back to article London 2012 Olympics: 17000 athletes, 11000 computers

Even if you don't care about people running quickly around in circles, it can't have escaped your notice that the Olympics is coming to London for 17 days in July 2012. As the world's biggest sports event of the year, it will involve 17,000 athletes, 20,000 members of the press, millions of spectators (10 million tickets sold - …

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  1. EddieD

    Heretic here...

    After a full patch cycle and a wee bit of optimisation, Vista will run cleanly and consistenly - but Win 7 came out very, very soon after they got Vista working, so most folk haven't seen it.

    Similar interface to 7, so it will be familiar, and, as speaking as a techy, if the support techs say it's for the best, I'll agree with them.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Windows

      I don't think they went for the best here, considering the brand and Vista I think they went for "cheap". Or more correctly put: "they went for the optimal price range".

      Anyone who has been following the technical aspects of both OS's will tell you that for an optimal performance you're better of using Win7 than Vista. I've witnessed this myself with my (professional) audio equipment. Vista worked, but when the load went a little bit up then Vista could hardly copy anymore. Win7 (same hardware, same software, other OS)? It flies. In the previous example it took approx. a tenth of the load which Vista needed.

      Still, at least there's some new motivation to watch the olympics for me; checking up if all keeps on working or if we get some BSOD on one of the boards all of a sudden :-)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I installed Windows 7 on the same hardware as Vista and found it to be MUCH slower. Windows 7 is not an improvement on Windows Vista, It IS Windows Vista but with a slower (and ridiculous) UI. It is not the rewrite that it is claimed as can be proven very easily if you just look in the program files. Why have a Windows Mail folder in there if Windows 7 doesn't come with Windows Mail? And surprise, surprise, if you use the Windows Vista DLL for Windows Mail, it works.

        You are perpetuating the myth that Windows 7 is superior to Windows Vista when quite frankly, it isn't.

        1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

          "I installed Windows 7 on the same hardware as Vista and found it to be MUCH slower. "

          I don't doubt your experience, since I wasn't there, but I think you are the *only* person in the world with that experience.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Nope....

            I've seen the same here.

            We've done a fair amount of testing on brand new Dell Latitudes.

            Out the box Vista with updates is quicker to start...

            However...

            Give it 4 months and Vista is on it's knees if you've so much as loaded a new calculator program on it.

            It takes about 6 months for 7 to get to the same point.

    2. Stupidscript

      Vista

      Most likely, Acer saw an opportunity to dump all of those Vista systems they had lying around the warehouse. There's simply no other reason to use that particular OS when there are so many other, far better OSs available. Fortunately, in the article updates the plan looks a bit more sensible, running Win7.

  2. TheOtherJola
    Happy

    Running Vista ... not about the fancy specs

    I notice you wrote

    "that the vast majority of them are running Windows Vista. But it's not about the fancy specs"

    If they're running Vista it will *need* to be about the fancy specs!

    Anyway, nice article and nice pics. Thanks. A good read. :)

    1. C 2
      Trollface

      Vista?

      I dunno if I'd use the word 'run'...

      Then again if they had 11,000 techs and 11,000 computers I'm sure it would work out.

  3. Piro Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Oh, goodness...

    Cheap Acers and Windows Vista.

    Sounds an awful recipe to me.

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

      Yes but

      They have support on site who they can chuck it to and get a replacement.

      It won't be like the IT crowd with Moss (Windows Vista, We're all going to die!) and Roy (Have you turned it off and on again?)

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Acer support

        That's a huge improvement on standard Acer support so it might be just that if they pull out all the stops.

    2. Steve Evans

      @Piro

      Does sound a bit scary doesn't it, but on the bright side I think even an Acer machine can manage to work for 17 days... It's usually at about the 12-18 month point that the power supplies pack up.

  4. TeeCee Gold badge
    Joke

    I can see it now.....

    "Why aren't the times up on the results board?"

    "Just copying 'em across. According to the Vista copy dialogue they'll be there in a minute......5 minutes......23 days.........22 days........28 days........a year......"

    1. Stevie

      Bah

      Didn't you hear? No-one on the web is allowed to tell the time any more on account of astrologers bought the sky.

      or something.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sponsored...

    ...by peddlers of sugar-water and obesity inducing foods; run by a fat, slow and insecure OS.

    They are consistent at least.

    Still, at least the property speculators got to buy loads of housing at way below market value, and the political class get to strut about; so who cares that this jumped-up sports jamboree will cost the taxpayer millions (if not billions) and is reducing access to sporting facilities for the poorest in the UK?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > by peddlers of sugar-water and obesity inducing foods

      I hear the Olympic site will play host to the world's biggest McDonald's. That is so wrong on so many levels.....

  6. Silverburn
    FAIL

    Vista and consistency

    They want to use vista to 'maintain consistency'?

    Consistently what? Consistently crap?

  7. David 39
    Coat

    Ah HA!

    It's a true project, with an end date that cannot move," said Acer's Programme Manager Todd Olsen, "There is no flexibility; it has to work on the 27th of July."

    Damnit that's why I keep getting sacked, I always allow my projects to not work years after the deadline

    1. Richard Morris

      Me thinks he might be more used to working on Gvmt IT contracts!

  8. MacGuru
    FAIL

    only 50m pool??

    in SE England.. only other than the one which is in SE London, thats been there for quite a while and is 50m.

    here is a pic just in case:

    http://www.dibf.org/eurocup-2009/images/stories/venue/06.jpg

    Could have saved a lot of money by using Crystal Palace National Sports centre for the games, but everything has to be built in East London...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @MacGuru

      Of course! How else could the MPs chums in the construction business make any money otherwise? You think these games are about the people, health or sport?

      2012 and 2014 - one impoverished nation and one subsidised nation putting on jumped-up sports day for the elite which national infrastructure crumbles.

      Trebles and company directorships all round!

    2. Elmer Phud

      Ownership

      They are supposed to be Boris's games held in Boris's London with Boris's traffic schemes and Boris's bikes and Boris's public transport.

      There's still plenty of corporate-style tickets on sale and the corporates are now running competitions for the unwashed to win tickets.

      It's his big advert to get him the Mayor's job again.

      It also comes with promised Boris's high-scale traffic jams, Boris's demand for 30% less commuters (wtf?) and Boris's buggering up of East London as demonstrated by ensuring that Westfield sucks in customers from local shops.

      Still, as with Vista, as long as it looks pretty and looks as if it works who gives a toss?

    3. chris_b1

      or the 50m pool in Guildford- http://www.surreysportspark.co.uk/sports/swimming/

    4. Bunker_Monkey
      FAIL

      err... 50m pool

      You forget about the Olympic pool in Coventry.. Yes Coventry!

    5. Jim Morrow
      Paris Hilton

      coulda saved several shitloads of money by not bidding for the games in the first place and letting paris host them. the olympics are another fucking waste of public money by bastard blair and his useless cronies.

      paris icon because she's obviously much more accommodating.

  9. Tempest 3K
    Joke

    Inventory

    So that's how they are dealing with the inventory backlog we heard about a while back!

  10. Sir Runcible Spoon

    Sir

    When the Olympics is over, who gets to buy the 'village' afterwards for £1 and funny handshake?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Well, lest any others mock you Sir, they need only look over here in Vancouver where they have had a great deal of difficult shifting the Olympic village units for any price....

      1. Darryl
        Coat

        Didn't the Stanley Cup rioters mostly burn down the Olympic Village in Vancouver?

        1. Sir Runcible Spoon

          Didn't realise that. I was basing my observation on the Millenium Dome in London.

          I think it was eventually sold for a fiver (that's 5 of your Earth pounds) even though the cost to the UK Taxpayer was getting on for a billion (that's 1000000000 of your Earth pounds).

          Slight discrepancy.

  11. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    FAIL

    Err? you have missed something????

    What about the Olympics part 2 then? The Paralympics? All you seem to talk about is the main event but for a lot of people that is the mere warmup act.

    A Number of other venues will be used for this. For example Brands Hatch.

    Come on ElReg.....

    Or are Acer and the rest of them going to pack up shop and take their toys home once the first closing cerempny has happened.

    Where's the Mega Fail icon when you need it?

  12. bitmap animal

    15" screens

    Won't the lucky recipients be excited about getting those. The only place I've seen one that small recently is in a server rack.

    I presume each PC has a specific duty so the small screen will actually be OK for it's job.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    We need...

    ... a follow up article after the event to see if everything was ok in the end, or if all the dire predictions I expect this column to be full of come true :)

  14. theblackhand

    Typo?

    "11,000 Acer boxes and 1,200 techies at the ready"

    My experience with Acer suggests it should be 1,200 Acer boxes and 11,000 techies at the ready....

    Although that maybe a little light on the techie side unless they have some fancy parts replacement machines....

    1. Manu T

      @ theblackhand

      They should have used Acorn Computers RISC OS machines. True UK technology.

      or at least

      They should have used either UK-assembled PC's from a UK company.

      Acer (aka yet another CCP or 'Cwappy Chinese Pwoduct') and yesteryears M$ Vista. Really 'innovative'. Perhaps this year there'll be a new discipline, count the BSOD's.

      Heey, perhaps this is great for gambling sites. Predict the BSODS on this years event. :-)

      1. mtdnelson

        Acorn ++

        https://www.riscosopen.org/content/

  15. Roger Varley

    Pictures

    Looking the side on shot of the swimming pool - am I the only one to be reminded of the building in the Italian Job where they're chased up onto the roof by the Italian cops?

    1. Kirbini
      Devil

      Erm, yes.

      It reminds me of a panty liner....

    2. rh587

      Part of the plan?

      The tour guide said people bringing cars wouldn't be able to park. They didn't say anything about not driving "around" the village...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You'll have to get through the vehicle checkpoints first...

        ...and then show your accreditation. And go through the x-ray machines. Have fun!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Yeah I saw the picture of the pool and I wondered how they were going to stop the water from just running off.

      Yeah, I dig the panty liner thing as well...I mean from pictures that I might have seen...some time back...erm

  16. shaolin cookie
    WTF?

    My wife has Vista

    Most of the time I see her at the computer she's either waiting for it to respond to commands or rebooting since the (wifi/MS Word/input systems/...) don't work anymore.

    On the plus side, the athletes will get lots of exercise having to run the races many times given that the computers crashed again. :-)

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The IT Crowd

    "What operating system do you have?"

    "Er, Vista I think"

    "We're gonna die Roy! We're gonna die!"

  18. Ian Stephenson
    Facepalm

    It looks like Acer have no experience of government contracts...

    They seem to be intent on delivering on time and in budget and maybe even to spec.

    Ah well, they'll learn.

  19. Doogie Howser MD
    Thumb Down

    Time for the obvious response

    Kapoor's Tower is a vertical pile of shit that just doesn't fit architecturally. Just sayin'.

    My 8 year old could have designed something 10 times as good for a fraction of the price. With his hands tied behind his back. And a blindfold on. And drugged. Holding a crayon with his toes.

    1. Red Bren
      Coat

      Someone think of the child(ren)

      "My 8 year old could have designed something 10 times as good for a fraction of the price. With his hands tied behind his back. And a blindfold on. And drugged. Holding a crayon with his toes."

      I assume you have evidence to back up that claim. Just wait there while I call the authorities...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Vertical?

      Kapoor's piss-poor 'Blackpool Tower come over all wobbly' cast iron eye sore might have been marginally less shite had it been remotely vertical.

      As for your 8-year old, does Guantanamo have a kindergarten now?

    3. The Fuzzy Wotnot
      Joke

      What does your kid's social worker think of your "gentle" methods of encouragement?! You don't have one yet? You will! You will!

  20. Velv
    Flame

    Nobody able to supply Acer with a secure working easy to use Linux desktop then?

    No Linux fanbois willing to put their money where their mouth is and offer a free solution?

    It would be a terribly good way to promote Linux if it were used to provide the services for such a prestigious event. Perhaps it's just not up to the job?

    I'm not really trolling here - I like Linux, but until someone puts up the money to use Linux desktops in a high profile high volume situation it's going to remain a caterpillar on the motorway of progress.

    1. goats in pajamas
      Facepalm

      Not going to happen...

      ...whilst Parliament is full of people who think that the sun shines out of Bill Gates's rear end.

      They're really going to run the Olympics on Vista?

      We'll be the laughing stock of the world.

      Still, it might just be the death knell of Windows in Government IT when it all goes, rather inevitably, wrong.

      As to "linux people stepping up to the plate" - remember when the NHS IT contract was first mooted? Sun won the contract and were going to install linux across the entire NHS. A couple of phone calls later and the contract was reawarded to "Microsoft Gold Certified Partners" and we all know where that lead. Billions over budget and it never worked properly once.

      Until Microsoft are acknowledged for the mafia like cowboy operation that they are, and are acknowledged as such in the corridors of power - nothing will change and tax payer's money will be p*ssed up the wall year after year after year.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not going to happen...

        "Until Microsoft are acknowledged for the mafia like cowboy operation that they are, and are acknowledged as such in the corridors of power - nothing will change and tax payer's money will be p*ssed up the wall year after year after year."

        And note how the story has been updated to say that, "Oh yes, now it will all run Windows 7 - that Vista business was just a mistake!" Money has changed hands, or perhaps Acer were just told to get "on message" by Microsoft.

    2. The Fuzzy Wotnot
      Stop

      I'm sure if half the people on The Reg forums were asked to advise on the installation, Linux would get a good look in and you'd get a mixed, well organised bag of tech. Lots of suitable kit doing the jobs it's best suited to.

      However when you have wally's with the purse strings, who have only ever heard of PC=Windows and Apple=Mobile Phone, it's damn hard to get any alternatives through the door!

      1. Volker Hett

        Another problem, with free software we don't have enough money to buy our way in :(

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: I can see it now....

    Back in, I think, Atlanta 96 IBM got the contract for the compute systems for the Olympics and they made a big play on the use of OS/2 - this was during the height of the IBM/MS OS/2 vs windows fight. During the first few days there was a huge amount of negative publicity for OS/2 due to the reported length of time it took to get the results displayed .... new reports talked about having to watch the TV coverage rather than use the computer coverage to see what was happening. A few days later there was a much less publicised response from IBM who had investigated the issues ... turned out the report that had snowballed had come from coverage at the Canoe slalom event - in this competitors are timed but also pick up time penalities if they miss slalom gates - these penalties are judged in real time but a competitor or their rivals has 30 mins after the end of the run to appeal against the penalties with a video - either for competitor to claim they'd gone through a gate that they'd been adjudged to have missed or vice versa for a rival to claim a gate had been missed and not been penalised. This meant that the "official" time for a competitor was never confirmed until 30 mins after the run completed which was why the IBM results system, which was set up to display the official results, wasn't showing times for 30 mins!

  22. James Micallef Silver badge
    Coat

    Have some respect!

    "people running quickly around in circles" is extremely reductive. Shame on you, el Reg!

    What about the people running quickly in a straight line? Those busting a gut in the pool to arrive first to the point they left from in the first place? The boat people who are too poor to buy an outboard motor? Have some respect, sir

    1. Simon Harris
      Joke

      You forgot...

      all those people who have to run 26 miles to get around town...

      because there's some big event on in London and all the buses have been stopped.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    17 Days?!?!!

    All this for a 17 day sportsday?

  24. Greg 16

    "When we asked what they were all doing, we were told "Monitoring. They're monitoring everything."

    In other words doing fuck all.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    40 computers "in a pallet"?

    From my understanding of shipping procedures, one doesn't put things 'in' a pallet.

    As a standard pallet as used in the UK measures 800x1200mm, I find it extremely unlikely that Acer could fit 40 of their cheap shit boxes onto one, let alone the monitors and other peripherals.

    Maybe you meant to say 'container'?

    1. Andus McCoatover
      Windows

      Packing...

      Has Acer taken a 'leaf' out of HP's shipping method, perchance?*

      *Managed to use it again!!!

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This article has a lot of things wrong

    The machines run on Windows 7 not Vista, nor XP. There are less techs and more PCs than in this article, Mr Olson's name is spelt wrong and more and more. The Register should really fact check their stories prior to posting incorrect information of this sort.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This article has a lot of things wrong

      The most amazing this was getting it wrong while standing in a room of 800 windows 7 PCs. Thats an acheivement

      AC, obviously.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What, no comment on using Linux?

    3. Paul Westerman
      Flame

      less techs

      That's *fewer* techs

      Thank you!

    4. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Actually, I think you will find that Windows 7 runs on the PC, not the other way around.

  27. Stephen Usher

    Hmm..

    They obviously don't want anything other than the athletes running quickly then.

  28. Alex McKenna

    They'll definitely need Techies!

    With all those Windows boxes they'll need all the technical problem-solvers they can get their hands on.

    What a shoddy decision by the Olympics lot.

    Hopefully, the photographers and journos will be able to use their Macs.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Apple should sponsor the Olympics!

      If you want them to use Apply kit you better ask Apple to become an Olympic sponsor and supply a few thousand desktops, laptops and servers and the technicians to support them. I doubt the users of the machines really care what O/S they run as long as they can use them to run the event smoothly...

  29. Ross R

    The Hadid swimming pool from the side... "One of the most complicated engineering feats ever undertaken."

    Whilst the roof might be a moderately complex structure I hardly think this ranks along side the Astute class submarine, the LHC or the Burj Khalifa.

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    They should be running Linux!

    Erm, not really sure why, just thought I'd add that in there - one for the penguins - obligatory Linux fanboi reply.

    No, really, install Umbongo Nerdy Nutjob across the board, with the Lunacy desktop solution.

    It's British! Mark Shuttlecock is a Brit, sort of. Ok, he's not, but Cancomical is a British company. Ok, it's not, but it's got offices here dammit! - I'm clutching at straws here.

    Sinclair!

    Run the entire event on ZX Spectrums, get around the Olympic Village using a fleet of C5's, eat our national dish, curry!

    What could be more British? Bulldogs maybe, or Travellers being shot at by Toffs?

    Pah, I scoff at their Microsoft solution, terrible idea. Why install something that only 95% of people are familiar with? That's not a British solution. We demand needless complexity, plenty of waiting and queing for no apparent reason, lots of red tape, lashings of tea, shell suits and bald men with no necks. Warm beer, soggy chips, shit weather - Welcome to the London Olympics 2012! Mind the gap, stay on the right, keep calm, carry on.

    1. Captain DaFt
      Thumb Up

      Excellent lampoon! It gave me a much needed belly laugh!

    2. Peter Johnstone
      Happy

      @matt 89, ZX Spectrum

      I can see it now:

      ...and the winner is, in a time of 'tape loading error'...

      That and ram-pack wobble; those were the days!

    3. Andus McCoatover
      Windows

      Beautiful!!

      Thanks, Matt89, for a severely decent chuckle!

      Now, about that Sinclair QL keyboard you owe me.....

  31. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Pint

    How many of those 11,000 will end up "walking" after the event and how many will end up on the world's favourite, online tat-market?!

  32. N2

    That stripy tower

    The red & white one with the tangled mess of steel around it reminded me of something...

    got it -

    Chernobyl

  33. Christian Berger

    Why so many?

    Munich had about 7000 athletes and they managed with just a hand full of computers. (I think 3 or so) Hefty boxes non the less. The larger ones had 4 Megabytes I think.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Because when you want the results instantly on your iPad as soon as the race finishes, I doubt 3 computers with 4Mb of memory will really cut it... And if those results don't arrive you'll probably be moaning how crap the Olympics are and asking why they only have 3 computers with 4Mb of memory between them.

      1. Christian Berger

        "Because when you want the results instantly on your iPad as soon as the race finishes, I doubt 3 computers with 4Mb of memory will really cut it..."

        Actually, you did have results instantly. The computers controlled large lamp-based scoreboards displaying the results near instantly.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Bloody typical

    The world is going to hell in a hand basket, people are losing their jobs, business are going OUT of business, millions are being told that they're not going to be getting the pension they thought they were....

    ... but we can still find £9.3bn for the Olympic games. Wonderful.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      True but when they try to boost the economy by pumping another 75bn into it by printing it when had they just given every person in the UK £100,000.00 and still been cheaper and done alot more to get people spending, would reduce need to borrow so solving that concern etcetc.

      Then you have to go out and do something else less depressing instead or you will get to Olympics time praying for some natural disaster for your reality news fix :\ though a well timed Iclandic Volcaneo could mean we stand better chances in few events thru competitors still trying to get here by boat :).

      Wonderful; Maybe but what shade of brown is there.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Nice theory

        ..but most Olympic games ending up costing more than the revenue that they generate.

        It certainly did here in Vancouver.

        And that is after you factor in the nuisance value of the creation of the Games' venues, the loss of money on selling the Olympic village housing, the truly enormous cost of policing, and that all after the monumental ticket price mania (gouging as they call it in the Americas).

        Yes it's a nice feel-good event, but don't let anyone kid you that i is good for the economy. It most certainly isn't.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Acer for the desktop...

    ...OK, I can live with that. Acer for back-end - oh my fcuk, we're doomed.

  36. Robert E A Harvey

    It's not an iron lung, you know

    I really don't care if the computers work or not.

    It's a sports day and a political bunfight. None of it matters.

  37. majorursa
    Childcatcher

    Atos?

    Atos makes the software? Expect more or less hilarious f-ups.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      So I guess that will mean that most of the people who entered into the disabled Olypics will be deemed fit to compete in the normal Olympics based on how they operate and work :-).

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    I can only assume it was one helava good price deal we got

    Usualy you expect this kinda stuff to go to IBM who have dedicated service divisions for every aspect of an event like this having done so many in the past. It's akin with sponsership from coca-cola and mcdonalds. So for them to of failed is alot of questions they will be asking internaly. Though looking at what kit was mentioned it would appear to be onpar for the state of the art desktops from the last Olympics, what with XP even mentioned and Vista was about then as well. Also another detail that realy stuck out was 15" monitors, seriously do they still make them that small without charging a premium for special shop fitted ones!

    But given the event is only for two whole weeks then I would of thought some kind of leasing kit/services contract woudl be in order, but with the age showing in a few area's on this kit then you have to presume that they got a realy good price. Just be nice for schools who will get then handed down as some PR stunt to actualy get something thats not already hitting out of date. Though for Linux etc it does realy get down to 15" monitors - cry oh why oh why. Still probably reasons not mentioned and they may of used the same argument I used to upgrade a large CRT to a LCD many years back on the basis of square foot space the unit used and the cost savings from that alone would justify it. That all said the previous comments to mention a few details adrift so...

    But the one thing I can say for certainaty that it's not running on ARM chips and as such not promoting the companies who pay the people who are paying for all this :(. But I'm still bitter that living inside the M25 have been paying extra on my council tax for part of this whole event without any positive aspect to me beyond 2 weeks of traffic jams and public transport costs that will go up soon as the whole event is over :(.

    That all said why Rymans didnt put in a bid with 5,000 people and pens that can write upside down and paper thats waterproof.

    Another thought is with all the redundancies in goverment going on then surely they alone would of had enough kit of this standard spare to accomodate such an event. But resource managment is never anybodies strong point apart from those who manage the moment.

    Sorry if sound negative but I dont have any Jamersons and I find iPhone 5 stories more interesting than Olympics ones. Which after all is an event to see who is the best in the spirit of complete equality whilst maintaining a event and team based segregation based upon sex and which country you were born in and do you have a disability. Though that is about is likely as say Americans believeing in a religion which operates a dictatorship based communistic structure.

    This is why I'm realy looking forward to the closing ceramony and the possibility to grab a cheap state of the art 2012 15" LCD screen - wahooo.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You don't think they paid for the kit do you?

      Acer are an Olympic sponsor so I guess part of the deal is the supply of the kit, I don'y think LOCOG would have paid for it and I doubt you'll see it on Ebay after the games. As for IBM, they made a hash of things in Atlanta in 1996 and quit/were pushed out (depending who's account you read) after the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

  39. Rob O'Connor

    Vista?

    Am I overly drunk or is it 2007 again? I know Acer are in a spot of bother but to bet the farm on Vista smacks of being in bed for 4 years.

  40. david 12 Silver badge

    One of the most complicated engineering feats ever undertaken

    The middle of the pool roof is a complex structure, curved in three dimensions. That is, complex to build, and with less margin for error.. That picture was the first I've seen -- I'd be interested in more details.

    The wings appear to be flat structures - much easier, but requiring more strength and weight. Marrying the wings to the saddle is an uncommon compromise - I'd be interested in hearing more about that design decision too.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The "wings"...

      ...are temporary structures, as I understand it. They will be removed after the games.

  41. richard 7

    Uh Oh

    That would be the Acer Veritons that are will known for overheating, blowing caps and burning the DDR power supplies out?

    Hell they'd be marginly better using those bloody awful Dell Optiplex GX270s

    Thats going to be one hell of a turn over :(

  42. Hairy Airey
    Linux

    Technical Team Volunteers

    I have been picked to work on the technical team, but I haven't heard anything about this yet. Odd that there's no mention of technical volunteers. It'll be interesting to find out what's expected...

  43. Alex King
    FAIL

    Never mind the OS...

    What's going on with the numbers of people?

    Early on page 1:

    "25 per cent of the people needed in place."

    Then later on the same page

    "Acer will be employing 300 to 400 staff as technical support"

    and

    "Currently about 50 have been employed."

    That's about 12 to 17 percent, by my sums, not 25...

  44. Dave Bell

    OS Variety

    I was surprised to see Windows XP mentioned, but I can see how it might make sense for some specific uses. It lingered in low-power notebooks when Vista was the latest Windows.

    A lot of the servers could be running on Linux. I wouldn't be greatly bothered by having to use a web browser running on a Linux box, but a lot of people would be bewildered. The same for a machine with an office suite, too many people can't get away from the Microsoft packages, and they wouldn't want to be learning how in the middle of a major event.

    It's good to know Acer are staying up to date on their OS choices.

    But they have to settle their plans in good time to make sure everything works together. I doubt they'd risk, for instance, the looming Ubuntu upgrade.

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "given every person in the UK £100,000.00 "

    @AC 7 Oct 21:26

    True. But if we divvied the Quantitative Easing (wtf?) pseudocash in equal shares directly to Joe Public rather than passing it through the banksters greedy paws first, the rich wouldn't get their proportionate share (I wrote "fair share" at first but the brain rejected it).

    Banksters or democracy. Take your pick.

    http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2011/10/democracy-at-the-brink/

    Now Andrew has finished his "Jobs is not Diana" article, perhaps he can offer us UK residents some insight into the Occupy Wall Street media coverage in the UK (or lack thereof).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yrT-0Xbrn4

    1. Andus McCoatover
      Windows

      Quantitive Easing

      I wonder, now that colour copiers/printers are so good nowadays, why we don't do our own "Quantitive Easing" at home.

  46. Tim Bates

    I predict epic fail.

    I work for a small computer shop, which happens to be a local authorised Acer repairer (in Australia, so perhaps the UK is better)... I can say with some experience that this company should not be dealing with anything that is time critical or big...

    I predict massive pain for those who need to use the technology.

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I hope they're prepared for their nice security gates to fall off their hinges

    judging by the quality of most of the Acer kit I've worked on recently.

  48. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    LINPUS Linux???

    FFS!!!

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