計算機程序錯誤產生的十大囧事(上)

Computer bugs, such as programming errors or oversights, can cause horrific disaster or financial loss. A previous list gave several examples. Not all bugs have such tragic effects, however. Sometimes the result is comical, embarrassing, or both.

計算機程序錯誤，比如編程錯誤或者考慮不周全，可能引起不堪設想的後果或者導致嚴重的經濟損失。以前有一篇文章舉過幾個例子。但並不是所有錯誤都會帶來這樣的破壞。有時侯，其後果也很滑稽，讓人尷尬。

First National Bank Of Chicago Error

10.芝加哥第一國家銀行程序錯誤

Imagine being a typical employee of the local gas company, checking the balance on your bank account, and finding that you now have over $900 million. That's what happened to Sylvester Dorsey in May 1996, along with 825 other customers of the First National Bank of Chicago. "I showed the receipt to a friend and we just started screaming," said Dorsey. Jeff Ferrera, another lucky bank customer, said, "It was just unique being called a billionaire for a day."

試想，作爲當地一家加油站的普通僱員，在覈查自己銀行賬戶的收支差額時，竟然發現自己戶頭現在超過了9億美元。這就是西爾威斯特·多爾西（Sylvester Dorsey）1996年5月遇見的事情，還有825位該銀行的其他顧客遭遇了同樣的經歷。"我把銀行詳單給一個朋友看，我們忍不住尖叫起來。" 多爾西這樣說。傑夫·費雷拉（Jeff Ferrera），另一位幸運的銀行客戶，說："被叫了一天億萬富翁，真奇特。"

James Lancaster, senior vice president at First National, said the windfalls were caused by "a computer programming error." According to the Chicago Tribune, "Nobody, to the bank's knowledge, ran off to the Cayman Islands with the money." That's probably a good thing, because the total value of the error was about $764 billion, far more than the total assets of the bank. At the time, it was the largest banking error in US history.

第一國家銀行的高級副行長詹姆斯·蘭開斯特（James Lancaster）說，這些橫財是由"一個計算機程序錯誤"造成的。據《芝加哥論壇報》，"根據銀行的信息，沒有人攜帶鉅款跑到開曼羣島去。"這也許是件好事，因爲錯誤造成的總價值約爲7640億美元，遠遠超出銀行總資產。當時，這是美國史上銀行方面最嚴重的錯誤。

ows Phone 8 Says To Insert A Disc

9.視窗手機8提醒插入光盤

Windows Phone was Microsoft's answer to the iPhone. The first version, named Windows Phone 7, launched in October 2010. The next major version, Windows Phone 8, launched in October 2012.

視窗手機是微軟對蘋果手機的迴應。第一個版本叫做視窗手機7，2010年10月發佈。其後的主要版本，視窗手機8，於2012年10月發佈。

But although the phone was well received, it wasn't all smooth sailing: Some Windows Phone 8 users ran into an amusing situation where Windows failed to start and the screen showed an error message which instructed them to "Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer." It didn't say where to insert the seems that some of the users who got the message had been trying to load modified firmware onto their phone, and this was the phone's way of saying "no." Others claimed that the error occurred "without any provocation."That message came up because Windows Phone 8 is based on the Windows NT kernel, a kernel which first came out in 1993. It has been used as the core of all Windows desktop operating systems since Windows 2000, including XP, Vista, 7, and 8. As a result, Windows Phone 8 sometimes thinks it's a desktop operating system.

但是，儘管手機被消費者接受了，其經歷並非一帆風順：有些用戶碰到了十分可笑的事——視窗運行失敗，屏幕顯示一條錯誤信息，引導用戶"插入視窗安裝盤並重啓電腦"。手機沒有顯示插到哪裏。在看到這條指令的用戶中，似乎有些嘗試在手機上下載更改後的固件，而手機就用這種方式進行"拒絕"。其他人則說這種錯誤出現時"沒有任何徵兆"。出現這條指令的原因在於，視窗電話8是基於視窗新技術內核的。這種內核誕生於1993年，曾被用作視窗2000之後所有臺式機視窗操作系統的內核，包括視窗XP、Vista、7和8。結果，視窗電話8有時就自認爲是臺式機操作系統了。

's Recommended Smartphone Was A Nokia

8.蘋果語音助理（Siri）推薦諾基亞智能手機

Siri is Apple's personal assistant for the iPhone and iPad. You can ask it questions using everyday language and it gives an answer. In 2012, you could ask Siri "What's the best cell phone ever?" and it would respond "Nokia—Lumia 900 4G Mobile Phone—Cyan (AT&T)." Siri recommended a competitor's smartphone!

蘋果語音助理是蘋果公司爲蘋果手機和平板電腦推出的個人助理功能。你可以用日常語言向它提問，它則向你提供答案。2012年，你可以問語音助理"迄今最好的移動電話是什麼？"，答案會說"諾基亞——露米婭900 4G手機——青色（美國電話電報公司）"。蘋果語音助理竟然推薦了競爭對手的智能手機！

The gaffe happened because Siri passed the question to Wolfram Alpha, a "computational knowledge engine" operated by another company. Wolfram Alpha interpreted the question as asking for the best mobile phone based on customer reviews. At the time, the available information led Wolfram Alpha to conclude that the answer was a Nokia e has updated Siri since then, so the answer is different now. In fact, several answers are possible, including "You're kidding, right?" and "The one you're holding."

之所以出現這個洋相，是因爲語音助理把問題傳送給了沃爾夫勒姆a數學搜索引擎 （Wolfram Alpha）——另一家公司運營的"計算式知識搜索引擎"。沃爾夫勒姆a把這個問題理解爲：從用戶評價來看，什麼是最好的手機。當時可用的信息讓沃爾夫勒姆a得出了諾基亞的結論。從那以後，蘋果公司更新了語音助理，現在答案已經不同了。實際上，可能出現幾種答案，包括"你在開玩笑，不是嗎？"和"就是你手裏的。"

Glitches In ‘The Sims 3′

7."模擬人生3"的嬰兒問題

The Sims 3 is a "strategic life simulation game" developed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts (EA). It came out in 2009 and is one of the best-selling video games of all time.

"模擬人生3"是一款"模擬實際生活的虛擬遊戲"，由模擬人生工作室研發，電子藝界遊戲公司（EA）發行。自2009年出現至今，它一直是暢銷不衰的視頻遊戲。

Video games are notoriously difficult to get perfect, and The Sims 3 is no exception. Unlike most video games, The Sims 3 has babies, a fact that enables all sorts of weird and embarrassing example, The Sims 3 allows users to create custom content and share it with others. It turns out that some custom clothing can make babies do animations intended for bigger avatars, causing their tiny baby skeletons to stretch and contort into long-armed, long-fingered pretzels. Some people call them demon more embarrassing is the fact that some in-game babysitters used to take babies. They'd just carry the baby out of the house. One might wonder if this was some game designer's twisted idea of intriguing drama, but the babysitters seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they were taking the baby. The klepto-nanny glitch was fixed in June there's the infinite baby loop. When a baby is born, you get a chance to name it. Sometimes you get asked a second time, and a third time, and so on, with each naming generating a new baby. One can get dozens of babies, with no apparent limit.

視頻遊戲很難做到完美，這一點盡人皆知，虛擬人生3也不例外。與其他大多數視頻遊戲不同，虛擬人生3還有嬰兒，這帶來了隨後所有稀奇古怪的滑稽問題。比如，"模擬人生3"允許用戶創建自定義內容，並分享給其他人。結果一些用戶訂製的服裝能讓嬰孩產生動畫效果，變得更大——嬰兒幼小的軀體被拉伸扭曲，變成了手臂和手指細長的法式麻花。有人把它們叫做孽子。更讓人窘迫的是，遊戲中一些嬰兒保姆會帶走嬰兒。他們直接把嬰兒帶出了房間。人們可能會疑惑這是不是遊戲開發人員一時興起設計的惡作劇情節，但是這些保姆似乎馬上忘了自己帶走嬰兒的事。2009年6月，保姆有盜竊癖好的問題被解決了。然而，還有一個無限循環的嬰兒怪圈。一個嬰兒出生後，你就有一個給它起名字的機會。有時你會收到第二次請求，第三次，甚至更多，而每次起名都會產生一個新嬰兒。一個人能得到幾十個孩子，卻不受什麼限制。

Xbox One Password Back Door

6.娛樂一體機（Xbox One）的密碼後門

Parents and children often share the same console, but many parents don't want their kids playing certain games. To address this, Microsoft's Xbox One has an account system, with each account having different capabilities. One can set up an account for each adult and child, with some accounts requiring a password to log in.

家長和孩子常常共用一個遊戲機，但是許多父母不希望孩子玩其中有些遊戲。爲了解決這個問題，微軟娛樂一體機內置了一個賬戶系統，每個賬戶功能不同。可以分別爲成人和孩子設立單獨賬戶，其中有的賬戶需要密碼才能進入。

In March 2014, a five-year-old discovered that he could get into his dad's Xbox One account by giving the wrong password at the first prompt, then entering nothing but spaces as the second password. When asked how he felt when he discovered the back door, he said, "I was like, yeah!" Suddenly he was able to play all his dad's dad is a security researcher, so when he saw his son using his account, he asked him how he'd gotten past the password. Once he found out, he reported the back door to Microsoft, and Microsoft patched it. Microsoft even listed his son, Kristoffer Wilhelm von Hassel, in their official list of "March 2014 Security Researchers." Some people have jokingly referred to Kristoffer as the world's youngest white-hat hacker.

2014年3月，一個5歲大的孩子發現，在出現第一次提示時輸入錯誤的密碼，他就能進入他爸爸的賬戶，然後只用按空格鍵作爲第二次輸入的密碼。當被問到發現這個後門的感受時，他說："我就想這樣，噢耶！"他瞬間就能玩爸爸所有的遊戲了。他的父親是一位（信息）安全研究人員，所以當他看見自己的兒子使用自己的賬戶時，他便詢問兒子怎樣得到密碼的。明白整個過程後，他把這個後門告訴了微軟公司，微軟公司對其進行了修補。微軟公司甚至把這個孩子的名字，克里斯汀·威廉·馮·哈塞爾（Kristoffer Wilhelm von Hassel） ，列入了其"2014年3月安全研究員"的正式名單。有些人開玩笑似的把克里斯汀稱爲世界上最小的白帽黑客

翻譯：羅惠月 來源：前十網