What's the difference between Windows 7 and a bin lorry? One is full of garbage, and the other… oh dear
- Reference: 1585642511
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/31/bork/
- Source link:
Today's example was spotted on the side of a recycling collection lorry pulling out of Queen's Crescent in Kentish Town, Camden.
The venerable market street has a rich history, although has fallen on hard times in recent years. Despite hosting [1]some of the first Sainsbury's shops back in the late 19th century, the last decade saw a decline in traders. Most recently, [2]Camden secured £1.1m back in 2018 to breathe new life into the street.
Sadly, that new life does not appear to extend to the digital signage on local collection vehicles. By our reckoning, that looks like Windows 7 in full flow, Aero desktop and all. To be fair, the shot was taken before support breathed its last, but still – it's good to see the old thing adorning the side of something usually filled with rubbish.
I like borking, I like borking, I like borking and I like to bork
As for what is going on, it looks like NovaLCT might be involved, but clearly somebody is having a bad time in the command prompt; we're not entirely clear what rem StartCOM10Check.bat is intended to do unless it has accidentally been copied and pasted from somewhere or a batch file is misbehaving.
Snapped by an eagle-eyed Register reader, the screen normally exhorts residents to recycle and make good use of their composting bins.
Whereas now there is just the recycle bin. Perhaps it's a bit of guerrilla marketing, with an operating system that Microsoft would dearly like to see consigned to the nearest virtual landfill.
Spotted some bork on the move? Or some signage silage? The Register is seeking the best – and worst – of the breed and is awaiting your email. ®
[1] https://www.locallocalhistory.co.uk/ctown/p150/pages159-165.htm
[2] http://camdennewjournal.com/article/could-1-million-windfall-breathe-new-life-into-queens-crescent-market
Indeed. Wouldn't a normal poster have been enough ?
For the price of that screen and the equipment behind it, I'm pretty sure you'd have a year of posters changing every day.
And you wouldn't change them every day.
Re: More to the point.
This is Camden, a council that likes to share with the people.
Considering the part of the original screen still visible from behing the borkage, where the words 'recycle' and a part of 'corona virus' is on show I dread to think what the whole message is, but Monty Python comes to mind.
Re: More to the point.
Errr... no there isn't. That's just the Windows 7 desktop.
Re: More to the point.
string NovaLT( "NovaLT" );
assert( NovaLT.IsAnyPartOf( "corona virus" ) );
---
Assertion failed.
Re: More to the point.
Time for new glasses? Also, the photo was taken some time before January 14th according to the article ("the shot was taken before support breathed its last").
Re: More to the point.
Exactly what I thought. Maybe the truck is being driven by replicants too.
Re: More to the point.
Maybe it shows adverts too to recoup the cost, like a lot of these screens. However their prepondency towards borkage is also doing a sterling public service of advertising that yes, Windows really is this flaky and unreliable everywhere. Somebody in Microsoft will have to come up with the idea of the negative software licence soon, where they pay companies not to use Windows on computers used for public displays.
And having it on the side of a bin lorry driving round grotty places like Camden doesn't really conjure the idea of a futuristic Blade Runner style tech metropolis that the ad agencies who must have conceived this idea in their trendy offices thought it would.
Re: a futuristic Blade Runner style tech metropolis
It's been a while since I last saw it, but wasn't quite a lot of Blade Runner in somewhat grotty environs?
we're not entirely clear what rem StartCOM10Check.bat is intended to do
I'd guess the batch file has its name in a comment at the top so you can tell what's running. But the path under which the batch is invoked in the previous line seems to start with an underscore, so that isn't actually its name.
This is a perfectly appropriate display on a bin lorry.
Bork!Bork!Bork!
I wonder if that's the noise it makes while reversing?
More to the point.
Why do you need a bloody great digital signage on the side of a bin lorry?
Still nice to see someone else's council tax being wasted for a change.