| While sleeping through a lecture recently I | | | | found.Some of the greatest Easter Eggs came |
| roused for just long enough to catch the | | | | from Microsoft's software stable. Word 97 |
| lecturer saying that "Error messages should | | | | used to have a great little pinball game |
| not try to be funny or amusing, they should | | | | built in if you followed the correct steps, |
| be clear and concise". This got me thinking | | | | while Excel 97 had a fun little 'flight |
| about the ever-elusive goal of user | | | | simulator' built in. Unfortunately employees |
| friendliness. The concept has changed much | | | | are apparently no longer allowed to include |
| over the years with packages such as DOS | | | | these after some offensive messages were once |
| going from being one of the easiest packages | | | | included in a program.Companies now require a |
| on the market, to now being complicated, | | | | very professional image and software costs |
| convoluted, and ignored. I have begun to | | | | quite a lot to develop, so we're likely to |
| wonder why I am being taught that computers | | | | see all the amusing quirks removed from |
| have to be boring to be user friendly.The | | | | software that's released making it nothing |
| predictable nature of computers is quite | | | | but functional. I think that this is |
| dull. I study computers and work with them, | | | | unfortunate. I agree that error messages need |
| so I'm used to experiencing a certain number | | | | to be functional and let the user know what's |
| of faults every now and then. I find these | | | | gone wrong but there's no harm in taking the |
| dull and depending on how close my current | | | | edge off the fact that they've possibly just |
| deadline is, downright infuriating. On the | | | | lost a few hour's work by adding a little |
| Internet side of things there is little quite | | | | humor into the picture. As long as common |
| as irritating as running into a 404 page when | | | | sense is adhered to I don't really see why my |
| you're trying to find something. However, the | | | | grey pop up boxes all need to say exactly the |
| other day I ran into a site that displayed | | | | same thing and be filled with data that's |
| random 404 Haikus and instead of being upset | | | | largely useless to me. Thank you, I realize |
| at the fact that my time was being wasted, I | | | | that the program has encountered an error. I |
| ended up typing in bizarre addresses just so | | | | assumed this when it stopped working. Why not |
| that I could read all of the little poems. | | | | give me a reason to actually read error |
| You can find a few lists of 404 Haikus from a | | | | messages instead of having to dismiss them as |
| simple search in Google. Humorous website has | | | | soon as they appear?I think the idea of user |
| an entertaining page when you get the address | | | | friendliness has become too clinical and |
| wrong that screams "Four-oh-foured!" and | | | | precise. We have rules and structures |
| displays a very entertaining message. They | | | | defining what is or isn't helpful. We put |
| have another 404 page on their site that is a | | | | fancy, bubbly skins on the dull and mundane |
| hilarious cartoon you can watch.In terms of | | | | and think that we're making it all more |
| applications, games occasionally have amusing | | | | interesting. Just occasionally I'd like my |
| error messages such as the one in 'Escape | | | | computer to pop up and say "Human Error. |
| From Monkey Island' with the title | | | | Please replace user and try again."Daniel |
| "Congratulations, you have found a bug!" and | | | | Punch |
| concludes with "...get back to work". | | | | |
| There's naturally a bit more leniency and | | | | M6.Net Web Helpers |
| tendency towards entertaining secrets in | | | | |
| games. Easter Eggs used to be a lot more | | | | Daniel Punch is a writer working at M6.Net: |
| common in software applications. These are | | | | 'The web-hosting company for humans.' M6.Net |
| hidden sections of code that the average user | | | | is working hard to help humanity experience |
| will never activate but which provide an | | | | the power and freedom to develop their own |
| amusing result when they do. For a large list | | | | part of the Internet, to share their |
| go to and search for a specific type of | | | | information and connect with anyone, |
| software program that you use. There may be a | | | | anywhere, anytime. |
| few minutes of hidden entertainment to be | | | | |