Posts by Baruch Atta

That's it, we're all really OLD: Google's Gmail is 10 ALREADY

Outlook vs Gmail

Outlook

Better interface, horrible slow search, better integration with other apps on PC

Gmail

Horrible interface, lack of integration, lack of folders, but quick search

Conclusion

Outlook is for business where power counts. Gmail is for home use.

Retiring greybeards force firms to retrain Java, .NET bods as mainframe sysadmins

Re: in a free market there's no such thing as a skills shortage

"...a mis-applied software patch from a team in India, and came after the bank had cut hundreds of IT staff to help cut costs....."

Date: 1950

Place: electric company.

Issue: bill to millions of customers for their electric service.

So, imagine 10 million customers, and each one must get a "reading" by a rep, then the rep's reports must be received, added to each customer's file (in file cabinets). Then each month the file must be pulled, the numbers added, the bill written, mailed and stamped. Then the bill must be received, the check read, the file pulled, the check amount added in, the file returned. Also, files must be checked for customers that failed to pay that month.

For each 1000 customers, there must be at least one clerk. So for 10 million customers, there are 10,000 clerks doing the work of reading, file pulling, writing bills, receiving payments, and so on.

Fast forward to 2014.

Same electric company.

Same 10 million customers. Same rates, reading meters, billing, receiving payments.

But now it is all automated.

Instead of 10,000 clerks, there are 20 programmers.

Imagine!

But wait. The management thinks that they pay too much to the programmers. The programmers are squeezed, and five are let go. Now management can boast that they "saved" a million dollars by firing 10 programmers.

No, the programmers "saved" the company 100 million dollars by automating the billing.

Seems pretty stupid. But then, it is a management decision.

Lesson learned: DON'T SKIMP ON PROGRAMMING! ! !