Comments on: Technosophy: Strange Warnings

By: Glenn

Glenn — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:14:56 +0000

My father’s favorite lawsuit story was regarding a lathe in a machine shop. It had originally had a belt drive with a safety deflector surrounding it, but when that broke the owner repaired it by taking the deflector off and installing a chain drive. He’d then had an accident where something, don’t remember what, got caught in the chain drive. So he sued the manufacturer. And won of course, regardless of the fact that the chain drive was something he’d added, and he’d removed the deflector.

American “law”, what fun!

By: Vince

Vince — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:32:52 +0000

Ten quatloos for the use of the oft-seen but not frequently remembered brand “Fiskars”.

You’re right about the ‘some idiot probably did this and sued us’ angle. Maybe they saw the word ‘cordless’ on the packaging and became enraged when they saw a power cord of sorts…

By: Gryphon

Gryphon — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:13:07 +0000

Heh. I’m not sure I was there for that, but I remember the time the company shipped a new model without informing the hardware support department (where I worked) that one was even in development, let alone out there being sold. One of my friends got the first call on that one. “Okay, what model do you have? … Are you sure? You’re sure it doesn’t say ’486e‘? … Would you please hang on a second?” (mute) “Hey, do we make a WinPro 486d?” “‘D’? Not ‘E’?” “No, ‘D’. The guy’s sure it says ‘D’.” “I think I saw one in the QA testing lab last week.” “Dammit. Do we have any docs at all? ‘Cause they’re selling the friggin’ things at Fry’s.”

That was one of management’s greatest hits, though it doesn’t compare to the time our support system killed a man…

By: Chris H.

Chris H. — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:55:04 +0000

When I started working for the computer dealership, in the back warehouse area we had the “Leading Edge” wall…a wall covered with stacks of Leading Edge Model D computers that needed to have parts RMAed or whatever. Took us months to wade through them all.

Hey! Remember when Leading Edge shipped a bunch of computers with a virus? Dang, wish I could remember which one…May Day, maybe? It was some virus that was supposed to trigger on a specific day, I know that. Ugh, I’m getting old.

By: Gryphon

Gryphon — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:07:54 +0000

Post. Well post, in fact – I worked there for about the last year of the company’s existence. I think I jumped ship about a month before the Korean Masters folded the place up for good.

By: Chris H.

Chris H. — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:04:13 +0000

Leading Edge! Oh my goodness. I used to work for a huge Leading Edge dealer in San Diego. Small world.

Were you there pre- or post-Daewoo?