Every once in a while you come across something in a piece of software that makes you smile. In this case, it was trying to open a 60MB CHM file in BetterZip, the best OS X unzip utility out there. A lot of software out there tries too hard to be funny, and really doesn’t come across as such (I’m look at you, ImgBurn).
But here’s a very serious program that does some very serious stuff. It’s never cracked jokes at me before, and it’s been a dependable creature, all business thus far. But all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy. And so that brings us to the sense of humor – image after the jump:
(Apologies for the bad screenshot!)
It’s good to know there are still some programmers out there who take their work seriously enough to only be funny when it counts!
a few years ago, zabkat xplorerlite guy used to insert jokes into the webpages. might still do that. my impression of
imgburn jokes is that they can be somewhat “adult”.
btw, i think i’ve seen that phrase “this may take a while” while using software or maybe a website (? but besides up/downloading, don’t think any website process would take long)
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LOL! That’s pretty good humor and you are right, it’s totally appropriate. You can pretty much imagine the programmer(s) writing in the code to handle large files and thinking that exact same thing.
I always check in on eeggs.com when I have a spare few minutes since they have some brilliant easter eggs/software with humor listed.
hehe thats kind of programmers humor, they are just humans too !!
Sounds a bit like Notch, the creator of Minecraft, the main menu has yellow flashing text next to the logo with something funny on it. Changes everytime you reload the game.
I think that strikes the perfect balance between informing, then entertaining. The bad news is offset slightly by the humour.
A little bit of humor is good as long as the developers don’t overdo it. There is a danger that the humor in it may not be understood by the user and it might leave them confused.