“MOSILOR, inchiriez apartament semidecomandat in vila“…

De la Dan Ariely, care e, ca de obicei, genial.

Suppose I’m an average Joe, for a moment. I won’t remove the idiotic application. For a couple of reasons:

1. I don’t know how to remove applications from facebook.

Sorry, but I have no fucking clue that i even COULD do that. It is NOT a straightforward task, and I think the Facebook folks are letting it hard to find on purpose. Helps the ecosystem :)

2. I have no incentive

The app seems benign, it does not pose as a threat, just a time waster. And that’s why I’m on Facebook anyway, right? I don’t care if it spreads to others, and the perceived risk of stealing my data for targeted phishing messages two months from now is way too low.

3. Your plea to remove the app does not reach me

Because it does not spread as virally as the app itself :)

Sorry, but that’s the truth: nobody has a clue how to remove apps from their facebook accounts, and even if they would, they would not have any incentive.

But what if we could write an “uninstall tool” for the app? It could run as an automated tool or a gentle guide for the user. It could be a stand alone program scripting a web browser, it could be a web service that takes your fb credentials and goes thru your account, or it could be an added functionality in Traffic Light (the in-browser plugin).

Another idea: what if we write an app that uninstalls moronic applications? Is is at all possible? Think of the “manele” virus a few years back.

What do you think?

Ne era si frica, direct proportionala cu numarul de semne de exclamare din manualul placii de baza, scris in engleza taiwaneza a tuturor manualelor de atunci.

Am mesterit buna parte din seara, consultandu-ne (“ma, ai inteles bine ce scrie acolo? al catelea jumper? din stanga? da’ care e stanga?”) si asambland cu grija, fugind din minut in minut sa atingem cu degetele caloriferul, nu cumva sa ne fi electrizat intre timp si sa stricam circuitele…

Nu mai tin minte rezultatul final, am impresia ca era un Celeron la 400 de MHz (primul nostru calculator care a fost in stare sa cante MP3-uri); probabil ca entuziasmul puterii crescute a fost sters de amintiri mai recente, cum ar fi calculatorul cu 48 de procesoare al lui Dex, dar am sa tin minte emotia cu care l-am asamblat, din electronice fragile si palpabile.

Asta a fost acum 10 ani. Acum abia 10 ani.

Astazi, vorbeam cu Lex despre un server de testare. Care creeaza si distruge calculatoare virtuale de cate ori e nevoie. A modificat cineva ceva? Creez 20 de calculatoare virtuale. Doua zeci! 1234567891011121314151617181920! Le las sa ruleze juma de ora. Le cer rezultatele. Le distrug. Poof!

Si nu e pentru NASA. Pot si eu, pe persoana fizica! Scot cardul de credit, platesc cativa dolari, si am un calculator virtual. Complet. Care nu exista. Dar pe care pot rula orice programe vreau eu. Cu ce procesor vreau eu. Cu cate procesoare vreau eu. Unde? Undeva pe Internet. Nimeni nu stie precis unde. Internet? Ala care acum 10 ani venea cu 6 kilo pe secunda daca erai norocos (jpeguri progresive, anybody?). Acum iti gazduieste CALCULATOARE intregi. Virtuale. Si pe care le poti crea si distruge dintr-un buton. Si chiar o faci.

Star Trek? Mai gandeste-te o data! Nu e asa departe. De fapt… e chiar la doi pasi!