Phoenix.pm: Of software and fish
Hal Goldfarb
codewell at earthlink.net
Thu Dec 5 01:17:55 CST 2002
> > there so far. Every other area of engineering has testing, licensing and
> > regulation. Architecture (AIA), Accounting (AICPA), Medicine (AMA), Law
> > (ABA), and so on, all have an examination and licensing process. Some
> > fields even have continuing education and retesting requirements as well.
>
> Yet they still suffer from the presence of completely unqualified
> professionals that are fully licensed to practice. If you have never
> experienced this then you lead a charmed life or I lead a cursed one (which
> is probably more likely!)
OK, here is maybe a better example.
So you go to the brain surgeon to have a tumor removed, and as you are
passing out from the anasthetic, the last thing you remember seeing as your
eyes blur and you lose conscience is your doctor standing over you reviewing
the book "Brain Surgery for Complete Idiots". When you wake up, you feel
much better, but you can't remember who you are, where you live, or what you
do for a living. All you can remember is testifying at something called a
"trial" (and guess who was also at the trial, sitting next to the defense
attorney?).
Or something like that. Now, imagine that the US is attacked by hackers who
bring down the entire internet, including all of the porn sites. The US
economy comes to a complete halt as our great minds in Washington DC figure
out what to do. After a blue ribbon senate committee, Americans Concerned
about Hubcaps, the United Anarchists LLC, People Against Hamburgers, and
every other special interest group in the country have thoroughly dissected
the incident, and $3.6 trillion dollars later, it is determined that it was
just another couple of 8 year olds who figured out one more way to exploit
.NET version 7 technology (they wrote their kiddie script in MS
VisualBasic++). All of the states file lawsuits against Microsoft for
writing insecure software, and of course, the United States government, who
defends Microsoft, saying that a decision against them would be bad for what
is then left of the economy (assume Microsoft is one of the last 7
corporations left in the country during the 2nd Great Depression of the
2010's. There are only 38 people left employed and every else's
unemployment benefits ran out long ago, or they are dead. But those still
employed inspire those looking for jobs, admonishing them not to sit around
feeling sorry for themselves, suggesting they take $1.50/hr jobs and work
their way up, and provide other useful information and free job search
sites.). Luckily, President Ashcroft makes a moving speech in a time of
crisis and the public forgets the whole thing 6 weeks later.
So my point is this: Uh, my point. What ... is my point? Er, I forgot.
I was going somewhere with this, then I lost it.
I'll try again later after I sleep a bit. If anyone, friend or foe, can
figure this out, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
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