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Jim Henderson wrote:
> I've not had that experience myself. I'd be really surprised if that was
> a regular occurrence,
Well, it is for me.
I'll grant you it's entirely possible it's a hardware, power, or server
problem. But to the end user, that doesn't really matter that much.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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Stephen wrote:
> On 27/10/2010 1:33 AM, Darren New wrote:
>> Sabrina Kilian wrote:
>>> On 10/26/2010 3:45 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>>> Hmm, I may have missed a step: How about a telephone? It's not a
>>>> computer, but it sort of talks to one. How many people can't work a
>>>> telephone?
>>>
>>> Talk to someone who was around when phones switched from a switchboard
>>> to rotary dial, or from dial to push button. May be hard to find
>>> someone, but I bet they will give you a list of complaints similar to
>>> what you hear about computers.
>>
>> I met someone who didn't know how to turn on a cell phone just a couple
>> years ago.
>>
>
> When did you meet my wife?
>
Well, to be fair, the guy had been living on a tropical island for 15 years,
so it wasn't really surprising. (Actually, it was surprising, since he had
said he'd lived with his wife in Australia for a while. It took me some time
to realize it must have been before the invention of cell phones.)
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 09:14:34 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> I've not had that experience myself. I'd be really surprised if that
>> was a regular occurrence,
>
> Well, it is for me.
I meant statistically over a large sample of users.
> I'll grant you it's entirely possible it's a hardware, power, or server
> problem. But to the end user, that doesn't really matter that much.
True.
Jim
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On 10/27/2010 8:55 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:19:29 -0700, Patrick Elliott wrote:
>
>> Support? Oh, you mean, "Turn it off, wait 30 seconds, and turn it on
>> again. Unless the web service the kiosk is "actually" running from is
>> down, this should fix it (well, at least for a few days...)"
>
> It's always a little more involved than that when it comes to a kiosk.
> Sure, fixing the kiosk is easy, fixing the kiosk in the context of a
> larger infrastructure is more involved.
>
> I think it's fair/safe to say that ATMs are not stand-alone devices, but
> rather that they're connected into a network and thus "support" involves
> more than just "turn it off, turn it on" if the problem is device support
> or network support.
>
> Jim
Probably true, for some of that stuff. My own experience with
kiosk/kiosk like things has been bloody Windows XP running "cash
registers" and IE running "info" kiosks. The problem is almost
invariably standard Windows. Device is too stupid to realize something
is wrong, there is no simple reset for it, the software is buggy enough
something *will* go wrong, not just might, and the only way "solution"
given is to hope once a year that they patch the problem, or cold start
the damn things.
--
void main () {
If Schrödingers_cat is alive or version > 98 {
if version = "Vista" {
call slow_by_half();
call DRM_everything();
}
call functional_code();
}
else
call crash_windows();
}
<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>
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On 26-10-2010 21:45, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> I used to be a part-time bank teller when I was in university and I have
>> had to help people figure them out.
>>
>> Granted, they were older people who were not accustomed to technology
>> and were afraid the machine would steal their money.
>
> Hmm, I may have missed a step: How about a telephone? It's not a
> computer, but it sort of talks to one. How many people can't work a
> telephone?
>
> (Working an iPhone is another matter, of course...)
obligatory quote:
"I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my
telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how
to use my telephone." Bjarne Stroustrup
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On 27/10/2010 5:15 PM, Darren New wrote:
>> When did you meet my wife?
>>
>
> Well, to be fair, the guy had been living on a tropical island for 15
> years, so it wasn't really surprising. (Actually, it was surprising,
> since he had said he'd lived with his wife in Australia for a while. It
> took me some time to realize it must have been before the invention of
> cell phones.)
My wife is a Luddite. ask her about HiFi and she will tech you under the
table but computers... I've been trying to teach her about "copy and
paste" for more than ten years. (What is the emocion for "my head hurts"?)
--
Best Regards,
Stephen
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On 10/27/2010 5:52 AM, Francois Labreque wrote:
>> On 26/10/2010 07:56 PM, nemesis wrote:
>>
>>> BTW, at least in Brazil a large percentage of ATM machines are Linux
>>> underneath.
>>> How about that for ease of use? ;)
>>
>> Wikipedia asserts that many newer ATMs run Windows - which would be
>> extremely disturbing if true...
>>
>
> Older ones used to run OS/2 2.1. The newer ones mostly run Windows 2000
> or XP. In some cases, you can even see the Thinkpad inside when they are
> being refilled with money.
>
> I've seen one reboot and execute a bunch of .BATs to upgrade stuff while
> trying to get money for a cab at Prague's airport. Very scary!
>
I don't know.. DOS might actually be "more" reliable than some of these
newer OSes, which where never intended for single purpose machines,
without multitasking needs.
--
void main () {
if version = "Vista" {
call slow_by_half();
call DRM_everything();
}
call functional_code();
}
else
call crash_windows();
}
<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>
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On 27/10/2010 05:12 PM, Darren New wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
>> writing a few dozen lines of assembly to
>> function as a device driver would be pretty trivial...
>
> And you would be right, were we living in a universe where people
> building hardware spent *their* money so you could spend less of *your*
> money.
I'm not sure I follow...
By not using exorbitantly-priced MS products, they can sell their device
significantly more cheaply. You would think that would be a fairly
compelling market advantage.
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Invisible wrote:
> On 27/10/2010 05:12 PM, Darren New wrote:
>> Invisible wrote:
>>> writing a few dozen lines of assembly to
>>> function as a device driver would be pretty trivial...
>>
>> And you would be right, were we living in a universe where people
>> building hardware spent *their* money so you could spend less of *your*
>> money.
>
> I'm not sure I follow...
>
> By not using exorbitantly-priced MS products, they can sell their device
> significantly more cheaply. You would think that would be a fairly
> compelling market advantage.
No. The guys making the coin changer, etc, having to support *both* Windows
and Linux costs more than supporting just Windows. I imagine if someone came
to them and said "We'll buy 50,000 of these if you provide a Linux driver"
then they would have done so. But those 2 dozen lines of assembly, along
with all the other stuff that goes with it (like maintenance, sales,
marketing, tech documentation, recompiling it for each kernel as necessary,
etc etc) costs money and apparently wasn't worth doing.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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>>>> writing a few dozen lines of assembly to
>>>> function as a device driver would be pretty trivial...
>>>
>>> And you would be right, were we living in a universe where people
>>> building hardware spent *their* money so you could spend less of *your*
>>> money.
>>
>> I'm not sure I follow...
>>
>> By not using exorbitantly-priced MS products, they can sell their
>> device significantly more cheaply. You would think that would be a
>> fairly compelling market advantage.
>
> No. The guys making the coin changer, etc, having to support *both*
> Windows and Linux costs more than supporting just Windows. I imagine if
> someone came to them and said "We'll buy 50,000 of these if you provide
> a Linux driver" then they would have done so. But those 2 dozen lines of
> assembly, along with all the other stuff that goes with it (like
> maintenance, sales, marketing, tech documentation, recompiling it for
> each kernel as necessary, etc etc) costs money and apparently wasn't
> worth doing.
Oh, right.
I was thinking more along the lines of "if the device you want to use
doesn't have Linux drivers, just write some".
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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