that everyone else is reporting a meltdown and yet these people are doing quite well. I worked for these cowboys before ( see http://www.paullee.com/computers/autonomy.php ) and they had an overinflated opinion of themselves even then.

I worked for BAE Systems from 1999 to 2006. After the merger with Marconi Electronic Systems, the "B", in fact the whole of "BAE" was written to mean absolutely nothing. We were even order to write the name in block capitals (BAE SYSTEMS) until we were told otherwise a few years later.

Sounds about right, looking at my web stats: http://www.paullee.com/computers/index.php

I wonder how many code reviews/testing cycles will be sacrified to get it out in time for the poor saps who will buy it, er, I mean: the Christmas market!

Now with Tennant and Davies going, we will at last hopefully NOT have important plot explanations delivered at break-neck speed and buried in techno babble. The otherwise high production values and glitzy eye candy may keep the kiddies happy but this DOES not make for good TV. Oh, and get rid of that bleedin' sonic screwdriver. It seems everytime the Doc is in trouble, he whips it out (ooer etc.) and manages to fill a plot hole, or escape from a situation in seconds. Terrible writing.

I used to work for a rival to FAST. We were told to, in sales presentations to customers, hype up the fact that (a) FAST were being investigated for all fraud and (b) over emphasize how poor their software was, rather than how good ours was. Our managers used to send round snotty emails gloating about our high-profile customers and FAST's unknown ones. Theres a write -up here:

http://www.paullee.com/computers/autonomy.php

...was shut down by BT Internet for "inflamatory" (but 100% true) comments about my old employer. No court order, no telephone call, no letter, nothing. I just found out that my website had been closed down, my email access revoked. And the buggers are still charging me for internet access, 21 months on, and they haven't responded to my letters for a refund and apology. I have heard nothing from BT Internet, and this is after a letter to the chairman demanding an explanation.

Theres more on my own web page at http://www.paullee.com/computers/index.php - read the first bullet point and follow the link.

BOGUSky?

My God, Miss Jones.

Anonymous coward, you're not the only one to thing that bureaucracy gets in the way of "good" designs. In the post-Titanic era, her new sister ship was fitted with huge gantry lifeboat davits that could reach across the deck and get lifeboats from the other side of the ship. That way, if the ship listed to one side, the lifeboats on the other side could be used....

....except that the gantries were placed on either side of the funnels, making them useless for retrieving boats.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7150693.stm

A triumph for common sense over stupidity!

....since his real surname is Moffat....

Branson used to me a bit of a hero of mine ... but ever since he's offered to help Kate and Gerry McScam (the parents who left their three children in a ground floor unlocked appartment while they went boozing) financially, I'm boycotting all his enterprises.