My Thoughts: "...people used to be called pirates. Now they're open source enthusiasts."

I found it quite entertaining reading the comments to a blog by Jeff Atwood (https://blog.codinghorror.com/we-dont-use-software-that-costs-money-here/). A large amount of them were dedicated to a single paragraph: "It's tempting to ascribe this to the 'cult of no-pay', programmers and users who simply won't pay for software no matter how good it is, or how inexpensive it may be. These people used to be called pirates. Now they're open source enthusiasts."

Why I find this so fascinating was how at-arms people were defending themselves as if the paragraph was a personal attack on them as software users. At first, I just thought it was the one or two people who always make a big deal about a small thing (the paragraph was not even the point of the blog). But as I continued to read, you see comments (paraphrasing): "long time reading, but not anymore." All over few statements (did I mention that it was not even the point of the blog?).

Still and in a more serious tone, the commenters even appeared to have missed the whole point of the paragraph. First to address the logical problem that keeps irking me. A lot of commenters were basically saying "pirates != open source enthusiasts" but the paragraph reads more like "pirates then open source enthusiasts".

Besides the logical discrepancy, the definition of "pirate" isn't the typical use of the actual people who "steals" software. From the usage, I took the scope of the meaning of pirate to be the group of people who used paid-software for free by downloading hacked or opened software or obtaining keys illegally. Common things that I saw back in college: MS Windows, MS Office, Starcraft, etc.

To me it was felt so ironic that those defending to never have been a pirate probably has used pirated products (I am clumping in MP3 and movies here)... with or without their knowledge. At least back in the day, that was the sign of a good technical engineer... so it is very hard for me to imagine an IT/SW person to not have used pirated products.

Perhaps the confusion is due to the use of the term "open source" instead of "free" or "cost-free" software. Because some commenters were saying "free" being open-source instead of closed-source software. But the article is about costs, so I am not sure why the confusion exists.

Basically, I read the paragraph of people who were users of pirated software are now users of open source software. I have the same sentiments. With more readily available no-cost software, most people have steered more away from pirated software.

Disclaimer

I am pretty sure I've posted a blog about this (blame my fault memory). The periods outside of the quotes are intentional... it just bugs me to use periods within quotes when it is not related to the quote.

Also, I am not sure why I am easily amused by these things.

Reference

https://blog.codinghorror.com/we-dont-use-software-that-costs-money-here/
https://perlbuzz.com/2008/04/10/open_source_is_not_piracy/

My Thoughts (on results as asker): Interview question: 9 balls, find one odd with a balance scale

Disclaimer: This post does not contain the answer the question, although this may contain small hints.

I have posed this question to several people, and found it interesting the common logical point people get stuck on. The most common answer I get is three. Out of 20 or so people (rough estimate), only 1 person (math teacher) figured this out on their own.

Majority of the responses is that they put four on each side. If equal, then the one on the table. If not, take the group that is heavier. Put two on each side, then one on each side.

After they have exhausted their thoughts, I would clue them by asking why they choose four. Why not one, or two, or three?

What I found most interesting is that majority of the people still cannot come up with the answer of two. The reason I find this very interesting is because they use similar logic when they put four balls on each side. The other interesting oddity is even if they brute force the answer (by trying one on each side, then two on each side, then three on each side), some still cannot come up with the answer.

As an Interviewer

Although I enjoy asking this more like a party game, I do not think this is a very effective question for an interview. The question does not effectively get the interviewee to talk out loud, even after I tell them that they should think out loud.

Perhaps they do not want to appear unintelligent by going through wrong assumptions even though everyone does it as part of the process. Or perhaps they don't want to appear to be using brute force.

Maybe a more reasonable assumption is that it is much faster to go through it in your head than talking out loud since the samples are simple enough. Unlike more out-of-the-box questions like how many golf balls fit in a Boeing 747 or monkey with a sombrero, where the question naturally gets interviewees to talk out loud.

Since the interview already is time limited, my personal opinion is that there are better questions to ask if I am trying to test someone's ability to think through a problem. Although

Reference

Search for "interview 9 balls"

Buggish: Outlook.com, It looks like someone else might be using your account

I made the common mistake of entering the incorrect password multiple times eventually entering the correct one eventually but then got the page that says "It looks like someone else might be using your account" dialogue (with Google Chrome).

I was still able to access my account via Microsoft IE as it was still logged in. I logged out, then logged back in and reached the same error page. But on IE, I was able to still change my password. After changing my password, I was able to access my account again on IE. On Chrome, I still get the same error.

Not only do I still get the same error, I am unable to change the account to another account. There appears to be no way of changing the account too. I used EditThisCookie to clear the cookies for the site (live.com), closed browser, and even rebooted. None of this fixed the problem.

The only solution was to go into google chrome settings and clearing all cookies. I am not sure which specific sites also needed to be cleared.