Still a ways to go
At the end of the last week, in a flurry of last minute emails between some clients and I, I mis-typed "implement". Being as I was in quite a hurry, I quickly accepted the spell-check suggestion for the "correct" spelling. Just after I sent the email, I realized Outlook Express had changed it to "impalement", quite changing the original intent of the email. I quickly sent another email to the original recipients explaining the error and all was resolved, but it was a reminder of how genuinely stupid computers are.
A genuinely intelligent spell-check would examine the context of the word in question and make recommendations based upon that, just as any human being with half a mind would. Instead, current spell-check technologies typically use a rather superficial algorithm, attempting to match words on a few key letters and phonetic approximations. Just like a good computer, it does exactly what it is told, proceeding from step to step blindly, rather than making any attempt at genuinely understanding so as to be more helpful.
At the same time, I'm not sure I want a computer that intelligent. I kind of like the idea of me still retaining some measure of control and authority.
October 20, 2003 11:11 AMI so wish that I could include the word impalement in some of my dealings with the business users that I have to deal with. Might put it in there just to freak them out.
Pondered by crabby at October 21, 2003 08:07 PM