link https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33675112

this thread is filled with insane shit

all about things technology has done to actively make life worse for us all

  • blobjim [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    ever heard of ActiveX? you know, arbitrary code installing and running in your browser on Windows and available to be scripted by javascript? like, instead of Java? sorry. I'm not solely responsible, but sorry, pretty responsible. we were young. code-signing as a means of validating origin was a great idea. though it needed additional infrastructure to prevent abuse and allow global revocation, and that wasn't perfectly thought through or executed. live and learn. :grinning-emoji:

    finally a good one lol

    • fifthedition [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      People who just like new things and don't bother to think out what's going to happen afterwards. Novelty-seekers who are easily bored and want the next new thing.

      Bane of my freaking existence. We hundreds of millions had to suffer because a few dozen at Microsoft were really excited about their jobs.

      • jkfjfhkdfgdfb [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        People who just like new things and don’t bother to think out what’s going to happen afterwards. Novelty-seekers who are easily bored and want the next new thing.

        fuck yea

      • Owl [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        ActiveX was an alternative to javascript or Java applets, which was an absolute security disaster. Just 10,000 ways for people to install malware no matter how much they tried to patch it. Even once Microsoft realized it was an absolute shitshow that shouldn't exist, they had a hard time getting rid of it, because corporate users kept complaining - they just loved making all their internal tools in ActiveX for some reason.

        Unlike some of these, this is a technical disaster rather than an ethical one. Except in the sense that, ethically, you should be good enough at your job that you don't design bridges that collapse.