10 Fun & Surprising Operating System Easter Eggs

[steve2470]

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-fun-and-surprising-operating-system-easter-eggs/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=2012-04-01



Find hidden hilarity and otherwise odd stuff, built right into the operating system you’re using. They’re hiding in plain site, in software you use every day, and when you find operating system easter eggs you’ll be delighted – it’s no wonder these hidden gems are called Easter Eggs.

From a full version of Tetris hidden in the Mac version of emacs to a mysterious cow dwelling in Ubuntu’s default package manager, hidden in-jokes can be found in most major operating systems today – desktop and mobile. You just need to know where to look.

I’ll run down a few examples of Easter Eggs from every major operating system: Windows, OS X, Linux, Android and iOS. Then we’ll work together in the comments to find even more. Sound like a plan?

These days it’s Microsoft policy to not allow Easter eggs – it’s part of their Trustworthy Computing initiative. Historically however, Microsoft included all sorts of hidden awesome in its software. Excel 97 had a flight simulator built-in, Word 97 had a pinball game, and Access 97 and 2000 had a hidden magic 8 ball.

[krispos42]

1. I still use Word and Excel '97

I'll have to check this out!

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. I just discovered God Mode for Windows 7

Really helpful. Why didn't they mention it in the literature?

[Fantastic Anarchist]

3. I found out about God Mode for Windows 8

Awesome feature!

[Gore1FL]

5. What's funny about that, is that is also "ThereIsNoGod" mode (really)

ThereIsNoGodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

And a ILoveMyMom mode:

ILoveMyMomMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

And

PaulIsDead mode:

PaulIsDead.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

and PrettyMuchWhateverYouWantToPutInFrontOfThePeriod mode:

PrettyMuchWhateverYouWantToPutInFrontOfThePeriod.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}


Believe it or not, these all actually work. The important part is the {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}.

[Worried senior]

4. Never heard of this

but did a search and it looks interesting. Don't know that I'd ever use it but might be fun to play with.