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Not the kind of note you want to see fluttering from an ATM

(2021/12/25)


12BoC Welcome to The Register's Twelve Borks of Christmas (12BoC), a final festive hurrah for digital signage silage and, behind today's window, a reminder that wherever Windows might turn up, Notepad has always got your back.

Snapped by a keen-eyed Register reader, this ATM outside a branch of UK grocery shop Sainsbury's does not look set to be dispensing cash any time soon. One of a pair, the screen belies the presence of Microsoft's finest within thanks to our old friend, Windows Notepad.

[1]

Click to enlarge

"Not with the usual 'I'm doing something please don't touch' that we've all done before," noted our reader. Instead, an empty screen. Possibly a little too reminiscent of bank balances this time of year.

Your correspondent is all too familiar with the challenges of remote desktop operations, and has used the Notepad application to communicate with a user sat wondering what magic had overtaken their workstation. Of course, that was a message shown in the relative privacy of an office rather than this one, which is flashing its privates to people trying to draw money from the ATM.

[2]Cruel and unusual IT fail upstages Megan Fox. Transformers: Windows in disguise

[3]Windows terminates here. Please remember to finish setting it up on arrival

[4]Mind your Ps and queues: Bork makes a visit to the A&E

[5]Meatballs, Abba, and bork: 3 things Sweden is famous for

The twin of the cash machine was apparently showing an "Out of Service" banner. Clearly the backroom team is hard at work on this one, hidden behind the curtain of Notepad.

Windows does seem to turn up everywhere. As ATMs get smarter, the choice of what is running behind the scenes seems to be dumber. Sure, Microsoft's operating system is a general purpose one, but it seems a bit hefty for a cashpoint. And it's infamously prone to failure.

Then again, regardless of what clever apps are required for cash and advertising on the Sainsbury's screen, it is a comfort that, whatever happens, Notepad has always got your back. ®

[6]

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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/12/10/12boc_1.jpg

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/15/bork/

[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/15/bork/

[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/14/bork/

[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/12/bork/

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/columnists&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Ycb52WxGAJ5mbenf1151JwAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[7] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/



Imagine that Cray computer decides to make a personal computer. It has
a 150 MHz processor, 200 megabytes of RAM, 1500 megabytes of disk
storage, a screen resolution of 4096 x 4096 pixels, relies entirely on
voice recognition for input, fits in your shirt pocket and costs $300.
What's the first question that the computer community asks?

"Is it PC compatible?"