Mailbag's Most Recent Posts

In response to The Skinny on Windows SPP and Reduced Functionality in Vista:

You failed to mention a scenario in which a device will go into RFM.  Recently Microsoft WGA servers experienced an interruption in service causing at least two systems at our organization to incorrectly go into RFM.

The issue was apparently caused by a failed verification server at Microsoft.  Additional information about the incident can be found at  What comes first, the customer or public image?

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Readers respond to Is 'vote flipping' an e-voting problem or user error?

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As a software engineer with 18 years of professional experience, it amazes me how many so-called computer experts find no problem with the poor design of the hardware and software user interfaces for DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machines. Blaming the hardware or the users doesn’t fix the problem. As much as possible, systems need to be as foolproof and insensitive to the height and other characteristics of the users as possible. Most DRE equipment is far more expensive than simple optical scan systems and do not produce counts that are verifiable like those less expensive easier-to-use systems.

Reader Joe responds to "Opinion: Why Microsoft's Zune scares Apple to the core," and Mike Elgan replies.

Reader Joe:

Of course, it's your opinion that you believe the Zune will be a success but here are some things to keep in mind.

#1) MS has had ZERO success in selling consumers a new product since 1998 - From Talking barney's to the watch OS to webTV to home networking gear to tablet Pc's, home media PC's, WMA online stores (plays4sure), etc, etc ... I'm not saying they're outright failures but for the attention, R&D and marketing they've devoted to their launches - no one will call them a real success ... and even the Xbox - the closest "success" which is really a PC without driver or patch problems ... AND MS has spent $400 per unit or $10 billion dollars - how any more successes can they afford?

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Reader Andy responds to  "Opinion: Why Microsoft's Zune scares Apple to the core," and Mike Elgan replies.

Reader Andy:

1. The iPod is all but ubiquitous. You're right--the Zune won't go mano-a-mano against the iPod because Microsoft needs to capture and take market share from iPod diehards, and that isn't going to be easy. The diehards are partly comprised of the prized segment of the non-geek public. They're not going to give up their iPods unless they have a compelling reason, and I just don't think Zune is it.

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"How in the world did we get to this place where it's OK to be spending billions of dollars annually on debugging and patching and repairing the damage done by this totally horrible operating system?" complains reader David B. Donaldson in response to the article Microsoft downplays latest malware warnings. He continues:

After ten years of this, why hasn't MS fixed their OS' permissions so that nobody's errant or devious program has access to any SYSTEM files, processes and address space?  What is going on here?

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Several readers have thanked columnist Ira Winkler for his piece, So, what's wrong with being an introvert? My favorite from the mailbag: "I'm not interested in social interaction at work, I'm interested in programming," wrote one reader who describes himself as a top-notch programmer. "I cannot put in print how strongly I detest having to deal with end-users' computer-related angst. The day I never have to answer another Help Desk call will be the greatest day of my life. And the last thing I would ever want to be is a manager of other programmers. We're un-manageable! Just leave us alone and let us program."

Reader Raymond Van Dyke sends in this ditty about the BlackBerry legal squabble, to be sung to the tune of Dire Strait's Money for Nothing:

I want my, I want my BlackBerry

I want my, I want my BlackBerry

Please stop, Please stop NTP

Now look at them yahoos, that's the way you do it

Respond to email on the BlackBerry

"Let's see – Name, Address, Social Security Number and Account Number for 90,000 customers," reader D.B. writes in response to Bank tape lost with data on 90,000 customers. "It's probably formatted to fit on two 80 character punch cards making a total of about 1.5 MB of data – which would compress at 80% - to about the size of a typical birthday party photo.  People's Bank probably sends out 10 tapes like this a month to each of the major credit reporting agencies each month.  That's 360 tapes a year at a cost (processing, handling and shipping) of something like $100 per tape.  The alternatives, a secure Web site or secure FTP account, cost close to nothing, and have been widely available since the late 90s.

Reader D.D. takes issue with this comment in the OSDL opinion piece Desktop Linux: If we build it, will they come?:

One of the biggest desktop Linux inconveniences is the lack of support for existing proprietary applications from big vendors such as Adobe, Autodesk and Intuit.

"Inconvenience?! This is not an inconvenience - it is a deal-killer!" he writes. "I have been waiting to run a Linux desktop since I installed Red Hat 5.1 and I am no closer to my goal. I am an open-minded consulting engineer, but the lack of support from Adobe and AutoDesk absolutely makes Linux on MY desktop a non-starter.

We received lots of interesting reader response to the Private Office vs. Cubicle debate.

M.S., who works at a major manufacturer, weighs in: "Office or cubicle – How about a banquet table!

"At my employer developers sit in rows at long banquet tables with a 1 foot divider in the center (that way you double the people by using both sides of the table).  It is a terrible work environment and the noise can drive you crazy.  So be thankful if you have a cubicle or an office!"

After seeing our Q&A with the director of Microsoft's Security Response Center regarding the WMF flaw, reader B.C. wrote in: "The $64,000 question for Microsoft is this:  If we follow your advice in the future and not use 'unofficial' patches while waiting for Microsoft to take 9 - 10 days to prepare the 'official' patch, who bears the risk for a real zero day virus that inflicts catastrophic damage on our enterprise while we in good faith wait upon you?"

It's an intriguing issue. As of Monday afternoon, results of our completely unscientific QuickPoll showed a 50-50 dead heat after 340 votes for the question: Would you install a patch from a third-party security consultant to fix a flaw such as the Windows WMF vulnerability?

Reader F.K. asks a question that occurred to me after reading DOJ asks court to keep BlackBerry service on for federal workers: Why does the Justice Dept. believe government workers should have a special right to keep BlackBerries, if legal issues force a shutdown of service for everyone else?

"I don't think losing these devices will impede the way our government is run (or at least it shouldn't), a little more inconvenient maybe, so what makes them so special that they should not be included in any injunction," he wrote. "Amazing how many large corporations can function without them, yet our government officials have to have their toys."

Reader G.M. takes issue with the list of potential burnout questions in the column Will Moving on Mean Moving Ahead? The questions focus primarily "on overtime and crises," he notes.

"Only the last question asked anything about personal fulfillment. Frankly, the one thing that I find almost certain to cause burnout in myself is under involvement in my job. Whilst burnout caused by over work is common, especially in the U.S., the mental burnout caused by poor job fit is just as detrimental."

Stories on globalization always bring out the reader mail, and  A High-Tech Worker's Guide to Globalization's Myths is no exception. Some feedback is simply reflexively nationalist; others from un- or under-employed high-tech workers express understandable anger that companies are claiming a shortage of workers and seeking a raise in H-1B visa levels while so many U.S. IT pros are jobless.

But there are other takes on the issue as well, such as G.F.'s contention that the problem with the H-1B program "is that the visa is tied to the employer. ... I think the negative salary effects of the H1B program are due to the indentured servitude of the workers, holding down their salaries. Through this market interference, everyone's salary is artificially deflated.    If H1b was instead a kind of provisional permanent resident status, tied to employment but not to an employer, then talented foreign workers would be able to demand the higher salaries that they deserve."

This is our latest Computerworld blog, where we'll share some of the more interesting and informative comments from our Computerworld.com readers. If you have feedback about anything you've read on Computerworld.com, you can always e-mail editor@computerworld.com if you don't want to add to a blog posting here.

On to our first subject: Sony's highly controversial digital rights management plan, which involved installing software on your computer system whenever you attempted to play a Sony music CD with its XCP technology.