Posted on 01/12/2013 3:39:35 PM PST by re_nortex
I typically spend 94.37% of my computing time in the Solaris or Linux environments but today was one of those occasions when I ventured outside my comfort zone, launching into Windows 8 for a brief while. A series of updates were available and upon the recommended reboot, I was greeted with this message:
Windows Update: Do not turn off your computer.
Of course, the Unix platforms have never been noted for the precision of their error and informational messages (the notorious "not a typewriter" as a catchall for an invalid ioctl). Yet the syntax of the Microsoft message struck me as a bit odd, almost a bit like Pittsburghese. I would think a more apt phrasing would be Do not turn your computer off as a cautionary message while the updates were being applied.
No, “do not turn off your computer” is correct.
I'm the same, Solaris and linux. Don't mess with Windows much anymore outside my son's lappys with Win7 and what work requires (which is server side only).
Pingin' another techie..
/johnny
So, the consensus appears to be that when you yell at your kids: “TURN IT OFF!”, you are abusing Queens English, because the correct yell is: “TURN OFF IT!” ?
Protocols do change with time. In the old KJV Bible, a sentence will often end in a semicolon and the next begins with a capital letter, which is something that I do not recall seeing now.
Also, if you are one of those grammar experts, it is most correct (at least in America) to place a reference within the comma or period (Jn. 3:16) or after it? I usually do the latter.
Thanks.
I use it with joy, Bill Joy that is. :-)
Actually I'll admit that I stray a bit from the pure Solaris approach since I do taint my system with the tools and utilities from OpenCSW. One of my colleagues is appalled that I use bash as my working shell instead of using the classic /bin/sh as mandated from the beginning of time (or at least the epoch) by Stephen Bourne.
Semi-computer geek, don’t think I’m going to bookmark this one :)
Our former president Andy Jackson is reputed to have said "It's a damn small mind that can only think of one way to spell a word".
/johnny
As I mentioned a few weeks back, you are one of the must-read posters here on FR. And I tend to ramble whereas you express things so aptly with an economy of words. And, thanks much for the ping to the other thread concerning grammar.
Grammar teachers never revolutionize the world.
Old sticks in the mud.
I thank you again.
It is a good thing I did not write the code.
The message might very well have been, “WTF are you doing you dumb ****! Don’t turn off the ****ing computer during a ****ing code update!!
Well, there are the prescribers and the describers. Describers wave the white flag from the start, prescribers defend the fort.
We lost on “pro-active”, I admit, but “its” != “it’s”, sorry!
Mom? Is that you? I thought you were dead.
/johnny
I do.
I know some coders that got in trouble for having colorful language in the debug code.
"Syscon **** the bed again"
We can't sell that in the final product!
Exactly so. Another pet peeve of mine:
To boldly go
When it should be:
To go boldly
/johnny
I work on some fancy stuff that the engineers forgot to put serial ports on so I can look at basic processes.
Oh, there are workarounds but wouldn’t it be nice to be able to monitor the boot process on all the processors without the overall OS coming up?
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