Posts by Magnus_Pym
953 posts • joined Thursday 14th January 2010 08:50 GMT
Posted in Why Windows 8 server is a game-changer
Call me cynical but...
... haven't we been here before? Embrace, extend and extinguish.
Totally homogenous TV treacle
I for one look forward to the days when the BBC looks and feels exactly the same as all the other channels whose only motivation is to deliver our eyes and ears to the highest bidding advertiser. I might be worth it but they certainly aren't.
The reason for the license fee rather than central taxation is to take control out of the hands of the Government. Even so they now treat it as part of the general tax revenue and rip it off to pay for vanity projects like broadband rollout. I don't remember it being called 'TV and Broadband license' last time I brought it.
The Government should fund the BBC properly and leave them to get on with it I say.
Blown to Bits - Oh god
"The net has exploded the myth that we'll pay for something even if we don't use it"
Except for Broadband provision. Yes, there are different prices based on what we think we need but we still pay the same even if we don't use it. In fact if we try to use all that we paid for we can get capped for unfair use. Also Car Insurance, Council provided social services, NHS when not ill, police who don't respond, Train subsidies, Politicians G&T's at the House of Commons. etc.
P.S. Anyone else still have bad dreams about the seminal work 'Blown to Bits' (Evans.P, Wurster) I was forced to read it for my degree course. The information was good but my good did you have to work to get at.
Posted in Mornington Crescent
Re: Correct me if I'm wrong...
or, if Derbyshire's recycling provision has not been redacted.
Wimbledon
Windows on ARM
No need to worry. It's only a spoiler product:
MS Flunky: End Users all want tablets and but can't justify the extra cost of Wintel just so they can use Office.
MS Exec: Well we will have make Windows run on ARM and make MS Office work too.
MS Flunky: Will we need to do anything else?
MSExec: Who cares? We have met user expectations.
Posted in Mornington Crescent
Correct me if I'm wrong...
...I only have the twelve volume 'Shorter M-C reference' (I'm saving up for Thriblow's 'Combined Intrinsic), but doesn't the extended delay allow a call of Fotheringay's Myopia Recompense? In this case I think that would lead to Old Street wouldn't it?
Posted in HMRC cuts IT spending in half in 2 years
To honest...
...HMRC, in common with a lot of the public sector have had expensive IT projects that fail utterly. their 'quality' could be defined as zero. They bring the average down. Therefore if all large public sector IT projects were cancelled then average 'quality' would actually increase.
All that power...
... where does it go?
I Think the most interesting part is that the MINIMUM spec for a new PC is way above a supercomputer of only a few years ago. What does it need all that power for? A lot of it is fancy (and to my mind unnecessary) graphics and a lot goes in securing the thing against attack from outside. Every operation is checked and rechecked to make sure it poses no security risk. BUT all this checking is there because user (supposedly) want their PC to do inherently risky things and most of these risky things are there to make the OS look good; ("rich content", shudder).
Posted in Ten... e-cars and hybrids
Re: Tesla...
"Considering the 'leccy for these comes from essentially the same fuel as cars do currently"
Currently is the operative word (as well as being a bad pun). Things may change in the future. If fossil fuels keep going up and widespread nuclear power comes on line an electric car may be the only affordable option.
Posted in Ten... e-cars and hybrids
Re: Tesla...
Have you solved the problem of uncontrollable oil based fuels price rises?
Posted in Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4
Re: Struggling to see the point?
I think the point is that it supposedly gets around 30 more miles per gallon that standard. Only time will tell if this is correct.
Three problems...
... The 'customer' keeps changing every few months. The 'customers ideology is liable to a complete change every few years. It's a problem of career politicians and first-past-the-post government.
Firstly career politicians have no interest in the department they temporarily head, only in how it can help raise their profile. So they all like to make a big noise as they move in and then move on quickly. Hence frequent changes to large (news worthy) projects. Secondly first-past-the-post leads to wild swings in government and cabinets that control parliament entirely. This leads to huge and costly 'reviews' of all projects that often cancel or re-define every part of a department and the work being done for that department. This leads to government projects being a very specialized part of the industry. One in which taking additional funding to cover for political stupidity and signing hard and fast contracts against vague and wooly specification is the norm.
So what's the point? The only point of a large scale government IT contract is the headline it produces when initiated and the effect that has on the politicians career. After all the cabinet minister responsible will be retired on a tax free, index linked pension and have several lucrative directorships in the sort of private industries that take on government contracts by the time the project inevitably fails.
Re: I overheard a guy on the train the other night
In order to get a seat with a table it is necessary find an unoccupied seat that was booked from an earlier station. These are the seats that are automatically booked with season tickets even though the users have no intention of traveling every day. The closer your station is to London the more difficult this becomes.
Posted in Tomorrow's smartphone tech today
Re: What I *actually* want to see
I've got a Nokia N8 with Symbian Belle and it is actually quite nice. Battery life is good. I can get through the week end with occasional calls (I usually charge it up weekday mornings as I use it all day at work). Built in sat nav, quite nice apps usable app available. nice camera.
Pity it's been killed off
Market Economy
If they believe in a market economy, as Microsoft often say they do, then they pay the price or shut up. If there aren't enough graduates then their value should command huge salaries thus stimulating more students to look to that career option. Or maybe they only like the bits of a market economy that benefit Microsoft.
On the other hand the government could target tax payers money into higher subsidies for University courses that provide skills that the country needs and less for those that don't. i.e. it becomes cheaper for the student to do medical, core science and engineering degrees than to take politics, economics, media etc.
Re: Assange is a psychopath
We are responsible for our actions. After all if Stratfor gained private information that they knew was not meant for them then released that information to other third parties then the directors would soon be in prison...
... Oh no. wait
Posted in Molesworth and the New Latin
Comp Sci
In the 80's it was perhaps relevant to teach classes about 'computers' in the same way that people where knew about 'cars' in the 1900's: designing, building, maintaining and driving being all much the same thing back then. It wasn't many years later that thermodynamics, automotive design, production line management, garage mechanics and driving skills became different subjects.
By all means teach the equivalent of driving skills at school; I think of perhaps typing and the theory/practice of email/spreadsheets/databases and cyber security. But, to my mind anything much beyond that is a specialist subject these days. The territory of after school clubs and college courses.
Re: rotation around small circumference...
...commonly induces vomiting even in zero gee background environment. How sexy!
Posted in LOHAN's flying truss: One orb or two?
Spinning control
It seems to me that in order to control the spin there must be air moving over a control surface. In order for that to happen the device must be moving relative to the air around it. In other words some sort of motive power is required. Would it add too much weight to have a solar panel/electric motor/propeller combo on one end of the truss and a large rudder on the other? The motor could kick in at the upper altitudes to stabilize the rig before launch.
I also add my vote to the design where a single string hangs down from the lifting force to a single central swivel. From the swivel two strings support the truss , one at each end. One of these string s is shorter than the other in order to set the whole truss at the required angle for launch. The rocket can be slung underneath on a short launch rail parallel to the truss. i.e. pointing upwards at the required launch angle.
Long thin ballon
If the balloon was long and thin cigar shape, Zeppelin style, it would be more aerodynamic in one direction and should find a stable situation relative to the wind. The shape would help stabilize the truss by hanging it from the front at the back of the zeppelin negating the need for different launch methods.
It might even be possible to construct a lightweight net which could hold a number of smaller balloons, constraining them to the required cigar shape. The number of balloons might mitigate against a fault in a single balloon bringing down the whole operation.
Top Gear is an entertainment show
It stopped being factual years ago?
What? you didn't actually believe them did you?
Re: Ban all alcohol from Westminster.
They should at least have to declare tax payer subsidized boozing for themselves and their cronies in their expenses claims.
P.S. Andrew, just how much are they charging for a pint of Old and Cloudy in the Strangers Bar? The public has a right to know.
Base coverer?
It sounds a bit like they are saying 'Yes we do an Arm version that runs office'. It doesn't do much more compatibility stuff but if covers that particular base. However if you are looking to run all your familiar Windows apps on an ARM device this isn't going to do it.
Obvious American reference. That would be imperial units then. The correct unit this side of the pond would be mini-vans full of floppy disks per slightly-less-than-Olympic-size swimming pool.
Good to know the Met have their finger on the pulse
I wonder if they even know where Sheffield is. They appear to show a marked lack of knowledge, concern or respect for the world outside the M25. They appear to show a marked lack of knowledge, concern or respect for the world of online security.
Perhaps it's true what they say about London weighting: Wages weighted + 25%, IQ requirement weighted - 50%.
I hope they stole Norton too
Then perhaps someone will be able to help them clean up the load of old toilet that is Norton Internet Security.
Prettier before
On a purely aesthetic perspective I find the 'before' more attractive. That, however, is a moot point as the make up wearing part of the population aren't doing it for me. They are doing for the women who put them down at every available opportunity and the flirty comments being over made up attracts.
I also find the adverts that say hair should be 'shiny' a bit annoying I think it looks like barbie doll nylon hair.
Here's a theory
Microsoft's policy on the phone is to integrate it into the Wintel ecosystem so tightly that it becomes the default business phone. If the mobile(cell) becomes an extension of the business desktop then a typical business installation becomes Windows/Office/Winphone.
Outlook has another section called calls. Your company phone is tied into your company login. then all your office stuff/settings/security is also your phone. The deskphone is obsolete. Your bosses get to know where you are, how quickly you are moving, Who you speak to and for how long. They could even record your calls remotely.
They bought Skype to integrate voice calls into the system. Intra-office calls all go through the company network and can be tracked back to your desktop. You no longer need a desk phone. The phone tracks location, Outlook knows your location and routes call appropriately. They bought Nokia to bring locked down business winphones to the market.
Women huh!
They'll buy anything...
...Mind you, I'm concerned now that that bloke off of thingy told me that there is a Men Expert somewhere working to help prevent me looking 'fatigued'. And there are 10 signs of that as well! what a co-incidence. I'm just off to check my face in the mirror.
So let me get this right...
... you shoot in the studio in artificial light to reproduce the look of the make up then you Photoshop it because the original shot doesn't properly reproduce the look of the make up.
Good code dies quickly. Bad code lives forever.
Isn't odd how we morn the short lives of great old games and stuff that burned bright but faded quickly. The Y2K code and IE6 web pages still live on long beyond their time.
That would make it RASS Syndrome
@Large Big Mac Meal....
I take the point but is it better than A full fat Latte and a slice of cake?
A better survey would be is it better to drink full sugar pop and acquire the health problems of excess weight or drink sugar free pop and get the health problems of artificial sweetners.
New meter?
They sent the letters out about updating the meters for non-smart but newer meters about a year and a half ago. Then we had a letter saying they had run out of money and would get back to us. Not holding my breath.
I thought...
the last Government had an IT standards and procurement service that saved millions.
It was closed on day one of the new coalition government to save millions. They said it each department could find better, cheaper options.
Then the coalition had to tell all public sector departments to stop writing open checks to Microsoft as it was costing millions.
Now the coalition is looking into an IT standards and procurement service to save millions.
F***ing muppets.
It's all about trust
Do you trust the US to give him a fair and open trial?
Special rendition, water boarding, gitmo, friendly fire inquests, Antigua-US WTO dispute, OJ Simpson trial, John Elliot, Linda Carty, Kenny Richie.
After he is sent to the U.S. for trial...
Yes and after that they can actually try him and find out if he is guilty or not.
The problem is not the extradition but the terms. No evidence has been presented so he cannot counter defend himself and on the face of it the claims seem a bit unlikely.
Mis-sold then.
Even if that is not what they actually wanted it for it was certainly sold to the public here as a necessary part of the WAR ON TERROR. Do you really think they would get it through parliament if they said it was desperately needed to combat UFO conspiracy theorists?
P.S. Our American friends wouldn't even allow US servicemen to be questioned in the UK during the friendly fire death inquests. So it seems unlikely they would actually allow extradition doesn't it?
Posted in Boffins make graphene micro-distillery
ilegal Stills
Home distilling was made illegal because of the lucrative tax levied on spirits. The reason given might have been health and safety but money was always the prime mover.
I was under the impression that helium always leaked because it was small and would always find any faults or interstitial cavities. If the graphene layer is a perfect lattice then there are no gaps as proven by its ability to block helium. Water molecules must therefore be 'passed' through the graphene by some sort of active process like a molecular level machine or catalyst.
How expensive is 'good'
Push email on a smart phone is not that special these days. Perhaps more companies willing to let their employees choose iPhones are less cost conscious and more likely to choose an expensive push email solution.
Posted in Groupon banned from selling SNAKE OIL
"temporary effects"
So "temporary effects" is a universal get-out clause for any and all claims in advertising. Well colour me cynical but I wondered why it had started to appear in cosmetic ad's recently.
Vodafone Hate!!
The government is waging a massive campaign against the some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in this country. The old, the sick and the handicapped are categorised as either frauds or just too expensive to support. Increasingly hate filled measures are proposed for smaller and smaller gain yet hear a huge amount of money is 'given away' to people who are neither poor nor vulnerable but rich, arrogant and greedy by someone who is also rich, arrogant and greedy.
And their customer support is crap.
Two seperate threads
There appear to be two completely separate threads here. One set says 'yeah, yeah, we all did this as kids years decades ago' and the other says ' kids nowadays huh! They're all so dumb. Not like when we were kids'
It's all politics in the end.
It's not Linux they care about. It's old versions of Windows. The fact that they can't get corporates off XP/Office2003 is a major fail for them. They need a way to force big users to upgrade Windows when they upgrade hardware.
Also why should ARM machines be treated differently? Because they threaten the cozy WinTel relationship that why.
Posted in George Lucas: 'No more Star Wars'
Red Tails?
If he wants to make a film about Black Pilots he have looked at the amazing eal life story of Eugene Ballard. But no he decided to make "kind of like ‘The Color Purple,’ only in airplanes"
I wonder if it is not really kinda like 'Start Wars' but in airplanes.
At last. An actually selling point
Large corporates that already have huge internet pipes between disparate sites can hive off all their intra-company phone calls through Skype, All their phone business through the mobile. Tie that into the corporate PC with additional services and you add a Winphone to the Windows/Office franchise. Now there is a lock-in Microsoft can exploit, err sorry, I mean a USP that Microsoft can sell.
I wonder...
If they will make it humanly possible to claim the available tax reduction for working from home. Oh no, I forgot, that would be a useful thing to do so it's not going to happen.
