volcan said: I believe most if not all system level error messages are English only regardless what language is installed. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
BSODs are localized for at least Latin script but as I said, it's very difficult and expensive to localize every specific error. By keeping it as a technical string or number, you can avoid having to do this. In some regions, there's specific laws requiring localization (see Quebec).
AHAHAHAHHA, crashes friendlier.... Good grief MS, make us laugh. I'll remember that next time I need to do something urgently and things crashes; I'll remember how friendly the info about my doom was.. (sic).
"Though it currently points to a generic help page, the QR code will presumably eventually direct users to specific Windows support articles." I scanned the QR code and it does indeed go to the website listed above but isn't the contents of this page about as much information as Microsoft has ever given for a BSOD? Not to rag on Apple, but OSX crashes give a lot of technical information that's not much help for 99.999% of its users. At least Microsoft gives three possible reasons. Maybe Apple could learn from this and give OSX users some help with crashes. (What's wrong with me, I'm actually giving Microsoft a backhanded compliment. Not enough tea this morning.)
Their web pages ARE USELESS and their web forum are even more useless. They obviously put third rate people from third world countries (not even the best engineers from those countries) on support.
... as often" Macs do crash, at least mine does on occasion. Mail's been crashing more than it ever has.
Right, but that's simply an application crashing within Mac OS X, not Mac OS X itself crashing. The problem is that the Windows BSOD is Windows itself crashing and requires a reboot.
Exactly. Applications will crash but not the whole OS. Since December 2006 with 2 iMacs and a 2008 17" MBP I can only remember the latest iMac spontaneously reboot as I was doing something quite innocuous. All other instances were just apps. One (1) OS reboot in over 9 years with 3 machines, 2 concurrently. However there were 2 other instances where I lost control of the iMac and had to press the power button to reboot. I couldn't click the mouse anymore without dragging a selection rectangle as if the click button was stuck, so I couldn't even restart through the menu. Once back up everything was fine. I finally realized it was the Trackpad batteries that died and executed a mouse down event in its last gasp for some strange reason. Simply removing the batteries released the mouse without rebooting. I tend to let NiMh batteries run down completely before recharging.
Right, but that's simply an application crashing within Mac OS X, not Mac OS X itself crashing. The problem is that the Windows BSOD is Windows itself crashing and requires a reboot.
Exactly. Applications will crash but not the whole OS. Since December 2006 with 2 iMacs and a 2008 17" MBP I can only remember the latest iMac spontaneously reboot as I was doing something quite innocuous. All other instances were just apps. One (1) OS reboot in over 9 years with 3 machines, 2 concurrently. However there were 2 other instances where I lost control of the iMac and had to press the power button to reboot. I couldn't click the mouse anymore without dragging a selection rectangle as if the click button was stuck, so I couldn't even restart through the menu. Once back up everything was fine. I finally realized it was the Trackpad batteries that died and executed a mouse down event in its last gasp for some strange reason. Simply removing the batteries released the mouse without rebooting. I tend to let NiMh batteries run down completely before recharging.
Windows 10, in the last month never crashes, but I sometimes have to reboot it because the system state is weird and that's the only way I can fix it. Like many files being locked after an update even when I was in admin mode (that freaked me out), or WIFI being totally wonky, or some weird process has taken memory and not released it and it doesn't show in the task manager (but I know it is a memory issue). Those are not "crashes" , but they might as well be since the OS is nearly useless.
XP on the last service packs was also pretty solid, could stay up for weeks without issue. That wasn't the case in early versions, or even in SP1.
Windows 8 also had its shares of crashes.
Most bad crashes are related to drivers for internal hardware. Since Apple controls those and the OS, it's not surprising it would be more robust.
If you install well vetted drivers for unix machines, they can run for years without issue.
I’d love if Windows 10 actually worked with hardware designed for it. For the life of me I can’t figure out what’s wrong with my graphics card’s software in Windows...
Windows 10, in the last month never crashes, but I sometimes have to reboot it because the system state is weird and that's the only way I can fix it. Like many files being locked after an update even when I was in admin mode (that freaked me out), or WIFI being totally wonky, or some weird process has taken memory and not released it and it doesn't show in the task manager (but I know it is a memory issue). Those are not "crashes" , but they might as well be since the OS is nearly useless.
XP on the last service packs was also pretty solid, could stay up for weeks without issue. That wasn't the case in early versions, or even in SP1.
Windows 8 also had its shares of crashes.
Most bad crashes are related to drivers for internal hardware. Since Apple controls those and the OS, it's not surprising it would be more robust.
If you install well vetted drivers for unix machines, they can run for years without issue.
PC: I was thinking about the other kind of "better" Mac: what other kind?
As a person who writes code for PLCs used on industrial equipment, I've never understood why programmers use cryptic messages for error handling. Instead of displaying a series of hex numbers or a QR code, why not display something more helpful and user-friendly like, "Windows encountered an unrecoverable error while trying to read data from your hard drive. The hard drive is reporting a hardware fault and requires replacement." instead of "0x00000e9" followed by a bunch of other numbers that are meaningless to the user.
When I code, I think about what the user is going to see and understand when an error occurs. The more they understand and are able to do on their own, the less they have to rely on me to explain what "Error 2" means and what they need to do to fix it.
A lot of it is historical. Historically, those codes weren't targeted at users – if the OS segfaulted, its not like the user could do much about that. Also, if the machine is crashing the memory map may be totally broken so your goal is to get out what info you can before everything dies. Looking up a string (possibly an internationalized string) and displaying (maybe with unicode) might cause a page fault which you can't service, so the goal was to get a simple message out. With newer systems which may have more pinned pages this might not be as much of an issue.
In a surprise announcement today, Microsoft President Steve Ballmer revealed that the Redmond based company will allow computer resellers and end-users to customize the appearance of the Blue Screen of Death (abbreviated BSOD), the screen that displays when the Windows operating system crashes.
The move comes as the result of numerous focus groups and customer surveys done by Microsoft. Thousands of Microsoft customers were asked, "What do you spend the most time doing on your computer?" A surprising number of respondents said, "Staring at a Blue Screen of Death". At 54 percent, it was the top answer, beating the second place answer "Downloading Pornography" by an easy 12 points.
"We immediately recognized this as a great opportunity for ourselves, our channel partners, and especially our customers." explained the excited Ballmer to a room full of reporters.
Immense video displays were used to show images of the new customizable BSOD screen side-by-side with the older static version. Users can select from a collection of "BSOD Themes", allowing them to instead have a Mauve Screen of Death or even a Paisley Screen of Death. Graphics and multimedia content can now be incorporated into the screen, making the BSOD the perfect conduit for delivering product information and entertainment to Windows users.
The Blue Screen of Death is by far the most recognized feature of the Windows (tm) operating system, and as a result, Microsoft has historically insisted on total control over its look-and-feel. This recent departure from that policy reflects Microsoft's recognition of the Windows desktop itself as the "ultimate information portal." By default, the new BSOD will be configured to show a random selection of Microsoft product information whenever the system crashes. Microsoft channel partners can negotiate with Microsoft for the right to customize the BSOD on systems they ship. Major computer resellers such as Compaq, Gateway, and Dell are already lining up for premier placement on the new and improved BSOD.
Balmer concluded by getting a dig in against the Open Source community. "This just goes to show that Microsoft continues to innovate at a much faster pace than open source. I have yet to see any evidence that Linux or OpenBSD even have a BSOD, let alone a customizable one."
So which would you rather have: a computer which crashes fairly often but gives you (possibly) helpful information when it does, or a computer which crashes less often but doesn't give you that information?
I really don't understand this has to be an either/or.
It doesn't. It's just the way things currently are.
One point of argument I'd offer is: it doesn't matter how simple or concise you make the information, the vast majority of people simply aren't even going to read it (or care to read it). If they're having problems with their computer, they're most likely going to look for someone who can fix it for them. In which case, hanging on to all of that technical information is important.
Think of it this way: I'm a busy person, and if I start having problems with my car, even if it gave me all sorts of information about the details in clear wording, I'm still likely just going to take it into the shop. I either don't care about the details, or even if I can understand them, I'd have no other option but to go to a mechanic.
If only that were true. Worked in an office with a Mac-equipped design team and they too experienced complete crashes.
My wife works in graphic design, and 9.9 times out of 10 when she's experienced a crash, it's due to some junky/poorly supported 3rd party hardware like a scanner or printer which was causing compatibility issues (poor quality/outdated drivers, etc).
Ah Microsoft, you could have at least centered the emoticon. I have only seen a kernel panic twice now, from OS 10.0 forward, and both times they were due to faulty memory modules. In my experience, on healthy hardware, OS X is really, really hard to crash.
Comments
For example you see this error message if you try to upgrade a different language version than the one you are running.
"The Language of This Installation of Windows Differs from the One You Are Installing"
I'll remember that next time I need to do something urgently and things crashes; I'll remember how friendly the info about my doom was.. (sic).
However there were 2 other instances where I lost control of the iMac and had to press the power button to reboot. I couldn't click the mouse anymore without dragging a selection rectangle as if the click button was stuck, so I couldn't even restart through the menu. Once back up everything was fine. I finally realized it was the Trackpad batteries that died and executed a mouse down event in its last gasp for some strange reason. Simply removing the batteries released the mouse without rebooting. I tend to let NiMh batteries run down completely before recharging.
Like many files being locked after an update even when I was in admin mode (that freaked me out), or WIFI being totally wonky, or some weird process has taken memory and not released it and it doesn't show in the task manager (but I know it is a memory issue).
Those are not "crashes" , but they might as well be since the OS is nearly useless.
XP on the last service packs was also pretty solid, could stay up for weeks without issue.
That wasn't the case in early versions, or even in SP1.
Windows 8 also had its shares of crashes.
Most bad crashes are related to drivers for internal hardware.
Since Apple controls those and the OS, it's not surprising it would be more robust.
If you install well vetted drivers for unix machines, they can run for years without issue.
Typical.
Mac: what other kind?
Microsoft Announces Improved BSOD
In a surprise announcement today, Microsoft President Steve Ballmer revealed that the Redmond based company will allow computer resellers and end-users to customize the appearance of the Blue Screen of Death (abbreviated BSOD), the screen that displays when the Windows operating system crashes.
The move comes as the result of numerous focus groups and customer surveys done by Microsoft. Thousands of Microsoft customers were asked, "What do you spend the most time doing on your computer?" A surprising number of respondents said, "Staring at a Blue Screen of Death". At 54 percent, it was the top answer, beating the second place answer "Downloading Pornography" by an easy 12 points.
"We immediately recognized this as a great opportunity for ourselves, our channel partners, and especially our customers." explained the excited Ballmer to a room full of reporters.
Immense video displays were used to show images of the new customizable BSOD screen side-by-side with the older static version. Users can select from a collection of "BSOD Themes", allowing them to instead have a Mauve Screen of Death or even a Paisley Screen of Death. Graphics and multimedia content can now be incorporated into the screen, making the BSOD the perfect conduit for delivering product information and entertainment to Windows users.
The Blue Screen of Death is by far the most recognized feature of the Windows (tm) operating system, and as a result, Microsoft has historically insisted on total control over its look-and-feel. This recent departure from that policy reflects Microsoft's recognition of the Windows desktop itself as the "ultimate information portal." By default, the new BSOD will be configured to show a random selection of Microsoft product information whenever the system crashes. Microsoft channel partners can negotiate with Microsoft for the right to customize the BSOD on systems they ship. Major computer resellers such as Compaq, Gateway, and Dell are already lining up for premier placement on the new and improved BSOD.
Balmer concluded by getting a dig in against the Open Source community. "This just goes to show that Microsoft continues to innovate at a much faster pace than open source. I have yet to see any evidence that Linux or OpenBSD even have a BSOD, let alone a customizable one."
One point of argument I'd offer is: it doesn't matter how simple or concise you make the information, the vast majority of people simply aren't even going to read it (or care to read it). If they're having problems with their computer, they're most likely going to look for someone who can fix it for them. In which case, hanging on to all of that technical information is important.
Think of it this way: I'm a busy person, and if I start having problems with my car, even if it gave me all sorts of information about the details in clear wording, I'm still likely just going to take it into the shop. I either don't care about the details, or even if I can understand them, I'd have no other option but to go to a mechanic.
My wife works in graphic design, and 9.9 times out of 10 when she's experienced a crash, it's due to some junky/poorly supported 3rd party hardware like a scanner or printer which was causing compatibility issues (poor quality/outdated drivers, etc).
nope. and don't call me shirley
I have only seen a kernel panic twice now, from OS 10.0 forward, and both times they were due to faulty memory modules. In my experience, on healthy hardware, OS X is really, really hard to crash.