$string1 =~ s/file/pack/; (aka What the @#%&*! is a language file?, aka Suits to a т)

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2008/07/08 03:01 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2008/07/08/8705722.aspx


Usually when I am on Vista, I install a bunch of MUI Language Packs and LIPs (Language Interface Packs).

Habit, I guess.

Sometimes I even install beta builds of them.

I just like that big list of user interface language choices!

Then occasionally when it turns out I need back some of that 25gb of space, which makes me wonder why I feel this compulsive thing about installing them in the first place....

Of course you can't uninstall everything on the list. For example:

English is my system default UI language -- so it won't let me remove that. This makes sense to me.

On the other hand, when I made Vietnamese the default UI language for me:

No warning in this case. Bummer.

Oh well, it asks you to reboot after removing an item from the list, so I guess it's no big deal that it will let you reboot something that is your language choice.

It looks like the Vietnamese language pack is missing a lot of strings anyway....

I'm going to avoid the uninstall of the current user interface language; I'm not enough of a tester to want to work so hard to see what I can break.

I'm curious whether the uninstall will fail or problems will come up after the reboot, but let's face it not enough to try it. :-)

Now there is another time you will see that warning icon. I saw it two more times, in fact. One for Russian:

and one for Spanish:

Though I must admit the text doesn't do as good of a job telling me why:

The language can't be selected because it is being used by another language file on this computer.

Huh?

What the @#%&*! does "language file" mean here?

To be honest it is times like this that I feel sorry for two distinct groups of people:

Well luckily if you know Perl you can use the line in the title to help the string make a little more sense.

And now I am being accurate but not entirely helpful, too. Think of it as part three of a three-phase authentication of my being an employee of Microsoft. :-)

Additional Hint: Tatar, Galician.

 

This blog brought to you by т (U+0442, aka CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER TE)


Igor Levicki on 3 Aug 2008 10:33 PM:

>>The language can't be selected because it is being used by another language file on this computer.<<

Err... wow... speachless here!!!

Not only it uses a contraction (can't instead of cannot) -- it uses passive voice TWICE in the same sentence.

Is it possible that someone working at Microsoft doesn't know about spelling & grammar option in Word?

Michael S. Kaplan on 3 Aug 2008 10:54 PM:

I don't blog in Word -- if it did then my text would look leaner but it would be ten times more dense underneath due to needless superfluous redundant markup. :-)


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