptop with an Intel integrated graphics chip), but it BSOD'd on exiting.
In conclusion, based on anecdotal evidence (the only type of evidence allowed in Slashdot comments), BSODs only occur:
1. When one tries to run an application on a computer which does not have the capacity to run said application; and
2. When one messes up driver installations.
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
That's just to keep you from stealing their clicky-pens.
Re:SERVER WARS (Score:4, Funny)
After all these years I am willing to admit that Microsoft has won the desktop and server wars.
i beg to differ...
It is all just a clever ruse to lul Microsoft into confidence. All these systems are in fact UNIX sleeper agents, that will awaken all across the world at a given time. At the same time, Redmond will have put it's recently received 30 feet tall ceremonial gift windows logo in an unmonitored storage room when suddenly hundreds of ninjas emerge from it, swiftly overcoming any resistance.
Local TV Access Station.. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Roller Coaster controls (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Medical equipment (Score:4, Funny)
Similarly, I believe an MRI machine at my local hospital runs Windows.
While getting an MRI of my knee after an injury, the tech gave me a pair of headphones to listen to music from a CD I brought in, which was piped in from the control room along with audio from the technician ("almost done, dolly, just one more scan")
About halfway through the second track, the music abruptly switchd to the "BUHBUHBUHBUHBUHBUHBUHBUHBUHNNNNNN" sound of Windows freaking out, followed by silence, and then by the Windows startup sound. The MRI seemed to keep running, but at least the communications were using Windows.
Re:There can be only ONE (Score:5, Funny)
Draw derisive laughter from knowledgeable peers?
Re:Medical equipment (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Server on every computer (Score:1, Funny)
Makes sense since Windows Server 2003 was perhaps the best Microsoft has put out. If they were running Linux on the desktop I would have probably left and not visited that doctor since Linux on the desktop would have reeked of incompetence.
Re:Medical equipment (Score:5, Funny)
I know.
It's bad enough when I try to order a pizza online.
Re:Bank Machines (Score:4, Funny)
Did you see your cellphone in "My Bluetooth Places"?
Re:Bank Machines (Score:5, Funny)
Re:WARNING (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Medical equipment (Score:5, Funny)
Cell block 1138 (n/t) (Score:5, Funny)
(n/t)
Re:Public BSODs (Score:2, Funny)
Sometimes it causes very annoying situations. At Lee's sandwiches (a chain of sandwich stores in California), they have a WAN setup to pipe music to all the stores and take care of some light accounting. One day, the machine crashed early in the morning, and restarted, but the winamp playlist was deleted. So for 3 days while the system admin was on vacation, it kept playing the "Winamp, it really whips the Llama's ass" over.. and over.. and over...
Re:Medical equipment (Score:5, Funny)
Human wishes to start breathing. Cancel/Allow?
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
I live in Korea, where every computer runs Windows,
(just look at the anti-U.S. mad cow demonstrations happening now)
You'll end up with mad cow one way or another. If we can't send the cows to you, we'll feed them to MS programmers. We've been doing it for years.
Denny Crane
Re:Medical equipment (Score:3, Funny)
...at least you think it all worked fine, but as yet you haven't had any kids and you have a propensity to throw cars around when you get angry.
Re:Obligatory... (Score:4, Funny)
A plastic sign would do just as well.
That was my first thought too. Next thing you know, they'll try to invent a way to put Windows in a pen so that it would write upside down in space
New #1: Aircraft carrier down because of WinNT! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Medical equipment (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
If you want, I'll let you borrow my pencil.
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
I am taking no extraordinary measures in the day to day operation of my gaming PC.
I run as a limited user.
I patch Windows monthly.
I don't run software that claims to put "HAWT NUDE CHIXXXORZ" "RIGHT ON YOUR DESKTOP!".
It's simple, really.
Hate to be the one to break it to you... those are extraordinary measures.
Re:Bank Machines (Score:1, Funny)
Or even better... Start playing Minesweeper, lose (on purpose if needed) and then publically get angry at the machine/yourself because now you won't get the cash you asked for.
Re:Medical equipment (Score:5, Funny)
This child process has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
Come on, if you go that way do it right:
This child process has performed an illegal operation. Retry, ignore, or abort?
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft actually bought South Korea in the late 90s.
Re:Obligatory... (Score:4, Funny)
best clicky-pends and coffee mugs and complimentary dinners :)
I think you mean hookers and blow
Re:Obligatory... (Score:3, Funny)
Ahhh... but NZ is very crinkly. So crinkly in fact that you have seen all the flat bits in the Lord of the Rings movie. As a result many things in NZ are profoundly non-Euclidean, such as the Kiwi bird, which is the only bird that lays an egg bigger than itself. It also leads to such beasts as the parrot that lives on a diet consisting of auto-mobiles.
The huge fractal dimension of NZ means that one hectare of grass in NZ is the equivalent of a hundred in more 'normal' parts of the world. This is all part of God's great love for New Zealand - after all, "God so loved New Zealand that He gave them boiling mud".