Madness

On a sunny day (Fri, 17 Apr 2015 13:06:09 +0100) it happened Syd Rumpo wrote in :

Yep. :-)

From "The Inmates Are Running The Asylum":

"1hat do you get if you cross a phone with a computer? A computer."

What do you get when you cross a toadter with a computer? A computer."

And so on.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Can't type this morning, even with a nice Blackberry Classic.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I can top that. I can't type with an expensive chair, good lighting, and a primo HP keyboard.

;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

damned computers!

One of my clients builds computerized torque wrenches. The day may be closer than you think.

This isn't actually a misapplication of technology (one can envision having a small processor implementing a control loop instead of more conventional means). Rather, it's just a bad implementation -- a developer failing to consider everything that can go wrong *and* how to handle those events!

"I'm *so* smart that I don't know what to do!"

When my (household) thermostat can't detect the current temperature, it doesn't just shut down and blink a red idiot light (like your soldering iron example) but, rather, makes a "best effort" at maintaining "livable" conditions in the hope that will fix the problem before it loses faith in its ability to perform "open loop".

It took me most of an evening to update the firmware in my office phone. Required setting up an FTP server on the network that the phone could see at boot-up, and a bunch of other arcane things. Also complicated by the dual nature of documentation for this sort of thing- the user docs are written for morons (how do I set the ringer tone?) and the "provisioning" docs are written for telecom professionals. At least it's stopped occasional random deregistering of SIP lines.

Sounds like an interesting twist, but I guess the users would be cross if the product didn't work reliably.

--sp

Yeah, the nuts would turn on you.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I think it's funny that so many object to an appliance giving useless error messages as opposed to just not working. Before anything had computers in them a spec of dirt could stop your oil burner from working or a bit of moisture in the wrong place could prevent your car from starting and you would have no idea why. Is that really better than an error message that is at least useful to the technician if it eliminates the 99% of the problems that *will* be reported clearly.

Be thankful the approach was (apparently?) reasonably "open"!

I've had devices that required specific executables to be run on specific versions of OS's (incompatible with more "mainstream" versions of those OS's) in order to achieve those "easy" updates! I suspect the folks implementing the mechanism reasoned that their "typical customer" would be running that particular OS and delivering a canned executable would be easier than a more "traditional" scheme.

It's actually got to be a significant problem to come up with good, supportable maintenance schemes that can survive the short product lifecycles of the tools and the devices themselves! ("Argh! I need version X of the OS, version Q of this library and this particular interface board that is only available with an XYZ bus interface -- now long obsolete!")

Last week I imagined a converation between me and my future self driving car: car: hello N. Where do we go today? me: to the kids car: to the supermarket? me: NO, TO THE KIDS! car: to the doctor? me: Liiisteeen caaarefuuully: tooo theeee kiiiddds car: OK to the kids....

That car will have a lot of dents from my good old hammer.

Sno-o-ort! ROTFLMAO :-D ...Jim Thompson

Last year I had some eye surgery and the folks here hired a limo service to shuttle me between home and work. It was SO boring. I'd much rather drive than be driven.

What if you can't stand the way the self-driving car drives? Or you don't like the route it takes?

There was an amusing interview many years back with Edgar Bronfman Sr., the Seagrams billionaire.

The interviewer noted that he drove himself to work, while Edgar Jr. had a chauffeur and limo, and asked why. Edgar Sr. said, "Oh, you see, he has a rich father."

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Me not. My wife and I make short trips through neighbouring countries every now and then. When my wife is driving I usually take a nap. If I had a self driving car I'd probably sleep all the way.

That could be a problem. I'm trying to teach my sat nav new routes but it just won't listen or it takes a scenic route when I don't want that.

Cross, or perhaps significantly torqued.