Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mstar!mstar.morningstar.com!bob
From: bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: durability (was Re: RPN Calculators)
Message-ID: <BOB.89Nov20165253@volitans.MorningStar.Com>
Date: 20 Nov 89 21:52:53 GMT
References: <1989Nov15.171212.642@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us>
	<109.UUL1.3#5131@mvac23.UUCP>
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Reply-To: bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield)
Organization: Morning Star Technologies
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In-reply-to: thomas@mvac23.UUCP's message of 19 Nov 89 21:51:12 GMT

In article <109.UUL1.3#5131@mvac23.UUCP> thomas@mvac23.UUCP (Thomas Lapp) writes:
   [Legend] Two: A salesman returned a defective calculator (which had
   failed after a particularly hard throw against the wall) for
   repair.  When the unit came back, a note was included which said
   basically, "Don't throw it quite so hard next time."

True Story:

Ohio State's Computer Science department uses over 300 Macintosh
Plusses in their introductory programming classes (over 200 Suns from
the 200 level up).  Once a lab monitor was summoned to the work table
of a student whose Mac was displaying the "bomb" icon so familiar to
Mac Pascal users.  She asked the monitor what to do next, and he
instructed her to just click in the box and go on when it rebooted,
recovering her program from its disk file.  "Oh, but I didn't put it
in a disk file" "How long had it been since you last saved it?" "Why
would I save it until I got it working?"

She had been working there for several hours, and was beginning to get
panicky.  He said consoling sorts of things but couldn't help much
besides suggest that she save her work more often in the future.
Then, since users were beginning to line up at his desk, he had to
turn away to walk back to his station.

The Mac whistled past his shoulder, trailing its mouse and a couple of
other cables.  It bounced off the corner of a desk and onto the floor,
where it slid maybe ten feet before slamming into a doorpost.

When it was plugged in on the test bench, it booted happily with no
sign of adverse effects!  The only external damage was a small crack
in the front of the case.  Faced with charges for destruction of state
property, the student quickly agreed to pay for the replacement part.