Stupid opinion.

Story: Time to ban IM?Total Replies: 8
Author Content
salparadise

Nov 29, 2005
10:33 PM EDT
You may as well try to ban talking.

It's this damned "pre-emptive strike" mentality again. Because there's a potential threat of an IM Worm, we must ban IM.

OK, Using the same argument... Cars can potentially kill people so let's ban cars. Planes crash, so those have to go. Computers have unknown security problems so we'll ban them. Soldiers carry guns, they might shoot someone, so out they go. Ships might sink so ban them. Kitchen knives are sharp... Matches can start fires. Where does it end?

People talk to each other - we must ban this straight away. More or less every problem governments, oops, I mean humans face, can be traced back to people talking to each other.





peragrin

Nov 30, 2005
3:44 AM EDT
His premise is because AIM, and MSN clients are fundamentally flawed that all clients are is just BS. The worm targetting AIM won't work on my IM client/ OS. This is Just another reason why one OS shouldn't be dominate. Why Open Standards matter.

And Here I am trying to figure out a way to combine IM, email, with Voice/video chat. A new protocal designed from the begining to secure all three and let one roll over into the other. Email is nice put is subject to random missed messages. Direct IP IM is great for low bandwidth connections, but I have been playing with Ichat AV lately. Being able to see your loved ones while talking with them is great.
SFN

Nov 30, 2005
4:05 AM EDT
You know, if he can get cell phones banned in public places, I'd be more than happy to go after IM for him.
dinotrac

Nov 30, 2005
4:20 AM EDT
SFN --

Man, if he can get cell phones banned in public places, I'd start a cult and chant his name while begging for Twinkies.
SFN

Nov 30, 2005
4:44 AM EDT
First chant:

"ahmma gunna cutoff deacces"
dinotrac

Nov 30, 2005
4:48 AM EDT
And if, sadly, he fails, feel free to replace deaccess with whatever seems appropriate.
TxtEdMacs

Nov 30, 2005
5:05 AM EDT
Banning cell phones: sounds like a good idea to me. But being a semi practical sort, I would settle to limiting it to the driver of a vehicle in motion. Moreover, anything to avoid giving thanks by means of chants with some mystical content.

Now let's get serious:

I can cite from experience from my last major assignment that internal chats can be extremely constructive.

That's how I learned of and later followed the Linux developments at a client where these activities were not widely known. Moreover, the move to Linux was not advertised externally.

Specific forms on coding languages, editors and tools provided a pool of knowledgeable users where questions could be asked about issues one was encountering or other users experiences. I made one friend on the other side of the world when i tried to give some suggestions to a problem he was encountering. He thought I was great, while I considered him to have superior skills in coding than I.

After leaving that assignment I saw an example post on slashdot of a coder being inept from the same client on an open site where the poster was identified by name and company explicitly asking a rather basic question in a panicked state. It would have been much better had he known and used the internal chats.

Teams or groups kept in touch while working at different locations and timezones by this internal IM system. Moreover, it was also used by the "users" of production systems as a quick means to get attention from the developers when problems arose. The real time communication with the observers and fixers, in many cases, made for a positive view of the latter by the former. Indeed, I have seen supervisors send email commendations for the results of such activities.

It cannot be denied that some of the chats were obvious time wasters and others of unknown content due to the invitation only setup, however, from my experience it was an overall positive addition.
Abe

Nov 30, 2005
7:46 AM EDT
Think of all the time & money being saved by using IM instead of e-mail and telephone calls. Yes, I am talking IM in businesses when you need a short and quick response. Even sharing docs and what have you over company Intranet.
SFN

Nov 30, 2005
8:42 AM EDT
"Think of all the time & money being saved by using IM instead of e-mail and telephone calls."

But that assumes that users are not blundering pinheads who won't do everything in their power - unwittingly, of course - to blow buckshot into all of your efforts to secure the network.

Most people are dumb. Dumb like paste. Repeat that like a mantra and it will never fail you.

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