Computer Haiku's   -or-   Calm in a world of bit & bytes

 

The Japanese have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages. Haiku poetry has strict construction rules - each poem has only 17 syllables; 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second, 5 in the third. They are used to communicate a timeless message, often achieving a wistful, yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity.

 

Here are 16 actual error messages from Japan.

---------------------------------------------------

 

Your file was so big.

It might be very useful.

But now it is gone.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

The Web site you seek

Cannot be located, but

Countless more exist.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Chaos reigns within.

Reflect, repent, and reboot.

Order shall return.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Program aborting:

Close all that you have worked on.

You ask far too much.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Windows NT crashed.

I am the Blue Screen of Death.

No one hears your screams.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Yesterday it worked.

Today it is not working.

Windows is like that.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

First snow, then silence.

This thousand dollar screen dies

So beautifully.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

With searching comes loss

And the presence of absence:

"My Novel" not found.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

The Tao that is seen

Is not the true Tao-until

You bring fresh toner.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Stay the patient course.

Of little worth is your ire.

The network is down.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

A crash reduces

Your expensive computer

To a simple stone.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Three things are certain:

Death, taxes and lost data.

Guess which has occurred.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

You step in the stream,

But the water has moved on.

This page is not here.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Out of memory.

We wish to hold the whole sky,

But we never will.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Having been erased,

The document you're seeking

Must now be retyped.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Serious error.

All shortcuts have disappeared.

Screen. Mind. Both are blank....

 

---------------------------------------------------