In the real world, as opposed to whatever fantasy or corner-case scenario you have in mind, a task of significance will involve dealing with people outside a specialist's specialism. I want my brain surgeon to listen to the anaesthetist because the drugs s/he is using may affect the bloodflow in the brain, for example. I also want my brain surgeon to listen to me because there might something in my family history which makes my brain unusual and isn't picked up on an MRI scan.
Primadonnas are a pain the rear when people want to do something of significance.
This article is ignorant and misleading. The "new technology" is nothing to do with Linux, iptables rules are already dynamic, it's the Fedora management tooling that no longer wipes the entire set of rules and loads them afresh.
How is a child going to throw a kill switch placed under the dash to the door-side of the driver, like where the bonnet/hood release lever is normally positioned?
If your child is unruly enough to reach there while you're driving, and you are incompetent to prevent them, you already have a serious safety issue.
You can cite me. A kill switch can easily be designed and positioned so that it's difficult to accidentally throw, and easy to spot that it has been thrown.
The real argument against a kill switch is a marketing one, if a manufacturer's safety people wanted to introduce them then the marketing people would complain that it would give the impression something was wrong with their cars that they required one. Obviously a poor argument from a safety perspective and a good one from a marketing perspective! Maybe regulation has it's place here, i.e. make them mandatory.
But no wonder, most people only use photocopiers once every few weeks, if that. Yet their interfaces are quite arcane if you want to do anything beyond copying your documents at whatever their current settings are. Worst are the multifunction devices, people stand staring at them for a minute or two just working out what state they are in.
At the office where I'm working there is a regular episode where a lady who knows how the fax machine works talks developers and other skilled techies through sending their timesheets to payroll. It's amusing as she has to go quite slowly for these people who work with and create quite sophisticated software systems!
Don't be so hasty. Software is something that can be made for love of the art. Cars require significant capital investment in fabrication equipment and materials, capital most people do not have.
While not denying they can make good money, many in the caring professions do count the benefit they bring to others as a significant factor in their motivations, and I would indeed prefer it if my doctor had my best interest in mind rather than getting through his "caseload". I don't see why you put forward examples about making one's own tools or medicines by way of ridicule as this was not the GP's thrust. Free Software developers are well known for sharing code which implies using others, they call it "libraries", fucknuts, and the idea is to avoid as much DIY as possible.
In my experience this "legal requirement" doesn't get much attention beyond lip service at induction time. In fact I've never heard the 30 minutes for two hours rule. I have experience of ten large companies in the UK, mostly in finance. Half hour lunches and no breaks is the norm, and in my experience there is of course some slacking off and getting a coffee but it's nowhere near the amount suggested by the OP or the replies here. Oh wait, I'm in infrastructure not development! Lazy shits.
In the UK we have a scheme called Faster Payments, one of the four or five decent things our Labour government has done, to which most major banks now subscribe.
To quote: It has enabled, for the very first time, phone, internet and standing order payments to move within a few hours - almost at the touch of a button.
It is the equivalent of saying "commercials can't be prettier than the program's average prettiness".
Technically, it's the equivalent of saying "commericals can't be of higher brightness than the program's average brightness". Prettiness is a subjective measure, whereas the amount of sound or light energy is objective.
Not that I agree with such regulations. I get commercial TV for "free" so I can't complain and I don't watch much of it anyway. Their noisy adverts have driven me away from most of the programs I might once have watched.
The only influence TV adverts have on me that I'm aware of is in choice of supermarket. I'm definitely a supermarket snob. But when I do watch commercial TV I see no adverts for any of the products I ever buy.
I implemented a DRBD/heartbeat mail cluster for a client about six years ago. At the same time I implemented a half-baked user replication solution using Unison when we should have been using LDAP. I picked up DRBD and heartbeat easily under pressure and found the config logical and consistent once I understood the underlying concepts. Certainly not bloated. Unison on the other hand caused major headaches. So quite clearly, like LSD, DRBD affects different users in different ways and perhaps you should stick to the crack you're smoking.
Do you actually work for your money or do you leverage your pre-extant wealth to get others to do the work for you? If it's the former, I sympathise. If it's the latter, I do not.
I don't think the defining feature of capitalism is lack of bartering or the use of money. It's the "private ownership of the means of production". It involves the extraction of a profit (the owner ends with more stuff than he started with) based on the fact that he can marshall the means of production (labour, materials) at a lower cost per unit than price he charges per unit, thus obtaining a profit margin. Ten individuals acting on their own with ten units of wealth each (dollars, apples, biscuits) will not be able to achieve what one individual with 100 units of wealth can achieve.
Whether exchanges take place with money or apples and biscuits is irrelevant. If I end up with more apples and biscuits than I started with and I didn't do any actual work but merely recruited the means of production with fewer apples and biscuits than I got in exchange for the finished product, that makes me a capitalist.
Money is more convenient than apples and biscuits, it enables the unhindered operation of a free market in the case that people go off apples and biscuits, or in the case that the apples and biscuits themselves go off.
This is why 1% of the people have 99% (or whatever) of the wealth. The rich get richer because they can leverage their wealth. That's capitalism, and the inherent unfairness in the system is the reason for socialism, i.e. taxation and redistribution. The alternative to taxation and redistribution is revolt and murder - which is why the rich agree to it! They don't want guillotined.
If users make those kind of assumptions based on version numbers, that's their loss. They're probably also the users that don't read the FAQ or the release notes then whine about things that are documented. If I was developing a project like Inkscape I might choose to try and put off those users by keeping the version number fractional.
Look! It caches the URL. And auto-completes from URLs, page titles and bookmark keywords. And it gets it right, 90% of the time. Leave google alone for christ's sake.
And as for the built-in fuse: how many plugs are actually fitted with a fuse that is appropriately rated for the device it connects?
Well, whenever you buy a mains powered device it comes with the right fuse. All us UK leccy-lovers know that fuses occasionally blow, but it's an indication of a fault so not particularly common. I know I make my best effort to fit the correctly rated fuse when it does happen, though I admit if I'm in a hurry any fuse'll do. This is a once-in-five-years occurence though so I'd be an old man before I replaced even half of my fuses with the wrong rating, and by that time I'd have replaced much of my equipment through "progress". So that's a shit argument.
What I hate are those blanking plates (...) I think that people who buy these plates don't understand the safety features built into a UK 13A socket.
I think you're right but I do remember as a child with a high single digit age (and probably IQ) I learned I could open the socket up with a knitting needle in the earth pin and stick wires in there. That's how I got my first (of many) electric shocks as a child. I miss electric shocks now that I'm a grown-up spark-fearing pussy. Never ddi me know ham though.
I've never (knowingly) been in a store where I could pick a mobile phone off the shelf and take it to the checkout. They're always "through the back". I'm in the UK, maybe it's different where you are.
You're insane. There are often signs of impending disgruntlement prior to it's arrival. But forget disgruntled employees, what about malicious employees, or employees who don't know the line between a bit of fun and costing the company hundreds of thousands of $local_currency? Use your imagination for god's sake. Do I have to say it? Terrorists!
I would argue that in many cases its simply laziness on the part of developers rather than not caring. Obviously people care whether their credit card number and personal information are acquired by someone with devious intentions, but when its not your data in the system and going the extra mile to implement what are sometimes even the most basic security measures in an application requires a few more hours or days of coding, many developers will just dismiss the extra work.
Don't blame the developers, at least not the ones that are told what to do by a boss. If security is specified in the NFRs, the implementation is tested against the NFRs and consequent defects are placed before the developer for resolution before the product is released then the developer will code for security.
If any of this is left to chance then blame lies with management.
Slashdot Mirror
In the real world, as opposed to whatever fantasy or corner-case scenario you have in mind, a task of significance will involve dealing with people outside a specialist's specialism. I want my brain surgeon to listen to the anaesthetist because the drugs s/he is using may affect the bloodflow in the brain, for example. I also want my brain surgeon to listen to me because there might something in my family history which makes my brain unusual and isn't picked up on an MRI scan.
Primadonnas are a pain the rear when people want to do something of significance.
This article is ignorant and misleading. The "new technology" is nothing to do with Linux, iptables rules are already dynamic, it's the Fedora management tooling that no longer wipes the entire set of rules and loads them afresh.
The truth is here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/DynamicFirewall
Best slashdot comment I've ever read, thank you!
I know who I am. I am an individual who has experience of the motorbike kill switch scenario you describe. OK don't cite me but you can count me.
How is a child going to throw a kill switch placed under the dash to the door-side of the driver, like where the bonnet/hood release lever is normally positioned?
If your child is unruly enough to reach there while you're driving, and you are incompetent to prevent them, you already have a serious safety issue.
You can cite me. A kill switch can easily be designed and positioned so that it's difficult to accidentally throw, and easy to spot that it has been thrown.
The real argument against a kill switch is a marketing one, if a manufacturer's safety people wanted to introduce them then the marketing people would complain that it would give the impression something was wrong with their cars that they required one. Obviously a poor argument from a safety perspective and a good one from a marketing perspective! Maybe regulation has it's place here, i.e. make them mandatory.
But no wonder, most people only use photocopiers once every few weeks, if that. Yet their interfaces are quite arcane if you want to do anything beyond copying your documents at whatever their current settings are. Worst are the multifunction devices, people stand staring at them for a minute or two just working out what state they are in.
At the office where I'm working there is a regular episode where a lady who knows how the fax machine works talks developers and other skilled techies through sending their timesheets to payroll. It's amusing as she has to go quite slowly for these people who work with and create quite sophisticated software systems!
No, in both cases the experience is the product. Get with it.
So you were looking to profit (in karma) from a USED blog post! You are as bad as those you rail against!
Don't be so hasty. Software is something that can be made for love of the art. Cars require significant capital investment in fabrication equipment and materials, capital most people do not have.
While not denying they can make good money, many in the caring professions do count the benefit they bring to others as a significant factor in their motivations, and I would indeed prefer it if my doctor had my best interest in mind rather than getting through his "caseload". I don't see why you put forward examples about making one's own tools or medicines by way of ridicule as this was not the GP's thrust. Free Software developers are well known for sharing code which implies using others, they call it "libraries", fucknuts, and the idea is to avoid as much DIY as possible.
In my experience this "legal requirement" doesn't get much attention beyond lip service at induction time. In fact I've never heard the 30 minutes for two hours rule. I have experience of ten large companies in the UK, mostly in finance. Half hour lunches and no breaks is the norm, and in my experience there is of course some slacking off and getting a coffee but it's nowhere near the amount suggested by the OP or the replies here. Oh wait, I'm in infrastructure not development! Lazy shits.
In the UK we have a scheme called Faster Payments, one of the four or five decent things our Labour government has done, to which most major banks now subscribe.
link
To quote: It has enabled, for the very first time, phone, internet and standing order payments to move within a few hours - almost at the touch of a button.
It is the equivalent of saying "commercials can't be prettier than the program's average prettiness".
Technically, it's the equivalent of saying "commericals can't be of higher brightness than the program's average brightness". Prettiness is a subjective measure, whereas the amount of sound or light energy is objective.
Not that I agree with such regulations. I get commercial TV for "free" so I can't complain and I don't watch much of it anyway. Their noisy adverts have driven me away from most of the programs I might once have watched.
The only influence TV adverts have on me that I'm aware of is in choice of supermarket. I'm definitely a supermarket snob. But when I do watch commercial TV I see no adverts for any of the products I ever buy.
I implemented a DRBD/heartbeat mail cluster for a client about six years ago. At the same time I implemented a half-baked user replication solution using Unison when we should have been using LDAP. I picked up DRBD and heartbeat easily under pressure and found the config logical and consistent once I understood the underlying concepts. Certainly not bloated. Unison on the other hand caused major headaches. So quite clearly, like LSD, DRBD affects different users in different ways and perhaps you should stick to the crack you're smoking.
You're right, the human race should really stop trying new stuff out.
Do you actually work for your money or do you leverage your pre-extant wealth to get others to do the work for you? If it's the former, I sympathise. If it's the latter, I do not.
I don't think the defining feature of capitalism is lack of bartering or the use of money. It's the "private ownership of the means of production". It involves the extraction of a profit (the owner ends with more stuff than he started with) based on the fact that he can marshall the means of production (labour, materials) at a lower cost per unit than price he charges per unit, thus obtaining a profit margin. Ten individuals acting on their own with ten units of wealth each (dollars, apples, biscuits) will not be able to achieve what one individual with 100 units of wealth can achieve.
Whether exchanges take place with money or apples and biscuits is irrelevant. If I end up with more apples and biscuits than I started with and I didn't do any actual work but merely recruited the means of production with fewer apples and biscuits than I got in exchange for the finished product, that makes me a capitalist.
Money is more convenient than apples and biscuits, it enables the unhindered operation of a free market in the case that people go off apples and biscuits, or in the case that the apples and biscuits themselves go off.
This is why 1% of the people have 99% (or whatever) of the wealth. The rich get richer because they can leverage their wealth. That's capitalism, and the inherent unfairness in the system is the reason for socialism, i.e. taxation and redistribution. The alternative to taxation and redistribution is revolt and murder - which is why the rich agree to it! They don't want guillotined.
If users make those kind of assumptions based on version numbers, that's their loss. They're probably also the users that don't read the FAQ or the release notes then whine about things that are documented. If I was developing a project like Inkscape I might choose to try and put off those users by keeping the version number fractional.
You do get floods though!
From today's BBC:
"North-west England is facing downpours that will bring a month's rain in 36 hours, the BBC Weather Centre said.
Flood watches are in place for the River Darwen at Higher Walton, the Ribble at Walton-le-Dale. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/8365898.stm
You type slashdot in your search box?
Look! It caches the URL. And auto-completes from URLs, page titles and bookmark keywords. And it gets it right, 90% of the time. Leave google alone for christ's sake.
And as for the built-in fuse: how many plugs are actually fitted with a fuse that is appropriately rated for the device it connects?
Well, whenever you buy a mains powered device it comes with the right fuse. All us UK leccy-lovers know that fuses occasionally blow, but it's an indication of a fault so not particularly common. I know I make my best effort to fit the correctly rated fuse when it does happen, though I admit if I'm in a hurry any fuse'll do. This is a once-in-five-years occurence though so I'd be an old man before I replaced even half of my fuses with the wrong rating, and by that time I'd have replaced much of my equipment through "progress". So that's a shit argument.
What I hate are those blanking plates (...) I think that people who buy these plates don't understand the safety features built into a UK 13A socket.
I think you're right but I do remember as a child with a high single digit age (and probably IQ) I learned I could open the socket up with a knitting needle in the earth pin and stick wires in there. That's how I got my first (of many) electric shocks as a child. I miss electric shocks now that I'm a grown-up spark-fearing pussy. Never ddi me know ham though.
I've never (knowingly) been in a store where I could pick a mobile phone off the shelf and take it to the checkout. They're always "through the back". I'm in the UK, maybe it's different where you are.
You're insane. There are often signs of impending disgruntlement prior to it's arrival. But forget disgruntled employees, what about malicious employees, or employees who don't know the line between a bit of fun and costing the company hundreds of thousands of $local_currency? Use your imagination for god's sake. Do I have to say it? Terrorists!
Someone spent the ENTIRE weekend trying to open the lock and didn't manage
I knew security geeks were people with high boredom thresholds but this takes the biscuit.
I would argue that in many cases its simply laziness on the part of developers rather than not caring. Obviously people care whether their credit card number and personal information are acquired by someone with devious intentions, but when its not your data in the system and going the extra mile to implement what are sometimes even the most basic security measures in an application requires a few more hours or days of coding, many developers will just dismiss the extra work.
Don't blame the developers, at least not the ones that are told what to do by a boss. If security is specified in the NFRs, the implementation is tested against the NFRs and consequent defects are placed before the developer for resolution before the product is released then the developer will code for security.
If any of this is left to chance then blame lies with management.