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How Tech Almost Lost the War

Posted by samzenpus on from the just-point-and-shoot dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Blame the geeks for the mess in Iraq? Wired says so. Networked troops were supposed to be so efficient, it'd take just a few of 'em to wipe out their enemies. But the Pentagon got their network theory all wrong, with too few nodes and a closed architecture. Besides, a more efficient killing machine is the last thing you want in an insurgency like Iraq."

16 of 679 comments (clear)

  1. Actually.... by cyberon22 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Republicans are to blame for this one.

    1. Re:Actually.... by OECD · · Score: 3, Funny
      It's more banal than that. I see this every day. We have to design a newsletter? Use Excel, it works great in accounting!

      Only difference is that lives aren't at stake ( but how I wish they were...)

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      One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
    2. Re:Actually.... by sqrt(2) · · Score: 5, Funny

      When the only tool you have is Excel, every problem starts looking like a spreadsheet.

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      If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
    3. Re:Actually.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      When the only tool you have is Windows, every problem starts looking like malware.

    4. Re:Actually.... by iluvcapra · · Score: 3, Funny

      ....Ahem

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    5. Re:Actually.... by Decado · · Score: 2, Funny

      When the only joke you have is windows, +1 Funny may as well be -1 Redundant.

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    6. Re:Actually.... by CastrTroy · · Score: 3, Funny

      My dad uses excel for just about everything. Once you learn how to use it, it's quite powerful, and you can do a lot of stuff with it. He designed his deck by making square cells and using that to map out the floor plan. Which is even more impressive, because it's not just a square deck.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    7. Re:Actually.... by chrish · · Score: 2, Funny

      I witnessed the horrors of a point-of-sale system "written" in Excel just last weekend. When the user clicked on products, it would scroll the spreadsheet around to the next step in the purchase process.

      I just knew there was an Access back-end, too, I could sense its evil lurking there. And probably no regular backups.

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      - chrish
  2. They hired the wrong geeks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hire those geeks from South Korea, preferably their last WCG Starcraft champion, and you would see how network centric warfare should be...

  3. Story moderation by michaelmalak · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can we moderate this story "Troll"?

  4. Don't be silly by Leuf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Being a leader means never having to take responsibility for anything until someone further up than you tosses you to the lions to cover their own ass.

  5. Geeks are to blame. by Travoltus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Going by the same logic that says geeks are at fault for this...

    I say let's outsource these jobs to Iran.

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    --- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
  6. Re:!! JESUS! HELP ME KILL MORE PEOPLE FASTER!!! by amRadioHed · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow. Spoken like someone who's never read another book. I know that's probably not true and that only makes it sadder.

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  7. Re:Honest question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    wmd

  8. Almost lost the war? by mrbluze · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since when has the US won the war? It's over? *slaps forehead* I better go check the newspaper.

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    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  9. Re:Acting Like Democrats by EvilMonkeySlayer · · Score: 2, Funny

    I say Reagan, there's nothing that can't be solved by a zombie.. and Zombie Reagan would be able to solve anything. Granted, most of the solving would be done by the "eat brains" method. But zombie Reagan would easily finish the war.