are when software has multiple, seemingly redundant menu options, and when software behaves in an unexpected and (relatively) unexplained manner. I base these observations on my mother, who has difficulty programming a microwave. She's not by any means an unintelligent person, she's just not technologically inclined, and some of the things that we Geeks absorb and automatically 'get' give her more trouble than my teenage siblings.
I wholeheartedly subscribe to the theory that if my (mother|grandmother) can use it without any more assistance than usual (troubleshooting and the like), it's a generally well-designed product.
the matrix 'joke' was sooo lame though.. it's not like this had anything to do with it.
well.....i saw a similarity in concept, and noticed that most other submissions that got turned into stories had clever quips at the ends, and that was the best i could come up with. it's finals week. leave me alone!;)
(note: this is NOT an intentional troll. i'm just trying to understand this issue as best i can. thanks for not kicking me in the teeth:)
as far as i can tell, the SCO is upset with linux because several of its programmers contributed to the linux kernel, and so SCO feels that it deserves some sort of monetary kickback, right?
but, if you contribute to something that you KNOW is open-source, don't you, like, forfeit any ability to request monetary compensation for your effort? or am i missing something big here?
i must say, i resent my post being marked down as flame bait while this one just kinda sits there happily. i mean, i can understand WHY mine was modded down, but the point remains.
The White House says that enough stem cells from human embryos exist for research...
Which stem cells? The ones that are gathered at the abortion clinics? The abortion clinics that preform the abortions that YOU'RE TOTALLY OPPOSED TO AND WANT TO SEE MADE ILLEGAL? Those abortion clinics?
Stupid fucking government.
In the defense of our idiot-in-chief president, he is Texan, so some leeway must be given.
i recall hearing once that they don't let anyone into the antarctic base camp that they have if the person isn't registered with them ahead of time - i don't remember *where* i heard this, so take it with a grain of salt.
Yeah - no repeats of the mars polar lander, please?
"I did the calculations in feet, but I programmed it in meters...so instead of landing, fucker buried!" -Robin Williams, "Robin Williams Live On Broadway
it's just my normal sig - as evidence, i point you to my user page, where a list of my most recent posts lives. Each post there will have this sig in it.:)
...is this something to worry about? Or should I be sadly shaking my head at the RIAA's ever-more-pathetic attempts to crack down on a technology they don't understand?
Spammers regularly compromise other systems and install sophisticated software to allow easier spamming.
I could have sworn that this was illegal. I mean, it's like some random person changing the lock on my door, giving me a copy of the key, but keeping a copy for themself. If they don't have my permission to do that (read: informed consent), I'm willing to bet that they'd be severly prosecuted.
If, however, it's NOT illegal, what the hell? There'd better be a good reason for it not to be.
so then, the children who die from ingesting iron supplements that are far too concentrated for them...just get too much, too fast? (not arguing, i have a final on this in just over a week - i should probably figure this out:)
Good to know. Whaddabout the stores that your body keeps? I don't really know much about them - my information comes from my Nutritional Science course, not biology;)
I was just thinking that - if you have an overabundance of iron in your diet, would this system pull out your red blood cells and just pump the empty plasma back into you? (In case you didn't know, iron is used by your body largely to make Hemoglobin, which is what red blood cells are made from. Other primary uses are to make Myoglobin, and within enzyme systems.)
Sun isn't challenging Microsoft. Apple isn't challenging Microsoft. *nix isn't challenging Microsoft. Even combined, they're not a challenge to Microsoft.
A challenger would be a company that suddenly starts earning a MASSIVE amount of Microsoft customers over. Apple had a brief stint of this when the iMac came out, but that leveled out (or did it fall back down?) quickly.
Microsoft STILL has, what, a ninety-something percent market share? Yeah. They don't have challenges right now. Doesn't mean they're not going to *react* as though they did, but in all honesty, they really really don't.
The movie "Gattaca" comes to mind - people may well start SELLING their biometrics to others - sure, losing your hand is a bitch, but wouldn't you do it for ten million dollars? I honestly don't know if I could say 'no' to that, if I needed the money badly enough.
The biggest problem with computer based systems that have closed source code and no paper trail is the inability to properly inspect and test these systems to make sure that they are as good or better than the technology that they seek to replace.
You know, this really concerns me. Even WITH a paper trail, it wouldn't be hard to lie to people. All you really need is one extra variable in your program, and the foresight to make sure that the numbers aren't *too* overwhelmingly in one candidate's favor. Pseudocode might look like this:
int x=((rand()*10)-4);//happens 60% of the time if (x>=0) {
voter_candidate=foo;
voted_for=bar;
display "you voted for " && voter_candidate && ".";
submit voted_for;//submits 1 vote for voted_for to the electoral college }
and the best part is, we might not notice until we have a string of politicians affiliated with one party that lasts a few terms! Give me pen and paper any time.
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are when software has multiple, seemingly redundant menu options, and when software behaves in an unexpected and (relatively) unexplained manner. I base these observations on my mother, who has difficulty programming a microwave. She's not by any means an unintelligent person, she's just not technologically inclined, and some of the things that we Geeks absorb and automatically 'get' give her more trouble than my teenage siblings.
I wholeheartedly subscribe to the theory that if my (mother|grandmother) can use it without any more assistance than usual (troubleshooting and the like), it's a generally well-designed product.
Google is your friend. ;)
And hasn't Microsoft shown already that what they think is safe, and what really is are often two very different things?
the matrix 'joke' was sooo lame though.. it's not like this had anything to do with it.
;)
well.....i saw a similarity in concept, and noticed that most other submissions that got turned into stories had clever quips at the ends, and that was the best i could come up with. it's finals week. leave me alone!
I'd have to agree - i mean, i'm flattered, but...really, there HAS to be something that's more deserving of mod points....
aha!
:-\
thank you for clearing that up for me. can you tell that it's finals week?
(note: this is NOT an intentional troll. i'm just trying to understand this issue as best i can. thanks for not kicking me in the teeth :)
as far as i can tell, the SCO is upset with linux because several of its programmers contributed to the linux kernel, and so SCO feels that it deserves some sort of monetary kickback, right?
but, if you contribute to something that you KNOW is open-source, don't you, like, forfeit any ability to request monetary compensation for your effort? or am i missing something big here?
i must say, i resent my post being marked down as flame bait while this one just kinda sits there happily. i mean, i can understand WHY mine was modded down, but the point remains.
The White House says that enough stem cells from human embryos exist for research...
Which stem cells? The ones that are gathered at the abortion clinics? The abortion clinics that preform the abortions that YOU'RE TOTALLY OPPOSED TO AND WANT TO SEE MADE ILLEGAL? Those abortion clinics?
Stupid fucking government.
In the defense of our idiot-in-chief president, he is Texan, so some leeway must be given.
i recall hearing once that they don't let anyone into the antarctic base camp that they have if the person isn't registered with them ahead of time - i don't remember *where* i heard this, so take it with a grain of salt.
Yeah - no repeats of the mars polar lander, please?
"I did the calculations in feet, but I programmed it in meters...so instead of landing, fucker buried!"
-Robin Williams, "Robin Williams Live On Broadway
it's just my normal sig - as evidence, i point you to my user page, where a list of my most recent posts lives. Each post there will have this sig in it. :)
it WOULD bring new meaning to "burning CDs"....
...is this something to worry about? Or should I be sadly shaking my head at the RIAA's ever-more-pathetic attempts to crack down on a technology they don't understand?
I'll see your penile enhancements, and raise you two mortgages and a college degree from a school of YOUR choosing.
Spammers regularly compromise other systems and install sophisticated software to allow easier spamming.
I could have sworn that this was illegal. I mean, it's like some random person changing the lock on my door, giving me a copy of the key, but keeping a copy for themself. If they don't have my permission to do that (read: informed consent), I'm willing to bet that they'd be severly prosecuted.
If, however, it's NOT illegal, what the hell? There'd better be a good reason for it not to be.
...making a decision:
"How would I feel if I was a customer who was affected by this?"
afaict, anyway
not so much trolling as uninformed :-\
:)
thanks for the explanation though. obviously, there's a lot that i didn't think of.
so then, the children who die from ingesting iron supplements that are far too concentrated for them...just get too much, too fast? (not arguing, i have a final on this in just over a week - i should probably figure this out :)
Good to know. Whaddabout the stores that your body keeps? I don't really know much about them - my information comes from my Nutritional Science course, not biology ;)
I was just thinking that - if you have an overabundance of iron in your diet, would this system pull out your red blood cells and just pump the empty plasma back into you? (In case you didn't know, iron is used by your body largely to make Hemoglobin, which is what red blood cells are made from. Other primary uses are to make Myoglobin, and within enzyme systems.)
See, I think its funny for a different reason.
Sun isn't challenging Microsoft. Apple isn't challenging Microsoft. *nix isn't challenging Microsoft. Even combined, they're not a challenge to Microsoft.
A challenger would be a company that suddenly starts earning a MASSIVE amount of Microsoft customers over. Apple had a brief stint of this when the iMac came out, but that leveled out (or did it fall back down?) quickly.
Microsoft STILL has, what, a ninety-something percent market share? Yeah. They don't have challenges right now. Doesn't mean they're not going to *react* as though they did, but in all honesty, they really really don't.
The movie "Gattaca" comes to mind - people may well start SELLING their biometrics to others - sure, losing your hand is a bitch, but wouldn't you do it for ten million dollars? I honestly don't know if I could say 'no' to that, if I needed the money badly enough.
The biggest problem with computer based systems that have closed source code and no paper trail is the inability to properly inspect and test these systems to make sure that they are as good or better than the technology that they seek to replace.
//happens 60% of the time //submits 1 vote for voted_for to the electoral college
You know, this really concerns me. Even WITH a paper trail, it wouldn't be hard to lie to people. All you really need is one extra variable in your program, and the foresight to make sure that the numbers aren't *too* overwhelmingly in one candidate's favor. Pseudocode might look like this:
int x=((rand()*10)-4);
if (x>=0) {
voter_candidate=foo;
voted_for=bar;
display "you voted for " && voter_candidate && ".";
submit voted_for;
}
and the best part is, we might not notice until we have a string of politicians affiliated with one party that lasts a few terms! Give me pen and paper any time.