2026-09-17
IT has given us many wonders, including the titular message (paraphrased due to faulty memory and passage of time) which was given by an IBM PC (all there was in those days) in response to whatever keystroke had been entered. It resulted in a call to our Help Desk, who although singularly unhelpful since the user had already pressed the Escape key and the damage had been done, were both appropriately sympathetic, and rather unprofessionally amused ...
What should this unfortunate user have done instead of pressing Esc? (Turn the electricity off at the socket).
Have matters automated got any better since those far-off days?
Well, yes and (in this case) no. Just a lot more complicated, requiring a systems and communications research analyst to successfully post his parcels.
He wonders whether the systems involved are corrigible ... given the erstwhile postmasters' experience at the hands of the Post Office Horizon scandal, this seems like a timely test of their current management.
