Offbeat
Spikes deter pigeons, but Microsoft still managed to foul the screen
BORK, BORK, BORK! There was a time when information boards were handwritten or paper-based affairs. Then departure information was shown on split-flap displays, which made a satisfying tick sound as the display changed.
Pixel-based boards followed (we took a look at the excellent take-home-and-keep versions by UK Departure Boards in 2024, but, with the inevitability of death and taxes, Windows of course had to get involved, which brings us to this unhappy example spotted in a Northampton bus station by a Register reader.
“This poor main display announcing bus times has been dying for a while,” our reader said.
“The time has been out by 3-4 minutes, meaning any passenger trying to get somewhere on time would have missed their bus. Now its time info software is not loading.”
The screen looks like Windows 10 is running in the background, but instead of helpful information for customers taking a bus journey, there’s just the default Windows desktop background and a few forlorn icons.
The screen has been fitted with spikes to prevent birds from perching and leaving deposits, no such luxury has been afforded to the software. Somebody crueler than us might suggest this is because no feathered friend would deign to perch atop Microsoft’s finest, or that a healthy dose of bird droppings could only improve the appearance of Windows.
The bus station in question is Northgate, a relatively recent addition to Northampton’s architectural landscape, opened in 2014. Windows 10 was released the following year and now clings, limpet-like, to the information boards.
Our reader’s comment that the display appears to be wheezing its last is, of course, nothing to do with Microsoft’s fervent wish that Windows 10 would hurry up and die so that it can notch up more Windows 11 users. The question is, would Northampton’s avian chums be any keener on the display if it were running the latest and greatest?
Certainly, Windows 11 could use some improvements. Even Microsoft has admitted as much, but we’re not sure the rear of a bird is where those improvements should come from. ®
