Re: [LUG] Free versus usurping [was: Another example of open vs closed source]

[Adrian Midgley <amidgley@xxxxxxxxx>]

For a substantial proportion of managers and administrators the priority is actually avoiding errors being detected. ÂIt is a problem. ÂParts of the NHS locally approached the problem of errors being detected in Excel spreadsheets by removing all calculations from the copies of the spreadsheets they allowed to be seen, and so far as possible avoiding distributing them as anything but pictures of the numbers, rather than computable data.

I doubt there is anything special about the people and department involved.

On 22 April 2013 07:41, Henry Bremridge <henry.bremridge@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 07:11:23AM +0100, tom wrote:
> Given that most economists seem to think the economy can not be
> modelled accurately in the first place I cant imagine them worrying
> about coding minutiae.

I think this particular case was more about a "silly error" that was not
spotted. Similar such errors abound:
- The space shuttle metric and imperial measurements
- The "London Whale" and $6.2bn trading loss

http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/27.25.html#subj8

There is also a 2007 report
http://www.cio.com/article/131500/Eight_of_the_Worst_Spreadsheet_Blunders?page=2&taxonomyId=3000

The importance is making sure that careless errors are found

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Henry
Communication not signed with an original manual signature or an appropriately verified digital signature is not binding.
Mon Apr 22 07:38:59 BST 2013

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Adrian MidgleyÂÂ http://www.defoam.net/

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