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One of the main problems with enterprise software design is that the person who decides whether to buy the program is usually not the person who ends up having to use it. That leads to poor UI in enterprise software, compared to the consumer equivalents.
…[E]nterprise software rarely gets critiqued the way even a US$30 piece of shareware will. It doesn't benefit from the rigor of a wide and varied base of users, many of whom will freely offer merciless feedback, goading and demanding it to be better with each new release.
Not to mention that if you work for a company in data entry for $10 an hour, you probably really need the job. So you're not likely to complain. Because they don't hear any complaints about the software, the decision makers in the company aren't likely to worry about it.
Seriously, I'm still scarred from my one-year stint at A&P supermarkets just out of college when I was doing Retek data entry. *shudder*
Slashdot: Google Caught in Comcast Traffic Filtering?
There have been quite a few stories about Comcast and blocking BitTorrent, but it looks like those same reset packets used to block BitTorrent are now showing up when trying to connect to Google.
"Comcast users are reporting 'connection reset' errors while loading Google. The problem seems to have been coming and going over the past few days, and often disappears only to return a few minutes later. Apparently the problem only affects some of Google's IPs and services. Analysis of the PCAP packet dumps reveals several injected fake RSTs, which are very similar to the ones seen coming from the Great Firewall of China [PDF]. Did Google somehow get caught up in one of Comcast's blacklists, or are the heuristics flagging Google as a file-sharer due to the heavy traffic?"
I have a theory. Dark wizards have infiltrated Comcast are interfering with Google so no one can find out what their plans are for Halloween.
I didn't say it was a good theory.
And now for something completely different, two stories on Vint Cerf:
MSNBC Internet pioneer leaves oversight group.
After fending off an international rebellion and planting the seeds for streamlining operations, Cerf is stepping down this week as chairman of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers.
"My sentence is up," Cerf said with his characteristic sense of humor, which he and others credit for helping him steer the organization through several high-profile battles from which it emerged more stable and stronger.
You know, I've always wondered whether Vint Cerf would be cool as a Sesame Street Muppet, as part of CANAL - Corporation of Assigned Numbers and Letters. (There's precedent - there's H. Ross Parrot, after all.) "Vint Surfer" could be a surfing computer dude, and could talk about the shortage of available letter addresses in the alphabet. "See, there's only 26 letters in the alphabet, but because the alphabet has gotten so popular, there's more than 26 sounds, so sometimes we have to have letters doing double duty. Let me show you. The letter A can be pronounced 'Ahhhh' like in 'car'. But it can also be pronounced 'Ayyyy' like in 'play'"
Or he could just continue to do what he's doing and warn about the ending of the IPv4 address pool.
BBC News: Warning over Net Address Limits
While modern computers, servers, routers and other online devices are able to use IPv6, internet service providers have yet to implement the system.
"The reason they haven't - which is quite understandable - is that customers haven't asked for it yet," said Mr Cerf, adding, "my job, whether with my ICANN hat on or not, is to persuade them to ask for it.
"If you don't ask for it, then when you most want it you won't have it."
