Shanghai Tech WriterTechnical Writing, Technology, Web2.0, Google, Shanghai, China

I got an email today from a colleague who received an error message when she started Adobe FrameMaker. She wanted to know if anyone else had the same problem. She attached a screenshot of the error message that says, “The licensing subsystem has failed catastrophically.”

You don’t see the word catastrophically used very often except in the news or textbooks, like “many Jews suffered catastrophically during World War II” or “a rise in global temperature would catastrophically increase sea levels.”

But here, Adobe really wants its users to know that something has gone awry and that the system has failed catastrophically. You must reinstall or call customer support!

Maybe I am being a little melodramatic here, but it feels like the error message is telling you that your computer is about to have a nuclear meltdown.