Posts by Number6

Re: Yet another

There are still people with influence who will specify Oracle where it is not necessary because that's all they know about.

"Nobody ever got fired for buying..."

Re: We're still printing?

I said 'ouch' once too often and bought a laser printer instead. Costs a fair bit less per page than an inkjet.

It seems that these days, if you want to buy some known brand TV you just can't avoid getting a "smart" one.

It's getting a lot harder. I managed to get a dumb 50" TV on a clearance sale for $200. It's hooked up to a Linux media centre so the smart element is there, but it's under my control, no microphone and no camera.

Re: Because we're all guilty of something, right?

You're thinking of the old rules. Now you can have trial by media, where you're assumed guilty regardless of the evidence, or the government will engage Rent-A-Clue to provide the evidence required to stitch you up.

Sorry, is my cynicism showing?

Re: If I was a PC seller

Deliver to a spot just over the border for collection by the buyer or his nominated agent. Ownership to transfer at that point so you're not selling in the state. They'd not be able to ding you for sales tax, either because the sale would be completed elsewhere.

Re: So if this goes through, everyone has to be sued in their state of incorporation

The problem with the patent system in the US at the moment is that it no longer rewards innovation, it rewards those with the deepest pockets. The USPTO appears to have forgotten that patents are supposed to be novel - too often it's a small and obvious incremental improvement. The fact that they seem inclined (and even incentivised) to grant patents and let the courts sort it out is a big part of this problem. USPTO should be doing plenty of groundwork and challenging applicants to minimise the subsequent litigation.

I remember once being presented with a problem, proposed the obvious solution to that problem immediately, only to find that some large corporation had patented it. If it's obvious to those skilled in the art then it shouldn't be patentable unless it can be shown that the thought process needed to get to that point is novel.

It's cheaper to launch a new spacecraft than to port all the analysis stuff from VMS to Ultrix, to Solaris, to Linux to Windows10

Having got it working on Linux, why would you need to move it again? Especially to Windows 10.

Re: "made by Real People for Real People"

I've met Real People. Some of them are right jerks and I wouldn't want to buy their products.

Re: What is the point ?

I find it useful because it's got a static IP address, I can use it for VPN services and as an endpoint for my mail server (which redirects to my home system via other means where the ISP blocks port 25). It's a convenient remote web host, too, and a useful launch point for when I want to poke my own system from the outside. I used to host my websites with a provider who gave me an ssh shell as part of the package. With the VPS I get the whole machine to do what I want and host as many websites and back-end databases as I want.

However, it does mean you're responsible for your own security, so a bit of care in setting it up is required.

Re: "IT skillset of a potato"

There wouldn't be IT if it wasn't for chips. Which are made from potatoes.

Re: We have one

We bought a house that had one fitted (the pump recently failed, without which it won't even flush, $500 later...) There's a pressure sensor in the seat somewhere so that getting up seems to cut off all water spraying activity so it's clearly better behaved than some models.

It can be very useful the day after a really good curry.

Re: It's Barnet council that has "performnace issues"

If you ask questions that can't be answered (it'd require someone to do work) you'll be regarded as an awkward bastard and the contract will go elsewhere.

This is where a lot of the problem lies, it needs someone to ask those questions and have them answered. Perhaps if someone actually had to do the work up-front then the magnitude of the screw-up would be significantly reduced.

Re: Linux Desktops

Have you tried Windows 10? I put it on a VM here and after trying it out, only fire it up when I really have to. The Win7 VM gets way more use, and the Linux host way more than that.

The only thing stopping Linux from really making inroads is the poor support from providers of commercial software (and hardware - lack of decent drivers). If they produced Linux versions of their products then I suspect quite a few people would switch from Win7 to Linux once they'd experienced Win10.

Re: Backup on 'New Technology'

I meant in addition to the regular backups. Most backup tapes get cycled through multiple erase/write operations, so something from a year ago might not exist in the current backup set, but an archive of what the system was like at regular intervals can be useful if something is deleted as 'not needed' but some months later it suddenly is required. Of course, with the penchant in the US to demand data dumps for litigation purposes, perhaps it's less desirable to maintain history if it might be incriminating.

Re: I don't get it!

In the same way that there are certain types of Brit who, on arriving in a foreign city, will immediately search out a fish & chip shop and an "English", or at least "Irish" pub...

I wouldn't say "immediately", but if I'm in the area for several days, it's always interesting to see what the locals think fish and chips should be, and whether they manage to capture the pub atmosphere. That in itself is instructive, we're there looking at them, it gives some insight into what they think of us.

Depending on what sort of hosting service you are, you might be able to aggregate a bunch of new customers into such a thing, where you charge them the 'standard' rate for their individual domains but make a profit because you're being charged the discount rate.

Re: Thar she blows!

He's much more of a mundane Republican than he's made out to be.

In which case he needs to fire his entire PR team because they have failed to get that image across.