Travel-sick Windows needing a Systemwiederherstellung would be in Germany, right? Austria? Not necessarily
- Reference: 1591354211
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/06/05/bork/
- Source link:
Snapped by an eagled-eyed Register reader aboard one of those miserable buses that transport tired travellers from airport terminal to motor vehicle rental hub, the signage looks like it might be running the elderly Windows 7.
Support for the veteran operating system [1]finally came to an end earlier this year , although some of the embedded incarnations will linger well into 2021.
[2]
Click to enlarge
Those wishing to stick with the software must spank the cash on some Extended Security Updates (ESU). Something we can't imagine whoever has bolted the screen to the luggage rack of this chariot of despair will be too keen on.
German has some marvellously long words to befuddle travellers. The efficient avoidance of spaces gives rise to delights such as "Systemwiederherstellung," which we think means something like "System recovery."
Certainly, there is a "probleme" with this particular installation, and Windows 7 clearly needs a bit of help starting up. We wouldn't advise prodding the screen, however. Normally flinging ads or advice, it probably has an invisible film of filth deposited by international travellers keen to hop into one of Ford's finest.
This particular bus was headed to Avis, according to our reader. Handy, because rival rental firm Hertz [3]recently filed for bankruptcy protection in the US as business slowed. Indeed, as our reader observed, having arrived on one of the very few flights still operating last month, "Heathrow is a ghost town these days."
For yes, despite appearances to the contrary, the very German and very unhappy digital sign can be found on a bus rolling around the roads of Blighty's busiest airport. It is enough to make one chew through a [4]tea towel and paint a passport blue.
Still, it could be worse. It could be rolling around Germany's forever-almost-complete [5]Berlin Brandenburg Airport , which has brought new meaning to the word Bork all by itself.
And anyhow, this hack has a certain fondness for the German language. After all, the words for Father and Bottle have caused many a schoolchild giggle over the years and who among us could not love a language that chooses "Durchfall" for "diarrhoea." Or, literally translated: "through fall."
Something similar, we fear, has happened to this poorly installation of Windows 7. ®
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/14/windows_7_uk_cybercops/
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/06/04/bork_3.jpg
[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52780841
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/29/brexit_tea_towel/
[5] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-48527308
Weihnachtsspecial
Around the turn of the century, my brother was working as a freelance recruiter and he picked up a contract from a certain discounter/supermarket chain of German heritage (no, not the one beginning with L). They had stocked up with PCs for their UK punters and were selling them to people who were giving them as presents at Christmas time...
Only, luckily, a few people actually wanted to try out the discount PC crapiness straight away... Only to find that there was a "Z" where the Y should be and vice-versa and things like [, ], {, } were now "unobtainable", having been replaced by ü+öä. and when the PC started it was all in German Yes. They had ordered them from the now defunct Peacock computers in Germany and the manufacturer had pallets of the things ready to ship, only they mixed up the orders and the UK got part of the shipment for their German stores.
They were hurriedly looking for some IT bods to roam around the country on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the through New Year, to replace the keyboards and install a more British version of Windows on the PCs. The pay was allegedly not bad, but you needed to have your own car and some of the customers lived in less salubrious areas and I didn't fancy coming out from refurbishing a PC to find my car refurbished sans wheels, windows and interior...
Avis is a German company
For those that don't know, Avis is a German company so it's not that surprising that remotely supported systems are in German.