Computer says no

#1

Post by edw519 » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 1:13 PM UTC

Re: Computer says no

#2

Post by CapitalistCartr » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 1:59 PM UTC

" . . . isn’t Vernon Hill, one of the bank’s founders, tempted to build an IT system of his own? I hate programmers, replies this dyed-in-the-wool entrepreneur. They only cause trouble."

Spoken like someone who's been there on a few projects.

Re: Computer says no

#3

Post by rbanffy » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 2:01 PM UTC

Loved the reference to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZAoMv_QnAU

Re: Computer says no

#4

Post by rick_2047 » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 2:04 PM UTC

This really creeps me out you know. Money has a first person ontology. Paper, metal, gold or bits are money because we believe its money. But if the reported numbers for the bank’s exposure were regularly billions of dollars adrift of reality then now can I believe that what I have is not going to disappear in a glitch or is created because of a glitch.

Disclaimer:I am not an economist nor do I earn anything right now. So if this is an uneducated or miss educated comment please fill free to give references.

Re: Computer says no

#5

Post by pragmatic » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 2:13 PM UTC

Is it me or doesn't this make any sense?

But what really sets Metro Bank apart is its state-of-the-art IT system.

Then at the end:

With such grand designs, isn’t Vernon Hill, one of the bank’s founders, tempted to build an IT system of his own? “I hate programmers,” replies this dyed-in-the-wool entrepreneur. “They only cause trouble.”

Didn't they already build a state of the art IT system?

Re: Computer says no

#6

Post by pragmatic » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 2:18 PM UTC

Bonus: http://www.economist.com/comment/604403#comment-604403

One of the best explanations between community banks and the "big" banks.

I worked for a company that is now part of Fiserv.

Re: Computer says no

#7

Post by mseebach » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 2:32 PM UTC

The banks website seems to be at https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/ .. but Chrome says the SSL certificate is signed by an unknown authority, who claims to be VeriSign.

Re: Computer says no

#8

Post by jacquesm » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 2:42 PM UTC

pragmatic wrote: post #5

Is it me or doesn't this make any sense? But what really sets Metro Bank apart is its state-of-the-art IT system. Then at the end: With such grand designs, isn’t Vernon Hill, one of the bank’s founders, tempted to build an IT system of his own? “I hate programmers,” replies this dyed-in-the-wool entrepreneur. “They only cause trouble.” Didn't they already build a state of the art IT system?

Maybe they outsourced the building of it?

Re: Computer says no

#9

Post by jacquesm » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 2:44 PM UTC

rick_2047 wrote: post #4

This really creeps me out you know. Money has a first person ontology. Paper, metal, gold or bits are money because we believe its money. But if the reported numbers for the bank’s exposure were regularly billions of dollars adrift of reality then now can I believe that what I have is not going to disappear in a glitch or is created because of a glitch. Disclaimer:I am not an economist nor do I earn anything right no…

It's really no surprise. If a bank is processing data all the time in various, non-connected systems then the only way to know the actual state is to stop accepting input and to let all processes synchronize to the point where you can total things up. Anything else is going to almost certainly miss a bunch of stuff that is in the midst of being updated on one system, but not yet available on another, or counted double.

Re: Computer says no

#10

Post by dchest » Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 2:59 PM UTC

mseebach wrote: post #7

The banks website seems to be at https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/ .. but Chrome says the SSL certificate is signed by an unknown authority, who claims to be VeriSign.

Probably, Chrome's (dev version?) bug.