Got an irritating itch you just can't scratch? That'll be Windows wanting an update Welcome to another in The Register's series of computers (largely Windows-based) doing the most annoying of things in public places. Today's entry takes us to the delightful Swiss city of Geneva, home to the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and many splendid cheese-based dishes (the ubiquitous fondue springs …
"Why is it that some computers will NEVER update, no matter what you do to make it happen, and others update when the wind blows?" - Windows has never been known for consistency. If you have a Linux machine with a problem and reboot it, chances are that you end up with the exact same problem, while with Windows, the problem may disappear for a while, or be much worse.
I'm reminded of one of my favorite AI koans ...
A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on.
Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: “You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong.”
Knight turned the machine off and on.
The machine worked.
Why - almost 1/4 of the Chinses population now speaks, reads & writes variations of English and it keeps growing. Simply Vicky made sure that most palces on this planet you will find English as the universal method of communication. Pleople may not like it but have accepted it based on its use. English is the one constant across the globe and merchants attempting to self their wares have adopted signs (not always correctly) to increase their revenues. Others learn just from exposure and the realization of usefulness. It may be nice to speak someone's native language but when a group of differing nationalities gather, it is invariably English as the common dominator.
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