mattx Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 WATCH OUT !!! Bill Thompson is dribbling again............ Yawn Yawn Bill - want to talk about something that happened almost 10 years ago do you ? Off you go then......pillock. BBC News - Ten years after doomsday 2
tech_guy Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 I really do find this guy annoying, as I've said so in a previous post. It galls me that as BBC licence payers we give this useless journalist an income.
localzuk Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 Much of the problems he describes come from one thing - poor planning. Companies, and the government, all plan for a few years at most. So their systems are designed to handle that. The idea that in 30 years time, something *may* go wrong is a non-issue to them, as someone else will have to clean it up. Bill Thompson is right about one thing thing though, general ict literacy isn't significantly higher now than it was back then. People still don't understand how complex computers and software are, and I doubt they ever will. People don't care. They just want it to work.
Guest Guest Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 Bill Thompson is right about one thing thing though, general ict literacy isn't significantly higher now than it was back then. People still don't understand how complex computers and software are, and I doubt they ever will. People don't care. They just want it to work. Personally id say its gone way downhill. Yeah there are alot more people who understand how to check their email or tell us how dull their life is on facebook, but how many kids in your school do you think have ever used a CLI? In '99 you couldnt play any games if you didnt understand how to use DOS. You had to go in, mess with your sound and gfx drivers, check IRQs, "soundblaster compatible", bodge it all together and then after all that start on your network settings! i wonder how many kids would even be able to open Doom nowaways, nevermind actually install and configure the thing!
mattx Posted December 8, 2009 Author Posted December 8, 2009 Much of the problems he describes come from one thing - poor planning. Companies, and the government, all plan for a few years at most. So their systems are designed to handle that. The idea that in 30 years time, something *may* go wrong is a non-issue to them, as someone else will have to clean it up. Bill Thompson is right about one thing thing though, general ict literacy isn't significantly higher now than it was back then. People still don't understand how complex computers and software are, and I doubt they ever will. People don't care. They just want it to work. I don't have a problem with that - it's down to people if they want to learn something or not. What I don't like is this so called journalist spouting off irrelevant clap trap of something which happend almost 10 years ago. He spouts nothing but FAS: false authority syndrome.
fafster Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 People still don't understand how complex computers and software are, and I doubt they ever will. But they don't actually need to. Take the car as an example: When they were first invented they were horribly complex. Over the years, and after standardisations and regulation overseeing things like safety, people just use them. The vast majority of people who drive have no interest whatsoever in how fuel and air mixes and ignites to turn the camshaft. Or how the exhaust from the engine is used to spin up a turbo, compressing more air into the engine for extra power. Or any of a hundred other little things. It's only us geeks that want to look under the hood! If a system designed for the general population is obviously complex just by looking at it, then the designers weren't doing their job right.
localzuk Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 But they don't actually need to. Take the car as an example They need some knowledge... Just like in a car - oil levels, tyre tread and pressure, radiator water, battery charge etc... All needed to run a car (and all on the new driving test aren't they? or if not, they will be soon). The equivalent would be understanding viruses and how to prevent them, general PC maintenance, how software installs and to where etc...
fafster Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 They need some knowledge... Just like in a car - oil levels, tyre tread and pressure, radiator water, battery charge etc... All needed to run a car (and all on the new driving test aren't they? or if not, they will be soon). The equivalent would be understanding viruses and how to prevent them, general PC maintenance, how software installs and to where etc... I definitely agree with that. But then the amount of people I know who rely on partners/parents/the garage to do very basic car upkeep is pretty staggering.
Guest Guest Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 I definitely agree with that. But then the amount of people I know who rely on partners/parents/the garage to do very basic car upkeep is pretty staggering. And these are the people who get ass raped every time they visit the garage. Or are the ones i get to laugh at when they are broken down in their 58 reg, as i drive past them in my 15 year old car.
mattx Posted December 8, 2009 Author Posted December 8, 2009 They need some knowledge... Just like in a car - oil levels, tyre tread and pressure, radiator water, battery charge etc... All needed to run a car (and all on the new driving test aren't they? or if not, they will be soon). The equivalent would be understanding viruses and how to prevent them, general PC maintenance, how software installs and to where etc... In an ideal world...... The majority of people on this planet [ especially in this country ] are just thick. Some can only just manage to open a car door let alone check water levels, oil and tyre pressure. Some can't even use a computer without calling for help because they fail to understand the importance of electrons flowing to and from a power source - I put Bill 'dribble chops' Thompson in this category. 1
tech_guy Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 I'd add thick, stupid and selfish to a description of the general populace. 1
SteveBentley Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 Don't... I had the equivalent of that situation where we turn up and do exactly what the user claims to have tried and it magically works last night, having called my breakdown service out as my car wouldn't start. He turned the key and it started first time (The mechanic was able to offer a plausible explanation of why it worked for him and not for me, so I don't feel too bad!)
synaesthesia Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 I wont moan any more about Bill - everyone knows he's about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit Lots of far more pressing "problems" in the IT world along the same lines as the so called Y2K bug. We still suffer with one on a large scale now, 32bit operating systems and software. I still stumble across another now - shoddy coding. The amount of times I see database software and certain others where they've used the wrong data type, such as integer instead of longinteger and wondering why it stops working after a few thousand entries :|
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