Re: Comment on the recent article on Madoff's scam -- MIDRANGE-L

The technology is morally neutral. The focus must be on those who implemented the technology for wrongful purposes.

I live in the backwoods and own an axe. It is a useful tool for me when splitting wood for the evening fire. But put that same axe in the hands of Lizzie Borden and you get entirely different results. Is that the fault of the axe? I think not.

Rich Loeber - @richloeber
Kisco Information Systems
http://www.kisco.com
-------------------------

Quoting Vern Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxx>:

Larry

I agree with you to some extent - maybe I am just a bit paranoid - the
title put more focus on the technology and not enough, IMO, on the
people misusing that technology.

Vern

Larry Bolhuis wrote:

First, IOS is a trademark of Cisco Systems and was purchased by Cisco in
1987. So be very careful using that name for our IBM i operating system.

Second, I read the article on the Madoff scheme. Seems to me it puts the
AS/400 in a pretty good light doing exactly what Madoff wanted it to do
and convincing his clients very thoroughly that he was doing good things
with their money. It is referenced as an "Energizer Bunny" and "Very
Capable". It reports a team of developers there contributing to the
ponzi scheme. But then maybe I missed something between the lines??

- DrFranken

Mike Cunningham wrote:

"(Unix came out over 40 years ago - shall we talk legacy?)"

First version of Windows came out in 1985, first version of i/OS (S/38) in 1979 - only 6 years older. I guess everything is "legacy".

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Vern Hamberg
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 4:10 PM
To: thomas.granahan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Comment on the recent article on Madoff's scam

Mr Granahan

I read with interest the article by John Dodge about technology behind
the Madoff scam
(http://www.iddmagazine.com/issues/2009_42/the-technology-behind-the-scam-199529-1.html?partner=thestreet).
It appears, from a quick read, to put much of the blame squarely on the
AS/400 - the technology in question. I strongly object to this - it is,
in my opinion, completely wrong-headed. I learned long ago that
computers are stupid - they do exactly what you tell them, not what you
want. If things were done on these systems that allowed Madoff to carry
out his Ponzi scheme, it is not the system's fault. It is some
programmer, some auditor, some whatever human being behind it all.

I am a computer professional who works on these so-called legacy systems
- a false categorization, unless you lump Unix systems in along with it.
(Unix came out over 40 years ago - shall we talk legacy?) The IBM
midrange systems have a tremendous feature, backward-compatibility -
anything you wrote 20 years ago can be compiled on current systems
without any change in source code. Talk to us about VB.net - about API
calls in Windows that don't work in the next release.

This strength of the system was exploited by a human - the extreme
segregation of computing resources that let Madoff get away with his scheme.

Mr Dodge's report of the printing characteristics - well, it is a very
narrow presentation of the system's capabilities. That seems completely
beside the point. And this is not unique to these systems. At all!! A
distinction without a difference.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I ask you to publish a
retraction or clarification - e.g., that the technology behind it was
NOT to blame. Perhaps something about the true strengths of the platform
and how human beings were able to take those strengths and fleece other
people in such a way. THAT would be an interesting study in human nature
- not the veiled suggestion of culpability of any technology as against
that of those who use it.

Regards

Vernon M. Hamberg
Software Architect
RJS Software Systems
www.rjssoftware.com

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