I wonder, I wonder… If I were a machine, would I be a good one? Would my performance, design and build quality make me as appealing as your favourite gadget? Probably not. But why do I think so? Is it because I don’t live up to my hardware specifications or the user expectations?
What is it exactly that makes a machine great? To answer this question, I did an internal analysis. Based on the data collected after probing my systems, using an introspection tool, I will be able to see why my I’m reporting a low overall rating.
My hardware is pretty decent, nothing is missing, it’s not that old and everything seems to function in normal parameters. It’s not the most technologically advanced piece of equipment, but it’s still above average and even close to some high end models.
After checking the hardware maintenance logs, I see a decline in upkeep frequency and an increased usage of overclocked components. What was curious to see was the overclocking was not done to resolve a high load of processes, but to cancel out some processes that were not responding to root commands. There are no critical warnings so far, but failure to maintain a proper configuration will result in long term hardware damage.
The look and feel got positive user reviews. Some users reported that it looks better than it actually works, other mentioned that they would change certain features or that they preferred features from the previous model which are not available anymore. But the general feedback collected from the user interaction logs is considered to be in the optimal range.
Looking at the software logs, the story is completely different. At a first look everything seems to work just fine, however a closer inspection has identified multiple problem areas. In general, there were far too many processes open which were causing a critical load on the entire machine. Most of the processes are not even required, but remained open in the background as a result of bad security management.
There is one process in particular which received full access without passing any security checks. The user who has input it had no security clearance either. In a very short amount of time, this process which was initially running in the front end became a daemon process. It then began multithreading occupying all the available free memory and processing power. Once it had no more resources to feed on, it started killing other system processes so it can free up some more resources. Ultimately, the system’s resources were fully occupied by this daemon process, which was putting such a high load on the system but wasn’t returning any output. It just kept on going on and on, until it became an infinite loop.
Although not in plain sight, the software plays an essential role in a machine. The hardware without software is just an empty cold box. It may look like a million dollars, but it will just be worth the space it uses in your house.
System failures are a good source of improvement. If you don’t see what’s wrong for yourself, they simply crash everything. The good part is that once everything is down, your full attention and energy will be directed towards solving the problem at hand.
Interpretation for non-geeks
What I mean to say with all this geek crap, which is my weird way of describing and coping with emotional disorder, is much more simple and concise.
There are very few things in this life that actually deserve my attention. There are even less that deserve my affection. Out of those even less make a connection. Only few connections are worth-while and hardly any are for life. Everything else has no importance, it’s just white noise.
“(…) life is bitter and sweet
choose wise who you will meet
it’s better to make your journey feel good
that actually getting where you should
because life’s too short
to walk in shoes that hurt”
“
web ape 