Posts by Tim Bates
737 posts • joined Thursday 1st March 2007 06:36 GMT
But an IP address is a person, right?
After a decade or so of the whole MPAA vs The World crap, I'd not be surprised in the slightest if some government "IT" people think that an IP address is the same thing as a hostname and that every hostname needs it's own IP address. After all, only one person gets sued per IP address when MPAA come knocking....
Re: I agree...
"You can then arrange them, group them, add and remove them as you see fit."
No crap. Or you could have them grouped by the publisher into little "folders" so that all the pieces of one "app" are grouped together... Oh wait. That wouldn't be "modern", would it?
Also, you could arrange, group, add and delete Start Menu entries a long time ago (Win95+IE4?). Strange thing is that most people didn't arrange them, and it just turned into a mess of entries based on the order they were installed. Which is why they dropped that again in Vista.
I'm still lost
I'm a sole trader from years back... But I work full time now, only retaining the business name and ABN for the odd job I might do outside work. I happily go and do my BAS every quarter, and I'm fine with that.... But I gather I will now need to sit down and do pointless paperwork 12 times a year instead of just 4.
If this is confirmed by the ATO, I will not be happy. It will close my business. So that won't make much difference to the bottom line at Wayne Swan's House Of Madness on it's own... But think about how many thousand small businesses that will be killed by this, and how much GST and income tax will be wiped off combined. Cash under the table will be the way I do any odd jobs once again (haven't done that since I was in high school).
Re: downloads of free and paid do not relate.
I don't know how reality would treat this, but maybe bump that 99c up a little... I personally avoid 99c apps for 2 reasons:
1) the dev doesn't even think it's worth $2, so it might suck
2) I have to get up, find my wallet, get the credit card out, enter the details, and all for a measly $1. Make me spend about $3 and I might go find my wallet.
Re: "you can't play minecraft without an account"
"you can't play minecraft without an account"
Yes you can... You can use someone else's account. It only becomes a problem when you want to play multiplayer on the same server (at which stage you've probably already decided if you want to buy it or not).
Wait? What?
I'm confused. They've released the game for $8, and secretly released a crippled pirated version, then they wonder why no one who pirated it is throwing the cash at it? Duh!
"Some people even split their family between aircraft when flying abroad."
Yeah, but not always to protect their family line... Seriously, have you even met the kids in some bigger families? Not to mention the overseas trips where the mother-in-law wants to come too ;)
Uh...
Pretty lame, Milhouse....
They took a name ACL hadn't bothered to register, presumably because it was too freaking long, and then put something on it that didn't even have the same name but happened to share initials.... Hilarious <rolleyes>
I've got a really good idea for a joke of this scale. I'm going to register "australianlawnpoker.org.au" and make out like my new organization is often being mistaken for Julia Gillard's lot. It will be the most hilarious thing I do in that half hour, that's for sure... Unless I happen to actually crack a joke for some reason that is.
It's not that bad of a plan
It's a plan to start fixing the problem areas, sort of the average areas, and then get everyone upgraded later... And they're talking about the Buy Your Own Fibre option along with it all. Sounds like a better plan than Conroy's every increasing failure.
OK, so they haven't talked telephony. Does anyone really think they know what they'd do? They won't know until they start doing it after the election. No point asking until they actually have a reason to give you an answer.
Sounds fine to me.
I'm with everyone saying it all sounds fine - the only "apps" I know of that ever downloaded their "updates" outside of the Play Store were those trojans The Register had an article about last week.... OK, and now Facebook too, although it's updates have progressively been turning a crap app into a steaming pile of crap with an app inside it somewhere.
This change of terms only effects Play Store, not other stores or privately distributed APKs. That sounds fine to me. I still get the choice of what goes on my phone, unlike all the iSheople.
Re: telling people on an IT web site that moving between Windows XP and Linux
"You do realise that there is rather a lot more to a migration than how the users like the new UI?"
Well duh - but how the users react to the new UI should be a pretty high priority. They tend not to be MS fanbois, so they won't just drink the UI Previously Known As Metro koolaide.
Ignoring the opinion of the users regarding the UI could cost millions in a large business. Lost productivity due to employees simply getting, well, lost. Extra helpdesk staff and phone infrastructure to cope with the increased calls. IT is meant to support the users, not enslave them.
If Linux with an XP theme does what they need, they'll be far happier and get on with their jobs, leaving the IT people to consider other behind-the-scenes work.
Re: Intro Offer
I doubt it means much. I bought a $15 upgrade in that offer, but I don't use it. It's installed on a VM we created to show customers what it looks like, and we've not logged into it for over 2 weeks now.
Plus, all those laptops still coming with Windows 7 preinstalled actually have a Windows 8 Pro license, and MS will tell you how successful Windows 8 is because of these.
Re: I wish 'd said that.
Most users are not able to do the "construct new menu" stuff so the poor helpdesk people are no longer forced to guess what user "Ignatius Nevil Capabel" has done to his Word/Excel/Powerpoint menues.
That's a good point, however MS ballsed it up. The tools people use regularly are split across different tabs, forcing people to constantly click around them. The old toolbars had all these there all the time. The average Word document or Excel spreadsheet requires users to constantly switch tabs as they create it.
Simply making it more difficult to enable menu/toolbar editing than accidentally right clicking would have worked equally well for helpdesk types.
We're still selling 95% Win7
We're showing customers the Windows 8 start menu before finalising sales of new PCs - in most cases the response is along the lines of "ugh yuck" or "so how are you supposed to <insert commonly done task>".
And then they ask if we can still sell them Windows 7 (thankfully yes).
And one of the few customers that bought a Win8 box managed to wipe everything we'd put on it for him (including his old data) because Windows offered to "refresh" his PC when it BSODed (he installed a dodgy driver for a USB device he had at home). Well done Microsoft - why not just make "Format C:" one of the boot options in Windows 9?
Re: Huh? Not possible to remove?
I uninstalled Google Goggles and Google Maps from my Android phone just yesterday. Both removed fine, and now I have far more free RAM with their useless services not running anymore.
I know some ROMs won't allow you to remove them, but there lies the beauty of an open source operating system - you can make your own ROM without legal problems (unlike WinMob, etc).
Re: Citation needed
Google found me an article in The Wall Street Journal from 2005 referring to the idea they had thrown everything out and started again for Vista. Quotes someone from MS suggesting they'll never get it finished.
Took me about 60 seconds to find that, so perhaps next time a bit of homework yourself before acting like a tool.
Standard practice...
NSW Government departments trying to prop up their budgets using Federal money. They did it with DER, they did it with BER, and they regularly do it with health funding.
The NSW government may have gone from Labor to Liberal 2 years ago, but the people employed in government departments are still the same greedy money spending people as they were under Labor.
They catch a whiff of "free money" and start making strange demands, inventing extra costs, and claiming the Federal government is out to ruin the states.
Re: Hey it's...
It's more like the SCO vs the world case - no real evidence, lots of strange accusations, and a company slowly becoming irrelevant as they slowly turn all their customers against them.
Totally getting this story
I work in a local IT repair shop.... Slightly offended by that comment at the end - although as our main competitor (a "brand name" type place) cocks up most things they touch, I can see where it comes from.
Anyway, whenever we get that inevitable story about a certain computer thingy not doing it's particular task, we all give the tight-arse the same sort of reply - "I know a shop that can fix that". 9 times out of 10, they do bring it in and pay us to fix it...
The few that don't keep on trying themselves, which sadly usually turns into another boring story about how they solved the problem. This tends to be a punishment for not doing it for them I think.
Tactile feedback?
Why is Apple so damned obsessed with touch screens being everything? It offers zero feedback about what you're pressing. No edges to the buttons. No "click" feeling as you press it.
Take a look at the diagram that they show - see that volume slider? How the heck is that going to work well? You'd be forever pressing it without realising.
And "face detection" to determine which side you're looking at? So if I'm lounging around reading a web page and someone comes and sits down near me, it could flip around and show them because it detects their face?
I have a better idea - solve the problems people DO have before you start solving the ones you've created trying to solve the non-issues.
Re: From my perspetive....
> at some point this flap will fail.
The seal on the B2710 I had (my mum uses it now) is still going strong despite the abuse I used to give it trying to open the damn thing. I expect other parts of the phone would fail before that seal, so long as you don't go abusing the seal.
Re: Ditch Microsoft, use Open Source in the classroom
> teach the students how to use the computer they will likely use in work
Yeah, heard that before... But remind me... Which version of MS Office was it you used in first grade? And can you use Word just fine now?
I did most of my high school years using Lotus Smartsuite, yet somehow I miraculously understand how to work MS Office too. Kids need to learn concepts and how to apply them, not have specific tips and tricks for certain products shoveled into their brains.
Oh, and I'm basing this on years of work in educational facilities... The students manage to figure shit out. It's the set-in-their-ways staff (specifically those ones, not all staff) that struggle with different software.
Re: Useful Service Pack
"Oh and the patching for Linux is so much better how?"
Simple - most package managers just grab the latest packages and installs them in one go.
Windows Update can take 4 or more check-download-install-reboot cycles to go from latest official media to fully up to date (depending on what version of Windows and what extra libs get added)... And on top of that, MS make it ridiculously difficult to allow Windows Update through restrictive firewalls (their info on how to is a joke) and almost impossible to cache without using their payware WSUS server (which also assumes you're controlling the clients enterprise style, so doesn't work for repair shops, public access wifi, etc).
Is that enough difference for you?
Hmmm
"IDC analyst moved to allay 365 customer fears"
Gee. I'd have thought they'd be up to more customers by now... Does it need Windows 8 or something?
Thankyou... I'm here all night....
Testing with incompetents?
Just wondering what incompetents they ran this with.... I've never really noticed any difference in my driving when I've used the Bluetooth kit in various cars. Press the button to accept the call and start talking. I'm still able to check mirrors, change gears, steer, check speed, stop when necessary, etc.
Maybe the big problem isn't drunks or phone abusers, but simply we've let too many shitty drivers use our roads.
Fail because that's what so many people seem to do when driving these days.
Re: ... Guinness World Record for fastest selling consumer electronics device:
Offer stupid deals, rewards, etc for volume purchases.
Sell at a very small margin for the first X weeks.
Give them away to companies already flogging huge numbers of XBox products.
Who's charging though? And who's IP address is it?
I understand the idea behind pay-per-post... But who wins there? Is it a government fee? Does the website just pocket it? And since the internet is international, would this mean all websites available in Ireland suddenly need to have credit card facilities?
And just who's passport do you register for a company or school that does NAT and all users share an address? Does the head of the school get dragged off to gaol if little Billy sits down at lunch time and uses the school computers to harass the nerd in his class via Facebook?
Yep... I personally don't have a passport. Never needed it.
Of course I'm in Australia anyway, so these laws won't effect me... Until I want to post on an Irish website. Or until Julia decides it's a flaming fantastic idea.
Re: People still use CE for stuff
Yep... In fact I'm just knocking together a quick CE based IP webcam server type device.
OK, it's an old Windows Mobile 6 phone, so it's the version of CE with the crap interface. But it's still CE under the covers.
I always wished I could have the traditional start menu and desktop on all my Windows Mobile based phones. Pity they made it all the same the wrong way around.
Oh nice.. I'll be in that....
Oh wait. You have to be a Google Plus user, or a Twit.
Oh, and you also need to live in the US of A.
I guess my Australian dollars will stay in my (non Google) wallet then.
Posted in WTF is... IEEE 1905.1?
WTF?
There's a diagram showing 802.11 talking to 802.3.... Isn't that what an AP already does without this new "technology"? Won't we still need that anyway?
I didn't pay much attention to the other entries in that diagram - but I am assuming none of the rest can simply plug in at a physical layer with this new thing either.
Also, who seriously connects a TV with both cable and wireless? Surely if you've cabled it up, you don't go to the added effort of entering the WiFi details....
Re: MS are worried
Maybe. But unlikely. Business would make up a large portion of Dell's sales. And business IT tends to be afraid of users complaining about change.
Of course there's this thing MS keep doing, but apparently drastic interface "improvements" aren't change.
I'd love to see Dell tell MS to shove it, but it ain't gonna happen any time soon.
Re: Only problem
That isn't the only problem... Apple's backup doesn't seem to back up the entire device. It seems particularly keen to not back up anything it thinks iTunes put on in the first place.
I'm not talking about a one off loss of data here - we've seen it dozens of times when people need to factory reset their iDevice for whatever reason.
Trial Version
The trial (which we were going to check out at work today) gives you free access to 365 for a month.... But they still want payment details before you sign up. Oh, you can cancel at any time of course, and you won't get charged if you cancel before the end of the trial.
How many people do you reckon will sign up to check it out, then forget to cancel the subscription?
Posted in Belkin buys Linksys from Cisco
Re: My heart always sinks...
We don't spend more than 5 minutes on Belkin network gear. If we can't fix it in 5, it gets replaced.
We used to only stock Linksys for ADSL modems. But they dropped the non-wireless models, increased the prices to stupid levels, and made configuring them even more retarded than it had been.
Switched to TP-Link and have been surprised at the quality and usefulness for the price.
Posted in Belkin buys Linksys from Cisco
Re: WRT54GL
To be fair though, they were getting a little elderly. 802.11n has been out for ages, and there's already gear available for 802.11ac (though it's still a little too drafty yet IMO)
Posted in Belkin buys Linksys from Cisco
Re: "Linksys by Cisco" only ever created confusion anyway
It got worse - I've got a pair of rack mount switches bought about 2 months apart. Same model. Same SKU. On top, they have their brand in giant letters. One says "LINKSYS", the other says "Cisco".
Both came with a web interface with the "Linksys" logo - this version didn't work on anything by Internet Explorer 6, which is barely surprising for Linksys.
Both got updated to a new firmware, which says "Cisco" all over it (no mention of Linksys).
Hmmm. That raises a question. If it says Cisco all over, but was at some stage sold as Linksys, who will take over support? Are my Cisco Small Business SPA303 and SPA504G phones going the Belkin way or staying Cisco?
"Re: Registering copyright
Only stupid, backwards countries require people to register copyright.
In sane countries, copyright applies the instant someone creates content.
Customers don't want it.
Lately our computer sales conversations at work (small country town computer shop) have gone like this:
Us: Now do you want Windows 7 or 8?
Customer: Ummm. Does it matter?
Us: Have you seen 8 at all?
Customer: No
Us: Come have a look and see what you think.... <opens RDP connection to Win8 VM>
Customer: OK, so what's this program.
Us: Well, that's the new "Start Menu"
Customer: I think I want 7.
Since Windows 8 came out, we've sold around 20-25 computers (laptops and desktops). Out of these, about 3 or 4 had Windows 8 (and one of those was a system I built for a friend for Christmas).
Posted in Linksys vuln: Cisco responds
Re: "the vulnerability only exists in the WRT54GL home router"
The GL is just a remake of the last version that had enough RAM and Flash for 3rd party firmware, but labelled with an "L" for Linux... It wasn't a new or different model, just renamed to avoid confusion on the shelf in shops.
Posted in Astronaut yells FIRE ... from SPAAAACE
Re: Mercury is NOT a unit of measure!
Thanks, Sheldon.
Posted in Astronaut yells FIRE ... from SPAAAACE
Re: They also had to invent a new level of fire danger.
>In the northern hemisphere Winter started on Dec 21st-ish, so I would have thought that in the southern hemisphere that same date would herald the start of summer.
You'd think wrong then.
Posted in Adobe offers free trip to PowerPC era
Re: Obligatory car analogy!
There's a group of teenagers getting around here that always take the free 4WD when they need to go places. Sometimes they use it to get into the shops too.
Posted in Adobe offers free trip to PowerPC era
Re: What about...
Well CS2 was the version targeted when Google paid people to make Photoshop work in WINE nearly 5 years ago. So I would hope it works quite well by now.
Re: This could be fun
>Samsung has no problem boasting about "devices shipped"
Very few companies have problems boasting about that. Apple does it too, except when they're boasting about being sold out.
>why the disparity between shipped vs sold
Pretty easy - they simply don't know. They aren't marketing them directly to customers, and they really don't care if a reseller sells them on or just sets fire to them.
Besides - the whole court case will be about units produced, not resold. Apple are going to demand royalties on every one manufactured, not just the ones Joe Public got to play with.
"Leaked"?
It's hardly leaking when you create a full on press release about it. That's more like a burst pipe than a leak.
Posted in Oz R18+ game rating goes live
Re: @Magani
"We definitely need to get rid of state or local."
There's no question about that - state is what needs to go. Anyone outside of a state capital will understand what I mean.... State governments are too busy thinking of the capital city voters..
At least if state goes, the councils would all be on fairly equal ground when trying to catch the attention of the federal lot.
It's just Conroy clowning around again.
Nothing to see here. Saw this coming the day he announced he was setting the price. He's just an idiot who thinks he's running the world. Remember who it was that obsessed over internet filtering... Or who was driving the NBN tendering process... He's got no idea what's outside, and doesn't bother asking anyone.
If they set a reserve too high, and no one bids, who wins? The spectrum doesn't get bought. The customers can't use it. And the government makes no money.
Reserve?
Wait... So Vodafone will probably not bid at all, and they're worried Telstra and Optus bidding against each other might result in a lower price? What bloody planet is Conroy on?
And what price does Conroy think should be the reserve? His previous estimations haven't quite been that great, so I'm thinking the reserve is one of the following:
a) 20 cents
b) the exact amount Wayne has told him they're having trouble finding
c) around 10 trillion dollars
Re: Hugs his XP machine.....
"Is win8 faster or slower, better or worse than Win7."
Power related things are fast - boot up, shutdown, etc. Most other stuff seems on par with Windows 7, if not better. Apparently some games are a tiny bit slower, but that could be immature graphics drivers (give them another 3 months, I'd say).
That said, I still want to poke my eyes out with a stick after 20 minutes on Windows 8. The OS might be fast, but the interface has a nasty habit of slowing my down a lot. With time most people will get used to it and become quicker at using it. But it's an Operating System, not a bloody arcade game. It should do what I want, not require me to learn what it wants.
