[LINK] Identity theft virus infects 10,000 computers

[Karl Auer]

On Thu, 2006-08-17 at 18:11 +1000, Craig Sanders wrote:
> for instance, the scary thing about an average IQ of 100 is that it
> means that approximately 50% have an IQ of *LESS* than 100. that's
> seriously disturbing when you think about it.

No, it's nt even slightly disturbing. It means that half the population
is less intelligent than average; the other half is more intelligent
than averae. That's what "average" means...

> 2. so? do i expect neuro-surgical procedures to be optimised for
> non-surgeons like me, or for joe average down the street? so why should
> they expect their non-speciality optimised for them?

There will always be tools that are dangerously sharp, and noone is
suggesting they should be dulled. Tools designed for everyone should be
fit for purpose and as safe and easy to use as is possibly consistent
with their purpose. Even the specialists find such tools easier and
better to use.

> if i ever had to have brain surgery or, worse, was ever in a position
> where i had to perform it, you can be sure that i would learn everything
> i possible could about it, and not whine that it was too hard, that it
> wasn't my speciality, so why should i be expected to learn.

So we should have specialist word-processor users, and everyone else who
wants to create a document should just give employ one OR devote huge
amounts of time to learning how to use some Byzantine interface? That
makes no sense, Craig, but it seems to be what you are saying.

Perhaps you should give us a concrete example of what you are talking
about.

Among other things, I'm a programmer, a kind of specialist. And I *like*
long-winded informative error messages, tracebacks and debuggers with
stupidly large numbers of options. I *like* GUI editors that refactor
sensibly, that let me mark and copy and paste, that mark bad syntax and
probable logic errors. I *like GUI interfaces to debuggers, that let me
click breakpoints on and off and that hold my hand at every possible
point. I do NOT want ever again to have to know what "ERR2" means. None
of these features make the compilers and debuggers I use any the less
powerful - in fact, they make them MORE powerful.

Einstein (I think) said "one should make things as simple as possible,
but no simpler", and I think that's an excellent tenet for software
developers to follow.
 
Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)