Here are some actual error messages seen on the computer screens in Japan ...

... some are even written as Haiku. Aren't these better than "Your computer has performed an illegal operation"?

• The Web site you seek cannot be located, but countless more exist.

• Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.

• Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much.

• Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.

• Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that.

• Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.

• Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down.

• A crash reduces your expensive computer to a simple stone.

• Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred?

• You step in the stream, but the water has moved on. This page is not here.

• Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, But we never will.

• Serious error. All shortcuts have disappeared.

And ...

• Having been erased,
  The document you're seeking
  must now be retyped.