Being an expert in software has gotta be the most boring version of this.
“Oh that point of sale system? It’s running Android 11. I can tell from the status bar at the top. That’s probably because the SOC in it was cheap in bulk and supported Android 11.”
“Pos systems used to only run this specific kernel that had very limited memory because this buttface company lobbied themselves into a monopoly in the industry and we were stuck with 50yo tech until only very recently, which is how we got problems like that credit card input fiasco - this lady could never get her credit card to work because every time she leaned over to swipe, as she was swiping, her belly would nudge the keypad somehow and introduce an extra digit! We couldn’t even separate inputs whilst we were streaming movies off the internet, it was so backward. Now we’ve got a new monopoly with apple and android, it’s all held together by this dude in a basement somewhere. I met him once. He’s not a guy you can forget easily, even though everyone wants to. Also, he has eight fingers. But one of his hands only has two.”
Right, but you can also explain vulnerabilities and speak on topics like AI at a higher level and about that time that guy put in lines that worked like a kill switch if he ever was fired, and he was fired.
Being an expert in software has gotta be the most boring version of this.
“Oh that point of sale system? It’s running Android 11. I can tell from the status bar at the top. That’s probably because the SOC in it was cheap in bulk and supported Android 11.”
There’s probably some history there still too.
“Pos systems used to only run this specific kernel that had very limited memory because this buttface company lobbied themselves into a monopoly in the industry and we were stuck with 50yo tech until only very recently, which is how we got problems like that credit card input fiasco - this lady could never get her credit card to work because every time she leaned over to swipe, as she was swiping, her belly would nudge the keypad somehow and introduce an extra digit! We couldn’t even separate inputs whilst we were streaming movies off the internet, it was so backward. Now we’ve got a new monopoly with apple and android, it’s all held together by this dude in a basement somewhere. I met him once. He’s not a guy you can forget easily, even though everyone wants to. Also, he has eight fingers. But one of his hands only has two.”
Right, but you can also explain vulnerabilities and speak on topics like AI at a higher level and about that time that guy put in lines that worked like a kill switch if he ever was fired, and he was fired.