Patch Lady – seen on a movie screen

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Speaking of old software still in use, last night when I was at the movie theater (watching Downton Abbey  loved the movie), the preview/preshow was p
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Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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ve2mrx, abbodi86, b, Myst, lanceboil, GreatAndPowerfulTech, woody

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Yikes!

I remember Active Desktop Recovery far, far too well… Windows XP’s answer to Live Tiles, long before anybody cared about Live Tiles.

May it die a thousand deaths.

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ve2mrx, WildBill, Myst

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Win95? Connected to the Internet (maybe)?! & Who Says businesses stay up-to-date with technology? If this is a Win95 (or 98/2000/ME/XP) machine, the theater is either too cheap or thinks its antivirus software and/or firewall is keeping it safe. Bad decision either way, IMO…

Bought a refurbished Windows 10 64-bit, currently updated to 22H2. Have broke the AC adapter cord going to the 8.1 machine, but before that, coaxed it into charging. Need to buy new adapter if wish to continue using it.
Wild Bill Rides Again...

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No proof that that projector is actually connected to the Internet and no proof that the Projector hardware or software is actually new enough to run under 98/XP/Later MS OSs. Maybe the projector hardware is too expensive and the theater can not afford any newer equipment.

If it’s not some large corporate owned theater then that financing may just be out of reach for the owners what with ticket sales going not to the theater but to the distributor and studio and the only way to earn money for the theater is via concessions.

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Yes. Several people still use W95 and W98 on the internet. They are not made of money and can not upgrade their machines.

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Ah yes…reminds me of the olden days when I used to have to walk 5 miles, barefoot, uphill in knee deep snow to see a movie at the local theater…… and liked it!    🙂

Red Ruffnsore

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WildBill

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active desktop – wasn’t it introduced along with windows 98? win95 seems a bit early to me…

PC: Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit, Group B
Notebook: Windows 8.1, 64bit, Group B

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Active Desktop was introduced with the Windows Desktop Update, which was a part of Internet Explorer 4.0.  This preceded Windows 98 by several months.

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Was introduced in Internet Explorer 4 and originally shipped with Win95c (OSR2.5) OEM I had Win95b (OSR2) with my then new PC (still have the OEM CD too)

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Microfix wrote:

Was introduced in Internet Explorer 4 and originally shipped with Win95c (OSR2.5) OEM I had Win95b (OSR2) with my then new PC (still have the OEM CD too)

yeah, you’re right! 😀 i somehow forgot win95c 😀

PC: Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit, Group B
Notebook: Windows 8.1, 64bit, Group B

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And then they have the nerve to charge $13 to $15 to see a movie nowadaze.  If you stop by the concession stand and buy something, be prepared to plunk down another $12 to $15 or more.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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If you stop by the concession stand and buy something, be prepared to plunk down another $12 to $15 or more.

And that’s why when the wife and I have a movie night, we always have dinner out somewhere nice before the movie.   Sure, a restaurant meal costs more than the $15 (or more likely $20 or more) that you’d spend at the concession stand.  But at least that way we’re getting a good quality meal that’s sure to be way healthier than the overpriced junk food at the theater.  (Apologies for the rant.)

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Charlie

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NASA stopped launching moon missions because they could not find the old HP-71B computers to run the lunar landers.

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Found one!

https://www.ebay.com/p/HP-71B-Scientific-Calculator/92260120

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Having worked in a movie theatre in the past I’ve got a bit to add.

First, any preshow advertisements are separate from the computer equipment used for the movie, with the only thing possibly shared is the projector itself. The movie studios go through a great deal of trouble to try to prevent the possibility of digital copies being made of their movies – especially while they are still in the theatre. Because of the high cost of digital cinema equipment the theatre may not even own the projector and/or the computer equipment (depends on the size of the theatre chain).

The equipment for advertising is also generally not owned by the movie theatre, but an outside company. It quite likely was installed when digital cinema was being rolled-out, and that would mean XP (which does include Active Desktop) was still the standard. While it’s possibly connected to the internet, some advertising companies are likely sending either a DVD or USB drive that either gets run from directly or runs a script to update/change the advertisements.

While ticket prices are set by a theatre or theatre chain, it needs to be understood that they may be getting as little as 10% of the price of each ticket. This is why concessions are expensive – it’s how they pay the bills – which are many and definitely not cheap.

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Tom-R, rowrbazzle, Perturbance, b, AlbertMcCann623

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I liked some of the Active Desktop functionality. With some fiddling, you could run a screensaver as a desktop on one monitor and do work on the other. Great fun especially for a freshwater aquatic screensaver like Dream Aquarium. I believe there was AD up to Windows 7.

Now even screensavers are becoming deprecated…

…and 24bit audio too apparently. I mean who uses something like that when everyone uses tinny earpiece headphones. /sarc

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That looks like a wide CinemaScope screen. Is it in a vintage theater that is run, perhaps, by some cinema enthusiasts? There is one of those old theaters near where I live, kept going by a dedicated group of people. I think that is a wonderful thing to do.

Too often did I see that kind of death screen, like the one in the photo, when they used to pop up, not interrupting movies, as in this peculiar case, but in the middle of talks given at large and important conferences, when people started to bring their presentations to meetings no longer on photo slides to be loaded on carousels, or viewgraphs to be shown with overhead projectors, but as PDF or Excel files carried in little USB flash drives (a.k.a pen drives or memory sticks, as these were known back then) in order to stick them in computers with projectors attached, under the watchful eyes of the person providing technical support to the session and in charge of the computer that most likely run Windows XP. Sad to tell, but many a presentation lovingly prepared and earnestly rehearsed came to a sticky end long before its allotted time that way.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Movie are still produced in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, which is the same aspect ratio used for anamorphic (aka CinemaScope or scope) movies on film. With the other predominant aspect ratio being 1.85:1 (aka flat). This means that some movies still get cropped when they get a home release, since widescreen TVs are 16:9 (aka 1.78:1).

This is very likely occurred between showings. Once upon a time this type of ad were done with slides, and were run until the show was started. Once the show was started you would sometimes get ads/commercials (some studios prohibited this – such as Disney) along with movie trailers, and then the actual movie. The length and amount of pre-show material will vary depending on the theatre/theatre chain’s policies.

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There were some exotic formats that were short lived (2.55 and 2.66, maybe others), and theaters built to screen them. Paul Allen helped fund the refurbishment of a Cinerama theater in Seattle that used a synchronized system of three projectors. The characteristically curved screen may have been what Oscar was asking about. But as you also say, there are now modern screens that want to upsell a more expensive ticket for what is actually only a standard projection on a larger surface.

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I actually saw once a movie on a theater with a Cinerama projection system in Sydney, back in ’69 or ’70, with that kind of huge curved screen. It was an all-star cast techno-thriller called “Ice Station Zebra”, with a story involving submarines, espionage cloak-and-dagger and ultra-secret goings on in the Arctic during the middle of the Cold War. According to Wikipedia, it was based on a novel about something that actually happened in the late 50’s. It was also extraordinarily expensive to make. I also saw once a documentary movie on earthquakes in a large IMAX curved screen in Barcelona’s Natural Science Museum.

Susan’s photo reminded me of that screen, but I thought more likely it was a picture of a very wide CinemaScope screen distorted, somehow, by the lens of the cell phone she used to take it. A “target of opportunity”, indeed!

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Budgets are tight, technology moves along too fast for many people. Justifying costs for upgrades can involve a lot more then just a OS license and possibly hardware. Sort of like consumers buying a new PC, then finding out their peripherals don’t work. I would not be so concerned about this if its not connected to the internet much.

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That is hilarious, mostly because having out-of-date tech running a movie screen isn’t exactly threatening. I was a bit bothered on a high-speed train in Europe, where the screens in first class froze on a blue screen. Made me wonder how much of the vehicle was operating on Windows.

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OscarCP

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I for one don’t need 3-D, in fact I hate it having to wear those annoying glasses.  I also don’t need or like all those speakers pumping out 120 decibel sound and thunderous bass!  When my wife and I go to see a movie we have to wear earplugs, and we’re both in our 70’s!

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Myst

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Charlie, I agree with you and must add to your list one more thing I don’t need: as many as 50 minutes of commercials before the main feature. The theater at the mall near where I live changed hands more than a year ago and when I went to see a movie I thought might be of my liking but, as it turned out, it was not, I had to endure most of one hour of piffle cascading on my eyes and ears. After that, I stopped going there — and almost entirely going to movies anywhere — at least until now. Instead, now I’ll wait until the movies I would like to have seen when shown in theaters become available on DVD or for streaming, get them and watch them at home.

What do I miss this way? I miss the experience of being in a crowd of people reacting to a good movie as it happens, which I always found stimulant. I miss being with friends and acquaintances in that crowd. I miss the conversations about the movie on the way out of the theater. That is what I am missing and, probably, shall continue to miss.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Was that fifty minutes of commercials after the posted start time for the feature? Or did you come for the good seat 45 minutes ahead of showtime and the house lights were still raised, indicating it is appropriate to still converse with your guests? When I choose to sit far in advance of the scheduled event I like having something to converse about. These advertisements can provide fodder for an otherwise boring exchange.

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The racket started as the lights were being dimmed. It was no surprise that, right then, some commercials began to be shown. I’ve never liked that, but one, sometimes, resigns oneself to putting up with such inconveniences hoping, in this way, to get, in the end, what one is really after.

The surprise was when the usual ten minutes or so went by, but the adds were still coming… and kept coming… and kept coming… with no hint yet of us being any closer to watching the main feature: the only thing I had willingly paid for and wanted to see.  And the new owner of the theater is not some two-bit company or some  group of movies’ enthusiasts with very limited financial resources and desperate for advertisers’ cash to keep going. The new proprietor is a big-time corporation that owns many movie theaters right across the US of A.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Wow, that is bad.  I’ve never had that happen at the theater I go to.  When the lights dim down, the feature presentation usually starts, but it has been awhile since I’ve been to a movie. I too have a large collection of DVD’s!

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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OscarCP

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Well Oscar, my wife and I just went to see a movie yesterday and it happened to us.  When the lights went down at 2:00 we had already seen a lot of commercials.  At 2:00 the movie was supposed to start, but instead what we got first was six or seven “previews of coming attractions” which took us to 2:35 before they actually started showing the movie.  So I take back what I said before, you are right.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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There has been talk about the loudness of movies for over twenty years. Part of what was found to be happening were the people mixing the audio were losing their hearing and doing things to increase the apparent loudness. There have been papers about it and there always mentions of something being done, but it seems to still not have happened.

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Charlie, OscarCP

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As far as I can remember – That screen came up on Windows XP, when the Desktop background image got corrupted. All you had to do was create a new background, and the message went away.

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Could have been worse.  It could have displayed a ‘General Protection Fault’ prompt.  😉

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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OscarCP

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Saw that screen recently on a Zoostorm laptop still running Windows XP. The owner’s father asked if I could sort it out. Amazing, tons of malware, broken AVG AV and a corrupted CD drive.

It was fun

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What’s the tell that this is Win95c rather than Windows 98? Are the screens different on the different versions?

(I assume you don’t think it’s Windows XP because you’d have to manually turn Active Desktop on.)

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Would Win 95 or 98 even do widescreen?

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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If you are called upon to fix machines, you often find really old equipment still in use.  About the time XP arrived, I was called to service an old XT computer, running the first versions of dBase (the public domain version) under DOS 3.3.  Issue as related to a damaged serial (!) cable hooked to a dot matrix printer.  The printer was mechanically sound, the owner re-inked the ink and had boxes of ribbon stored away.  The business never needed more.  I recommended hiring a database consultant to move to something more modern.  The really early power supplies and mainboards apparently used better components.  Trying to get really old stuff back to life often ends up needing a lot of cap replacement as they dry out and fail.

I understand HP still supports machines running DEC VMS in industrial applications.

Not everybody wants or needs the latest from Microsoft to get specific jobs done.  With care those machines can network without fear because they are in-service for a task.  Not an attractive target for malwear.

 

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I went to an optometrist office  a couple of years ago.  Noticed he was running one of his machines that contained some special optometry software on Win2k.  I tried to explain why this was a potential problem for his office but it went right over his head.

I’d bet probably 40% of small commercial offices are probably running out of date software, OS to application, any of which might provide a vector that hackers might enter their systems from.

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