Posts by John Smith 19

OMG. NHS actually gets money *back*

I'm going to have to sit down.

Seriously how often does a major UK institution get money *back* from one of the usual suspects?

Trouble is they will be back sniffing round for the next round of reforms, no doubt pitching some kind of "accreditation management system" (WTF that is as it won't exist when they actually start talking about how great it is) to "help" those (budget holding) GP's hold their budgets (and get a chunk of them in the process).

Personally I think the only think that *really* improves these guys will be being publicly *banned* from bidding by an organization they screwed over for X years.

Otherwise it's the banking crisis all over again. Personal gains are kept and the stockholders pick up the pieces, no matter *how* insane the implementation plan was.

Heads I get a $1m bonus, tails you see your shares drop 50%.

Thumbs up for the NHS growing a set big enough to get something substantial off them.

but I suspect CSC will learn nothing from the experience other than cover their tracks better next time.

Stop calling them "Billion £ contracts" when its £100m a year running for 10 yrs might be a start

A £1Bn contract split into 10 sub contracts is *still* £100m each.

Which is still firmly in "usual suspects" territory.

In *reality* that's £10m per *year*, which is definitely in the (larger) end of SME land.

The bottom line is *always* proprietary lockin by the supplier.

This is *all* about the rules in the contract on documentation, source code, compiled versions etc.

Government systems are *likely* to be 1 off sales, as it is *highly* unlikely you can build one flexible enough to accommodate the UK NI systems (NIRS II anyone?) and then sell it to someone else (Although IIRC that's *exactly* what one of the US wanted to do with it or another system, when they pitched the system as client server).

Things would probably go easier if customers accepted 3 things.

1)No software is bug free.

2)Suppliers will release software with bugs. The question is what is an *acceptable* level, what should be done about them and who is responsible (IE who pays for the work).

3)Suppliers can (and *have*) botch the requirements analysis and know they will make any money they lost low bidding the contract by charging through the nose for change requests. CSA system anyone?

More creative mapping of government tasks to COTS software would probably save quite a bit. Looking for the right *class* of COTS software to work on and being prepared to *change* your existing (non computer) procedures to improve the fit.

The trick is to avoid excessive "customization." ending up with effectively yet another proprietary system that cannot leverage later upgrades to the core software (a perennial screw up of in house modified MRP systems back in the day).

I wonder if they will let Top Gear play with one?

Gull wing doors. Oh dear.

Touch screen controls. Oh dear, oh dear.

I fear Clarkson & Co would be merciless.

Given the *usual* shape of American SUV's I think it's not bad but I'm not putting my name down.

Ye hah

or as a Puerto Rican once said "These Anglos, they're so hot blooded."

Somehow the words of The Boss come to mind.

"So I bought a .44 magnum, it was solid steel cast

And in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast"

AFAIK the UK Utility companies have *no* meter readers already.

The work is outsourced to some 3rd party. It seems to be fairly seasonal work, like picking crops.

However the utility companies have to do it about *every* 2 years. Going to smart meters (provided the relevant laws are updated) means they can dump this annoyance *permanently*.

Thumbs up for this but it'll only *mean* something if the companies can't put a fast one with the deliberately expensive "manual" tariff.

A suggestion to Britards. Tell the regulator you don't want one and *why* and to your supplier tell them you don't one and why. Between the high costs, the (probably, but no one has had a check it) c**p security and the potentially abusive remote off switch I'd say there are enough

reasons to get both groups to "review" their planned policies.

Rember if you can't spot the mark that means..

It's you.

Matching bullets, laser pointers and other stuff.

The DARPA smart shell project (Judge Dredd gun) reported previously uses both a new shell *and* a new (big) gun with lots of built in electronics to prep the shell.

This is a *retrofit* to existing weapons in the field. *NO* 2 way comms with the shell. No GPS. No IMU, No temperature and wind speed compensating IR optics.

And once again for the slow ones in the back. Existing laser designators use *invisible* light which *flickers* in a controlled pattern. For missiles this pattern *may* be adjustable so different groups of missiles look for different patterns. Given an 8 bit pattern could allow 255 designators this is not difficult (although IRL some of those patterns would be *very* poor ones to lock onto).

For something this size it's likely to be fixed in design inside the bullet.

And the bullet will be fitted with a filter, making it *blind* to visible light (like the Sun, laser pointers etc).

"malware also cunningly attempts to escape detection".. "Windows Update utility. "

Windows Genuine Advantage?

I wonder how many people switched off auto update as a result of that PoS.

I wonder if it has HP's "legendary" build quality?

In *legend* HP's build quality was excellent.

Whereas today I've always found it a bit s**t with a real nasty tendency for cartridges to report empty when half full and not permit re-fill.

Happy about the science, not so happy about the result

Which is how science should be.

Data collected, data analysis process explained. Error bars identified and suggestions made as to how to *reduce* them. Let's hope some efforts are made to reduce this.

Like other recent projects this should also update the climate models people are using ASAP.

Note the *constant* temperature difference between the surface and the deep oceans have been known for *decades* and various groups have planned to use it.

The idea has been to use the surface water to boil a low BP fluid, drive a turbine and cool it with water from the deep layer. A test model was running in 1930. I know it as OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion). It was never viewed as economic but handy for isolated communities. Perhaps time for another look?

As for the remote data buoys they are pretty impressive given their life time in a *very* harsh environment. More and deeper would be better but (surprise) better funding of *raw* data collection seems to have a pretty low priority.

I'll take *properly* researched results with gloomy predictions over any amount of "It's all a conspiracy."

While there have been some recent studies (that El Reg has reported) that have substantially reduced the uncertainty (IRL those "error bars" make a hell of a difference) and lowered the worst case quite a bit researchers must *actively* look for the holes in their models to avoid human kind being collectively bitten on its backside.

Keep in mind Robert Maxwell made his pile in academic journals.

Using his contacts in the Eastern Block Captain Blobby got a lock on publishing most of the scientific journals from there in English at a time when where was strong interest in finding out what they knew (some of which was quite advanced).

In return they also published pretty near every "autobiography" of a senior Warsaw Pact politician until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I don't think anyone *ever* accused him of being an intellectual (ruthless b***ard, fraudster and alleged pension fund rapist perhaps).

He was in it for the bucks.

125 down,

Just what about 100 000 UK Gov staff to go.

Now how about *shutting* some of the 100-200 odd data centres HMG has scattered about?

Once again it's that old Price/Earnings ratio

Which begs 2 questions.

1) What *are* its earnings? Not its income, the profit after taxes and interest has been paid that it *could* dish out to the "investors" taking advantage of this offer.

2) How much further can it *grow*? IE How close to saturation is North America? Europe? And of course the biggies, China and India.

A P/E of for example 200 (2 *centuries to get back your investment at *present* earnings) *could* be justified if their market share cold grow a hell of a lot EG 10x. Hence the question is there still 90% of the market untapped?

Both India and China may have strong local competitors which people elsewhere do not really know about.

I'm nowhere convinced this is going to be the money spinner some people think it is. I suspect the long term winners will be the "buy early, sell fast" brigade. When that "I-own-a-piece-of-Facebook" glow wears off I thing people will realize FB has to grow *lots* (while at least retaining its revenue per account) or they are holding an overpriced lemon.

Icon would be sucking that lemon.

"YouTrack" (TM)

Your life on their servers 24/7/365 available to anyone who can pay (or perhaps anyone who can pay enough *not* to be tracked).

So *not* user education, site *operator* education needed.

Otherwise how would that malware get hosted by a site in the *first* place?

Might also help the Hydrogen industry.

As a pipe and tank liner if this stuff can stop H2 diffusion that would be *very* impressive.

Caveats. Such an application would need large areas made *cheaply*, not one of graphenes strong points IIRC.

And of course there is the question of weather you *want* a Hydrogen economy given what a PITA it is to pressurize (backbone pipelines are not like house supplies) or liquify.

*if* you're still keen it cuts down some of the problems from *staggeringly* difficult (replacing *all* conventional piping with H2 resistant piping) to just very difficult (coating the existing stuff with an internal graphene layer).

Reduce the contention rate. Whatever for?

With no *enforceable* legal minimum for "broadband" WTF that means BT have no *incentive* to do so. The call it broadband and you're connected to it so it's not their problem it it happens to run xKBS.

This *might* improve if OFCOM agreed a *minimum* and forced telecos to it.

It might end the era of super-duper-omg-its-so-fast broadband (IRL available for about 3 mins sometime on Wednesday nights between 1 and 4am. T&C apply, including a download limit you will exceed in less than a minute at full speed).

So what?

Naturally the telcos will plead "But we can't "guarantee" a rate because we don't when when we might have to hook up to some wire installed in 1970 and besides it's all those *existing* users with their downloads. Boo hoo, whine whine" The fact that modern exchanges (and by now they are 8all* modern exchanges) run automatic line tests on a *daily* basis makes their ignorance of where any *real* problem areas would be somewhat implausible.

Britards if you want a better pitch you need to complain to the groundsman and the ref. IOW The regulator ain't getting their fingers out. I suggest a short letter to both your MP and OFCOM.

Handy hint. Want super fast broadband? Move to South Korea.

"Data Protection" == PATRIOT Act ?

I think not.

Let me suggest one under appreciated fact.

Most senior civil servants in the UK will be Oxbridge graduates with *decades* of successful career climbing behind them.

Those years of being at what everyone *says* are the best universities, followed by *decades* of shanking their rivals better than they have been shanked (thus demonstrating their superiority) make the idea that they might be ignorant about a subject (or rather they can get someone to study it for them and write a report they can judge effectively, which to them is pretty much the same thing) simply *unthinkable*.

Except in reality that is *exactly* what they are.

Just a thought.

The 51st State?

I saw that movie. It's Britain of course. With Australia, New Zealand and Canada (in that order) being the 52nd,3rd and 4th.

As for Israel . What makes you think its leaders would submit to that much loss of control of their budget. They already influence enough US miltary thinking to get all the money they need from the budget.

Pretty much *all* candidates will sound enthusiastic about space in Florida. It's the NASA connection. As for having a *funded* plan to get there that's another matter.

When people want to talk about NASA's "vast* size they emphasize its $18Bn budget.

When they want to talk about how *small* it is they point out it's 0.5% of the total *federal* budget (not US GDP) and that the Pentagon spend more than *double* that on aircon for it's overseas bases. Or people in the US spend more on home delivered pizzas ($27Bn).