MS Crash Photo: "The Coca Cola Media Player Has Encountered a Problem"

[orange2k]

Found this on Wired. Look familiar?

[CAD-MAN]

That is brilliant! A true classic :lolflag:

Thanks for posting :)

[jkblacker]

Why did I choose to spend my summer away from London?! Great photo!

[ltk5]

Man, this is amazing!

[FuturePilot]

Kind of reminds me of this (http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/4630)

[Ozor Mox]

Whenever I see these on billboards or cash points or anywhere else, I always wonder...why on earth are they using a desktop operating system to run them? Surely a cut down version of Linux would do the job much better...or BSD...or ANYTHING but not Windows!

[@trophy]

You see this kind of stuff a lot. Which is weird, cause you'd think they'd just shove a cheap (ie linux) server in a closet somewhere to host this stuff.

[Lord Illidan]

Yes, it's not like desktop applications in Linux don't crash sometimes, no?

[n.aggel]

You see this kind of stuff a lot. Which is weird, cause you'd think they'd just shove a cheap (ie linux) server in a closet somewhere to host this stuff.

No, paying for a bad OS is better than getting for free the best one.....:P

[Lord Illidan]

Does it strike any of you as peculiar that if an app crashes on Linux, it doesn't mean anything, while if an app crashes on Windows, it automatically means that Windows sucks?

[Ozor Mox]

Yes, it's not like desktop applications in Linux don't crash sometimes, no?

If it was a Linux-based server then you can pretty much guarantee it's far less likely than a standard XP desktop. Plus they wouldn't be paying unnecessary license fees either.

Oh and as it happens, Firefox is the only Linux application to ever crash for me :)

[Ozor Mox]

Does it strike any of you as peculiar that if an app crashes on Linux, it doesn't mean anything, while if an app crashes on Windows, it automatically means that Windows sucks?

Who has said that?? :confused:

[Lord Illidan]

If it was a Linux-based server then you can pretty much guarantee it's far less likely than a standard XP desktop. Plus they wouldn't be paying unnecessary license fees either.

Oh and as it happens, Firefox is the only Linux application to ever crash for me :)

Amarok, Compiz, Firefox, they all crash sometimes.

[Ozor Mox]

Compiz hasn't crashed for me, but I haven't used Amarok extensively so I don't know about that. Firefox does crash though, I think it's my Flash plugin.

And incidentally, when an application crashes on Linux or on Windows, I blame the application and not the OS. Where Linux does better than Windows for me though is that an application crash has never taken down the whole system whereas it frequently used to on my old Windows computers.

[Lord Illidan]

Compiz hasn't crashed for me, but I haven't used Amarok extensively so I don't know about that. Firefox does crash though, I think it's my Flash plugin.

And incidentally, when an application crashes on Linux or on Windows, I blame the application and not the OS. Where Linux does better than Windows for me though is that an application crash has never taken down the whole system whereas it frequently used to on my old Windows computers.

Sometimes they take down X..which for me means losing all active data.. - this is in the case of Compiz mostly..

[Eddie Wilson]

Compiz hasn't crashed for me, but I haven't used Amarok extensively so I don't know about that. Firefox does crash though, I think it's my Flash plugin.

And incidentally, when an application crashes on Linux or on Windows, I blame the application and not the OS. Where Linux does better than Windows for me though is that an application crash has never taken down the whole system whereas it frequently used to on my old Windows computers.

I see this crash message a lot when someone is running IE. I say that IE is a part of the Windows os. I like the picture also.
Eddie

[a12ctic]

Sometimes they take down X..which for me means losing all active data.. - this is in the case of Compiz mostly..

Well, thats what you get for using non-stable software now isn't it. Just for the record, compiz-fusion and firefox (specifically the flash plugin) are they only things that have crashed for me.

[Bungo Pony]

The only time I've ever got an error message in Linux was when Konqueror crashed in KDE (along with a few other apps). This was one of the reasons I permanently switched to Gnome. I've never recieved an error message in Gnome, and the only app that has crashed for me in Gnome is Beryl. Games also aren't very happy with Beryl running.

[justin whitaker]

Does it strike any of you as peculiar that if an app crashes on Linux, it doesn't mean anything, while if an app crashes on Windows, it automatically means that Windows sucks?

It does strike me that that is a smidge, maybe a tad, hypocritical. :)

[Dragonbite]

Does it strike any of you as peculiar that if an app crashes on Linux, it doesn't mean anything, while if an app crashes on Windows, it automatically means that Windows sucks?I can attest that I can crash Windows AND Linux. I crashed Linux so bad once that it was 100 % unresponsive but I did get to watch the CAP/SCROLL/NUM LOCK buttons flash like a Christmas tree for entertainment!

I haven't crashed BSD, Solaris or Mac... because I haven't used them. Give me a little time and I'll see what I can do ;)

[Old Pink]

Don't send. :)

[Griff]

Does it strike any of you as peculiar that if an app crashes on Linux, it doesn't mean anything, while if an app crashes on Windows, it automatically means that Windows sucks?
In my experience an application crash on windows in many cases leads to a system crash where an application crash on any of my linux boxes has never led to a whole system crash.

[ryno519]

If that happened in GNU/Linux you would have seen a segfault and a giant terminal. Not sure why Microsoft is getting all the heat there and not... The Coca Cola Media Player.

[Dragonbite]

They should follow the 4 "R"s of fixiing any computer troubles with Microsoft


"R"estart the application
"R"eboot the computer
"R"einstall the application
"R"einstall Windows

and the optional one I prefer:

"R"eplace Windows with Linux!

[Ozor Mox]

If that happened in GNU/Linux you would have seen a segfault and a giant terminal. Not sure why Microsoft is getting all the heat there and not... The Coca Cola Media Player.

That would be a cooler looking crash than "The Coca Cola Media Player has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." Imagine a giant matrix-looking Linux terminal on that board, it would be great!

:lolflag:

[Depressed Man]

I've had applications crash on me in Linux. Though they were usually SVNs. And Compiz Fusion will occasionally freeze X. (at least I think so). My keyboard goes completly unresponsive, my screen is frozen but hey I can move my mouse around (though it won't do any good). Forcing a hard reboot.

[tehkain]

This is not really a windows issue - it is more of a issue with selecting the right tools for the job.


Yes, it's not like desktop applications in Linux don't crash sometimes, no?

These are not desktops - these are supposed to be highly stable marketing systems. If I was building a 40ft display and using software to output some visualization I would use rock solid software - not desktop applications. Low level purpose only software. Remove all the flare for stabilities sake. So mistake number one was using windows and its gui rather then a dedicated system with purpose only function. I would object just as much if they were using gnome with full screen vlc. Minimize potential issues by using the lowest level and most controlled system as possible.

Look at server up times with well developed and purpose only apps like apache on FSS. If the marketing company had used a dedicated operating system with video solutions like we have on the low level free software side they would not have had this issue.

[SZF2001]

Is it just a repeating video, over and over?

Why dedicate a whole media player (aka Coke Media Player) for something like that, unless it's live feed and it keeps producing new images and whatnot?

Then they could just use mplayer. And yes, it's available for Windows, and surprisingly stable. Besides, it's an ad, what kind of information can Coke suddenly decide to throw out? "Hey everyone, the Coke came out of the can in a different direction!" Wow, I'm shocked, best advertisement ever, right?

And if they just want random feed and/or images, then they can make a small (or large (basically whatever)) play list for the movies to be played in.

Who the **** makes a whole media player for a product is beyond me, and somewhat makes me angry - that could be energy produced and spent better, from the people, I mean.

[bastiegast]

Of course Compiz crashes, of course linux desktop apps crash. But if they used a linux server running just X (no desktop, no desktop apps, no virus scanner or whatever they install on windows computers) and a stable much tested version of xine under a stable 2.4 kernel. The changes that it might crash are WAY smaller. So yes, it might just be better to use linux in this cases. Since in linux you can switch of everything, choose which kernel you want to use, choose which daemons you want to run in the background etc. and that makes it more stable for this kind of purposes.

[kentl]

Unfortunately Windows XP is a pretty stable operative system. It's unfortunate as it is bad news for other operative systems, like Linux. It sounds like some of you guys probably remember and judge Windows stability by looking back at your Windows 95/98/ME installation.

Of course Linux still has its advantage in some areas, like being free and user controlled, more customizable, having lots of nice software Windows does not have, and so on. I also think that the Windows registry was a bad idea, were I think Linux is better.

Still Windows has its stuff, lots of software Linux don't have, better support from hardware vendors, some things standardized where Linux IMHO has too my options (like sound system, clipboard handling and two major GUI systems which means you usually have to install both). And I also like ClearType better than its Linux counterparts.

In this case it's probably the custom Coca Cola Media Player who's at fault. Who knows why they created a custom player? VLC would also have been a nice option (apart from the ones suggested earlier in this thread). Or Windows Media Player.

Or a DVD player (the resolution probably isn't that great). :-)

[tehkain]

Of course Compiz crashes, of course linux desktop apps crash. But if they used a linux server running just X (no desktop, no desktop apps, no virus scanner or whatever they install on windows computers) and a stable much tested version of xine under a stable 2.4 kernel. The changes that it might crash are WAY smaller. So yes, it might just be better to use linux in this cases. Since in linux you can switch of everything, choose which kernel you want to use, choose which daemons you want to run in the background etc. and that makes it more stable for this kind of purposes.

Exactly. Why use so much software on such a dedicated machine. You are just asking for a crash. I imagine deploying a simple debian(stable) box, with a rock solid media frame work on a higly stable version of X, for such a situation would take far less time then maintaining a desktop to play a video using a gui application.

It would also be rock solid- and a simple program and a small piece could kill output to that device in the event of a error. Leaving the main display playing some backup analog ad.

Our colleges and small programs are failing students - use the right tool for the job. Hint: There is no reason to deploy a full featured desktop to do a dedicated machines job.

[Lord Illidan]

For all we know, Coca Cola Media Player could be Media Player, vlc, mplayer?

[Depressed Man]

But if it crashed wouldn't it have named the program instad? E.g. "VLC has crashed"

[WishingWell]

If people here cared as much about Ubuntu as they seem to care about Windows then Ubuntu would take a large step forward, imagine all these newbies learning, developing, supporting, bug reporting and so on and so forth, it would help Ubuntu and Linux in general a lot more than... "OMG BLUESCREEN!!111 WTF UBUNTU 1337 I5 MEEEE!!!11!"

When Windows doesn't matter to most users, a big step has been taken, when people start talking about the positives of Ubuntu instead of the negatives of Windows, all will be well in Linux world.

[ryno519]

For all we know, Coca Cola Media Player could be Media Player, vlc, mplayer?

Or it could be an in house application which uses several win32 libraries and DirectX. I think we're all reading a little too much into the name of this application. We're also assuming that this crash had something to do with the instability of the operating system, when it is much more probably the crash had more to do with the applications stability, in which case it would have crashed just as easily on a dedicated GNU/Linux or *BSD machine.

Sure, they COULD have developed that application on a GNU/Linux system and host it on a dedicated machine, but when it comes right down to it... it's the farking "Coca Cola Media Player". Who gives a **** what they run it on?

[WishingWell]

Does it strike any of you as peculiar that if an app crashes on Linux, it doesn't mean anything, while if an app crashes on Windows, it automatically means that Windows sucks?

Yup, ATI produces crappy drivers for Linux, blame ATI, ATI produces crappy drivers for Vista, Vista obviously sucks, damn M$.

And anyone who cant spot that that is a shop is not worthy of being on the internet.

[ThinkBuntu]

Hate to say it for all you Windows bashers, but one of the reasons I stopped using Linux as my desktop is because the applications (rarely any system services, unlike Windows) crashed far too frequently for my taste.

I've had most pieces of desktop Linux software except for KDE and some KDE-related apps bug out or crash on me.

[Coldkill]

Edit: Someone was using my account so whatever.
But I hate how instead of saying "I think you're confused about something" or "you're missing some information on your views" the post gets answered with sarcasm.

[WishingWell]

Well aren't ATI drivers created for"Microsoft" computers? Why else would ATI make drivers if not for Windows? Yes I do agree that the ATI drivers suck through a straw, but ATI drivers are for Windows and only made compatible for Linux through Linux developers? no?:confused:I don't really know.

First of all, what in the hell is a "Microsoft computer"?

And ATI drivers created for Linux, are they created for these "Microsoft computers" you speak of?


And as for saying "M$ sucks", they say "lolz Linux sucks" a lot more, without even trying Linux and then use the old "I can play games, lolz". It's really annoying.

Who cares what they say? Do you really think that their newbies being idiots excuses Linux users idiocy? You think they act like idiots and you try to emulate them? What does that make you?

And while they are at least a bit right about the gaming thing, i find that Linux users like to keep bragging about things like fragmentation and a journaling filesystem (NTFS is LESS prone to fragmentation and it IS a journaling file system) out of sheer ignorance.

I think the Windows bashers and Linux bashers just need to grow the hell up.

[Ozor Mox]

Some of the reaction on this thread is so funny!


If people here cared as much about Ubuntu as they seem to care about Windows then Ubuntu would take a large step forward, imagine all these newbies learning, developing, supporting, bug reporting and so on and so forth, it would help Ubuntu and Linux in general a lot more than... "OMG BLUESCREEN!!111 WTF UBUNTU 1337 I5 MEEEE!!!11!"

When Windows doesn't matter to most users, a big step has been taken, when people start talking about the positives of Ubuntu instead of the negatives of Windows, all will be well in Linux world.

What?! Everyone who laughed at a funny picture of a Windows application crashing on a huge sign for all of London to see must really hate Windows and think they are so much better for running Ubuntu right? Please. I think some people on this forum just like to see what responses they can get out of people.

[WishingWell]

Some of the reaction on this thread is so funny!



What?! Everyone who laughed at a funny picture of a Windows application crashing on a huge sign for all of London to see must really hate Windows and think they are so much better for running Ubuntu right? Please. I think some people on this forum just like to see what responses they can get out of people.

One in 3 threads are just Windows bashing here, and comments such as "i've been hating windows since" should give everyone a clue.

It seems most newbies dual boot but hate Windows, some even hate Vista even though they NEVER TRIED IT, some type MS as M$ and some type Windows as Winblows, i didn't single you out either, i respond in the same way to all of these kinds of threads, and i DO NOT UNDERSTAND why you would post anything about Microsoft on a Linux forum.

I don't laugh at blue screens no matter how or where they happen, it's just not funny, if i posted a kernel panic, would you laugh? if i made a shop putting it on the Coca Cola sign like this shop of the bluescreen did, would that be amusing to you?

Post another "oooh, windows NTFS system isn't journaling and suffers from fragmentation" (five times in two days, of course it IS journaling and is LESS prone to fragmentation than Ext3) and i think i'll just leave.

If not for Rav Tux and a few other posters this forum would be "i hate windows (even though i use it every day) and this is why" *begin endless rant of bullsheit*

[Dragonbite]

For all we know, Coca Cola Media Player could be Media Player, vlc, mplayer?Or Flash for that matter.

I laugh at it because of the situation. I'd laugh if it was running Linux and crashed (better yet Apple, but that's a personal opinion ). I laughed because it was a "whoops!" more than a "a-ha, See?! Windows sucks!"

[Lord Illidan]

Or Flash for that matter.

I laugh at it because of the situation. I'd laugh if it was running Linux and crashed (better yet Apple, but that's a personal opinion ). I laughed because it was a "whoops!" more than a "a-ha, See?! Windows sucks!"

Yeah, in that case I do see the humour in that :P

[happy-and-lost]

Hehe. At another great British tourist trap, Alton Towers, which I visited yesterday, I saw on a monitor:

Keyboard Failure. Press F1 to continue.

Classic.

[WishingWell]

Hehe. At another great British tourist trap, Alton Towers, which I visited yesterday, I saw on a monitor:

Keyboard Failure. Press F1 to continue.

Classic.

hehe, i think they kept that message in the BIOS just for laughs. :D

[karellen]

One in 3 threads are just Windows bashing here, and comments such as "i've been hating windows since" should give everyone a clue.

It seems most newbies dual boot but hate Windows, some even hate Vista even though they NEVER TRIED IT, some type MS as M$ and some type Windows as Winblows, i didn't single you out either, i respond in the same way to all of these kinds of threads, and i DO NOT UNDERSTAND why you would post anything about Microsoft on a Linux forum.

I don't laugh at blue screens no matter how or where they happen, it's just not funny, if i posted a kernel panic, would you laugh? if i made a shop putting it on the Coca Cola sign like this shop of the bluescreen did, would that be amusing to you?

Post another "oooh, windows NTFS system isn't journaling and suffers from fragmentation" (five times in two days, of course it IS journaling and is LESS prone to fragmentation than Ext3) and i think i'll just leave.

If not for Rav Tux and a few other posters this forum would be "i hate windows (even though i use it every day) and this is why" *begin endless rant of bullsheit*

I second this

[Ozor Mox]

Or Flash for that matter.

I laugh at it because of the situation. I'd laugh if it was running Linux and crashed (better yet Apple, but that's a personal opinion ). I laughed because it was a "whoops!" more than a "a-ha, See?! Windows sucks!"

Exactly! Half the problem is the people who bash Windows and Microsoft I agree, but the other half is the people who complain about bashing at the slightest utterance of the name Windows or Microsoft.

How do you not see that it's the situation that is funny. I'd laugh if it was Linux or a Mac that crashed and showed this all the way up that building!

Bashing at every opportunity is annoying. Complaining about bashing at every opportunity isn't much better.

[WishingWell]

Exactly! Half the problem is the people who bash Windows and Microsoft I agree, but the other half is the people who complain about bashing at the slightest utterance of the name Windows or Microsoft.

How do you not see that it's the situation that is funny. I'd laugh if it was Linux or a Mac that crashed and showed this all the way up that building!

Bashing at every opportunity is annoying. Complaining about bashing at every opportunity isn't much better.

Take your time and review the last hundred threads, we can make this into a drinking game, every time you see M$, winblows or any variation of it, you take a shot of tequila, every time you see a post that says "i hate windows" take two shots, before going through one tenth of those 100 threads you'll be sleeping until your alarm clock wakes you come monday morning.

Next weekend do the same about posts that complain about windows bashing, you'll go to sleep out of boredom.

I'm not kidding, i'm sick and tired of it, it's always exaggerated and it's always from people who don't get that NTFS is technically superior to Ext3 and that DRM is just something you need to play files that require it AND it's been in the Linux kernel since before Vista was even released.

It's an endless spew of bullsheit and it doesn't stop here, no, it goes into the Windows forum here too, i helped a guy with something and i cannot find his thread because 99% of all threads in there are about how bad Windows is, and that is in a Windows HELP FORUM.

I'll stand by what i previously said, if people were willing to put that kind of time and effort into improving Ubuntu, Ubuntu would skyrocket in it's development.

[Dragonbite]

Take your time and review the last hundred threads, we can make this into a drinking game, every time you see M$, winblows or any variation of it, you take a shot of tequila, every time you see a post that says "i hate windows" take two shots, before going through one tenth of those 100 threads you'll be sleeping until your alarm clock wakes you come monday morning. Oh, that sounds like fun! That might be worth trying out tonight!! :popcorn:

[Eddie Wilson]

every time you see M$, winblows or any variation of it, you take a shot of tequila, every time you see a post that says "i hate windows" take two shots, before going through one tenth of those 100 threads you'll be sleeping until your alarm clock wakes you come monday morning.

HOW DARE YOU!, give such bad advice on this forum. Everybody knows that tequila will kill you. Use burbon.
Eddie

[Spike-X]

Yup, ATI produces crappy drivers for Linux, blame ATI, ATI produces crappy drivers for Vista, Vista obviously sucks, damn M$.


That's actually a fair point. I know I've caught myself thinking exactly like that before.

[PryGuy]

Thanks for the picture! You made my day! :)

[EdThaSlayer]

God Bless MICROSOFT. Oh yeah, forgot I had no religion.

[EdThaSlayer]

That's actually a fair point. I know I've caught myself thinking exactly like that before.

But you forgot about the fact that you paid Microsoft to make everything work for YOU. Don't be so anti-linux, gosh, we are the linux guys, just follow what linux propaganda tells you.

[blueturtl]

Does it strike any of you as peculiar that if an app crashes on Linux, it doesn't mean anything, while if an app crashes on Windows, it automatically means that Windows sucks?

The thing is that in Windows the app crashing doesn't necessarily have to do with the app itself, but rather Windows. Sure I've had programs crash under Linux, but it's always been a fault with the program in question. In Windows I have run into situations where I have come to suspect the app is crashing because of Windows, not due to it's own internal workings. Especially in older incarnations of Windows you would get the 'program has performed an illegal operation' mumbo jumbo and it was not an error that could be duplicated on another system with the same app! Same thing with XP except now with different wording.