Parking is expensive. It can cost an arm, a leg, and a Windows licence
- Reference: 1632482947
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/09/24/bork/
- Source link:
[1]
Click to enlarge
Windows, it seems, gets everywhere. This example, spotted by Register reader James, can be found in [2]the Queen Anne Terrace car park , a 570-space facility in Cambridge with an impressively byzantine range of charges for customers. Stay over six hours and pitch up at the wrong time, you could be on the hook for £17.50.
A mere trifle for drivers stung by the eye-watering charges of London's car parks (or [3]even those in this hack's hometown of Brighton ).
It is, however, nothing compared to the cost of a Windows licence, as the operating system lurking behind the scenes here is making its displeasure felt regarding a lack of activation. No ticket insertion will make this message go away, alas, because a trip to Settings is required even though there is no keyboard or mouse present to make the magic happen.
[4]
Pic courtesy: Reg reader James (click to enlarge)
Activation turned up in Windows back in the days of XP and has annoyed users ever since. Normally, one would activate Windows on installation and again should the hardware configuration be changed. Former Microsoft engineer [5]Dave Plummer explained the process earlier this year and the various editions of Windows behave differently should a "grace" period be exceeded. XP would simply stop working (no change there) while later versions of Windows opted for the watermark of shame and occasional reminders.
[6]A Burger King where the only Whopper is the BSOD font
[7]Sometimes we all feel a bit like Shutting Down. So just imagine how tired Windows 7 is
[8]Running on empty, out of battery, power draining... three things the UK government definitely isn't. Oh no
[9]Music festivals are back in the UK. So is the background bork
Hopefully, this is what has happened here. A nag for an administrator after a bit of thoughtless hardware or software tinkering rather than a full-blown shutdown for the motorist hoping to drive a car out of a Cambridge car park.
Our solution to parking in Cambridge? Go visit the [10]Centre for Computing History – the parking does not require feeding money into a borked kiosk. Instead, one can indulge one's inner nerd in a place where "activation" is what happens when you wedge a power lead into the back of a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/09/22/bork_8_1_1.jpg
[2] https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/queen-anne-terrace-car-park
[3] https://www.ncp.co.uk/find-a-car-park/car-parks/brighton-centre-russell-road/
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/09/22/bork_8_2.jpg
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/20/windows_product_activation/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/20/bork/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/bork/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/14/bork/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/10/bork/
[10] https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Linux needs to advertise better.
Linux is much more stable, it won't do all the Bork Windows is capable of.
Buy petrol as normal, says government minister
That's the top BBC news website headline just now. Grant Shapps telling me to buy petrol as normal makes me want to panic buy petrol. I don't even own a car, but I may need it for Molotov cocktails in the subsequent riots. [Most dangerous Finnish invention after the sauna]
Food and energy prices are going up due to a national CO2 shortage. Wasn't a planned reduction in carbon dioxide behind the previous food and energy price hikes?
And Boris is at the UN dissing Kermit the Frog like his hero, Churchill the nodding dog. New coal mine, new oil field? We'll tell you right after COP26.
Re: Buy petrol as normal, says government minister
Grant Shapps telling me to buy petrol as normal makes me want to panic buy petrol. I don't even own a car
Same logic that led people to panic buy bog roll when there was no shortage. People can be amazingly stupid in groups.
Molotov cocktails in the subsequent riots. [Most dangerous Finnish invention after the sauna]
I think the Finns just gave it that name, in response to Russian bombing, but they didn't invent it.
due to a national CO2 shortage
So on the one hand we have too much of it in the air, but on the other we don't have enough to pack our food (and presumably release into the air later)? Is it really beyond our abilities to perhaps just extract it from the air & kill two birds with one (renewable) stone?
And Boris is at the UN dissing Kermit the Frog
Bit of a waste of time, Kermit's doing a fine job of it by himself.
My colleagues and I went into Banbury for a team meal one time. When we got to the carpark the ticket machine wasn't dispensing tickets. After pressing a few buttons one of my colleagues made it start beeping incessantly so we quickly beat a retreat.
It's the software development team promise - we will make a difference!
:)