On Tue, 2003-11-18 at 23:11, N7MAL wrote:
> Doug/Jim said: "As Doug W9WI pointed out, LoTW is too complicated for most
> people. We can not force people to use technology just because it's there,
> or just because we do."
I think that overstates my point. I don't think it's too complicated
for *most* people.
However, contesters are for the most part more computer-literate than
the ham community in general. (we have to be: can you imagine making a
competitive entry with paper logging today?!)
Even for many younger people, any software installation more complicated
than "click here and keep clicking Next until it stops" is too much. I
run into that all the time at work. (a good thing as we'd rather they
*not* be installing software on company computers<grin>!)
Now, I would disagree with K3MD's statement that "...this is probably a
design flaw that could be corrected with more modern programming.".
LotW IMHO *has* to be as complicated as it is in order to meet what seem
to have been the design goals. Security, unfortunately, is not simple.
An insecure LotW program could almost instantly comprimise the DXCC
program to the point of making Honor Roll meaningless. It's pretty hard
to convincingly forge 300+ QSL cards. It's a lot easier to forge 300+
electronic confirmations.
(indeed, I'm very impressed by the League's decision to use open
standards and open-source software in this project. Many such projects
would have never even considered supporting Linux or MacOS - let alone
have one OS supported at launch and the other a few weeks later..)
Serious DXers will probably embrace LotW just as fully as contesters
will. Our two groups will benefit greatly. Many paper confirmations
will be replaced with LotW records. My point is that it will not
replace paper *completely* - and the station who believes they can stop
paper QSLing is going to disappoint a lot of the "little pistols" who
make our pursuit enjoyable.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com
---------------------------------------------------------------
The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and VHS!
http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
---------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|