Posts by jason 7
1138 posts • joined Thursday 11th June 2009 11:27 GMT
Re: So Eadon...
Hmmm no response, that's a shame.
Maybe he's shy or actually works in PC World?
So Eadon...
...as someone suggested a few days ago, when are you going to let the folks at The Register come visit your workplace to see the Linux Nirvana that you must have created?
I'm sure many of us here would love to see how you have managed to cultivate the perfect open source infrastructure and also to hear from the staff how they get on with it all etc.
It truly would be invaluable to all of us here to see it as well.
Then we could truly hail you as the genius you think you are. I think you owe it to the wonders of open source to do it.
Register...can you make this dream interview happen?
I'm sure others here will agree? If you want this then vote this post up!
Re: Balmer is safe because...
The box-shifters are struggling because they got lazy and greedy. Their products are just crap, it's not the OS that's at fault here.
They haven't brought anything new or dynamic to the table. The Likes of HP/Fujitsu/Acer/Asus etc. have just decided that 99% of their products will be boring, bottom of the barrel standard, 1366x768 TN screen, loaded up with penny per unit bloat and crudware.
They are the ones holding PC development back, not Microsoft.
I really hope MS increases its hardware ranges. Then I can buy a MS laptop or PC with just Windows installed on it with all the right drivers. You know...just how Apple does it.
Most of us know that if you just do a clean install of Windows it works just fine. MS does a good job on the whole.
It's the moribund box-shifting partners that are doing their own damage. They need to quit blaming MS and get their own houses in order.
I am prepared to pay bit more for something better.
Just a shame that....
......outside the ever decreasing PC enthusiast market, Nvidia has next to zero brand recognition compared to Sony/Nintendo.
Lot of cheaper better supported hand-held out there to keep the kids occupied on long journeys.
It's a tough sell.
Re: MS needs to stress
I know and this is supposed to be a tech literate group too.
I do wonder sometimes however.
Re: Legacy Apps?
Let's all salute application developers that haven't yet got to grips with enabling proper font/graphics scaling in their applications.
Hello Adobe!
Re: Legacy Apps?
Yes one device can run full Adobe Creative Suite and the other....Instagram.
I'm still disappointed...
...that it takes two and a half hours to do the 100 miles between Norwich and London.
Should be an hour and a half tops.
The lengths folks will go to...
...to get their Mk1 iPod fixed!
Well that's disappointing to hear!
Nothing else to say really.
Posted in Review: HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook
Re: What Don't People Get?
Yes I laughed at them when I first saw them. But then around xmas time I got interested (well its was xmas gadget treat time) and bought the 11" Samsung Chromebook.
I have to say my opinion is now totally different. They are a fantastic device. I hardly use my tablet now, it is the Chromebook I reach for now instead. The speed and ease of a tablet but with a decent keyboard.
Until you spend a day or so with one please reserve judgement. You may be surprised.
A handy tool to add to your tech armoury plus it wont break the bank.
Posted in Review: HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook
Re: 1366 x 768 screen ?????
the 1366 screen works okay with Chromebooks (certainly the 11" ones) and as I tell folks.."it is only £200!"
However I do feel that any laptop type device should be issued with 1400/1600x900 screen as a minimum by now.
Re: What took them so long?
Indeed with the tablets and the new Win8 phones I was expecting a 50% discount at least to help build up customers and ecosystem. You know when you have next to no market share in a dominated market you really have to give consumers a very good reason to consider your offering.
When I saw what they were asking I immediately looked elsewhere.
Re: Yep, I agree
I came from a Palm Pre2 (great clean UI/OS) to the Nexus 4 and to be honest I found it an easy migration.
Standard Android Jelly Bean works really smoothly and doesn't really need anything core added to it.
I have no complaints with the Nexus Android experience.
However, I did upgrade my other half's Galaxy Note to Jellybean this week. Holy crap! I could hardly tell it was the same OS. So much junk added in, it looked and felt awful. Stuff duplicating perfectly good existing functionality (as per the article) and all sorts of other crap. Took me quite a while to calm it all down and organise it.
To be honest it reminds me of the issue Microsoft has had with Windows over the years.
A clean retail/OEM install of Windows works great with little fuss or issue. Just the OS and the applications you need. But the Dell/Lenovo/Acer/Asus/Fujitsu/Samsung branded versions full of bloat, pesterware and crapware just ruins it all for the customer.
Really folks, less IS more!
Re: I'd probably buy it....
Yes whilst I'm an 'adult' I really liked the thought of owning a bright red or yellow phone.
Sometimes one just has to give in to the inner child.
Its just the SIM free price that puts me off.
Posted in Review: Samsung Galaxy S4
Re: I've had mine since Friday
Yes its all down to how you use your phone.
With my Nexus 4, if I use it purely for calls and texts then I can squeeze 4 days out of it. If I add in email and internet that goes to just over 2 days.
If however you use it like a Nintendo DS then surprise surprise you get just a few hours of screen time.
So buy a DS.
Re: @Pete 2
@Jason_H
Sorry chap, I see where you are coming from but the politicians don't work for us. None of the western politicians work for the 'normal citizens'.
They all work for the big global corporations. Have done for decades. That's why no matter who you vote for Tory/Labour/Socialist/Right wing etc. the basic corporate agenda carries on unaffected.
It's all been manipulated that way. You don't think those big political donors only donate to one party do you?
All this Europe/immigration stuff only keeps getting dredged up because it works as a good smokescreen to keep covering up that none of the corporates/banks have yet to be taken to task for the crisis they helped make.
Re: Shouldn't the UK Gov start upping it's game then?
Well I'm sure they would love to but then all those lucrative corporate non-exec directorships/consultancy roles for when they leave office will just evaporate.
It's not the Govt that's in control here remember.
Well you know what they say....
...paying tax is for little people.
Any new machines I set up.....
....I switch off Docx by default.
Re: MS Office 365 Security / Legal / FAIL
"Actually, yes you can do all of those things (or equivalent, as in the case of Sharepoint server) using Linux, and at lower cost and more securely. "
Yes but how exactly? C'mon we want specifics not general banal statements.
The world of Enterprise IT needs a little more than "Yep it can be done!"
Re: "Microsoft honcho pleads with media: 'Stop picking on us!'"
I have too.
Whilst Linux works fine and dandy, OSX on the other hand feels very very old.
I've always felt that Apple would love to dump OSX and run everything on iOS.
OSX feels very unloved and well...clunky.
Re: Well its a proof of concept.
Plus do you think the folks using these for crime will have actually paid for that printer and plastic?
Re: Well its a proof of concept.
Burnable CDs cost £20 a go at one time.
Well its a proof of concept.
Now I can imagine we'll see many revised versions over the coming months that refine the basic design using easily sourced metal parts and before you know it you have a reasonably accurate and quite lethal 80% 3D printed weapon.
Perfectly good for a cheap and easy hit or liquor store hold-up. Plus so cheap no one would be too worried about disposing of it properly to screw up forensics/evidence.
Folk's don't tend to like trashing Glocks/Colts etc. after the deed.
Close but I'd say Adobe.
Re: SSDs, I believe, have now overtaken memory as the single most cost-effective upgrade
I upgraded an old 2006 spec 4GB Tecra M7 with a 120GB 5400rpm HDD in it.
It worked okay as stock but wasn't all that responsive. I then swapped the HDD for a 64GB Samsung 830 SSD and it was a huge difference. Yes boot times improved drastically but also the responsiveness of applications, switching and other tasks became a lot smoother. The machine behaved comparable to most modern spec laptops. This was still only working over SATA 1 spec too!
Its all in the near instant access times, not so much the raw MBps.
Installing a SSD is a huge boon for older dual core laptops and PCs.
Re: Skipping a version
A lot of people didn't/don't work that way with CS or Adobe products.
If you paid in full for CS2 you wouldn't think of moving till at least CS4 or some major issue hit home like 64bit compatibility etc. Since CS2/3 Photoshop hasn't really had any major must have features other than UI refreshes. It's like MS Office, you can get by in most cases with any version from the past 8 years (further with Office).
My other half went from CS2 to CS5. The only thing she upgraded inbetween was Dreamweaver (CS4 with no updates and flakey 64bit support, thanks for that Adobe).
She bought Photoshop CS6 only recently due to Adobe's cutting back on the number of versions you can skip to just two before you lose upgrade rights.
Though it may have been a waste of money....
She is looking for long term alternatives now though. But Gimp isn't one of them.
Please not again!!!!!!
Hasn't this been done enough before?
Re: eh?
You might want to get some better IT staff or kit then.
Again a case of so called Pro's showing up their lack of experience or know how.
Yes seems a lot of so called seasoned 'IT Professionals' can't actually fight their way out of a paperbag.
"Wahhhh I'm stuck in Metro! I can't get out!!! Wahhh where is the Desktop??? I can't find the Control panel!"
Makes you wonder how they get dressed in the morning. I take a new Windows 8 install for a customer, 5 minutes of tweaking, 10 minutes of quick instruction on how it works and they are set.
No crying or raging. Just grateful happy customer. Not one of them has sh*t their pants over it and demanded I take it off.
I guess MS are caving into the Tards and changing it back.
Re: Windows 8: reliable, fast, feature-rich, horrible to use
Erm just set the default apps to the desktop ones via the Control Panel.
Takes about 60 seconds. I guess you are new to computers?
Re: Rip-off UK pricing
Adobe have said in the past that the reason the UK and non US English versions are more expensive is "due to language support".
Yes I am not kidding.
So do you get proper support now?
Rather than talking to the 'snotty condescending arrogant bitch' in Essex that we get to speak to every time?
Re: Not exactly in defence, but...
But just make sure you keep lapping up the largely cosmetic and not really necessary upgrades or they will financially ream you good!
"Oh you are a registered user of Version 4 but you say you didn't get the email from us* about the new version 6.5 that now means you can't upgrade now and have to buy the whole new suite even though you paid for full Version 4 only two years ago and 6.5 hasn't really any new features as such?"
Lovely people to do business with.
* They never actually sent an email
Ahhh I wondered why Flash had gone!
Now I know. It took almost as long to Install Flash on a new build yesterday from Adobe as it did to install the dozen or so applications I pulled in from Ninite.
The best thing the web could do is to ban the sneaky inclusion of software that isn't specifically requested with a single install/download.
On another note my other half had to (kinda) buy the latest version of Photoshop CS6 (whatever) or lose 'the right to upgrade' and have to pay quadruple later if so.
Her comment when it arrived in the post yesterday (after a big sigh) was "I remember a time when I used to look forward to my new Adobe software arriving but now I feel like I'm paying money for rape!"
Re: Probabliy better understood as...
How exactly? The powers that be have reconstituted all the western political parties into 90% identical groups. There is a small amount of difference to make it look like there is choice but the basic underlying agenda is to allow their controlling status quo to carry on unhindered.
There is no legal democratic way to change anything now. Whomever you vote for, the 1%'s government always always gets in.
If you decide to fight for change then you are simply a 'terrorist'.
Re: woah!!!!!
Interesting how that works out when the Chromebooks have been Amazon No.1 sellers for quite a few months.
Plus at the moment I'd really say Chromebooks are still in extended Beta. The big push it yet to come.
Everyone I've shown mine too (Windows/Mac and Li...well actually no Linux fans as I don't know any in person) have all loved it and several have bought one.
I do find it ironic that Linux may yet get its day on the desktop via being the underlying core of ChromeOS. But it's just not in the way that the Linux crowd would have wanted.
Re: Suggested a Chromebook for my mother
So you didn't do your homework then before you bought it? Tsk Tsk.
Or read up that you can still use quite a bit of the functionality without a connection.
Posted in Ten ancestors of the netbook
Re: Less is more
I might just point out here before we all get too misty eyed that those little SSDs in those netbooks were awful.
I have seen cheap USB sticks deliver better data speeds.
Re: Why not useful?
Yes its really nice to open up my Samsung Chromebook and have it ready to go in just a few seconds.
I was sceptical about them at first but now I've had mine a few months, it's my go to machine for general usage.
Just plain straightforward no fuss computing. I don't even use my tablet as much.
Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...
Yeah I know, and it's not even the school holidays!
Re: Finished with ElReg
Must be a dissapointment in life to work your way up to a high postion in the city, expecting the respect and gratitude of the nation to find yourself actually ranked socially lower than MPs and Peadophiles.
I can't imagine why?
The quality nosedived when folks no longer needed a recording studio!
Now anyone can buy a laptop and some software and record an album. No training or skill needed. No concept of accoustics or mastering required. A lot of artists now record their major albums on the road in their hotel rooms with a Macbook for Christs sake.
Twenty years ago the young tykes would have been pushed into a well equiped studio and issued with a couple of experienced engineers and a producer that knew what he was doing and kept them from touching the desk.
Listen to those pop albums from the 80's and they sound fantastic. Even what we considered the throw-away pop from the 70's and 80's sounds like a David Sylvian sonic masterpiece in comparison to the pop of today.
Dynamics, space, layering of vocals and instruments, placement, studio tricks, they are all there in those vintage recordings but totally absent from 90% of todays pop/rock.
To frighten the kids of today and let them know what dynamics mean I sit them down and play them Scot Walker's Tilt. They nearly hit the roof when one part in particular plays. Here endedth the lesson.
Re: I'm less convinced than I sound that all DACs are created equal
What I love seeing is folks on Audiophile websites waxing lyrical over these small fag lighter sized USB DACs containing about £12 worth of parts but retails for £400+!
That and the amusing trend to try to apply old fashioned hi-fi voodoo to bog standard PC kit.
Oh and that £200 a meter hifi cable was probably originally specced to go in CAT scanners or a 747 via a smelting factory in China for 0.02cents a meter. Virtually none of those hi-fi cable firms have their own metallurgists/smelting/cable making plants. They all buy it in for next to nothing from Poland or China and rebadge it. You run out on the spool and can't find anymore? So you just find the closest match and call it Superduper Audio Cable Mk2!
Posted in Review: Nokia Lumia 520
Re: Meh
Indeed, I hate to break it to all those Instagram fans but really we just don't care about your pics.
If they weren't there the world would keep turning just fine.
Spring 2014 will be my 20th Anniversary of web use.
Started with Bulletin Boards then got a 'Internet/email account with Direct Connection (first company that looked vaguely professional in the back of Computer Shopper magazine IIRC).
My own static IP connection and email (no one else I knew had it so not much use) and then I upgraded my modem (an Amstrad 2400baud from Game) to a MultiTech 19200 and also plugged in a 16550 serial port into Dad's 486 Win3.1 PC (jumper pin IRQ config thanks very much for asking), downloaded and configured Trumpet Winsock, then Netscape V1.0 and my first grey webpage appeared.
It was good fun back then. People used to visit me to see this new amazing thing I even lectured my bosses on how the Internet worked for their emerging web strategy (the first thing I told them was "no large images!" so what did they do? Stuck a huge image on the homepage that took two minutes to load. I gave up at that point).
Then Dixons/Freeserve came along and kind of ruined it all.
Re: How odd
I have watched quite a lot of those shows where we see the Police carting off scumbags for breaking (what I feel) are quite serious laws such as assault/TWOC/Theft/Drugs etc..
But at the end when they do the round up I think I can count on one hand, the times that any of them were actually convicted and sentenced.
I think a lot of the time they just can't be bothered once the fun of the chase is over.
It's a good job the owner....
....didn't go round in person to photograph the slimeball's home and used Google Maps instead.
We all know the police love going after folks with a camera. Public enemy no.1.
Re: Ah the incompetence of the police.
The area was fine when we moved there. Perfect even.
However, the local council thought it a great idea to move and approve every bar, strip club and night club to the area since 2001. Ignoring the fact that it was a largely residential area and not designed to cope with a full blown night time economy.
Strangely though none of the councillors live where we do. They all live the other side of the city.....
Plus like a lot of people my circumstances have changed over the past few years and moving is a luxury we cannot afford. So we just fight to get the lazy sods that should be working for us to do something.
