Full Disclosure mailing list archives

RE: Yes, user education is a lost cause ;-)


From: Ron DuFresne <dufresne () winternet com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 23:12:16 -0600 (CST)


        [SNIP]

There is nothing wrong with end users. THEY are the
customers. The consumers. Remember? They buy OUR products. WE
have to adapt to them, not they to us.

This I completely disagree with.  Let me give you a real world example.
An individual who owned a small, private airplane entered the plane and
took off while so drunk that his alcohol level was three times the legal
limit.  In his drunken stupor he didn't close the cockpit door and latch
it properly.  At 10,000 feet the door suddenly popped open, he lost
control of the aircraft, crashed and was killed instantly.

Is this the aircraft manufacturer's fault?  Keep in mind, they *could*
have built the plane so that it was impossilbe to fly unless the door
was securely latched.  Does the pilot carry any of the blame?  Or is the
manufacturer entirely at fault?  Due to this one "accident", should the
manufacturer be forced to redesign the door mechanism?


for one accident perhaps not, for many accidents in the short span of say
the last two or two and a half years that saw code-red, nimda and slammer,
then we'd see chages in design that did make it "impossilbe to fly unless
the door was securely latched".

The customer isn't *always* king.  Sometimes they are the court jester.
As a producer, you have to decide just how far you're willing to go to
accommodate idiots, if at all.  The customer *isn't* always right, and
sometimes the customer is entirely to blame for unforeseen outcomes.
 >

Unless they happen to be students that shop for an education on how well
their university fills their ISP needs perhaps huh?

Thanks,

Ron DuFresne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity.  It
eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation." -- Johnny Hart
        ***testing, only testing, and damn good at it too!***

OK, so you're a Ph.D.  Just don't touch anything.

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