In Japan,
they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful 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 are used to communicate a timeless message, often achieving 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