• themurphy@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    More like it shows dangers of using only one provider for almost all IT infrastructure.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        3 months ago

        Because if everyone used cash, schedule systems, records systems, communication systems around the world, breakdown still.

        If there’s a verity of software vendors used in these systems, and financial systems, you don’t get simultaneous global breakdowns any more.

        Basically. Using cash won’t prevent this from happening. Using several interoperable software providers and systems will.

        • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          Using cash won’t prevent this from happening.

          I mean yeah, that’s why I said both, not just cash. I carry some cash on me because you never know. I’d also like to see less monopolization of just about everything because it makes for single points of failure. Diversifying your payment methods by including the potential for cash also helps.

          • Steve@communick.news
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            3 months ago

            But cash has nothing to do with this.
            It’s an entirely unrelated issue.
            It could equally be a warning to floss every day for all they’re related.

            • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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              3 months ago

              When the payment processor goes down, I can buy my groceries/gas/weed with cash, not by flossing my teeth. I don’t follow the point you’re making. Going fully cashless is a bad idea, and the recent outage didn’t affect every system used. I don’t see how having multiple methods of payment is possibly a bad thing. I’m not advocating for only cash.

              • Steve@communick.news
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                3 months ago

                The inventory and POS systems also go down. You still can’t by your groceries/gas/weed.

                Going cashless is a bad idea. But not because of this.

                • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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                  3 months ago

                  That’s not what I witnessed recently. Payment processors went down but local POS was fine. Inventory didn’t matter with the short duration of the outage. This is one of the reasons going cashless is a bad idea. Far from the only one, but it’s a factor, and I experienced it. Going cashless reduces diversity in payment options and makes the system more vulnerable.

                  • Steve@communick.news
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                    3 months ago

                    That’s not what I witnessed recently.

                    Now you’re bringing personal anecdotes to rebut global systemic hypotheticals.
                    We’re not having the same discussion anymore.

                • ganymede@lemmy.ml
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                  3 months ago

                  Going cashless is a bad idea. But not because of this.

                  It’s pretty clear this incident has highlighted a myriad of very important issues.

                  It’s likely more productive to discuss the other issues in their own threads - this thread is clearly focused on the cashless problem.

                  • Steve@communick.news
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                    3 months ago

                    That’s exactly what we were discussing.
                    But it doesn’t matter any more.

              • sibachian@lemmy.ml
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                3 months ago

                this wasn’t a problem with cashless infrastructure tho, this was a problem with monoculture. if the globe stopped using microsoft for gov and business, and instead threw their tax money towards open development; as in - the people, not microsoft, these kind of global issues wouldn’t exist.

        • SomeGuy69@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          It’s also not like as if I care. In case of total collapse and me being hungry, I’ll just take the food regardless. Cash is pointless as we’ve already moved digital, even in a cash country like mine.

      • orcrist@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        Because cash doesn’t solve the problem. If the stores themselves rely on computers, and they do, it doesn’t matter what’s in your wallet. (In other words, you need more than just cash to have a reliable alternative. It’s certainly possible to do so.)

        Also, some of the big problems were in airports and hospitals where payment was not the serious concern.

        • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          3 months ago

          Agreed. While I agree with the privacy and security arguments against cashless payment methods, I’m still for them for the simple fact that as someone who works as a cashier for a living (or some semblance of one anyway), I’m more aware than the average public of just how DISGUSTING cash actually is.

            • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              3 months ago

              Oh gods yes.

              I get so many bills that are dirty, but also you don’t wanna know all the germs that are on a lot of those bills. Another thing I learned from years of working in retail is that people are also disgusting as all hell. Many people don’t bother washing their hands after going to the bathroom, or they’ll hand you nasty sweaty bills they pulled out of their pocket after walking into a store or up to a fuel kiosk during a >80 °F (26 °C) day, or after working a shift in construction or a factory job or even simply just exercising. Some women will pull cash directly out from under their bra, as if I want to accept sweaty boob money. Yes, they could use a wallet. However, many people don’t. Rather, they just shove the cash directly into their pocket or bra and be done with it. Because fuck cashiers, I guess.

              Not to mention that the majority of bills out there have at least some trace amount of cocaine or other drugs covering it, though you may not be able to see it.

              So, in short, sorry for the ramble but, yes, people are absolutely disgusting and so is their cash.

              Retail. has. fucking. ruined me.

              /rant lol

    • lemmyreader@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      There’s more to it. The mono-culture is one thing, but rolling out the update to millions of computers on the same days sounds like a bad idea.

      Fun fact in 2008, with nuclear submarines, the mono-culture was not that bad yet.

      It’s interesting to note the UK went with a Windows XP variant and not Windows Vista, which is marketed as the more reliable OS. The USA never made the same calculations: The American Navy runs on Linux.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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      3 months ago

      Not necessarily one provider but one point of failure. In this case it was the update system that allowed one company to push something to production on other companies systems.