Discomfited German hurls PC from window, police sympathize

Trust us, there's been quite a few days in which a dysfunctional PC was kicked around at Engadget HQ for eating posts and intentionally inserting typos, but we've yet to become so flustered that we needed to launch one out of the building. Interestingly enough, a disgruntled 51-year-old German just couldn't resist, as he actually flung his PC out of a window during the middle of the night, which startled neighbors and garnered a visit from local police. Of course, the boys in blue did exactly as they should, and left the man with nary a warning after apparently sympathizing with his technical frustrations. Granted, the rattled PC hurler was forced to clean up the mess from the streets below, but we can safely assume he felt an awful lot better after showing that hunk of plastic who was really in charge.

[Via TGDaily]

[Spike @ Jul 18th 2007 2:45AM]

Police in Germany is green not blue.

But nice story

[Tis---strange @ Jul 18th 2007 1:14PM]

Not in Hessen, there they changed to a american like blueish...

[murray @ Jul 18th 2007 2:53AM]

I wanted to do that tonight when my PC refused to connect to my wifi network.

Until I realised it was user error.

[shakman @ Jul 18th 2007 8:11AM]

just as well you didn't hurl yourself out the window once you'd identified the fault...

[Matt @ Jul 18th 2007 2:56AM]

@Spike: As this happened in Lower Saxony maybe, maybe not. Changing uniforms from beige/green to dark blue started in 2006 in Lower Saxony (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_(Polizei))

[Kaminix @ Jul 18th 2007 4:23AM]

"Diese Seite existiert nicht"

[Matt @ Jul 18th 2007 5:46AM]

There's obviously a lack in engadget's URL-support. The last bracket is part of the URL. Another try:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_(Polizei)

[Matt @ Jul 18th 2007 5:48AM]

So now to something completely different:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_(Polizei)#Bundesrepublik

[Matt @ Jul 18th 2007 5:50AM]

So finally, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_(Polizei)#Bundesrepublik is working, but http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_(Polizei) not. Somebody should fix this...

[HyperHacker @ Jul 22nd 2007 10:41AM]

This will probably do what was originally intended, then, as a temporary workaround:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_(Polizei)#

[HyperHacker @ Jul 22nd 2007 10:41AM]

Or not.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jul 18th 2007 3:11AM]

Herbert Graadl, a stern German official, had successfully managed to get his computer up and running after several bouts with Windows Vista compatibility issues.

Rumor has it, an already steamed Graadl was finally able to connect to the internet and shortly before throwing his computer out the window, he saw this on the front page of Google News:

http://jewishbreakingnews.blogspot.com/2007/07/children-of-holocaust-survivors-sue.html

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jul 18th 2007 1:22PM]

Engadget is goofy. I never activated this comment.

Nevertheless, I'm surprised to see the lot of you overreact to such a comment.

Is it too early? Is it just not funny? Did I strike the fan boys' nerves?

Good. I'm glad then!

[Ryhan @ Jul 18th 2007 5:10PM]

That's not funny bitch.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jul 18th 2007 7:52PM]

Your FACE is funny, you twat.

[Cpt.Scarecrow @ Jul 18th 2007 3:12AM]

It may feel good in the moment, but after you realize you've just destroyed your PC/monitor that rush is probably gone and you just feel f*cked up about throwing away your money...

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jul 18th 2007 3:33AM]

Herbert Graadl, a stern German official, finally managed to get his office computer up and running after several bouts with Windows Vista compatibility issues.

Rumor has it, an already steamed Graadl was able to connect to the internet and shortly before throwing his computer out the window, he saw this on the front page of Google News:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289487,00.html

[joewhat @ Jul 18th 2007 3:45AM]

I dont get it... should be funny right? Still dont get it...

[JD @ Jul 18th 2007 3:56AM]

Yeah, I think that beating on Vista has gotten old, especially since many haven't actually used it yet. Vista is a huge improvement over XP IMHO, and this is coming from a gamer who likes control of the PC. It isn't perfect, of course, but my biggest wish is for the drivers for video cards were better. While some will continue to criticize without actually knowing what they are talking about, do the smart thing- let it go.

And no, your joke wasn't funny.

I leave you with this: Why the fuck would a German read Fox News? Please, I promise that they know better than to trust Fox.

[ldrn @ Jul 18th 2007 5:31AM]

Speak for yourself; I tried Vista on my new subnotebook/tablet and couldn't believe how sluggish it was. It had a ton of great new features, and I loved the new file system layout... I don't know. Maybe it really is that great on a gaming desktop or power notebook -- I can certainly see how it would be -- but there's a lot of good reasons why so many people are frustrated with it.

That being said, I agree... that wasn't funny at all.

[Grant @ Jul 18th 2007 9:47AM]

yeah dude,
i'm on a vista machine, 3 weeks old, it's rating for "Vista readiness" is a "5.6/6", and it runs like shit.
I have problems with it on a daily basis, and oddly enough about half of them are web browsing related, one of the simplest things MS should be able to get running.
I can barely run games from 3 or 4 years ago, with a decent graphics card.

So, i'm not sure what sort of mammoth machine you have, but vista needs a hell of alot more work... and when thats done, it should be great... but right now i wish i could switch to XP.

[JD @ Jul 18th 2007 12:34PM]

I'm running Vista on a homebuilt system. Athlon64 x2 4400+, 2GB DDR, GeForce7950gt. It runs very nicely. The RAM certainly helps a lot; when I first upgraded, I only had 1 gig, and that didn't cut it. But if your machine ranks that high, I'd check for most recent video card drivers, since Aero uses the GPU. Other than that, sorry it's not treating you nicely!

But Germans don't read Fox. I promise you that, Liquid Fusion.

[anonymous @ Jul 18th 2007 12:43PM]

all you people spouting about Vista.

ready to run Vista only means that it can run it, not run anything else.

You must ensure the machine has much more than the minimum requirements or else you only have a machine that can run Vista.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jul 18th 2007 1:16PM]

Some people need to lighten up.

This goes to show you that the lot of you can overreact to certain comments here. And today, it proves no different.

[Abuzar @ Jul 18th 2007 4:51PM]

Well my PC happens to have a rating of 1 on vista and without aero turned on my PC runs windows vista ultimate just fine.

[Trace The Hedgehog @ Jul 18th 2007 10:52PM]

Same here. I'm running Vista Ultimate on 1.8gHz, 1GB RAM, and 128 MB shared graphics card. It runs just fine. Just like when I ran XP on it. no lag at all. (Aero turned off of course) And I gotta say I am liking it and am having no problems at all. I dont see why people complaing so much about Vista. But then again I noticed the large amount of iBoys on Engadget.

Geez, OS X is great, not as popular os Windows but that doesnt mean you should bash it. Get over yourselves.

[JAmerican @ Jul 18th 2007 3:40AM]

The funniest thing I notice about people who don't know much about computers is that they'll destroy the monitor before they destroy the thing causing the problem--the computer or even more so the operating system. Kicking the computer would make more sense than pounding the monitor. LOL. In a iMac's case, I guess its all the same lol.

JA

[Jeff @ Jul 18th 2007 4:54AM]

cuz they think the problem is actually "inside" the monitor ... lol

[Grant @ Jul 18th 2007 9:53AM]

hey, but at least if you only destroy the moniter it's only like $200 down the toilet, instead of a thousand.
Ignorance saving money.... now there's a nice piece of irony for you.

[Teni @ Jul 18th 2007 4:30AM]

" [...] he felt an awful lot better after showing that hunk of plastic who was really in charge"

That'll teach it to mess with Charles... heh.

No?

[Fenway Beer Man @ Jul 18th 2007 4:37AM]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that he could have hurt (or killed) someone. I hate to be the bane of the joke, and on the surface it IS pretty funny, but if his monitor/computer/whatever had fallen on someones head, I doubt it would have been half as funny.

[Fenway Beer Man @ Jul 18th 2007 4:37AM]

But then again, I could have been making a false inference based on the article photo, and this could have taken place on the ground floor... in which case, no harm no foul.

[tiuk @ Jul 18th 2007 10:30AM]

It's a valid concern. There was a story a few months ago about a guy who's ex-girlfriend flipped out and threw four or five of his computers off her apartment's balcony (he had been running them there for folding@home or something, don't ask me why they were still there after they had broken up). They fell onto a cafe's patio below, which luckily was closed at the time. I don't remember the outcome, I think the girl was arrested.

I'm having trouble finding a link.

[anonymous @ Jul 18th 2007 12:44PM]

it was the middle of the night, not many people were around I suspect.

[Rex @ Jul 18th 2007 4:38AM]

Oh... sit back and laugh, laugh and laugh about how "showing that hunk of plastic who was really in charge" was funny. Just wait... oh, just wait... I just hope that our soon to be computer overlords do not throw us out of windows just to show who is really in charge...

[tweak @ Jul 18th 2007 4:44AM]

Yeah, German cops actually wear a khaki colored uniform (I reckon I see the police once a day here) and their stupid sirens are god damn annoying compared to those in the states. Funny either way, I think just about everyone can sympathize with this dude at one point or another.

[Jay Hash @ Jul 18th 2007 5:35AM]

"[...] inserting the occasional typo"

Awwww, come on now. Don't go blamin' the computers just because you guys don't use spell check. I can't tell you the number of post I've read here that have absurd typos. Methinks thou doth protest too much.

~JYH

[shakman @ Jul 18th 2007 8:16AM]

spill cheques steel won't peek up awl off they're mistakes

[Moshe @ Jul 18th 2007 8:41AM]

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
and weight four it two say
weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
it nose bee fore two long
and eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
its letter perfect awl the weigh
my chequer tolled me sew.

[shakman @ Jul 18th 2007 9:40AM]

two shay

[Nick @ Jul 18th 2007 6:31AM]

he shoulda bought a mac :)

lol

[Deluxe @ Jul 18th 2007 8:21AM]

God yeah, there's much more satisfaction in destroying a Mac ;)

[Harlo @ Jul 18th 2007 9:21AM]

I wonder if this is the father of the [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8pR1rZZHEs]screaming German gamer kid.[/url]

[Jamie @ Jul 18th 2007 9:52AM]

"Nary a warning" means "no warnings." Did the police really not-warn the guy?

Engadget's writers use a lot of old-fashioned colloquialisms often without understanding their meanings, not to mention misspelling them like "wet one's appetite." (Should be "whet," meaning "to sharpen.") If you're gonna use a colloquialism, please check it in the dictionary first. You don't have to admit using one to us, just use it!

It's a minor complaint, but I'd hope that the folks writing a technology blog have generally higher SAT vocabulary scores than the average Joe.

[Salsa Shark @ Jul 18th 2007 11:28AM]

You're talking about a guy who can't come up with verbs other than "rocks" and "sports".

[suntiger @ Jul 18th 2007 1:08PM]

And I've stopped bitching about this, but he also seems to think that using "touts" in every other article makes him look smart.

[michael @ Jul 18th 2007 10:06AM]

Lol. Throwing 'Windows' out a window.

But seriously, if you just have a high-end/mid-range PC, good anti-virus program, and high-speed internet connection, you're really set. Plus knowing what you're doing help.

I use a Sony Vaio with Vista on it. Windows Live OneCare as my AV. And I have a cable modem. Guess what? I've got no problems at all.

[Kyle Burghart @ Jul 18th 2007 11:10AM]

So why does everyone keep brining up what color police uniforms in Germany actually are? Who cares? If they had said boys in beige/ green would you have known what the hell they were talking about? Nope. Unless you were from Germany. And the vast majority of us are not. So cut the guys a break with your cynicism.

[Joe @ Jul 18th 2007 12:17PM]

ROFL: "THERE'S been quite a few DAYS...intentionally inserting typos.." lol. Engadget, I respect you less and less every day. GO GET SOME GRAMMAR SKILLS n00bzors!

[Ryhan @ Jul 18th 2007 5:16PM]

Does soemone always have to start up the MS vs. Apple Debate in EVERY post! Jeesh.. lay off 4 a sec okay!

plus the guy was probably a n00b who had never seen a computer before and thought his word document crashed when he accidentally hit the minimize button...

My take on vista; Vista needs a more powerful system than many (cheap) existing systems...blame the hardware, not the software for (many of) your pc woes.