Computers, And Computing, Are Broken

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This is your required reading for the day. Thanks to railhaus for the link.

Software is so bad because it’s so complex, and because it’s trying to talk to other programs on the same computer, or over connections to other computers. Even your computer is kind of more than one computer, boxes within boxes, and each one of those computers is full of little programs trying to coordinate their actions and talk to each other. Computers have gotten incredibly complex, while people have remained the same gray mud with pretensions of godhood.
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I read this earlier this year, and I don't visit many tech news sites outside of [H]. I'll search but I feel like this might be a repost!
 
No hope for privacy after reading that. Those at the top don't have it, so why should we (the common folk) have it.
 
She is spot on in blaming society in general for this. It annoys me to no end when buffoons on TV "news" shows casually toss away hard-fought rights with statements about how there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
 
amddragonpc said:
No hope for privacy after reading that. Those at the top don't have it, so why should we (the common folk) have it.
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Definitely the most scathing part of the article. For whose benefit is the NSA spying on us? Our own? The end does not justify the means.
 
It's a rant, and not an informative one at that. It was widely criticized earlier this year when it came out. Meh. Should appeal to the pseudo-tech crowd.
 
pxc said:
It's a rant, and not an informative one at that. It was widely criticized earlier this year when it came out. Meh. Should appeal to the pseudo-tech crowd.
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A rant can't be true?

I know a rant is angry but it is deserved in this case.
 
PantherBlitz said:
She is spot on in blaming society in general for this. It annoys me to no end when buffoons on TV "news" shows casually toss away hard-fought rights with statements about how there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
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Our whole society is broken, this is just a symptom. Look at our physical infrastructure of road, bridges, and rails. This is just another symptom showing that what is really broken is us!

No one should be surprised that America is losing its place in the world. Some measures now show china's economy to be at or above ours. We've forgotten the meaning of quality and investment. Those roads, bridges, and rails that are crumbling? They helped make America great and now they rot with everyone afraid to pay to fix and expand capabilities. Our shipping ports aren't able to handle the newest generation of large ships, oh well there goes more opportunity. This is investing in ourselves as much as building products here on our land with our workers. Greed to the extreme and the need to appease shareholders with ever increasing profits even though population growth is dismal is killing us. We're like dumb dogs that don't know when to stop eating for our own good.

How's that for a rant?
 
I think most of the reason software is so unreliable is early on, software companies convinced lawmakers to exempt them from product liability laws. Today, if Blizzard were to ship a Diablo 3 patch that left customer's computers completely open to hackers, the EULA and TOS limit Blizzard's liability to at most the purchase price of the game. And your recourse is often limited to single person arbitration in a state of the company's choosing. Contrast that with what happens if Ford or Black & Decker sell a product found to have a dangerous defect. They can be sued for many times the cost of the product in question and usually in a state of the plaintiff's choosing. And there is well established case law to guide the judges and juries.

If games and other software had to conform to common merchantability laws, we would no longer have to suffer from pre-beta level products being sold as finished products. If it didn't do what the box and advertisements said it would, we could return for full refund or the company would face criminal action by governments for fraud and deceptive advertising. And if it damaged your computer or allowed information to be stolen, you could bring legal action to recover damages.

Until software companies and for that matter, websites, have to risk their bank accounts when they offer a product or service, software quality will continue to suck.
 
A whole lot of whining and exaggeration. The article was painful to read because there was just enough fragrant aroma to conceal the extraordinary amount of BS that was lying right in front of your eyes. You could almost believe it was a bed of roses.

And looking at some of her other writings confirms her to be a complete crackpot, with an inordinate amount of stretching the truth, embellishment, and outright ignorance, all of which are becoming common traits in so many of these SJW screeds.

Dead Parrot said:
Until software companies and for that matter, websites, have to risk their bank accounts when they offer a product or service, software quality will continue to suck.
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All that will do is have everybody exiting the software industry in droves as nobody would be able to afford to write any software and make a profit, even less so than now. Or they will have to charge some ungodly price for their software to cover all the legal expenses, which you, the user, will complain even more about.

The fact that Ford can be sued for $500 million just because a bolt broke, blew out a tire and you hit a tree and suffered a cracked toe nail doesn't mean it's right. It's true that other industries are subject to being fleeced in ridiculous legal cases, but the solution isn't to force that broken context on every other industry.

I have a better idea... if you fear that Diablo 3 game could pose such a significant threat to your computer... just don't play it.
 
jwcalla said:
All that will do is have everybody exiting the software industry in droves as nobody would be able to afford to write any software and make a profit, even less so than now. Or they will have to charge some ungodly price for their software to cover all the legal expenses, which you, the user, will complain even more about.

The fact that Ford can be sued for $500 million just because a bolt broke, blew out a tire and you hit a tree and suffered a cracked toe nail doesn't mean it's right. It's true that other industries are subject to being fleeced in ridiculous legal cases, but the solution isn't to force that broken context on every other industry.
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I agree that many aspects of the tort system are frelled up but most industries that are subject to it manage to make a profit, in some cases massive profits while delivering affordable products. One of the reasons I don't have to do in depth safety checks on all my food, water and other things I purchase is the backstop of recourse via tort law. Sure, safety regulations and the bad press that would happen if a batch of Cheerios killed 100 people are also part of it. But the fact that General Mills can be sued if that happened plays it part.

If Microsoft or Blizzard could be sued for defective products, all that would likely happen is the pace of new products would slow somewhat and prices might go up 10 or 20%. Neither company would close down over being subject to tort law. They would just start doing a better job of quality control and matching advertising claims to what the software can really do.
 
Dead Parrot said:
I agree that many aspects of the tort system are frelled up but most industries that are subject to it manage to make a profit, in some cases massive profits while delivering affordable products. One of the reasons I don't have to do in depth safety checks on all my food, water and other things I purchase is the backstop of recourse via tort law. Sure, safety regulations and the bad press that would happen if a batch of Cheerios killed 100 people are also part of it. But the fact that General Mills can be sued if that happened plays it part.

If Microsoft or Blizzard could be sued for defective products, all that would likely happen is the pace of new products would slow somewhat and prices might go up 10 or 20%. Neither company would close down over being subject to tort law. They would just start doing a better job of quality control and matching advertising claims to what the software can really do.
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They would also be likely to dedicate less than 50% of budget to marketing and instead spend it on product itself....
 
Ultima99 said:
No one should be surprised that America is losing its place in the world. Some measures now show china's economy to be at or above ours. We've forgotten the meaning of quality and investment. Those roads, bridges, and rails that are crumbling? They helped make America great and now they rot with everyone afraid to pay to fix and expand capabilities. Our shipping ports aren't able to handle the newest generation of large ships, oh well there goes more opportunity.
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Gold Star for the rant.

Out here in Los Angeles, traffic is terrible, and the roads are worse. People have started using an app on their phones to find a faster way around the traffic. Of course this takes them through residential neighborhoods, and of course the people who live there complaining about the traffic & noise.

So, you would think that the politicians would see what they could do to improve traffic flow, so people stay on the freeways and major street? You would be wrong. Instead they are looking at installing stop signs and speed bumps to people will slow down the neighborhoods.
 
A year ago, anyone saying anything out of this article would have been called a conspiracy theorist and a tin-foil hat.
Now everyone is just starting to wake up and agree with this?

Too late, and the irony flows.
I pity you all, I really do.
 
It's the same with cars. How many people here know how a car works? How many are willing to stick a wrench into their car? Chances are most of you couldn't change a tire, or tell me how many cylinders are in your engine.

Though through this lack of knowledge it's easy for mechanics or car manufacturers to deceive you.
 
Such colossal EPIC irony, that the text is published on medium.com

I honestly couldn't be bothered to even try reading through it, when I realized that the link took me to that sinkhole of shitty usability that is medium.com , the Windows Vista of websites.

(please scroll ONE MEELION pages down to read the rest of this comment, while some java-script tries to force you to stop at every single bloated 2560 pixels high image along the way)
 
Ashbringer said:
It's the same with cars. How many people here know how a car works? How many are willing to stick a wrench into their car? Chances are most of you couldn't change a tire, or tell me how many cylinders are in your engine.

Though through this lack of knowledge it's easy for mechanics or car manufacturers to deceive you.
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I know a lot of people like that, but it doesn't apply to me. I could give you more technical detail on how the hybrid system in my current car works than most people would ever want to know :)

The few out of warranty repairs my last car needed I did myself. Brake job, Transmission oil change, Replaced a motor mount, replaced a failed relay for the Air conditioner, etc. Other than warranty, tires and oil changes I haven't had a car in the shop for over 12 years.

I don't bother with tire rotations as they are free (where I bought my tires) and oil changes are so cheap it's not worth my time to do it myself.
 
Ashbringer said:
It's the same with cars. How many people here know how a car works? How many are willing to stick a wrench into their car? Chances are most of you couldn't change a tire, or tell me how many cylinders are in your engine.

Though through this lack of knowledge it's easy for mechanics or car manufacturers to deceive you.
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I think your idea is spot on but a bit exaggerated.. My girlfriend knows how many cylinders she has and how many she likes to have. Changing a tire... most know how to do it or could figure it out with the car manual.

Those types of things are in a category of things a consumer should probably know about any product. With computers.. How to install software and update software would also be in the category.

Vendors should be making these things easy to pick up and understand. For the most part they are... and getting better.

Computing is still young and moving fast which just makes it worse. Though virtual or more walled garden setups are helping contain issues which is good.
 
dandirk said:
I think your idea is spot on but a bit exaggerated.. My girlfriend knows how many cylinders she has and how many she likes to have. Changing a tire... most know how to do it or could figure it out with the car manual.

Those types of things are in a category of things a consumer should probably know about any product. With computers.. How to install software and update software would also be in the category.

Vendors should be making these things easy to pick up and understand. For the most part they are... and getting better.

Computing is still young and moving fast which just makes it worse. Though virtual or more walled garden setups are helping contain issues which is good.
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Yeah he went a bit far with the exaggerations. I think most people know how many cylinders their car has, this is Murica after all and who can't change a tire when they REALLY need to?
 
Ultima99 said:
Yeah he went a bit far with the exaggerations. I think most people know how many cylinders their car has, this is Murica after all and who can't change a tire when they REALLY need to?
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You'd be surprised.
 
Ashbringer said:
It's the same with cars. How many people here know how a car works? How many are willing to stick a wrench into their car? Chances are most of you couldn't change a tire, or tell me how many cylinders are in your engine.

Though through this lack of knowledge it's easy for mechanics or car manufacturers to deceive you.
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It's not that some people don't know how their car (or software) basically works, it's that no person anywhere knows entirely how their car (or software) works.
 
Shadowrun totally predicted that computers were going to be too complex and start to breakdown under their own complexity. :) Also, computers are mostly broken because Microsoft insisted on making a Windows heatlesssun touchy-feely edition because it's obviousy x86 tablets that are the root cause of the problems.
 
Ultima99 said:
Yeah he went a bit far with the exaggerations. I think most people know how many cylinders their car has, this is Murica after all and who can't change a tire when they REALLY need to?
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How about the people who bought cars without spare tires (or even the small "donut" spares)?

About 20% of cars sold no longer come with spare tires, and I see stories all the time about people who get flats and didn't realize their car didn't have a spare tire. Some high-end cars have run-flat tires, which at least let you drive somewhere to get it fixed, but most of the cars without spares are cheaper, economy cars, hybrids, or electric cars.


I'd NEVER buy a car without a spare tire, as I've had too many cases where I've gotten flat (and usually a flat that couldn't be repaired due to sidewall damage) where it would have been a major inconvenience/impossible to have to find a shop to get the tire replaced.

When I bough my last car, I eliminated 2 of the cars I was looking at because they not only didn't come with a space, but they also didn't even have a place to safely put a spare tire.

I don't even like the "donut" spares, as they are too restricted by speed and miles, but at least you can limp home or to the shop on one of them.
 
nutzo said:
So, you would think that the politicians would see what they could do to improve traffic flow, so people stay on the freeways and major street? You would be wrong. Instead they are looking at installing stop signs and speed bumps to people will slow down the neighborhoods.
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They are more interested in directing tax dollars to cronies and amassing political power.
 
GaryJohnson said:
It's not that some people don't know how their car (or software) basically works, it's that no person anywhere knows entirely how their car (or software) works.
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I disagree with you, I'd say most people have no idea at all how their software works. I write software for a living and the #1 complaint our support desk gets about our web application is that "it doesn't work" with a cause of "was disconnected from the Internet". The vast majority of people don't have ANY IDEA AT ALL how software works. I'm not so sure about cars as the core concept is a little more concrete so I think most people probably understand that there is a bank of cylinders with controlled explosions pushing down on a crank shaft.

Current computer software is so complicated that it takes years to figure out the entire software stack from top to bottom and if most people can't be bothered to remember that web applications require an Internet connection it's hard to believe that they would have taken the time to understand the stored program concept (the most basic software concept).
 
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