100% agreed! Currently I'm trying to get access to a iTSM tool that uses HTTP as it's transport mechanism. It uses ActiveX controls to gather data into a grid-like mechanism.
As I particularly hate ActiveX, I have started reverse engineering what these controls do. So far so good, except that the format used for the data that the controls receive is an application/octet-stream binary format.
Now I've worked out how the format works, and by using JDataView I'm parsing the format. But you know what? Internet Explorer takes null characters in strings and will not go any further, even though ECMA-262 states that:
"The String type is the set of all finite ordered sequences of zero or more 16-bit unsigned integer values... All operations on Strings (except as otherwise stated) treat them as sequences of undifferentiated 16-bit unsigned integers; they do not ensure the resulting String is in normalised form, nor do they ensure language-sensitive results."
If they had passed the data back in something saner like JSON, or heck even XML!, then things would have be fine. As it is, I've decided to skip Internet Explorer as it's just not worth my time to get around this issue, and every other browser works fine with JDataView.
Wow... according to Wikipedia, the women on the box were all employees of On-Line Systems, the precursor to Sierra. One of them is a bookkeeper! I'd be curious as to how the convinced them to pose naked on the box.
The Digital Antiquarian wrote some interesting blog posts on On-Line Systems and Softporn back in February (with screenshots!). This blog is a great read for info on this and other early adventure games and their creators.
Steven Levy's book Hackers from the early 80s has a large section on On-Line Systems including the story of that photo. On-Line was a party, that's for sure.
I have to agree with i386. There's a pretty disturbing screenshot where Larry says that "this is the hooker's seedy bedroom. The bed's a mess, so is the hooker!".
Which bit to you find disturbing? The fact that the game acknowledges the existence of hookers, the fact that the game draws attention to the fact that many hookers work out of pretty seedy bedrooms or the fact that the game draws attention that many hookers end up looking less than their best.
Would you have preferred "this is the hooker's fabulous bedroom. The bed's perfectly clean, so is the hooker!"
Oh come on, how could you ever be shocked by what is commonly known as "the oldest profession"?
I'm not saying it's a nice job, but neither it is fixing sewage pipes. You should be shocked that pimps exist, maybe, but then again their role is quite natural and I'm sure some of them are quite the professional. The massive amount of abuse surrounding the "industry" is a problem, but it's hardly the only industry where management can abuse the workforce.
While I tend to agree with your sentiment, comparing prostitution to fixing sewage pipes is not really a fair comparison. Also, the number of industries where abuse by management involves physical violence is rather limited (as far as I know). I believe I understand what you are saying, but I think these points weaken your argument.
The existence of pimps is 'natural' in a Hobbesian sort of way: they exist only in complex societies because the institutions of law are not accessible to people participating in prostitution, due to the efforts of ideologues to universally suppress the existence of things that aren't consistent with their personal sentiments.
Yes, I'm aware it's known as the "oldest profession".
Please stop saying I'm shocked. I'm not shocked, and I have never said I was shocked. The original post said I was disturbed by the comment in the screenshot, and it was mostly because of the way it described the prostitute.
Sleeping with the hooker is not framed as a funny or positive thing. The game makes it an empty and depressing act, leaving the main character feeling unfulfilled.
Also if you sleep with her without a condom you get an STD and it's Game Over, so there's even a helpful PSA included.
I think the reason you guys object is because you haven't actually played the game and are looking at it from a superficial standpoint.
You are presented with a choice of losing your virginity to the hooker, or leaving and hoping to one day find true love. If you go to the hooker, you die and it's game over because you "feel empty inside".
I have indeed played this game when I was much younger. I think I was disturbed by this part of the game even back then.
The reason I'm disturbed isn't superficial, and has nothing really to do with Larry losing his virginity. It is the terms they use to describe the prostitute.
I love Linux myself, and I have no doubt that they've saved money, but the following makes me a little concerned about how they are going about Service Management:
"Ude said it was impossible to be exact about the amount of complaints the help desk gets about LiMux, noting that most problems are a combination of several causes. The software is not always the problem, since often there are problems reaching a server, or Internet connections might be malfunctioning."
My concern here is that they aren't logging incidents via some sort of appropriate iTSM framework (MOF, ITILv3, etc.) Even the most basic Incident Management setups would allow them to perform basic analysis of the incident data to work out where there issues are coming from.
I'm afraid I just don't buy the argument that it's impossible to know for certain where the city's problems are coming from :(
I'm speculating a little here, but there might be legal restrictions keeping them from reaching that goal. The basic argument is that any tool that may be used to track work performance (such as a tool tracking user errors) may be abused to control the employees work and thus may need union approval. I've run into this issue multiple times when doing work for government or government-like institutions in germany, once in pretty much the same constellation: A tool for defect tracking in IT was shot down because the union was afraid that it might be used to single out low-performing employees by tracking their computer problems. (sounds silly, I agree, but we're talking germany and we do have our own standards of sillyness.)
