They don't ask lifestyle questions (like if you are a virgin) on the normal background poly. They ask if you have debt, steal stuff, do drugs (ok, that's a lifestyle question), or if you have contact with foreign agents.
If you don't pass the poly at the NSA, you don't get fired. And yes, I said "don't pass" instead of "fail" because that's what the test is designed to do. If you can't pass a poly, regardless of how innocent you are, that's a personality indicator that puts you at risk for not being able to safeguard critical information. Nothing more, nothing less. They aren't throwing you in jail, and they aren't firing you...you just aren't getting the position you WILLINGLY applied for that requires a poly.
I see there's a lot of misinformation on slahsdot, as usual when it comes to security issues. I've was in the Army for 12 years, and have continued to work as a contractor for 7 more and have never been "required" to take the poly.
Your post is crap. The NSA doesn't interrogate (well, other than prospective employees), they have nothing to do with illegal (or legal) prisons, and they don't collect statistics about how often terrorists attack. You have no idea what the NSA mission is.
1) The NSA conducts two types of polys -- they only ask lifestyle questions during the...wait for it...lifestyle polygraph test.
2) Interrogations? No shit Sherlock. The whole point is to find when someone is nervous, then interrogate the hell out of them about that. These people are going to be trusted with information of the highest classifications...they damn well better be interrogated.
Not that slashdot interface is terrible...just not the best discussion forum I've ever used. Normally when I post anything slightly critical of this forum (like the submit and continue editing button being right next to each other, violating a basic UI concept that is easy to fix), I get flamed into oblivion. Evidently people in a forum named after a command line function aren't big fans of GUIs.
Nobody comlains when we change phone systems.
on
Time To Dump XP?
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· Score: 2, Informative
Why is this conversation never about upgrading our phones, or getting new office chairs, or getting a new microwave in the break room? Sometimes it's just time for new stuff, but you never hear anyone denying a new round of phone purchases because, "it costs a lot to train users". If anyone can argue that getting a new phone system, with all of it's functionality, is easier than upgrading to the next MS OS, I'm all ears.
Change happens. We need to deal with it and quit lamenting the (mostly imaginary) productivity losses.
The task bar is a welcome addition to people like me who use WinXP and OSX in our daily lives. Win7 combines elements of both, so the transition was pretty easy for me.
If someone needs to be trained to use Windows 7 then there is something wrong with them.
Yes. There IS something wrong with my Grandfather and his wife--two very successful attorneys, one who is known for his arguments in Brown v. Board of Education and the other who is the first woman Dean of her Ivy League Law School--because neither of them can use Win7 without training. Good call.
I have an alternative view. I'm a home OSX user and a work XP user. I recently bought a Win7 box and was able to do everything I needed (wireless network, printer setup, email config, etc) just by following the setup guide and wizards (and a couple visits to Google on my Macbook). When these setup guides are done well, and if the user can bring it upon themselves NOT to try to force their WinXP habits on to Win7, then the training impact is minimal.
However, my smooth transition to Win7 may be due to my familiarity with both WinXP and OSX, since Win7 seems to incorporate a lot of features of both. WinXP users not experienced with OSX probably won't see this benefit.
Not to stereotype, (ok, who am I kidding...to fully stereotype) nerdy types aren't the most coordinated folks I know, which doesn't bode well for their driving skill.
If a carpenter breaks his hammer, he fixes it. If a user breaks his computer, he doesn't have permissions to fix it so he HAS to call IT to do it. This doesn't make the user dumb.
And I can't believe you used the analogy of using a saw as compared to using a computer. You certainly can't argue that using a computer is as simple as using a one-purpose tool like a saw.
Agreed. Software developers (and quotes like "These people shouldn't really be employed to use a computer" demonstrate this mentality nicely) have been given a pass in the usability field for far too long now. They have a very specialized talent that not many people do, and hoard that talent as if it were the most precious cargo in the world. Since we NEED their talent, we can't really demand much more out of them, and they aren't going to give up their power that easily.
That's two clicks instead of one, additional mouse movement and some time faffing around with pretty pictures. How is this an improvement?
Well for one, you don't have to click at all. Hovering over the task bar item will open all the thumbnails associated with it. How this is better is you can SEE the differences between all active windows and pick the correct one based solely on the visual cues provided by the OS, as opposed to guessing which one of the three task bar buttons labeled "Microsoft Excel" in WinXP has your Weekly Variance Report and not your Monthly Variance Report.
For example, imagine have multiple instances of the same application open and you wish to switch between instances. In XP each instance has its own button on the task bar (usually with the file you have open written on it) so you simply click on the instance you want.
Until you have one more button on the task bar that fits on your screen...or until you have three instances of the same application open, you can't rearrange them to your liking, and they all three have an identical label.
The new taskbar is far superior for non-techy office types who generally have 10-15 things running at a time (because they can't be bothered to close an app they no longer need).
Slashdot Mirror
The entire poly process is a psychological evaluation. There are plenty of people who CAN think involved in the process.
They don't ask lifestyle questions (like if you are a virgin) on the normal background poly. They ask if you have debt, steal stuff, do drugs (ok, that's a lifestyle question), or if you have contact with foreign agents.
If you don't pass the poly at the NSA, you don't get fired. And yes, I said "don't pass" instead of "fail" because that's what the test is designed to do. If you can't pass a poly, regardless of how innocent you are, that's a personality indicator that puts you at risk for not being able to safeguard critical information. Nothing more, nothing less. They aren't throwing you in jail, and they aren't firing you...you just aren't getting the position you WILLINGLY applied for that requires a poly.
I see there's a lot of misinformation on slahsdot, as usual when it comes to security issues. I've was in the Army for 12 years, and have continued to work as a contractor for 7 more and have never been "required" to take the poly.
That's not true. Some positions require the poly, but that level of clearance doesn't REQUIRE a polygraph.
Anyone who is taking this polygraph has applied for a Top Secret-level security clearance.
This isn't exactly true. I've held a Top Secret clearance for nearly two decades now and have never taken a poly.
Um, no, they don't expire. Google even says so.
Your post is crap. The NSA doesn't interrogate (well, other than prospective employees), they have nothing to do with illegal (or legal) prisons, and they don't collect statistics about how often terrorists attack. You have no idea what the NSA mission is.
Don't talk to the police if you are innocent or guilty and without a lawyer...good advice.
Don't take a poly from the agency you'd like to work for? Terrible advice.
That's why the NSA doesn't use it in court cases--they use it as a term of employment.
That critique is crap.
1) The NSA conducts two types of polys -- they only ask lifestyle questions during the...wait for it...lifestyle polygraph test.
2) Interrogations? No shit Sherlock. The whole point is to find when someone is nervous, then interrogate the hell out of them about that. These people are going to be trusted with information of the highest classifications...they damn well better be interrogated.
Not that slashdot interface is terrible...just not the best discussion forum I've ever used. Normally when I post anything slightly critical of this forum (like the submit and continue editing button being right next to each other, violating a basic UI concept that is easy to fix), I get flamed into oblivion. Evidently people in a forum named after a command line function aren't big fans of GUIs.
Why is this conversation never about upgrading our phones, or getting new office chairs, or getting a new microwave in the break room? Sometimes it's just time for new stuff, but you never hear anyone denying a new round of phone purchases because, "it costs a lot to train users". If anyone can argue that getting a new phone system, with all of it's functionality, is easier than upgrading to the next MS OS, I'm all ears.
Change happens. We need to deal with it and quit lamenting the (mostly imaginary) productivity losses.
The business reason is clear: software requirements from our customer require that it works in Win7. YMMV.
The task bar is a welcome addition to people like me who use WinXP and OSX in our daily lives. Win7 combines elements of both, so the transition was pretty easy for me.
If someone needs to be trained to use Windows 7 then there is something wrong with them.
Yes. There IS something wrong with my Grandfather and his wife--two very successful attorneys, one who is known for his arguments in Brown v. Board of Education and the other who is the first woman Dean of her Ivy League Law School--because neither of them can use Win7 without training. Good call.
I have an alternative view. I'm a home OSX user and a work XP user. I recently bought a Win7 box and was able to do everything I needed (wireless network, printer setup, email config, etc) just by following the setup guide and wizards (and a couple visits to Google on my Macbook). When these setup guides are done well, and if the user can bring it upon themselves NOT to try to force their WinXP habits on to Win7, then the training impact is minimal.
However, my smooth transition to Win7 may be due to my familiarity with both WinXP and OSX, since Win7 seems to incorporate a lot of features of both. WinXP users not experienced with OSX probably won't see this benefit.
Not to stereotype, (ok, who am I kidding...to fully stereotype) nerdy types aren't the most coordinated folks I know, which doesn't bode well for their driving skill.
If a carpenter breaks his hammer, he fixes it. If a user breaks his computer, he doesn't have permissions to fix it so he HAS to call IT to do it. This doesn't make the user dumb.
And I can't believe you used the analogy of using a saw as compared to using a computer. You certainly can't argue that using a computer is as simple as using a one-purpose tool like a saw.
Agreed. Software developers (and quotes like "These people shouldn't really be employed to use a computer" demonstrate this mentality nicely) have been given a pass in the usability field for far too long now. They have a very specialized talent that not many people do, and hoard that talent as if it were the most precious cargo in the world. Since we NEED their talent, we can't really demand much more out of them, and they aren't going to give up their power that easily.
Do you have a need to let 250 other people be able to adjust control panel and network settings? I know my company doesn't allow it for the masses.
Oops, forgot to address this too:
That's two clicks instead of one, additional mouse movement and some time faffing around with pretty pictures. How is this an improvement?
Well for one, you don't have to click at all. Hovering over the task bar item will open all the thumbnails associated with it. How this is better is you can SEE the differences between all active windows and pick the correct one based solely on the visual cues provided by the OS, as opposed to guessing which one of the three task bar buttons labeled "Microsoft Excel" in WinXP has your Weekly Variance Report and not your Monthly Variance Report.
For example, imagine have multiple instances of the same application open and you wish to switch between instances. In XP each instance has its own button on the task bar (usually with the file you have open written on it) so you simply click on the instance you want.
Until you have one more button on the task bar that fits on your screen...or until you have three instances of the same application open, you can't rearrange them to your liking, and they all three have an identical label.
The new taskbar is far superior for non-techy office types who generally have 10-15 things running at a time (because they can't be bothered to close an app they no longer need).
Man, I made the same comment in another thread, and got flaimed into oblivion for being too damned stupid to use the help file to figure it out.
Well stated.
Do not write large applications in microsoft languages for microsoft operating systems.
That's bad advice when the customer paying for the application requires it to be written as such.