I've got a bit of a problem with the example of hospital management software. Given the complexity, particularly in the US, of the healthcare system, why expect the software to be "high-quality"? (Whatever that means).
Agreed on the airline management example though. It's insane how patchy that all is.
The US hospital system could do far better simplifying its billing procedures rather than attempting to implement equally complex software to line pockets on both sides.
I have worked with passenger rail transport. Knowing the quirks of that domain, I am quite impressed with air travel software. Anecdotally, I have rarely heard of cases of «Computer says no» in air travel, which are abundant in most other domains.
I was referring to the competing GDS platforms that airlines like Southwest opted not to use. I was trying to be charitable to the author here, because I am partial to how the terminal booking interface just works and allows for almost universal interoperability. You just have to learn how to use it. Of course, there is still greater functionality when using the airline's website directly (dynamic pricing, seat choice), which is "patchy".
One could see it as patchy, when you access an airline's website and before you can do anything useful, you have to load scripts that do who knows what, from 20 third party domains, that have nothing to do with you searching or booking a flight. Basically cobbled together slow as molasses ton of scripts, that probably barely work at all.
They aren’t referring to the client side of this question. Airline websites generally have the quality of any generic corporate IT project…
I assume what the parent was referring to is the backend systems like Sabre that coordinates travel and ticketing between airlines, travel agents, etc. It is a truly ancient system by today’s standards, with origins in the 1960s and mainframes. Systems like this actually have started to limit what airlines can do and how many flights they can manage.
Those user-side scripts have nothing to do with booking the flight. The reservation software is running in a data center somewhere, quite possibly on a mainframe they've been trying to retire for 30 years.
Love the weather forecast on the coffee machine. Like so much 2000s tech, such a weird luxury that seems less useful and more experimental.
I do wish there was more openness in FM band technology. As a young ham, HD Radio and DirectBand were both interests of mine — ubiquitous and extensible layers on existing tech — but were so commercial that they will be/were phased out before we get anything substantial to be open.
It also works out pretty well for them, as they’re basically /the/ symbol of soulless commercialism, sanding down everything distinctive about characters and producing a cuboid of concentrated Brand. Anyone who voluntarily looks at that and decides they want to be a part of it is already on board with the corporate hellscape, so nothing they do could possibly harm their reputation among their customers.
There's no annual fee so I'm not sure why someone would regret getting it. I've had it for about 3 years and use it for 3% back at Apple and Walgreens. It does the job.
It really shined on an international vacation about 2 years ago. Where Amex wasn't accepted the no-foreign-transaction-fee Mastercard was very useful.
When I applied they would only do a hard pull on an applicant's credit if they were approved. If that's still the case then I would definitely apply, even just for the thick metal card and the future long-standing line of credit.
Some school schedules are done so classes meet every-other-day. There are A days and B days, which is specified because certain holidays or exam periods might necessitate a break in the sequence.
Schools are often cute with it; they theme the days with their school colors instead of A/B.
Have you worked at a worker-owned company? I think, largely, a goal of worker-owned restaurants is to make the work experience less transactional. Is there anything besides stress (which is not mentioned in the article) that would make transactionality and outsized profit a necessary thing?
Agreed on the airline management example though. It's insane how patchy that all is.
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