> It's about breaching the human interface. If people > understand something and literalists insist on correcting > them, it doesn't serve the purpose of advancing any goal - it > only expands the rift.
Oh dear, we're going to get serious. ;-) I do think a leaning towards pedantry is often part of the security geek mindset. Not only do we tend to have a scientific background where a certain amount of intellectual rigour is expected, if not always found, but we also operate in an area where we're perpetually hampered by myth and misinformation. I don't think pedantry is necessarily counter-productive. What people understand is not always what they get, as Valdis pointed out. I don't suppose anyone at Virginia Tech minds the NOC taking time out once a year for mince pies and a glass or three of sherry, but if your understanding is that you're protected by a service that never sleeps, when what it actually means is "24/7 except for public holidays and nobody answers the phone between 22:00 and 06:00", that isn't trivial. As far as Ironport is concerned, I guess we -can- assume that what they mean -is- all day, every day, all year round, but the fact that they use a terminologically incorrect expression (however commonly used) to convey that message does tell you something not altogether comforting about their operation. I don't say that even I would decline to use a company's services because their marketing is badly worded, but you don't necessarily want to bet your anti-malware budget on the basis of marketing material that was probably not finally vetted by anyone remotely technical. (That assertion doesn't only derive from 24/7/365, but from the fact that the malware that currently constitutes a "virus outbreak" according to Ironport isn't actually viral...) I rather like "all day, every day, all year round". It may not be fine English, but it gets round -all- the numeric objections. :) > There is no difference whatsoever between engineering > technology and sociology. One is just much simpler while the > other requires a deeper understanding of the inter-relation > of the components and systems. I leave it to the reader to > decide which one is which... Speaking as someone with a background in social sciences -and- computer science, I know where I feel most comfortable. :-/ -- David Harley _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
