Homegrown Windows Vista "Error" stickers deface the Wow

Let's face it, there's not an operating system out there without its fair share of annoyances, but it's no secret that Microsoft goes out of its way to aggravate even the most diehard Windows users by cramming our palmrests with stickers, and apparently littering Prague with those oh-so-common "Wow" posters. Not one to take viral marketing lightly, a crafty individual has done the hard for us all and created a ready-to-go sheet of error stickers that snarkily state "The operation completed successfully." So if you're ready to get to defacin', and don't mind the possibility of getting approached by the boys in blue, click on to the read link and get your A4-sized sticker paper ready to roll -- after all, it's not like Microsoft itself is immune to such run-ins.

[Via BoingBoing]

[threEchelon @ Mar 25th 2007 3:35AM]

lol.

[nizzy1115 @ Mar 25th 2007 3:46AM]

I love windows, don't get me wrong, but this is really funny

[TioSolid @ Mar 25th 2007 4:37AM]

I really would like to know why Microsoft is SO doomed. EVERY time they make a lecture or a release on TV these kind of things happen. At last they are rich. ;)

http://www.newsinside.org

[Taylor @ Mar 25th 2007 5:54AM]

windoze rawks
-Taylor

[mcdp @ Mar 25th 2007 5:55AM]

WOW-my old applications don't work.

[Peter @ Mar 25th 2007 12:25PM]

You have obviously never used Vista! All of my old applications work!

[captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Mar 25th 2007 6:24AM]

windows vista is broken....no surprises there.

[Spage @ Mar 25th 2007 6:53AM]

I am from Prague and it is full of this ad.

[htiawe @ Mar 25th 2007 7:17AM]

The sticker should have showed UAC instead, so people know what they are getting...

[mesaboogie @ Mar 26th 2007 2:29PM]

@ htiawe - It's much better than Apples own "UAC".

And, if you don't know this, you can disable it quite easily. I did.

-----------

I thought that was a bit funny but all this pointless bashing gets old pretty fast.
Vista is awesome.

[Paul D @ Mar 25th 2007 7:19AM]

"Wow" — sounds like a dumb campaign to begin with, especially in countries where they don't even say that (I somehow doubt it's a Czech word, for example).

Not to mention it smacks of horn-blowing. No, not even that, desperate if-I-had-anything-to-brag-about-I-would posturing.

[BobTurbo @ Mar 25th 2007 7:46AM]

This makes me want to go out and buy the alternative products that these people support now that I know I will be in the company of unimaginative and negative dumbasses. Someone, being paid by your taxes (assuming you have a job, which is a big assumption) has to go around and get those stickers off you stupid dimwits.

[Dave @ Mar 25th 2007 9:42AM]

Bobturbo said: "This makes me want to go out and buy the alternative products that these people support now that I know I will be in the company of unimaginative and negative dumbasses. Someone, being paid by your taxes (assuming you have a job, which is a big assumption) has to go around and get those stickers off you stupid dimwits."

people like you make me laugh. You make it sound like they are going to hire a staff of thousands and have to expend millions to go get those stickers off. No sir... they are going to go get some schlub who is already on the payroll and isn't doing shit anyway to get out there. So, all in all, its probably finally putting taxpayers money to some good use.

[Gates4President @ Mar 25th 2007 8:07AM]

It was already covered that Microsoft is Satan.
http://www.microsoftisawesome.com/2007/03/microsoft-is-pretty-much-satan-easy-to.html

But seriously, whats with all the Microsoft hate? How exactly is buying billboards and other standard advertising a "viral" marketing technique? People laugh off the Sony graphiti psp marketing, but they praise the guy putting retardedly unfunny stickers over paid for advertising spots? Would it be awesome if someone put a bunch of "Got Milk?" stickers over Oreo ads, maybe I just don't understand your humor.

[Kev50027 @ Mar 25th 2007 8:37PM]

You see Engadget is what we call "biased". They go out of their way to find news of anything anti-Microsoft or Pro-Apple.

You have noticed the 3 million posts about the Apple TV (and a new one every 20 seconds) right?

[juergen @ Mar 26th 2007 10:09AM]

+1 on this ad not being viral.
Viral marketing is the practice of throwing something very convincing out there and waiting for it to spread by word of mouth (or word of mouse, as it were) due to its own merit.

Plastering cities with posters is just about as much removed from viral marketing as one can get. Unless maybe all those posters were printed out by enthusiastic individuals, I suppose.

[Mr. Vage @ Mar 25th 2007 9:20AM]

Oh boy do I love these Microsoft haters. I doubt most of you people writing anti-Vista comments have even tried it. Maybe you're just complaining because your computer can't handle it. Maybe you're bashing it just because it is a Microsoft product. I don't know. What I do know is that I like Vista. It's not without its flaws, but there are a few features that I missed when I went back to XP (My old computer couldn't handle Vista):

The start menu search. I no longer have to look over the programs list ten times to find the program I'm looking for because all the folder icons are the same. I can just type in the the first few letters and the results show up instantly. It also doubles as the "Run" box.

The regular file search. I love the instant results.

Better video thumbnailing. XP took the first frame which is useless since it is usually black. Vista takes a frame in the middle which makes it easier to see which video is which without needing to read the name.

Directory tree on every explorer window. A feature that was missing in XP unless you opened explorer from the start menu.

Flaws:

UAC. At least they tried though. It would be useful to the average user if they remembered that users DO NOT READ. If a user is sitting at their computer and they see a box that only says "Cancel or Allow" they WILL press Allow.

Old applications and drivers. Most applications work on Vista without a problem. I did have a minor problem with my mp3 player drivers the week Vista was released, but it works now. The only applications that won't work are 16 bit applications because Microsoft left out the 16 bit DLLs. This shouldn't be a problem for most people but if it is, Microsoft recently made their Virtual Machine application available for free. (Also, if this is a problem for you, then don't say that Linux and Mac are better)

Those were just a few things I could think up off the top of my head, but I was just trying to show some of you people that Vista being terrible is over exaggerated, but I will leave you all to your own opinions.

[fitinferno @ Mar 25th 2007 10:57AM]

Vista is alright for ppl like you who might know what you're doing w/a computer, but I would argue it is hugely problematic for the "average user." I work in computer support (software-oriented) and have had quite a few people come in complaining about Vista. A lot of old programmes don't seem to work. Hell, even new programmes that seem like they should work don't. Case in point: We had a user come in with basic Norton Antivirus on the computer ready to install. She installed it and her computer started crashing and refusing to turn off. Looked it up and low and behold, the Norton website said that only Norton corporate was certified to work successfully w/Vista. Well, why put it on this poor girl's machine if it doesn't work? To be fair, if you know what to do w/it and know how to solve the issues you get, it looks like it will be way nicer than XP once it gets going. I can't wait to install it on my Mac when I have the time :P

[Jeff @ Mar 25th 2007 2:08PM]

who gives a crap if vista is great or if it sucks? that has nothing to do with this article.

it's simply a guy who is annoyed with the overreaching NUMBER of vista advertisements he sees everyday, so he made some silly little error message sticker to poke fun at the ads.

why does everything have to devolve into some stupid "vista does/doesn't suck/rule" BS? get over it - no one cares.

as far a comment about the actual ARTICLE here, i think the stickers are cute, but agree that it might be a tad funnier if it were poking fun at the UAC.

haha "Allow or Deny?"

[BobTurbo @ Mar 25th 2007 12:19PM]

Dave, last time I checked, vandalism costs were in the millions. Probably each person spray painting a wall thinks it is just one small part of a wall too.

There are plently of ways to get a point across (they don't appear to have any valid point) without vandalising a city. It just shows a lack of creativity or concern for others who have to look at the rotted sticker after the rain has fallen. Thanks for being an inconsiderate jackass.

[Jon Kelly @ Mar 25th 2007 10:02AM]

since when are bus stop posters "viral marketing"? That's about as non-viral as it gets folks.

[Peter @ Mar 25th 2007 12:30PM]

That is also probably because Norton is a POS

[LORF @ Mar 25th 2007 11:16AM]

Vista: "Damn it! The operation completed successfully!"

[xcvfgdfgdfg @ Mar 25th 2007 8:13PM]

don't you think the guys who put up the advertisements are the true vandals?

(don't get me wrong I like Microsoft, but it is rather absurd to think that the guys who put these stickers there are any worse than the advertisers who do exactly the same thing only 50 times bigger)

[rockstar @ Mar 25th 2007 12:20PM]

I use Mac OSX on a daily basis (at work) and Vista when I got home.
I got the BOD a while ago but only once, but I am still experiencing issues with OSX too. It's not like OSX is the perfect OS or something, but it's unfair to keep bashing Microsoft.

Apple loves money too and always overcharge anything. But that's fine if they think they're the premium version of everything. But just like Microsoft their quality control sucks so bad that my ipod and a few of my friends died within 2 years. I just don't get it with the same standard people judge Microsoft, then I can conclude Apple is as the same worst as Microsoft.

One advice for you Engadget before you lose your readers, be neutral. I hate to the fact that I keep on reading hate articles about Sony and Microsoft. Because seriously when you post those articles saying bad things about these 2 or others, you produce yourself a bad product (article) too. So what makes you think you're different?

[Louis S. @ Mar 25th 2007 12:38PM]

Like Paint!



...I'm only joking, I like Vista too.

[andy @ Mar 25th 2007 2:10PM]

"Oh boy do I love these Microsoft haters. I doubt most of you people writing anti-Vista comments have even tried it. Maybe you're just complaining because your computer can't handle it. Maybe you're bashing it just because it is a Microsoft product. I don't know. What I do know is that I like Vista. It's not without its flaws, but there are a few features that I missed when I went back to XP (My old computer couldn't handle Vista):

The start menu search. I no longer have to look over the programs list ten times to find the program I'm looking for because all the folder icons are the same. I can just type in the the first few letters and the results show up instantly. It also doubles as the "Run" box.

The regular file search. I love the instant results.

Better video thumbnailing. XP took the first frame which is useless since it is usually black. Vista takes a frame in the middle which makes it easier to see which video is which without needing to read the name.

Directory tree on every explorer window. A feature that was missing in XP unless you opened explorer from the start menu."

WOW been doing all this on a mac for some time now

[David @ Mar 25th 2007 2:13PM]

They stole it from me! I had that error so long ago...
Look: http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/sonyeriksson/errorsuccessful.jpg

[James @ Mar 25th 2007 2:32PM]

Get an error message read by Steve Jobs for Vista :)
-
http://www.WindowsVistaUserGuide.com

[Tim Lord @ Mar 25th 2007 2:33PM]

I'd rather see a sticker that says one of the following:

"This operation completed accidentally"

"This operation completed surreptitiously"

"This operation completed coincidentally"

"This operation completed with not anaesthesia"

:)

[7of7 @ Mar 25th 2007 3:41PM]

Someone needs to own this douchebag by getting a bunch of those stickers and covering his entire house with them.

[Dustin @ Mar 25th 2007 3:43PM]

I am in prague and let me tell you, those stickers are EVERYWHERE.

[Aaron @ Mar 25th 2007 5:04PM]

What kind of stupid shit put these stickers up??? NO ONE IN PRAGUE SPEAKS ENGLISH, MAN. It's not freakin' Holland. Alright, a few Czech people speak English, but most of them are going to be totally clueless about these stickers. What's the point?

[Geoff @ Mar 26th 2007 5:51AM]

most people in prague speak english. sorry to disagree. i've lived here for 4 years...definitely hard to find people who don't speak english.

[eh @ Mar 25th 2007 5:56PM]

Ive been using Vista as my main OS since November (RC1) and have not gotten a SINGLE error message from Windows. This is the first time Ive even heard of this error message. The only "error" I sometimes get is when I close a program a stupid "this program closed unexpectedly" message pops up and wants to troubleshoot the problem.

This guy is blowing that error message way out of proportion, its obviously not as common as he thinks.

[Kev50027 @ Mar 25th 2007 8:38PM]

It's a joke, there is no error message like this, and that's why some consider it funny (though I don't really see any humor).

[srw @ Mar 26th 2007 12:12AM]

Actually it is a genuine Vista error message found in early releases.. I expect it will be/has been fixed in later editions.

[Kev50027 @ Mar 25th 2007 8:39PM]

Perhaps we should find every iPod ad and slap a "Battery dead" icon on it, or perhaps a "DRM = bad, Apple = bad" sticker.

[Geoff @ Mar 26th 2007 5:49AM]

it's not like their agency couldn't print diacrytics...here in Prague a better choice than Wow would have been Úžasný. But it doesn't roll off the tongue like Wow. Except not off the Czech tongue...

[formatc1702 @ Mar 26th 2007 6:53PM]

@rockstar:
"their quality control sucks so bad that my ipod and a few of my friends died within 2 years."

my condolences, man. that REALLY must have been bad quality control.
i do hope you just missed an apostrophe there, though.

[doctorplootonium @ Jun 3rd 2007 4:51AM]

haHA! how did i not catch that the first time through?

"But just like Microsoft their quality control sucks so bad that my ipod and a few of my friends died within 2 years."

...apple ipod explodes killing "a few"...owner somehow escapes injury...

[Brandon @ Mar 26th 2007 9:32PM]

I get this error on Vista when I run Apache xD.

[luminos @ Mar 30th 2007 2:30PM]

Ehh...
I live in Prague...

those ads are everywhere

and yes, they are annoying

[ethana2 @ May 14th 2007 6:45PM]

Free answers to many simple open source questions: [e-mail]

Quick response, in depth. If I don't know something, I can either find out or tell you where to look.

But yeah, maybe we just need more people wearing ubuntu tee shirts...