計算機程序錯誤產生的十大囧事(下)

oid's Text Messaging Bug

5.安卓系統的短信問題

Imagine using your smartphone to text something private or embarrassing to your significant other and finding out later that it was sent to your boss instead. Well, Android had a bug that did just that.

試想：你用智能手機向你的伴侶發送了一些隱私或者讓人尷尬的信息，後來卻發現發送給了老闆。安卓系統曾有一個錯誤程序就是這樣。

The bug was in the default Android Messaging Application. It was first reported to Android developers on June 28, 2010, but it wasn't acknowledged until January 5, 2011. In a comment on an online forum, an Android Open Source Project Member (probably a Google employee) wrote:"Thanks to everyone for your patience while we've been investigating these reports . . . some users have reported that their SMS messages are being delivered to the wrong people. It took us some time to reproduce this issue, as it appears that it's only occurring very rarely. Even so, we've now managed to both reproduce it and develop a fix that we will deploy."

這是因爲安卓信息應用程序（Messaging Application）出現了故障。早在2010年6月28日，已經有人向安卓程序的開發人員指出了這個問題，但是直到2011年1月5日問題才被承認。安卓系統開源項目一位成員（很可能是谷歌僱員之一）在一個網上論壇裏寫到："多謝大家耐心等待我們調查這些問題……一些用戶回饋說他們的即時信息（SMS）發送到了錯誤的人那裏。重現這個問題花了我們一些時間，因爲這個問題其實很少見。即便如此，我們正在努力再現問題，並開發將要部署的補丁。"

oners Released Early

4.提前釋放的囚犯

In 2011, California's prisons were getting overcrowded, so a decision was made to release some low-risk prisoners. Unfortunately, some computer errors caused them to release a few high-risk prisoners instead. One estimate was that approximately 450 inmates with "a high risk for violence" were mistakenly released, along with "more than 1,000 additional prisoners presenting a high risk of committing drug crimes, property crimes and other offenses."In 2011, California's prisons were getting overcrowded, so a decision was made to release some low-risk prisoners. Unfortunately, some computer errors caused them to release a few high-risk prisoners instead. One estimate was that approximately 450 inmates with "a high risk for violence" were mistakenly released, along with "more than 1,000 additional prisoners presenting a high risk of committing drug crimes, property crimes and other offenses."

2011年，加利福利亞的監獄擁擠不堪，於是出現了一個決定：提前釋放一些對社會危害性比較低的囚犯。不幸的是，計算機程序錯誤竟讓他們釋放了幾個危險性很高的罪犯。有一項估計認爲，約有450名"暴力傾向極其顯著"的囚徒被錯誤地釋放了，同時放走的還有"1000多個其他類別的犯人，他們吸毒、侵犯財產、進行其他犯罪活動的機率很高"。

What's more, the early-release program released the prisoners under "non-revocable parole," which meant that they didn't have to report to a parole officer. Even worse, nobody attempted to bring the prisoners back into custody after they were mistakenly released.A similar incident happened in Michigan, where a "flaw in computer programming" let 23 prisoners out early between 2003 and 2005. Those inmates were doing time for crimes such as embezzlement, drug trafficking, and check fraud.

更嚴重的是，提前釋放的程序在"不可撤銷的假釋"的條目下將罪犯釋放，這意味着他們根本不用向假釋官員報告。還有更糟糕的，罪犯被誤放後，竟然沒有人着手重新拘禁他們。密歇根也發生過類似事件：一個"計算機程序裏的錯誤"讓23個罪犯在2003~2005年之間提前出獄了。這些人犯過的罪包括侵佔財產、販賣毒品和銀行詐騙。

$90 Million Power Bill

3.9000萬美元的電費賬單

Nigel and Linda Brotherton of Lancashire, England recently switched their electricity supplier from Scottish Power to Npower. Their first bill from Npower read, "Your monthly payment has increased from £87.00 to £53,480,062.00" (about $90 million US).

英格蘭蘭開夏郡的奈傑爾和琳達·布拉澤最近把他們的供電商蘇格蘭電力（Scottish Power）換成了英國可再生能源公司（Npower）。可再生能源公司給他們的第一份賬單上寫着："您的月付款已從87英鎊漲到53480062英鎊"（約9000萬美元）。

What happened? Apparently, after switching to Npower, "a man was sent round to read their meter. When he entered a reading of 'zero,' Npower's computer wrongly assumed the dials must have gone all round the clock—and automatically flagged up the huge bill." Computers don't assume anything, of course. They just run software. Whoever programmed Npower's software didn't anticipate that another way for the meter reading to go to "zero" was for someone to set it there response to the whole thing, Nigel said, "It's a good job they didn't actually try to take all that money from my bank account. Not only would it have gone way over my overdraft limit, but it could have brought down the bank."

發生了什麼事？很明顯，換成可再生能源公司供電後，"有人被派來讀取電錶數據。當他輸入讀數'0'時，公司的計算機錯誤地認爲刻度盤一直在轉圈——自動形成了鉅額賬單。"計算機當然不會做出任何假設。他們只會運行軟件。曾經爲可再生能源公司編寫軟件程序的人沒有預想到另一種讓電錶讀數歸"零"的辦法——手動設置。奈傑爾迴應這件事時說："還好他們沒有真的從我的銀行賬戶裏拿走這筆錢。否則，不僅會超出我的賬戶透支額，還會讓銀行破產。"

Gates's Windows 98 Demo Fail

2.比爾·蓋茨展示視窗98失敗

Microsoft Windows 95 came out in August, 1995. The Guardian called it "the world's first celebrity computer programme." It was a huge success, selling 40 million copies in the first year. Would Windows 98, its successor, be even better? The world would soon find out with a glimpse into the software at the 1998 COMDEX convention.

1995年8月，微軟視窗95誕生。《衛報》將其稱作"世上首款名人計算機程序"。它獲得了巨大成功，第一年就賣出了4000萬份。其後繼者視窗98也會大獲全勝，甚至勝出一籌嗎？在1998年計算機經銷商博覽會（COMDEX）大會上，世人一瞥這款軟件的表現，立即就會有所發現。

In those days, COMDEX was a huge computer trade show. All the tech reporters came to see the latest hardware and software. Microsoft used the 1998 Spring COMDEX to demonstrate their new beta version of Windows 98. The presenters were Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Chris Capossela, a Microsoft employee. The event was broadcast live on demo started out well. Then it came time to demonstrate Windows 98's enhanced support for "Plug and Play" devices. They plugged a scanner into the computer. Windows 98 was supposed to notice the scanner and work with it. Instead, Windows 98 crashed. The computer screen showed the notorious Blue Screen of Death, indicating a fatal system error. The audience laughed, and Gates attempted a recovery, saying, "That must be why we're not shipping Windows 98 yet."

當時，計算機經銷商博覽會是巨型計算機貿易展覽。所有報道技術的記者都來圍觀最新的硬件和軟件。微軟利用1998年春季計算機經銷商博覽會展示其視窗98新的測試版本。解說員是微軟公司的創建者之一比爾·蓋茨和員工克里斯·卡波塞拉（Chris Capossela）。CNN對這件大事進行現場直播。展示開始很順利。視窗98增強了對"即插即用"設備的支持。當展示這一功能時，他們在計算機上接入了一臺掃描儀。視窗98應該注意到掃描儀，並與之一起工作。但是，視窗98崩潰了。計算機屏幕表現出臭名遠揚的藍屏死機狀態，暗示致命的系統錯誤。觀衆大笑，蓋茨希望再試一次，說到："這就是視窗98還沒上市的原因。"

tains Of Cats In 'Minecraft'

1．"我的世界"（Minecraft）裏的貓噴泉

Minecraft is a "sandbox" video game that's popular with kids. Players can build things with almost no limit in scope, including working computers and recreations of entire fictional cities.

"我的世界"是一種"沙盒"視頻遊戲，很受小孩子歡迎。玩家可以不受規模限制地創建事物，包括工作用的計算機和整座虛構城市的娛樂活動。

Basically, it's impossible to predict all the bizarre things that can be built in a sandbox video game. One of the most amusingly absurd things you can make in Minecraft is an infinite fountain of cats falling from the top of a stone of the animal types in Minecraft is the ocelot. These can be tamed and, once tame, they'll become cats that follow you around. Normally, they walk behind you on the ground, but if you get far enough away, they will teleport to get closer to you. So if you're at the top of a tall stone pillar, your cats will teleport to the top of the pillar, walk around, and fall off in a never-ending stream. (Watch at about 1:30 in the video above.)

基本上無法預測沙盒視頻遊戲能構建的稀奇古怪的東西。"我的世界"能做出的一種最有趣的玩意兒是超乎想象的從石柱頂上向下掉的"貓噴泉"。"我的世界"裏有一種動物，豹貓。它們能被馴化，一旦馴化後，它們將成爲與人形影不離的貓兒。通常情況下，它們會跟在你後面走路，但是如果你走得太遠，它們從遠方遙望並奔向你。所以，如果你待在一根很高的石柱上面，你的貓兒遙望到柱頭，急得團團轉，然後跌進奔流不息的河流。

翻譯：羅惠月 來源：前十網