Talk about blue screen of death...

This is an amazing story. In case you don't want to read it, basically in New Jersey they have such a shortage of land there are parking garages that are completely automated. This allows them to park double the amount of cars in the same space. They run this with elevators basically, but the elevators not only move vertically but horizontally as well. To coordinate this mechanical ballet, there is a piece of software...an expensive piece of software. The developers of this software do not sell it outright, but rather license it on a renewable basis.

Well, in this instance, the state had the software and decided to not relicense it. So it stopped! Yes, the robot controlling this parking garage ceased to function just a few days after the license was no longer renewed! Everybody who had their car parked there continued to have their car parked until the state finally renewed their software license. As frustrating as the Windows blue screen of death was, this thing has it beaten hands down.