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Ode to the Progress Bar

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I'm building the Virtual Machines for a number of the Hands On Labs that will be available at MIX and at TechEd.

I had not worked much with Virtual PC before and obviously when you are running two copies of Vista on your machine simultaneously (and VStudio and IIS, etc.) it can slow things down a bit.

So in the process of getting VS05 SP1 and then the update for Vista installed I happened to have a lot of time to admire the green progress bar.  It happened to spur a moment of creativity.  For your pleasure, here is the result:

Ode to the Progress Bar

By Matt Powell

 

Oh green and pulsing bar

That defines my future, unknown number of minutes

Every increment makes me joyful

Yet your mystery bemoans me.

How many times must you repeat your journey from left to right?

Only you know.

And will your travels be quick

Or will it be slow?

Hope allows me to believe that even when you sit motionless

That with a fury you will quickly reach your end.

And I hope…and hope…

And then there is the cruelty at the end of your journey,

When not even a single pixel remains uncovered by your greenness,

And your “seconds remaining” sits laughingly at zero.

“It says zero!” I wail as the wanton desktop languishes for 30...40...60 seconds and more.

Madame desktop unnervingly holds onto the last gleaming remnants of her progress bar

For she is sad to let him go, with his handsome, fluorescent green gradient

But ultimately she can hold him back no more

And his job is finally complete

And I must now start my work.

 

   -Matt

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