Posts by markstevent

Everyone cites that 'bugs are 100x more expensive to fix in production' research, but the study might not even exist

There is a fairly large difference between code bugs and design errors. I have been in IT since 1974, and I have always heard that it costs more to fix design errors in production that in development. A simple bug, may not cost any more to fix in production, though a complex bug, with interdependencies, may require a more complicated solution. However a fundamental design flaw (as we have seen with a number of major government projects), may cost enormous amounts to correct, and might well cause the entire project to fail. So I think this is a very broad claim that, as the author suggests, is not and indeed cannot be, verified by research, as you would have to classify many kinds of "bug", where they come from, the effect they would have on interconnected and dependent systems and processes, as well as the extent of the effort required to fix them. Fixing a code bug might cost very little, but manually verifying the integrity of the data affected by the bug could be very expensive.

Must 'completely free' mean 'hard to install'? Newbie gripe sparks some soul-searching among Debian community

My personal rant about all Linux variants

Background:

Started in IT in 1974 operating IBM mainframes running the "real" DOS

Moved to development with COBOL writing insurance software

Moved to internal IT Audit with an American bank in 1984

Was presented with an IBM PC and a floppy with Lotus 123 and asked to write a budget program

Worked with IBM PCs and Token Ring networks, then ethernet. Worked with DOS Windows, then real Windows - just about every version

Moved to External Audit and was given a Mac, the all-in-one box - I hated it, you couldn't get behind the curtains to see how it worked, or fiddle with it.

Moved back to Windows - thank the flying spaghetti monster!

I have worked with Windows ever since.

Many times I have been tempted by Ubuntu and installed it and tried to get it to work. Every time I have come across a problem (e.g. adding shares from windows folders) to which the solution was just totally non-intuitive. So I googled for help and found not one, but ten different solutions, none of which worked!. So I gave up again and waited for a new version. And each new version had new problems which required using arcane character strings and commands which had no inherent meaning, some of which worked and others didn't - with no hint as to what was wrong.

I have heard so many people advocating that we should all move to some variant of Linux. What they all apparently forget or ignore, is that the majority of people don't want a computer - they want Office type applications, email, games, films and music. And they want them to just work, they don't want to have to dive into a world of arcania and magic! I don't consider myself a newbie, but I am not prepared to commit many months to learning the details of Unix/Linux/Ubuntu, I have a life and a real job!. If you really, really want people to adopt a Unix variant, you have to make it just work, that is how Apple (spit!) succeeded.