<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 7:22 PM, Timothy Murphy <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gayleard@eircom.net">gayleard@eircom.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br>It really would be helpful if developers could make sure<br>
that some kind of message, even if it is just a row of dots,<br>
comes up from time to time.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>The most general response to your request would appear to require violation of the Halting Theorem. I think you could force a dot with an interrupt, but it wouldn't really tell you anything. The program could still be hung.</div>
<div><br></div><div>As it is, the problem is even more complicated than what is contemplated by the Halting Theorem, since an installer depends on expected responses from hardware. If the response never comes...</div><div>
<br></div><div>You could be getting dot dot dot, and it wouldn't mean a thing. Sort of like waiting for Godot.</div><div><br></div><div>If some poor soul at Microsoft couldn't deliver a version of Vista that reassured Steve Ballmer (who allegedly throws furniture) that wonderful new Vista was actually doing something while he sat there and waited with an important customer, do you think this problem will be solved by the FOSS community?</div>
<div><br></div><div>Robert.</div><div><br></div></div>