Re: [tlug] Re: Why Vista Sucks (was: linux: it's becoming ubiquitous)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Josh Glover writes:

 > How *does* one prove the sorts of things he does, short of trying it
 > out? Do there exist accurate models for the world as a whole 50 years
 > into the future?

Oh, of course not.  Even trying it doesn't actually prove anything.
However, one thing you can say for the guy is he's sufficiently
well-respected that people actually do let him try things out.  He's
been consultant to a couple of broken economies.  They were maybe a
little less broken when he got done :-/ but that probably wasn't his
fault: if the pols paid careful attention to what he was saying things
would probably have worked out much better.

Anyway, you prove it the way you prove that a system is secure: you
publish the source code, and let people who hate you try to hack into
it and make it fall down.  If it doesn't, you were secure/correct. :-)

 > IANAE, but his writing is really accessible to the layman.

I like Krugman better, actually, but that may be coastal bias.