# The "Works on My Machine" Certification Program

**URL:** <https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599>\
**Category:** blog\
**Created:** [March 15, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599 "2007-03-15T00:00:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Jethro3](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@Jethro3](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Jethro3)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/62 "2007-03-21T00:00:00Z")

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Love it. I spread it around my company, Auctiva.

Your logos were great but I wanted something I could tack on to a blog or other page more subtly. so I came up with this.

[http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/2/4/4/0/8/webimg/40666795\_o.jpg](http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/2/4/4/0/8/webimg/40666795_o.jpg)

Thought I’d put it on my personal web pages and link back to you for the lolz. Feel free to steal it for your own uses.

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**Author:** ![Rand\_Huso](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Rand\_Huso](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Rand_Huso)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/63 "2007-03-27T00:00:00Z")

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We’ve come a long way since '85 when we said “ran to ‘fin’… put it in”.

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**Author:** ![Brian](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@Brian](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Brian)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/64 "2007-03-29T00:00:00Z")

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Sweet! Now I can really say that MY blog works on MY machine. Thanks Jeff! 😉

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**Author:** ![JoeG](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/j/dc4da7/32.png) [@JoeG](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/JoeG)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/65 "2007-03-29T00:00:00Z")

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"Wait. It has to COMPILE?!

Oh man! You guys want the WORLD!!!"

Dude, just change the first line to start with “\*” and the last line to say “\*/”, and you’re golden.

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**Author:** ![shiv\_k](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@shiv\_k](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/shiv_k)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/66 "2007-05-02T00:00:00Z")

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I shared this link with one of our user. He couldn’t open it. Yeah sometimes Lotus notes doesn’t automatically open IE.  
I told him ‘It Works On My Machine’.

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**Author:** ![Garick](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/g/8797f3/32.png) [@Garick](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Garick)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/67 "2007-06-21T00:00:00Z")

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Had to link to this one… This is my life…

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**Author:** ![Wayne\_M](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Wayne\_M](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Wayne_M)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/68 "2007-06-27T00:00:00Z")

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The T-Shirt you sent doesn’t fit me? … What do you mean that it fits on your body?

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**Author:** ![PDH](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/p/ba8739/32.png) [@PDH](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/PDH)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/69 "2007-07-12T00:00:00Z")

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Hah, I love the shirt and the graphics! I printed one up and stuck it on my bulletin board at work. It’s now my default answer to any trouble shooting problem that comes up. Sadly, students (I work in a university computer lab) don’t seem to find any humor in it, especially when they’re trying to finish an exam or paper and can’t seem to print. The fact that the printer works fine on my machine is just no comfort to them.

One of my favorite responses to people (generally professors, not students) who do something incredibly stupid to their computer is to tell them that they’ve caused an “ID-ten-T” error. They seem to get very upset when I write that down and stick it on their computer, though…I don’t know why writing “ID10T” is so offensive….

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**Author:** ![Neil](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/n/839c29/32.png) [@Neil](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Neil)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/70 "2008-03-13T00:00:00Z")

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The starburst version is now standard issue in my development team. Sadly.

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**Author:** ![biojae](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@biojae](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/biojae)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/71 "2008-04-21T00:00:00Z")

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catch ( exception e )  
{  
cerr “Thats weird\n”;  
cerr “It works on my machine\n”;  
}  
Andy, Love it!!  
Im going to put it on a shirt in java form

try{  
//Something that has not been tested but just  
//HAS to work flawlessly, but really won’t 🙂  
}catch(Works.On.My.Computer.ButNotOnYoursException haha)  
{  
System.err.println(“Thats really weird,”);  
System.err.println(“It works on my computer.”);  
}

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**Author:** ![InderS](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/i/2bfe46/32.png) [@InderS](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/InderS)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/72 "2008-10-12T00:00:00Z")

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This is a humorous way to point a common mistake to developers.

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**Author:** ![TheM](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@TheM](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/TheM)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/73 "2008-11-21T00:00:00Z")

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I think it is completely unfair to require that you be able to operate a compiler to meet this certification process. My developers are way too busy to help me compile our application, and the head office is demanding that we ship with as many certifications as possible to improve customer confidence in our product.

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**Author:** ![Josh\_Jordan](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@Josh\_Jordan](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Josh_Jordan)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/76 "2009-03-23T00:00:00Z")

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So true, so true.

Even with our Java servlet application, we have this problem.

I’ll need to make up a snarky Works on _my_ dev server equivalent 🙂

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**Author:** ![Tim](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Tim](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Tim)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/77 "2009-05-07T00:00:00Z")

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I think it is completely unfair to require that you be able to operate a compiler to meet this certification process. My developers are way too busy to help me compile our application, and the head office is demanding that we ship with as many certifications as possible to improve customer confidence in our product.  
[http://landeus.ru](http://landeus.ru)

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**Author:** ![Neil](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/n/839c29/32.png) [@Neil](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Neil)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/78 "2009-05-07T00:00:00Z")

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I think it is completely unfair to require that you be able to operate a compiler to meet this certification process. My developers are way too busy to help me compile our application, and the head office is demanding that we ship with as many certifications as possible to improve customer confidence in our product.  
[http://landextre.ru](http://landextre.ru)

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**Author:** ![Kwhit](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@Kwhit](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Kwhit)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/79 "2009-06-13T00:00:00Z")

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Great!

A friend of a friend used to compile his C++ code and then wait a few minutes for it to ‘settle’ before running it being thoroughly convinced it worked better that way…

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**Author:** ![JonathanD](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@JonathanD](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/JonathanD)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/80 "2009-07-21T00:00:00Z")

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I made a partner program “It Works on My Virtual Machine.” [http://jonathan.dickinsons.co.za/blog/2009/07/it-works-on-my-virtual-machine/](http://jonathan.dickinsons.co.za/blog/2009/07/it-works-on-my-virtual-machine/)

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**Author:** ![Nick](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Nick](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Nick)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/81 "2009-08-20T00:00:00Z")

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This is by far the best certification I’ve seen yet.

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**Author:** ![JonG](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JonG](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/JonG)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/82 "2010-02-06T00:00:00Z")

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The badge is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0.  
[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

I made use of a badge template from BittBox, which also under CC Attribution ShareAlike.  
[http://www.bittbox.com/freebies/free-vector-badges-glass/](http://www.bittbox.com/freebies/free-vector-badges-glass/)

I used Inkscape, which is available for free from [Inkscape.org](http://Inkscape.org). No animals were harmed in the construction of this post. Three carrots were consumed. Mistakes were made.

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**Author:** ![Brandon\_K](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/b/df705f/32.png) [@Brandon\_K](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Brandon_K)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-works-on-my-machine-certification-program/599/83 "2010-02-06T00:00:00Z")

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I think there should be an \* with the disclaimer saying. Even though it works on my machine it might not on yours.

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