Anti-virus in klingon?

[morag]

Can anyone verify that they havent just put random text in the software? or is this just screenshots?
http://www.sophos.com/tlhIngan_van

[QoghtlhIH'u']

It is more than screenshots. I started the installation, which is not a very smart thing to do, but it is the actual Sophos website.
As a Klingonist I found an error: jomghach for installation. The -ghach suffix is not allowed on a verb without another suffix.

But otherwise it is very funny. I guess it's just someone at Sophos who took the trouble to make this package from a normal Sophos product and add some fun stuff:

  * it is recommended that you do not install it on Androids fitted
      positronic emotion-chips because when you remove the tool, the
      reboot may trigger a psychotic episode
    * please note this software is not compatible with the version of
      Microsoft .NET Framework (build 7 of version 9.0) used by Borg
      assimilation routines
    * Isolinear and Bioneural systems are not supported in this release
    * due to the current scarcity of 23rd and 24th Century test systems
      we are unable to fully substantiate the above claims

http://downloads.sophos.com/tools/kav/readkav_kln.txt

[QoghtlhIH'u']

Here are more screenshots

[pooHu]

isn't this weird, i found another url http://www.klingon.org/smboard/index.php/topic,1700.0.html taking you to same page...i haven't downloaded tool, presumably it's just a hoax right?

[QoghtlhIH'u']

It is not weird, the Sophos people just made several urls to the same page.
And no, it is not a hoax, it is a marketing gimmick, an unusual way to attract attention to their company.

A hoax would be something that is not real, but this Anti Virus software is real, only some of the accompanying texts are meant to be funny.
And to use the program you have to understand Klingon, at least the terms they have put on the buttons etc.

[Qunchuy]

And to use the program you have to understand Klingon, at least the terms they have put on the buttons etc.

You probably also have to understand the mindset of whoever produced those terms. I'm sure I could figure it out after playing with it for a while, but the meaning of many of the words I see on the screenshots is very unobvious to me. The displayed menus translate as "accomplish computer" (or perhaps "computer accomplishment" or even "computer emperor"), "see", "establish", and "help" (whether as a verb or noun is unclear). I have very minimal experience with Windows anti-malware software, so maybe that's handicapping me, but only the "help" menu name gives me the impression that I would know what to find there. Other phrases on the screenshots give me the same feeling of confusion. Most of them are perfectly reasonable Klingon phrases, but they don't make much sense to me.

This is a common issue with attempts to translate computer software. There are no established idioms in Klingon for things like copy and paste or for browsing a web page. Each person can justify his or her own choice of how to render them, but very often only that person knows what they meant without having it explained.

[ter'eS]

To be fair, most computer terms in English aren't intuitive; it's just our long use of them that makes them seem natural to us.  The same thing would probably occur using a computer application in any foreign language. Under "File" in my browser are things like "New Tab", "Send link", "Work offline".  What do these have to do with a file? I'd have no idea these were located where they are if I wasn't already familiar with the menu.

[pooHu]

has anyone had any luck downloading it? tried few times but not getting anywhere...and here i was thinking 'Qapla' meant 'success'

also, did anyone notice that they were looking for klingon translator earlier this year...http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/01/29/wanted-speak-klingon-time-wasters/

[QoghtlhIH'u']

I downloaded, installed it and made it scan my computer. That is how I got the screenshots.
It really works. Sophos, like McAfee and Norton, are very well known Anti Virus software producers.

I agree with ter'eS, even computer terms in English are not intuitive, we had to get used to them after others invented the terms. We all have an Escape button on our keyboards, yet a computer program is not a prison we have to "escape" from. And if you push Enter you are not going into anything literally. If you push Help no one is coming to you to explain the program to you. And what to think of Scroll Lock?

I think the Sophos tool is pretty cool, but it is not really going to make your computer secure from Borg assimilation infections or Betazoids thingies...   

As a software developer I was triggered by the remark on the  " .Net Framework build 7 of version 9.0) used by Borg assimilation routines " because I work with .Net 3.5.
The current state of affairs is that the .Net Framework version 4.0 is in the making, so before version 9.0 the entire framework will probably have a different name altogether. I just wonder if Microsoft is happy about the .Net thing.