computing myths
| I was momentarily stopped in my tracks the other day when someone asked me if burning high-resolution images onto a CD at eight speed rather than 16 would improve the quality.
Having never contemplated this premise before, a brief pause made me opine, “No, it shouldn’t make any difference. It would be a bit like saying, ‘I’ll slow this email down so it’ll be more readable at the other end’.” [Let me know if I’m wrong on this score. The bit about the CDs, I mean.] All this got the cogs going. How many seemingly plausible theories are, in fact, little more than the IT equivalent of old wives’ tales? And how often are we inadvertently deluded by some fact we have taken as received knowledge? It was time to find out... Here are an assortment of the most popular myths, adages and misconceptions. Let’s sort out the fact from fiction. VIRUS MYTHS False. Anti-virus software, which is kept up to date, is an absolute must. The cost in terms of corrupted data and loss of business reputation far outstrips the price of the software. An oft-quoted statistic is that 80 per cent of companies who have suffered a serious loss of data go out of business within two years. The anti-virus industry did admittedly have its fair share of ambulance chasers in the past. Now though the industry has matured significantly and reined in its Corporal Jones ‘don’t panic’ tendencies. If I receive an email from a friend warning of a new virus I should carry out the instructions and pass the email on to everyone I know. Wrong. Never take a virus alert email at face value, especially if the language is hysterical!!! Or even if the email purports to come from anti-virus software company, unless you have specifically subscribed to the service of a reputable vendor. The safest course is to check the site of your anti-virus software provider. You should also make sure your anti-virus software is up to date and the update scheduling is set to automatically check for updates on a daily basis. What makes these hoax virus alerts especially exasperating is when they arrive from someone you actually know and the information turns out to be complete cobblers. An appropriate term for these good intentioned but unwittingly duped is ultracrepidarian: (n., adj.) a person who gives opinions beyond his scope of knowledge.
If the recipient has broadband, no big deal. However it is highly questionable if sending or receiving this sort of stuff in company time falls within acceptable use of email policies. It’s only email! Trying telling that one to Norwich Union (libel bill in excess of £400,000) or Norton Rose (worldwide circulation of sexual conquest email).
You are the weakest link. The internet was developed by the US military during the Cold War as a means of maintaining communications. When selected universities were eventually allowed to use the system, the net, as we know it, was born. I’ve got the internet on my computer. What? All of it? Bill Gates invented the personal computer. Whilst he possibly may like to think that, computers had been around for a long time before Microsoft was formed. It can be argued, to be fair, that Gates takes the credit for putting a computer on every desk. Windows 95/98 etc. were innovative. The general concepts of windowed computing are all appropriated from Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Centre) and environs, where "windows", the mouse, selection, drag-and-drop, the File/Edit/View menu, were all developed. Among the other ‘innovations’ deriving outwith Seattle are: Desktop icons - Xerox Alto (1981); Macintosh (1982)
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