It’s the Software, Not You | Hacker News Reader

It’s the Software, Not You

nytimes.com

14 pointspbnaidu10 comments

I think the rant about the check-in kiosk is somewhat off base. They ask you for your destination as a "security measure", because anyone can make a magnetic card that has anyone's name on it, and then say they forgot their ID at security. This makes stealing someone else's ticket slightly more difficult, although not all that hard, I guess.

It also would have helped if he input the correct airport code for San Fransisco instead of just making something up. It's SFO, not SAN.

The rest of the article has the right idea. Installers shouldn't ask questions. Let the user change preferences later, just pick some defaults and get the thing going. The problem is that there are too many meetings inside software development companies, and every idea is a good idea if it comes up in a meeting.

I doubt it's a anti-ticket-theft measure. Southwest and other airlines' kiosks don't ask the same dumb questions.

And trying to board with someone else's ticket -- when the TSA checkpoint will give you extra screening without ID, when the airport is plastered with cameras, when you'll be in a specific seat if the real ticket owner shows up -- has to be one of the dumbest crimes imaginable.

I doubt it's a anti-ticket-theft measure.

Fair enough, but it has to be for some "business reason" and not a technical reason. AA.com can find my reservations fine without me telling it where I'm going, but the kiosks seem to need help. Annoying, but not as annoying as them not being able to read my passport number off my passport.

BTW, aren't the kiosks all running software made by ITA? I know Southwest has their own system, but I think everyone else uses the same system.

What, no 0% option for tips? If it's mandatory then it's not really a tip anymore is it? Seriously, I thought taxi is about getting from one place to another, what's the point of tipping rather than giving them decent salaries.

I understood it to mean you press the buttons to add the tip, but there's no requirement to press any of those buttons.

NYTimes is really getting along with the times.... I'm rather impressed :)

Excellent article, btw..... I wonder if it's possible to find out who Delta hired to design their system (if it's not in-house, that is)

I don't know if you've seen it, but their stories about perl, optimization and CMS for a newspaper are interesting.

I'm a little worried that he thinks it's a good idea for the computer to sign the "legalese" contract for you... I realize very few people actually read them, but do you really want the lawyers to know that not only will you probably sign something without looking, it's the default setting on your machine?

Its Pogue. He might have a valid thing to talk about, however some of his arguments concerning it are ridiculous.

And I can't remember when the last time I saw a separate screen for desktop icon, start menu, and quickbar shortcut. Even Pidgin, which has the worst installer experience I can imagine, doesn't do this.

He doesn't say those are on separate screens, he just says there are too many screens and here are some options that could be assumed unless the user specifically hits a button saying they want to change them

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