My MacBookPro has been randomly crashing for the past 3 months. It’ll stone-cold crash about once a week. “Gray screen” you could call it.
As with most software now-a-days, once the machine is back up, it pops up a handy little “Crash Report” tool that will let you email a stack dump and system configuration to Apple. Plus comments, too. People often get frustrated with computers because the feel they have no control over them – lack of control is a source of frustration for anything, silicon- or meat-based.
These little crash report applications are a sort of disgusted nod to making the users feel like they have more control. Having sent in well over 20 (maybe 30?) of these, they’ve become more like chances to write absurd Amazon reviews for me. I don’t think anyone ever reads them. They go straight to Infinite Loop /dev/null. At least the IRS picks up the phone after 5-10 minutes of shrill hold music.
Today I thought I’d try bribing Apple:
It’s so totally gonna work this time!
Funny! and so true. Speaking of Apple, why do I have to make an online appointment in advance when my ipod breaks? Even if there is not a single other customer in the store, they won't see you without an appointment. Grr.
Over at Zenoss we actually review the emails that come in. Some of them are quite interesting (not this entertaining though). I knew a developer at another company that had a filter on those inbound emails looking for profanities, since they were typically more entertaining.