Cited on HN 3 times, 2016–2022, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Used as a joke reference in threads about confusing error messages and printers.
The short printer-destruction-adjacent clip from Office Space built around the cryptic 'PC LOAD LETTER' error message. It pokes fun at unhelpful printer errors.
> * Robots do not act cruelly unless specifically instructed. Well, sure, but have you used computers recently? It's often a fucking awful experience and while the computer clearly isn't trying to make your life frustrating that's often the result. PC LOAD LETTER [this video] [link] Do we really want the people who make printers to make autonomous killing machines?
[this video] My 2 least favorite things about computers: fonts and printing. Even in 2021, printing still sucks. Sure, we've decided we want to print on so many different types of printing surfaces, that modern printer manufactures probably dream of the days only printing on white paper. Makes me wish for a laser printer with an option to use dot matrix fan folded style paper feed. At least you know it's going to pull straight.
> but they do seem to becoming more prevalent. I think prevalence is important here. Everyone seems to be injecting cuteness into everything today. Blog posts or README files overflowing with emojiis and meme images. I'd really like to banish the rocket emoji. The metaphor is exhausted. The corporation-as-a-friend is everywhere. Interestingly, some errors started out life as deadly serious and only became humorous later. "lp0 on fire". Printers used to really catch fire. Unix really was suggesting that maybe you want to look into that. The message still exists in Linux (as far as I know), but today seems rather funny to some people. Or can read like PC LOAD LETTER[1] to others. [1] [this video]
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