Another day, another hack.  One of our computers got hit by the PC Security malware.  Kapirsky to the rescue.  The latest bug got Sunbelt VIPRE Enterprise and disabled it, wipe out the Restore Points and disabled safe mode.  Kapirsky turned up over 30 threats on the PC.  A few reboots and several hours of scans later, the computer is now running slow as molasses.  We are taking the time to install all the Microsoft Updates for Windows 7 … I thought Windows 7 was more secure, hah.  All fun in a day.

So what is the COST of drive-by attacks from Website.  And what should be the punishment.  It is certainly a drag on productivity.  Even if no data is lost, removing the buggers is a pain and takes time.  And these “viruses” unleashed into the wild; maybe we can infect the source and give them a taste.

It’s early summer.  The garden has been planted.  The young “bean sprouts” and “pea sprouts” are pushing up out of the fertile soil.  In a few short weeks we will have fresh pea pods to pop.  Our organic garden launched; free of pesticides.  And then along comes “thumper”.  Such a cute little bunny rabbit.  And those little sprouts ever so tasty.  One morning, we see the rabbits jumping about and a few dozen bean and pea seedlings climbing the walls to reach the sun.  And then, they are ALL GONE.  The culprit is Thumper (at left, no my photo).  So tasty, so succulent.  So gone.  And now, we are set back several weeks, perhaps, never to recover.  In the virtual world, I would likely accellerate the growth by buying “virtual currency”.  But here, I am stuck with the realities of fast approaching summer.  New seeds went into the ground; will it be a repeat.  Am I feeding the wildlife.  Welcome to life in suburbia.

As part of the high school curriculum, my son chose to read the Oscar Wilde play, the “Importance of Being Ernest”.  To assist in his analysis, we saw the movie version (pictured at right), and went to the Broadway version done at the Roundabout Theatre.  Aside from the innumerable puns, it is the central pun of the play that strikes me.  It is the importance of “being earnest” … as opposed to “Being Ernest”.

So often, it is perceived that we must be earnest in our dealings with people, in the services we offer, and how we comport ourselves.  We must appear to care; we must appear to get involved; we must appear to get to the bottom of things.  The reality in long term relations is not the appearance of earnestness … but rather in the actual performance and results that counts.  Things must “be” what they “appear to be”.  Things must function as expected.  It is not a matter of advertising or marketing hype.  If things don’t function properly, there is a real risk of alienating the customer; it is a violation of trust between developer/consultant and end user.  If this failure happens too often, you risk alienating the customer base.

There are always cost-benefit balancing on any service provided.  There is a balance of cost and features.  But where the features promised (by the actual software menu item) just don’t work, that is a sign of underlying problems in testing and quality control.  In my view, until a feature is fully tested, it should not be released.  Is the user of the program to play Russian Roullette every time they hit a menu item? … Will it work today, what will happen, I wonder.  And so I appreciate the earnestness, I appreciate the caring. But at the end of the day, I just want it to work.  I want it to work today, when I am testing it, tomorrow when I deliver it, and all the next days when my client is using it.

Our family recently joined an organic food coop.  As a coop, were are obligated to volunteer time for the common good … there are no employees, only volunteers.  It is not that the prices are “cheaper”, but the food is fresher and the selection is what the collective decides it wants to buy.  As the computer nerd in the crowd, and as one of the newest members, I was given my choice of jobs: (1) bagger, (2) labeller, (3) food sorter, (4) sweeper, (5) early morning greeter.  Such a set of wonderful jobs.

But then I spied in the back room an ancient DOS computer.  Ever curious about technology, I asked the question:  what is that for.  I was told it was a sophisticated Point of Sale (“POS”) system that had been purchased/donated to the coop.  As I learned, the plan was to revolutionize the coop with bar code reading, auto-deducting inventory, and auto-billing.  As I soon realized, the system was currently used for generating pricing labels on bulk food items.  And so, I chose as my task to master the POS system for the coop and serve as a trainer.

The catch, was that the system ran on DOS.  And, there was no written manual.  At first, I thought … no manual, no GUI, … hopeless.  No Windows7, no Snagit, no MS Word, … how could I even create a manual to help.

That was before I sat down to take a tour of the program.  In the absence of a manual, I would treat this task like a game of Zork: The Great Underground Empire.  As in Zork, you start with a blank cursor, and start typing commands.  In this case all the commands were numbers between 1 and 20, along with the PageUp, PageDown and a few navigation keys.  Can you believe, NO MOUSE.  I felt almost crippled.  And yet, as I worked through the program options over the next half hour, I soon had mapped out most of the program in my head.  I was struck by the EFFICIENCY of this program.  In a few key strokes (yes … you would want to memorize them), you could do just about anything with your inventory, from export/import, labeling, reports, and even mass changes.  The DOS itself was liberating.  In viewing this program, I wonder whether with all these Windows, we have really gained productivity.

So DOS is still alive in Retail, and it STILL WORKS.

For those who like to comment, I encourage you to REGISTER as a user and tell me what DOS programs you have liked and still use.