In Japan, the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages have been replaced with Haiku poetry messages. Haiku poetry has strict construction rules. Each poem has only 17 syllables; 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second, 5 in the third. They are used to communicate a timeless message, often achieving a wistful, yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity. Here are 16 error messages from Japan, expressing the essence of Zen:Your file was so big.
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
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The Web site you seek
Cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.
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Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
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Program aborting:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask far too much.
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Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.
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First snow, then silence.
This thousand-dollar screen dies
So beautifully.
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With searching comes loss
And the presence of absence:
“My Novel” not found.
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The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao—until
You bring fresh toner.
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Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.
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A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.
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Three things are certain:
Death, taxes and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
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You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.
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Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.
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Having been erased,
The document you’re seeking
Must now be retyped.
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Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank
