Yeah, that whole concept of testing a product before you release it is so passe! You can't expect them to figure out these things until at least a month after release. Those unappreciative customers have been so unreasonable and demanding!

*rolls eyes*

So you think that MS wants to get in the middle of deciding what messages would go out? Setting aside the implementation cost, why would they want to touch such a PR nightmare? I can just see the headlines now: "Mother say that MS refused to send out alert on her missing toddler!"

No, MS will either just refuse to do it at all, or they'll hand over the reins to NY authorities. Once they open the door to messages going out then they're stuck in the same PR trap even if they try to set rules. The NY people will eventually break the rules, and if MS then decides to pull the plug then they get a bunch of bad publicity.

There's absolutely no reason for MS to get involved in this cluster-fuck unless NY pays them a bunch of money. Then the question becomes whether the money could be better spent elsewhere. In this case I think the answer would be a resounding yes.

If this was only used for *real* emergencies, then you'd be right. Unfortunately, the bar for what constitutes an emergency will be constantly lowered until they're sending out alerts for the most inane crap imaginable.

For example, my wife works for a major university. After 9/11 they decided to create an alert system to keep employees and their loved ones informed in the event of major emergencies. The system was intended for things like terror attacks, earthquakes, tornadoes, alien invasion etc. My wife signed me up so that I'd get a text message when ever they issued an alert. At first, I'd get a text every few months as they periodically tested the system. Then they decided to use the system to warn people about violent crime anywhere near the campus. Then it was power outages. Pretty soon it was building maintenance issues. Now if someone on campus gets a hangnail, I receive a text message keeping me informed. It is indeed fucking moronic.

This NY system will start out the same way, and end up the same way. People will be getting alerts because of a traffic accident half way across the fucking state. People will hate it, and turn it off if they can, thus totally defeating the original purpose. If they can't turn it off, they'll totally ignore it and quickly dismiss the message without reading it, once again totally defeating the original purpose. It's a bad idea. There are plenty of other ways to inform people in the event of an emergency. This is just stupid and will be waste of money and effort.

OK, I'd be willing to chip in to get them a bus pass.

Along with the usability issues with the design of the Therac-25 it's obvious that the attitude of the medical staff contributed greatly to the problem. Patients complained of being burned, but their complaints were essentially ignored. Meanwhile, they were sent back for multiple treatments. Overwhelming evidence of radiation burns was ignored or given only cursory investigation because medical personal or manufacturer reps claimed that it was impossible for the Therac-25 to be responsible for the burns.

There may be only 365 possible birthdays, but birth *date* normally include the year of birth as well as the day.

You pretty quickly dismiss the suspension as not being a factor. That lake bed isn't exactly as smooth as a billiards table. If you want to keep control of the car and keep going in a straight line, a decent suspension is a good thing to have when your going over 100mph.

I was thinking the same thing. I guess that "Green Chaffer" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

While there probably is some LW effect here, I suspect that the Slashdot population probably has a better sense of direction then the average population. I think that geeks often pay more attention to the details of their surroundings and they also have the ability to create and hold a mental model of their surroundings in their minds.

I'm one of those that answered in the astounding category. My sense of direction is better than everyone I know with the possible exception of my father. I can only remember really being lost once in my life (I'm 48), and that was in heavily forested, mountainous terrain that was criss-crossed by unmarked logging roads. Despite almost always being able to find my way, I'm horrible at giving directions because it's difficult to describe the subtle cues that I use to navigate. In many cases I'm not even consciously aware of the clues, so I can't describe them.