Your software doesn't work when my PC is in 'O' mode
- Reference: 1651217409
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/04/29/on_call/
- Source link:
Today's contribution comes from a reader Regomized as "Ivor" and concerns a particularly puzzling support call from a customer struggling with Ivor's software.
It was regarding a PC setting he'd never heard of. We should explain that Ivor worked as a developer and development manager for his employer for well over a quarter of century and would be forgiven for thinking he'd heard it all. But there's always that one ever so special case.
[2]
"Your software doesn't work," was the complaint. Simple enough, right?
[3]
[4]
Maybe not. Ivor explained that the customer "reported our software would only work if the computer was in 'I' mode."
"It wouldn't work in 'O' mode."
[5]
Ivor was baffled. "This was the '90s," he said, "and no one could think of such a config option in our software."
There were different modes in the platforms of the era. Who can forget Windows 3.1's "constant crashing mode" (aka "standard mode") versus the "crashes a bit less mode" (aka "enhanced mode") or the MS-DOS MODE command, responsible for setting the mode of operation for printers or the serial interface?
But "I" mode and "O" mode were new to Ivor and the team and they gently probed the increasingly frustrated customer to work out what the problem was.
[6]
The customer explained again: "Your. Software. Does. Not. Work. In. O. Mode."
[7]Not to dis your diskette, but there are some unexpected sector holes
[8]You can buy a company. You can buy a product. Common sense? Trickier
[9]Buying a USB adapter: Pennies. Knowing where to stick it: Priceless
[10]The time you solved that months-long problem in 3 seconds
Perhaps this was a reference to the MODE command of the BBC Micro Model B. MODE 0 would put Acorn's finest into 80 column mode while MODE 1 was a bit more graphical. The BBC Micro (along with its successor, the Archimedes) was, after all, only discontinued in the 1990s. So not too far-fetched… if it wasn't for the fact that this software was designed to run on a PC.
The questioning went on and when "we managed to ascertain it was a button with 'I' and 'O' on it," the penny dropped.
The customer was referring to a rocker switch on the PC. "To be precise," said Ivor, "the on/off rocker switch."
There's no record of how the conversation with the customer went as Ivor explained that "O" meant the PC was off and just about nothing would be running, not even his software. We imagine that the sentence "'O' is for Off and 'I' is for Idiot" wasn't too far from his mind.
Still, at least it gave Ivor a fresh twist on an old IT truism: "We still don't talk about 'turning it off and on'," he said, "but rather 'putting [it] into 'O' mode and then 'I' mode'."
[11]
Ever had a user who such a high opinion of your software that their expectation was that it would run even in the absence of power? How did you reset their hopes and dreams? Share your tale of support shenanigans with an email to [12]On Call . ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/Tag/on-call
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Ymu3Shy9h66q4KovTf90ewAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ymu3Shy9h66q4KovTf90ewAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ymu3Shy9h66q4KovTf90ewAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ymu3Shy9h66q4KovTf90ewAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ymu3Shy9h66q4KovTf90ewAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/22/on_call/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/15/on_call/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/08/on_call/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/01/on_call/
[11] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/04/28/shutterstock_powerswitch.jpg
[12] mailto:oncall@theregister.com
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Probably a piece of software that started automatically on system boot.
Not sure how this particular user dealt with switches on other things like lights, kettles, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if this was an April Fool's prank call though.
I've known certain users and colleagues where the only safe mode for them to use would be O mode...
Saw that coming
I must have met too many users. I guessed what the O mode was well before the end!
Re: Saw that coming
But try to say "Ohh"-mode and "Aye"-mode.
Re: Saw that coming
Me too. I immediately thought IBM PS/2 Model 30. Sadly that does show my age
Re: Saw that coming
My time on the help desk made sure I never forgot the "Always start with the basics" rule and that when you started thinking "They can't be that stupid, can they?" you'd get someone along to help you re-calibrate.
Re: Saw that coming
Always remember natures eternal arms race between idiot and idiot-proof.
Evolution at it's finest...
Too many damn buttons and switches.
My mother always asked... do you have anything with one switch, on/off? I guess one was already too many for this particular customer. One has to wonder how the customer managed to use the phone.
The usual way in the 90s? Pick up the receiver, wait for the dial tone then dial (punch) the number?
Now get off my lawn!
And when he used double "Ohh"-mode punches followed by an "Eye"-mode punch and then some random ramblings, he'd get the US embassy telling him to stop calling them?
Okay, boomer!
/runs
My guess is they used the wall socket to turn on/off, like a toaster.
This was also the time of the Turbo button, so it's vaguely understandable, but they must have been only using the PC for running one piece of software, autorun from boot for them to think it was a fault in this software, rather than on anything run on the PC, like the OS for example.
ID ten T Errors
One peeve with the Raspberry-π is that is does not have a power switch on the device or the official power supply. Now I know why.
Re: ID ten T Errors
Of course it does: it's a double-pole USB, push-to-enter-I-mode device :)
There is one secure mode for any PC, in which it cannot be hacked or compromised.
Yup, the O state.
Until [1]Intel's ME came along .
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fhNokIgBMU
Or any of the 'lights out' systems in servers (iLo, DRAC etc.). Or Wake On LAN I suppose.
Reminds me of my favourite API call in any OS ever: BeOS'
isComputerOn
Returns `1` if the computer is turned on.
If the computer is _not_ turned on, return value is undefined. But it won't be a one.
I wonder what response that would give if installed on a quantum computer?
Random thought experiment for a Friday before beer o'clock...
it was a button with 'I' and 'O' on it
That's not an 'I' and 'O', that's a 1 and a 0. Presumably thought up by some techie who can only think in binary, and assumes everybody else will understand it too. There can't be any other reason, unless they thought that users wouldn't be confused as to whether 'O' stands for On or Off.
The implication being that he felt the computer was perfectly functional for other tasks in "O" mode - just this PESKY software that wasn't playing ball?