[Cdn-DMCA] A couple of technical points

[Chris Palmer]

I think that the  experience of many managers is that the first response of
techies is always "That's impossible"  followed by a solution a few days
later.  So they think this is always the case and don't have any feel for
what is really impossible. Or any feel for what appears easy but is really
difficult - voice recognition or natural language programming for example.

I don't know if the url below is an April Fools joke or the idea of a really
twisted mind: convert DNA sequences to musical notes so you can copyright
DNA as music, copyright lasts for 100 years and patents only a pathetic 20 :

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/weekinreview/31FOUN.html

From: <mskala at ansuz.sooke.bc.ca>
>
> 1 The people who write the propaganda are not the techies, and as far as
>   they are concerned, the technology might as well be magic.
>
> 2 There are many strong disincentives for a techie to tell his or her
>   boss, "What you have asked me to do is impossible."  Bosses tend to hear
>   "Nobody can do that." as "I can't do it, and so you should fire me
>   and hire someone who can."


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