Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/01/11/ms_judge_waxes_poetical/

MS judge waxes poetical

His sudden interest in haiku error messages could be grounds for an MS appeal...

By Graham Lea

Posted in On-Prem, 11th January 1999 13:51 GMT

A cheery Judge Jackson last week introduced a lighter, poetical note to the trial. The court: Counsel, before we get started, I thought I would call your attention to a news item that was called to my attention recently, and I just pass it on to you. It's entitled "Serenity in the midst of madness." "In the wake of the federal antitrust suit against Microsoft, Sony has announced its own computer operating system now available on its hot new portable PC called the Vaio. Instead of producing the cryptic error messages characteristic of Microsoft's Windows, Sony's chairman, Asai Tawara, said, quote, 'we intend to capture the high ground by putting a human, Japanese face on what has been, until now, an operating system that reflects Western cultural hegemony. For example, we have replaced the usual impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with our own Japanese haiku poetry.' The chairman went on to give examples of Sony's new error messages." Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent and reboot. Order shall return. First snow, then silence. This thousand dollar screen dies So beautifully. Windows NT crashed. I am the blue screen of death. No one hears your screams. Three things are certain: Death, taxes, and lost data. Guess which has occurred. Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, But we never will. ® Complete Register trial coverage