25 interesting things that you learn about computers in the movies...




Word processors never display a cursor.

You never have
to use the spacebar when typing long sentences.

All monitors display 2
inch high letters.

High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the
CIA, or some such governmental institution, have easy-to-understand graphical
interfaces.

Those that don't will have incredibly powerful text-based
command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain
English.

Corollary: You can gain access to any information you want by
simply typing "ACCESS ALL OF THE SECRET FILES" on any keyboard.


Likewise, you can infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply
typing "UPLOAD VIRUS." Viruses cause temperatures in computers, just like they
do in humans. After a while, smoke billows out of disk drives and monitors.


All computers are connected. You can access the information on the
villain's desktop computer, even if it's turned off.

Powerful computers
beep whenever you press a key or whenever the screen changes. Some computers
also slow down the output on the screen so that it doesn't go faster than you
can read. The *really* advanced ones also emulate the sound of a dot-matrix
printer as the characters come across the screen.

All computer panels
have thousands of volts and flash pots just underneath the surface. Malfunctions
are indicated by a bright flash, a puff of smoke, a shower of sparks, and an
explosion that forces you backward. See _7, above)

People typing away on
a computer will turn it off without saving the data.

A hacker can get
into the most sensitive computer in the world before intermission and guess the
secret password in two tries. [or by looking on the desk for a clue...]


Any PERMISSION DENIED has an OVERRIDE function.

Complex
calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will be accomplished in under
three seconds. In the movies, modems transmit data at two gigabytes per second.


When the power plant/missile site/whatever overheats, all the control
panels will explode, as will the entire building.

If you display a file
on the screen and someone deletes the file,it also disappears from the screen.
There are no ways to copy a backup file-and there are no undelete utilities.


If a disk has got encrypted files, you are automatically asked for a
password when you try to access it.

No matter what kind of computer disk
it is, it'll be readable by any system you put it into. All application software
is usable by all computer platforms.

The more high-tech the equipment,
the more buttons it has. However, everyone must have been highly trained,
because the buttons aren't labelled.

Most computers, no matter how
small, have reality-defying three-dimensional, real-time, photo-realistic
animated graphics capability.

Laptops, for some strange reason, always
seem to have amazing real-time video phone capabilities and the performance of a
CRAY- MP.

Whenever a character looks at a VDU, the image is so bright
that it projects itself onto his/her face.

Computers never crash during
key, high-intensity activities. Humans operating computers never make mistakes
under stress.

Programs are fiendishly perfect and never have bugs that
slow down users.

Any photograph can have minute details pulled out of
it. You can zoom into any picture as far as you want to. For example: "What's
that fuzzy thing in the corner? I don't know, let's check. Ok, I just need to do
a little enhancement... Yes, wow! The clue we needed! (yadda yadda)"

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