Italian version
Ê .hacktivism
09.04.03 Suicide Letter Wizard for Microsoft Word v.1.0.
The vision of computer tools as mere aseptic productivity tools has already been disproved for some time by software hackers and artists, who have been able to put to unexpected uses even the most 'vertical' and single-purpose protocols and programs. Another example of this is Suicide Letter Wizard for Microsoft Word v.1.0, made by Olga Goriunova of Data Exchange Laboratory. The projects consists of an application for generating models of suicide letters to be fed to Word. A very ironic unconventional use of one of the most common productivity tools, Suicide Letter Wizard deserves a particular attention for the courage it has in casting a different light on these mechanisms and targetting the most used word processing program, making it an accessory of a crime (at least in Italy) in one of the few possible ways. The uselessness of the 'wizard' interface, which should guide the user through the choices is pushed to a paradox when the user is asked to choose the style of suicide, an action which will, of course, terminate the use of this software and the production of the document forever.