Is A Bad Attitude Damaging The IT Profession?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Sunday January 14, 2007 @05:38AM from the who-cares-and-shut-up dept.

dtienes writes "Why does IT get a free pass to insult users? Slamming customers isn't acceptable in any other profession; doctors don't call their patients "meatbags" — at least, not publicly. But IT professionals think nothing of wearing their scorn on their sleeves (or at least their chests — just check out ThinkGeek). There's more at stake here than just a few hard feelings. IT may be seriously damaging the credibility of the profession. See the essay I'm An Idiot (And Other Lessons From The IT Department) for a former IT professional turned user's take on insults, attitudes and ethics. (Full disclosure: The submitter is also the author.)"

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Speaking of lusers by Anonymous Coward · 2007-01-14 05:51 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Why can't an OS exist that does the following:

1) Any application installed can write to nowhere on the system but its own installation directory.
2) Any application installed that attempts to open up a socket elsewhere pops up a message warning the user it's doing so. The user can choose to say "no" to it accessing the network.
3) Applications that load at boot/login time must be installed by an administrator who is, by default, *not* the default user.

I'd sacrifice application interoperability for security any day. Some users aren't all that bright, but some OSes aren't all that bright either.