12BoC Welcome to The Register’s Twelve Borks of Christmas (12BoC), a final festive hurrah for digital signage silage and, behind today’s window, a reminder that wherever Windows might turn up, Notepad has always got your back.
Snapped by a keen-eyed Register reader, this ATM outside a branch of UK grocery shop Sainsbury’s does not look set to be dispensing cash any time soon. One of a pair, the screen belies the presence of Microsoft’s finest within thanks to our old friend, Windows Notepad.
Click to enlarge
“Not with the usual ‘I’m doing something please don’t touch’ that we’ve all done before,” noted our reader. Instead, an empty screen. Possibly a little too reminiscent of bank balances this time of year.
Your correspondent is all too familiar with the challenges of remote desktop operations, and has used the Notepad application to communicate with a user sat wondering what magic had overtaken their workstation. Of course, that was a message shown in the relative privacy of an office rather than this one, which is flashing its privates to people trying to draw money from the ATM.
The twin of the cash machine was apparently showing an “Out of Service” banner. Clearly the backroom team is hard at work on this one, hidden behind the curtain of Notepad.
Windows does seem to turn up everywhere. As ATMs get smarter, the choice of what is running behind the scenes seems to be dumber. Sure, Microsoft’s operating system is a general purpose one, but it seems a bit hefty for a cashpoint. And it’s infamously prone to failure.
Then again, regardless of what clever apps are required for cash and advertising on the Sainsbury’s screen, it is a comfort that, whatever happens, Notepad has always got your back. ®
Not the kind of note you want to see fluttering from an ATM
Source: Expert Gwapo Pinoys
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