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F-ES Sitecore wrote: What is annoying me though is the way this has been reported and reacted to on places like twitter, where you normally find nothing but well-informed, intellectually honest, non-partisan debate.
Too good! 
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Quote: on places like twitter, where you normally find nothing but well-informed, intellectually honest, non-partisan debate.
I didn't know they had Twitter on planet Vulcan. Not sure why a species that is guided by logic would need Twitter or even know how to use it, given here on planet Earth Twitter is used for misinformation, lies, social engineering, manipulation and emotional outbursts, but what do I know.
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But ... but ... it's a World-Beating System! The government says so, and it wouldn't lie to us!
You will note however, that I haven't trusted the rapidly developed app enough to let it near my phone ... 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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They could just share the Excel file with everyone and ask us to add our name to it if we get sick.
Our government is so incompetent I'm actually quite suprised they didn't do this.
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You mean you didn't get your copy? 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Wastedtalent wrote: Our government is so incompetent
Yes blame the politicians. But we often forget that they don't do any of the actual work. The real numpties are the civil servants and the overpaid consultants.
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Yammered on and on for weeks about getting something like 40% of people to download and install it, were slippery with the privacy details, developed it with less skill and time than an intern making thickshakes at McDonalds and then wondered why we wouldn't bother..
Why can't our politicians be good 'nuff for government work? 
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The "funny" thing is that finding fifteen thousand plus new corona cases reduces mortality (from covid-19) in the UK. That is good, isn't it?
At least that is the way some people see it, not considering mortality by the number of people who die, or the how large percentage of the population that dies, but by the percentage of people who are registered as being infected that dies.
For a given death count, the more cases of infection that you register, the lower the percentage of people dying from it. Note that a country that doesn't count cases at all, zero reported cases, would have an infinite mortality rate even with a single corona death.
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Which is exactly why there was hysteria in the UK early on; because testing was for a while effectively only being done on the very sick, the mortality rate was vastly above other countries.
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Exactly.
Yet... Even looking at deaths/1M population UK is quite high. Not quite as high as six countries on the other side of the pond, yet twelve times as high as Norway, ten times that of Finland. So the UK is hit quite hard by the Corona virus, even though not as hard as "registered cases / deaths" seems to suggest.
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The population density of Norway / Finland is rather different to the UK though. 
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That is a valid point - but maybe not by the population density of the countries as a whole. Vast forests or high mountain plains where no one lives contribute little to make people respect social distancing. At the bus, in the shops and streets, they have little effect - and those are places where Corona easily spreads.
But: Norwegians/Finns are well known for favoring independence, bordering to being loners. "Everyone" not (yet) living in their own detached house wish they did, rather than cramming together in tiny flats in twenty floor towers. Each kid in the family having his/her own room is a must. Lots of people go on vacation to get away from other people, up in the mountain, or in a sailing boat. To be a true modern guy, you must have your own car; taking the bus is for the lower classes (and there is not much of that. There is no strong tradition for getting together after work in a crowded pub, or for huge all-neighborhood parties in the streets or gardens.
Essentially, we have practiced social distancing for fifty years. Much social activity takes place in more closed groups with people you know - not much mingling qwith strangers that might bring the infection into the group. Compared to many other countries, we practice very little embracing, hugging, kissing... (I guess that is more pronounced in countries such as Italy, Spain, and France; I believe UK is more at the 'shaking hands' level of social interaction.)
This goes even within the family. For the last thirty years Norway has been more Catholic than the Pope (the Pope here being US "morals"): Direct skin contact beyond shaking hands is not directly forbidden by law, but you might think so if you observe people. I think a mother hugging her own child is acceptable up to age five; for the father, it stops at age two, roughly speaking.
We have had a number of outbreaks lately, the majority were students moving out from home and using their newly won freedom to behave more like Italians than like Norwegians - that is an old tradition: When you go to universities, you let loose ... for a while. They soon enough revert to The Norwegian/Finish Style.
University freshmen aside, the Norwegian/Finish 'loner' style probably contributes far more to the low spreading of Corona, rater than vast forests and mountain plains.
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I know I've been on this soapbox before, but until the people in power realise that software development is not a science, these things will happen! They also need to realise that the vast majority of people involved in software development get an adrenalin rush whenever they are given an opportunity to work on shiny new stuff - and are nearly always hugely optimistic about the effort required and timescales.
I'm not blaming the software guys. That would be like 'blaming' your Jack Russell Terrier for enthusiastically fetching the ball back, every time you throw it!  The people at the top are the ones that should be taking the hit on this. Firing a few politicians and senior civil servants, may not completely solve the problem - but it would certainly improve the mood of the nation.
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5teveH wrote: Firing at a few politicians and senior civil servants, may not completely solve the problem - but it would certainly improve the mood of the nation.
FTFY!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Might depend on how well you aim.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
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Or how much ammo you have available!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I read somewhere that the Excel data was stored columnwise rather than rowwise so they hit the column limit of 16,384 instead of the row limit of 1,048,576.
But the real problem is everyone blaming a "computer glitch", rather than explaining that the people writing the code misread a QA answer.
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Richard MacCutchan wrote: But the real problem is everyone blaming a "computer glitch", rather than explaining that the people writing the code misread a QA answer.
I wish that was a joke ... 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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According to arstechnica.com[^] they indeed hit the row limit - which was 65k, not 1M, because they used the old .xls format, rather than the newer (13 years old) .xlsx format.
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Richard MacCutchan wrote: I read somewhere that the Excel data was stored columnwise rather than rowwise
I also read that and considered including it in the OP. I think it's one of the clearer bits of misinformation, I mean who would seriously propose that as a solution? Even the worst of the worst in QA would suggest a new sheet per case rather than a new column.
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F-ES Sitecore wrote: Richard MacCutchan wrote: I read somewhere that the Excel data was stored columnwise rather than rowwise
F-ES Sitecore wrote: Even the worst of the worst in QA would suggest a new sheet per case rather than a new column
Also, XLS only supports 256 cols (A to IV) {and, IIRC, there was a max of 256 sheets as well?}, so it would have to be rows.
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F-ES Sitecore wrote: It's just maddening seeing so much speculation and ill-informed opinions posted as facts,
Welcome to the internet.
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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F-ES Sitecore wrote: a rather public failing in software system
Was it even a "system" as such? Or was it a work experience student who just didn't know any better?
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Thanks for proving my point
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