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Tales From the Tech Trenches 99

Posted by samzenpus from the try-plugging-it-in dept.
GMGruman writes "Anyone in IT has a story or two involving stupid users, crazy co-workers, kludgy technology, and airhead managers. Lisa Blackwelder has collected top tales of the tech trenches, covering user antics, office politics, and unusual technical challenges that IT pros faced (usually) with aplomb, insight, and savvy."

Comment Re:A Solution to this and the eBay 'sniping' probl (Score 1) 483

by Vryl (#33149788) Attached to: Market Data Firm Spots the Tracks of Bizarre Robot Trading

The simple, well understood, and often implemented solution, especially in reverse auction software, is to extend the time of the auction for every bid that happens in the (say) last 5 minutes, by 5 minutes. Sniping over. Auction goes on a little bit longer... so you start with a smaller time.
Music

Submission + - Can a Computer Finally Pass the Turing Test? (hplusmagazine.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "Why not develop music in ways unknown...? If beauty is present, it is present." That's Emily Howell talking — a music-composing computer program written in Lisp by a Santa Cruz professor. Classical musicians refuse to perform Emily's musical compositions, and the professor says they believe "the creation of music is innately human, and somehow this computer program was a threat...to that unique human aspect of creation." But Emily raises a disturbing question. With the ability to write music even classical purists can't distinguish from the compositions of humans, have we already reached the moment where a computer can pass for human? (The article includes a sample of her music, plus her intriguing haiku-like responses to queries. "I am not sad. I am not happy. I am Emily... Life and un-life exist. We coexist.")

Comment Re:Have I been trolled, or are actually a fuckwit? (Score 1) 75

by Vryl (#30653800) Attached to: Australian Net Filter Protest Site Returns

It's a weak argument, and it is not going to get you anywhere. There is right and wrong, and the "it's my opinion and I'm entitled to it" is also wrong.

You are not entitled to opinions on things you know nothing about (such as moral relativism, the position you are espousing).

"fascist" is a good term, easily understood by most people, to describe Conroy's actions. He is a nasty piece of work.

Comment Have I been trolled, or are actually a fuckwit? (Score 1) 75

by Vryl (#30653530) Attached to: Australian Net Filter Protest Site Returns

"Keep in mind that there is no "right" or "wrong", merely different points of view, all equally valid."

Bollocks!

Complete nonsense. If your point of view is that it is fine to have non-consensual violent sex with children under the age of 6, then you are clearly wrong, and your point of view is not valid at all.

[INSERT A BILLION OTHER EQUALLY RIDICULOUS EXAMPLES]

Conroy's desire to control and censor the population easily satisfies the modern, post war, definition of fascism, as it is popularly used.

Comment "Compete"... (Score 1) 467

by Vryl (#30594378) Attached to: Is OpenOffice.org a Threat? Microsoft Thinks So

...will be about keeping prices up.

One suspects that there is gaining heat in the market about using oo.o as leverage to get a better deal from m$.

Oo.o is pretty good tech. It looks like a word processor, and a spreadsheet, and a powerpoint... just might fool someone in upper management during some presentation put together by the lads in IT. Coupled with a business case, might just be enough to put 'downwards pressure' on the ol' monopolists pricing model...

I hadn't used it since 2.0 days, but recently switched to ubuntu for my home lappy. Has dealt with everything I have thrown at it so far, which is good - long doc's and large financial spreadsheets (nothing with macro's tho), and a LOT of powerpoint.
Games

Pirates as a Marketplace 214

Posted by Soulskill from the marrrrrrrket-share dept.
John Riccitiello, the CEO of Electronic Arts, made some revealing comments in an interview with Kotaku about how the company's attitudes are shifting with regard to software piracy. Quoting: "Some of the people buying this DLC are not people who bought the game in a new shrink-wrapped box. That could be seen as a dark cloud, a mass of gamers who play a game without contributing a penny to EA. But around that cloud Riccitiello identified a silver lining: 'There's a sizable pirate market and a sizable second sale market and we want to try to generate revenue in that marketplace,' he said, pointing to DLC as a way to do it. The EA boss would prefer people bought their games, of course. 'I don't think anybody should pirate anything,' he said. 'I believe in the artistry of the people who build [the games industry.] I profoundly believe that. And when you steal from us, you steal from them. Having said that, there's a lot of people who do.' So encourage those pirates to pay for something, he figures. Riccitiello explained that EA's download services aren't perfect at distinguishing between used copies of games and pirated copies. As a result, he suggested, EA sells DLC to both communities of gamers. And that's how a pirate can turn into a paying customer."
Censorship

Sharp Rise In Jailing of Online Journalists; Iran May Just Kill Them 233

Posted by timothy from the your-ethics-may-vary dept.
bckspc writes "The Committee to Protect Journalists has published their annual census of journalists in prison. Of the 136 reporters in prison around the world on December 1, 'At least 68 bloggers, Web-based reporters, and online editors are imprisoned, constituting half of all journalists now in jail.' Print was next with 51 cases. Also, 'Freelancers now make up nearly 45 percent of all journalists jailed worldwide, a dramatic recent increase that reflects the evolution of the global news business.' China, Iran, Cuba, Eritrea, and Burma were the top 5 jailers of journalists." rmdstudio writes, too, with word that after the last few days' protest there, largely organized online, the government of Iran is considering the death penalty for bloggers and webmasters whose reports offend it.
Programming

The State of Ruby VMs — Ruby Renaissance 89

Posted by Soulskill from the take-your-pick dept.
igrigorik writes "In the short span of just a couple of years, the Ruby VM space has evolved to more than just a handful of choices: MRI, JRuby, IronRuby, MacRuby, Rubinius, MagLev, REE and BlueRuby. Four of these VMs will hit 1.0 status in the upcoming year and will open up entirely new possibilities for the language — Mac apps via MacRuby, Ruby in the browser via Silverlight, object persistence via Smalltalk VM, and so forth. This article takes a detailed look at the past year, the progress of each project, and where the community is heading. It's an exciting time to be a Rubyist."

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