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[–] 58 points 4 months ago (1 child)

You wouldn't and they didn't.

The article has just failed to inform the readers (the few that got past the headline), that this was on his personal Surface Tablet and not on anything associated with the mission.

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  • [–] -4 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    If it's on the ship, it's associated with the mission. Windows has a very high habit of barfing so over itself, as is evidenced by this article. It's bonkers to me that they chose to use Windows for anything at all.

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    I don't think the phone in my pocket is "associated with my job" when I'm working, just because it's in the same location. Do you?

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  • [–] -3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    False equivalency.

    If you were going on a 10 day hike to the most remote location on earth, would you bring the most unreliable device you could find, or something you can count on?

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    You don't understand. Their personal device can be trashed immediately without any drawbacks to the mission.

    If I go on a 10 day hike to the most remote location on Earth, and bring my yoyo to have some fun with, I really don't care if it breaks on my hike, and the hike is not affected except for my not having fun with my yoyo.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    No, I do understand. I still think it's a bad decision. It's not just about how critical to the mission it is. It's useful as a form of communication with family and entertainment. In that context I do think it's "important". And also in that context, I would want something reliable.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    Absolutely agree. It's still wrong that it's associated with the mission, and it's not "absolutely bonkers" to not really think about the personal email client you use.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    It's not like Outlook is their main way of communicating with mission control. If the tablet actually craps the bed, they'll just use another computer. They're nothing if not redundant. Calling a personal tablet mission critical is a false equivalence

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Tbh nowadays mail software kinda sucks all around, not just Outlook

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    The tablets are a convenience, not a requirement and so being commercial off the shelf means it's cheaper and it works well enough than what purpose-built hardware and software.

    If every tablet died, the mission would proceed without pause. Except the astronauts would be checking gauges instead of looking at a system monitor on their tablet and not sending as many e-mails.

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