* Posts by ajsmith

4 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Mar 2010

Clap Google, Amazon in irons to end tax shenanigans - MPs

ajsmith

It's just not cricket

I know these practices have been going on for decades, but it doesn't make it right. It seems to me that the richer you are as an individual or business, the more paying tax is an option rather than an obligation. Us PAYE plebs (I include myself in that) and small businesses without the resources to fund the high flying accountants and lawyers get squeezed because we have nowhere to hide. The big corporations get lucrative sales built on the back of our investment in safe trading conditions (governance) and infrastructure, but help to don't pay for it. Because of their scale and profitability (due in part to such a low tax burden), they squeeze out diversity and small businesses. Starbuck's et al can pack up and leave our shores as far as I'm concerned, I'm sure enough independent artisan coffee houses will spring up in their place all too happy to charge £4 for a cup of coffee and pay corporation tax.

BlackBerry services splutter back into action, again

ajsmith

Not good

Many businesses have become reliant on mobile email and data services, this needs fixing, explaining, and if necassary re-engineering, and soon. Are RIM ever going to regain the trust of the business community?

BlackBerry users back online after outage

ajsmith
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BES services were affected, there are still issues

50% of our BES users stopped getting emails. The email service seems fine now, but there are still issues with internet and IM, and I am unable to activate new devices, presumably due to the BB internet issue. I have been a BB / BES user for 8 years and this is the worst problem I can remember, compounded by a lack of transparency (or interest to communicate with customers) from RIM. Get you act together please RIM

Desktop refresh cycles: How long is yours?

ajsmith

desktops

We used to refresh about a 3rd of our desktops on an annual basis, but the introduction of thin client computing has extended the desktop life, we now only replace broken PC's. Laptops are still replaced every 3 years due to wear and tear. We still rely on desktops rather than thin client devices to support dual screen functionality and the odd app that doesn't get on too well with Citrix. In my experience, if you buy decent kit in the first place, you can expect many years of reliable service, we have PC's 6 years old that are more than adequate for our environment and since we are mostly only managing the O/S with AV and the odd app, there is very little management overhead.