OT: "autofix" computers (was Re: FilePro Happy faces)

Kenneth Brody kenbrody at bestweb.net
Tue Aug 10 06:49:29 PDT 2004


Fairlight wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Aug 10, 2004 at 02:29:00AM -0400, after drawing runes in goat's blood,
> Brian K. White cast forth these immortal, mystical words:
[...]
> > not that I'm bitter or anything... :)
> 
> No moreso than I.  :)  My latest curiosity is over AOL's "repair engine" or
> whatever they're calling it, where it will diagnose your computer's issues
> and automagically fix them for you?  That's like asking International House
> of Pancakes to fix your BMW, IMHO.  I can't fathom that -anyone- would
> trust it.  But they do have a vast array of sheep to choose from.
[...]

I remember the ads they ran months ago...

Husband and wife are freaking out about something being "wrong" with their
computer.  Toddler is bashing keyboard with toy hammer.  Dialog box comes up
saying "checking system".  Toddler keeps bashing keyboard.  Another dialog
box comes up saying "fixed".

What caught my (and Laura's) eye was that it made zero attempt to tell you
what was wrong, what it did to fix it, and what you can do to keep it from
happening again in the future.  It simply said "fixed".

IBM is currently running TV commercials which have someone running into a
coffee shop in a panic, runs over to some off-duty sysadmins sitting down
to have a break, and starts telling them "you've got to help me, my system
has a virus and I've got a presentation in half an hour".  Followed by
"maybe I should just rip out the hard drive and..." when one of the
sysadmins tells him "just push this blue button and follow the directions".

Of course, over in ATSR/ASR, they commented on how it's totally unrealistic,
since the sysadmins not only didn't say "sure, go ahead" when he starts to
rip out the hard drive, but they actually helped him while on their break.
:-)

-- 
+-------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------------+
| Kenneth J. Brody        | www.hvcomputer.com |                             |
| kenbrody at spamcop.net | www.fptech.com     | #include <std_disclaimer.h> |
+-------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------------+




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