Where do I begin? I tried to install an Oracle ODBC driver. It:

• Required me to register an account (annoying but standard enough).
• Came in the form of an exe which did nothing but launch a console application that unzipped files somewhere, and exited without giving further instructions. (Nor did the website contain instructions.)
• Once I found where it unzipped to (intuitively, the folder is named Disk1), and ran setup.exe (I assume I'm supposed to run that? Maybe? Who knows.) I was greeted by this abomination:
  
• OK, so first it killed my Aero ("glass" interface, or desktop compositing if you prefer).
• That UI certainly fits in on a Windows box, and that icon doesn't look like it was drawn by a third grader or anything.
• It gives not the foggiest hint of an inkling what might have possibly gone wrong, but
• It tells me to send Unknown, Unknown, and Unknown to Oracle Support. Those files surely must tell me what's wrong.
• There's not even an error code to Google.
• FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I think above all else the fancy-schmancy web 0.7 "OK" button that isn't even truly oval (it looks like its drooping or something) would bother me the most.

Welcome to TDWTF. If you didn't know already, we have an entire forum dedicated to the WTF-ery of Oracle. http://forums.thedailywtf.com/forums/17.aspx

You know there is an I-hate-Oracle forum, right? Most people go there because of their db, but that's because that software has exactly the attitude as the odbc driver: you do whatever I make up, or else you're fucked. I remember problems with 32 and 64 bit drivers that didn't want to co-exist, two identical installations of the rdbms that were slightly different, omg, the memories... Time for a bit of Prozac.

joe.edwards:

Required me to register an account (annoying but standard enough).

 

That bit gets my shitting goat, right from the offset (hit it again today).

Some products are free to download. Some of these require joining the OTN first.

Y U NO do it properly?

So, these "free" products are not free, you pay with your registration information.

joe.edwards:

I tried to install an Oracle ODBC driver.

This is the essential part of your message, and TRWTF.

 

Severity One:

joe.edwards:

I tried to install an Oracle ODBC driver.

This is the essential part of your message, and TRWTF.

 

I'm slightly confused. I needed it to establish a database link from SQL Server, maybe WTFy but a requirement for my current assignment. Are you saying my job is TRWTF?

At least I'm well-compensated for it, though maybe not as well as Snoofle.

For those who care, after it crashed and burned Windows offered a set of recommended compatibility settings, where I was able to make it past the initial screen. The installation completed, but not without throwing up 10 different error messages in the process (environment variable "PATH" cannot exceed 1023 characters, 6x; entry point not found in DLL file, 4x), and then the post-install "helper" failed. But the installer said the product is installed! It just doesn't show up anywhere as an available database driver.

 

joe.edwards:

Severity One:

joe.edwards:

I tried to install an Oracle ODBC driver.

This is the essential part of your message, and TRWTF.

 

I'm slightly confused. I needed it to establish a database link from SQL Server, maybe WTFy but a requirement for my current assignment. Are you saying my job is TRWTF?

At least I'm well-compensated for it, though maybe not as well as Snoofle.

Heh.  I think he was making the joke where he takes the first part of your message where you're like, "I installed Oracle" or "I was trying to use a regex to" or "I was working in vim and then" or "I was trying to change my volume on linux workstation and", and then says, "yep, I think I found the real TRWTF what the fuck."

I don't think he was saying your job is a WTF.  lol.

 

pauly:

yep, I think I found the real TRWTF what the fuck

Report immediately to the Department of Redundancy Department.

^I\s+used\s+a\s+[Rr]eg(ular\s*)?[Ee]x(pression)?\s+to\s+solve\s+a\s+problem,\s+now\s+I\s+have\s+(two|2|ii)\s+problems\.$

TheRider:

So, these "free" products are not free, you pay with your registration information.

Nay, you pay with your VERY SOUL!

 

da Doctah:

TheRider:

So, these "free" products are not free, you pay with your registration information.

Nay, you pay with your VERY SOUL!

That explains why I had to sign in blood.

da Doctah:

 

 

Often wondered what appeared once you zoomed deep enough into those Julia sets.

 

joe.edwards:

I'm slightly confused. I needed it to establish a database link from SQL Server, maybe WTFy but a requirement for my current assignment. Are you saying my job is TRWTF?

If it involves the regular installation of Oracle software... arguably, it might well be.

The utter mess that Oracle made of installing something simple such as drivers is beyond comprehension, and beyond redemption for that matter. If Dante Alighieri had lived today, he would have written about a tenth circle.

 

 I think thetime has come to provide "Unknown" "Unknown" "Unknown" to Oracle Support.

Severity One:

If Dante Alighieri had lived today, he would have written about a tenth circle.

 

Oracle 10c

TheRider:

So, these "free" products are not free, you pay with your registration information.

Some pay more, some pay less.

• https://myprofile.oracle.com/EndUser/faces/profile/createUser.jspx
• https://myprofile.oracle.com/EndUser/faces/profile/createUser.jspx?tid=minimal
• https://myprofile.oracle.com/EndUser/faces/profile/createUser.jspx?tid=complete