Haikus as Error MessagesSony has announced its own computer operating system now available on its hot new notebook PC. Instead of producing the cryptic error message characteristic of Microsoft's operating systems, Sony's president said, "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 impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with our own Japanese haiku* poetry."*Haiku poetry has strict construction rules. Each poem has only three lines, 17 syllables: five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, five in the third. Haikus are used to communicate a timeless message often achieving a wistful, yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity - the essence of Zen. The chairman went on to give examples of Sony's new error messages:
Your file was so big.
The Web site you seek
Chaos reigns within.
Program aborting:
Windows NT crashed.
Yesterday it worked.
First snow, then silence.
With searching comes loss
The Tao that is seen
Stay the patient course.
A crash reduces
Three things are certain:
You step in the stream,
Out of memory.
Having been erased,
Serious error. |