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Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why

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Re: Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why

#51

Post by kotaKat »

joe_mamba wrote: post #38
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a previous job I was a developer on a medical instrument that used Windows to run the UI. Before everyone gets all up in arms about it, Windows/Linux UI & database with external microcontrollers handling real-time control is a very common architectural choice for medical and industrial equipment. To the point where many Systems-on-Module (SoMs) come with a Linux-capable ARM processor and a separate, smaller proces…

Isn't this what Embedded Windows was always for, like for use in medical equipment, ATMs, POS, PLC, oscilloscopes, etc? Basically stuff that's supposed to be fire-and-forget, run 24/7 and that the user shouldn't be able to tinker with. And also what group policies were for, that can disable the user from installing any software? Am I wrong to assume that the fuckup was on your end, for using the wrong tool and not co…

Memories now of what we were given at the hospital long ago: our obstetrics ward was using Philips OBTraceVue software. The original FDA-approved system required Philips to package the OS and hardware all together, so we were given a bunch of generic Compaq desktops to run their fetal heartrate monitoring on.

The biggest annoying complaint was "we want to run our EHR software on it!" but because of the FDA requirements, we weren't allowed to install anything on the box. Yet somehow providing AV could be OK in some cases, and in other cases installing Citrix? And then we'd somehow find out someone managed to install the EHR client onto it anyways and it became a big old mess to have to have Philips come send a tech out of their own to reimage a PC we couldn't "legally" service.

It was a big messy pain for a while back in the day. Was happy when we finally got to upgrade to the newer IntelliSpace software on our own PCs in the ward. (Also got to meet a support engineer that came out rocking an Agilent badge, so that was super cool on its own right of history...)

Re: Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why

#53

Post by EvanAnderson »

jubilanti wrote: post #42
xnyan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not letting Microsoft off the hook here, but if you have an expensive metered connection and you're trusting clients (especially a modern personal computer of any operating system type)to play nicely with bandwidth, that's 100% on you.

That's a really sorry state of things, then. There's zero trust in software now, in the literal sense. How did it get that we live in a world where you can't trust a client to enforce its own documented behavior? How did it get to be the user's fault for not using OS and hardware level measures and not the software vendor's fault when the "Automatic updates" toggle is a no-op?

In an environment where bandwidth utilization costs money I think it's a good belt-and-suspenders approach, regardless of the expected behavior of the clients, to enforce policy at the choke point between expensive and not-expensive.

(I think more networks should be built with default deny egress policies, personally. It would make data exfiltration more difficult, would make ML algorithms monitoring traffic flows have less "noise" to look thru, and would likely encourage some efficiency on the part of dependencies.)

Re: Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why

#54

Post by EvanAnderson »

This talk about off-the-shelf hardware in space makes me wonder, given the clear line of sight, if it would be possible to detect their Wi-Fi access points' beacons from Earth. I'm not a "radio guy" and don't know if this would be impossible, simply on the basis of physics, due to the presumably low radiated power from the APs and the limitations of the size of typical antennas on the ground. (Obviously it's possible with the right equipment. We can communicate with the Voyager probes, but that's not with a "can-tenna" and an off-the-shelf Wi-Fi card...)

Edit: Anybody know how difficult it would be to keep an antenna pointed at them? I have no intuition for how fast their transit would be. I assume, since an orbit is around 90 minutes, pretty damned fast.

Edit 2: Some search-engining and back-of-the-envelope not-very-good-at-trig math says the longest possible transit would be about 5 minutes, moving though about 40 degrees of arc / minute. I'm probably completely talking out my ass, though.

It feels like it would be do-able to keep a directional antenna trained on a target moving at that speed.

Re: Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why

#56

Post by mrweasel »

stackskipton wrote: post #41

Everyone likes to point and laugh, sure, I'm getting a chuckle as well. However, on more practical level, what are other options? Outlook, the desktop application works really well with local copies, is pretty low bandwidth and very familiar to end users. IMAP with Thunderbird is probably only other option that would satisfy the requirements. EDIT: Yes they need to get email in space. It's easy way to send documents…

> Yes they need to get email in space. It's easy way to send documents back and forth.

To me that's probably much more interesting. We assume they have all this fancy NASA tech, probably some special communication protocols, but nope, email is fine. Still not sure why they'd use Outlook, but I guess it's easier than retraining astronauts on Alpine or Mutt.

How long did the US military rely on mIRC... decades, maybe they still do?

Re: Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why

#57

Post by EvanAnderson »

cocodill wrote: post #55

Maybe for emails and calendars, wouldn't want them to arrive and miss the appointment.

Coordinating time-zone issues between remote meeting participants on a single celestial body is complex enough. >smile<

Re: Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why

#58

Post by EvanAnderson »

PretzelPirate wrote: post #48

I don't understand the title. It doesn't seem like they are trying to figure out why two copies of outlook are installed, they're trying to figure out why neither is giving them access to their email.

People opening the "wrong" Outlook has been the norm for the last couple of years. Between "Outlook (classic)", "new" Outlook (rolled out with Office 365 clients), and "Outlook" (rolled out with Windows 11) it's been a shit show for a while now.

Re: Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why

#59

Post by rich_sasha »

cgh wrote: post #33
rich_sasha wrote: post #9

[flagged]

Clippy: “Hi, it looks like you’re trying to go to the Moon”

Ugh. Actually...

> The thing about Space is that it's just so huge. Unbelievably so. And the real challenge? You have to make all your delta-V for orbital speed by pushing gas very fast. In one go.

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