Posts by gerryg

that I should ever say anything in support of Apple...

They either broke the law or they didn't. I find it difficult to believe that they did anything other than get advice on how to sail as close to the wind as possible, as all corporations do.

Many people dislike international tax policies in the same way that many people are always keen for rich people, defined as anyone that earns more than they do, to pay more tax.

Is this about the EU flexing its muscles on weaker EU states or is there a genuine issue? All answers would seem to have to start with the word "Luxembourg"

Apple's view

Other views include Guido Fawkes Irexit

In my world

Motorists crash into lamp posts, illuminated keep left signs (other types of illuminated street signage equally vulnerable) bridges, each other, pedestrians, cyclists (I know, I've weakened my case)

We could paint everything yellow and erect barriers around it but that still wouldn't solve the problem that 99% of motorists think they are above average drivers

more to the argument than this...

I don't know enough about the rest of the world, so I'll stick to London.

Uber seems to meet a need, AirBnB similarly. I have used neither of them. A few years ago Taxi Drivers were up in arms about those bicycle rickshaw things claiming they would bring the end the world as we know it. Doesn't seem to have happened. No incumbent welcomes competition.

The argument here seems to hinge on the "community" theme, we are all in this together, etc. So what will Uber/Air do to undermine that? Well, if we all agree with one definition of community: nothing at all. Personally I don't care about the schools I don't need, the public libraries I don't use and so forth. Of course I live in a Local Authority that seems to be efficient in both collecting and administering local taxes, so they are low and I am quite happy. YMMV

Those that argue for mechanisms other than competition highlight the accompanying evils but underplay the resulting choice and diversity. Don't like the wages? Do something about it. Don't like the prices? Don't buy it then. But what are the options in the absence of competiton?

Remind me again, why the tube drivers are taking strike action and what alternatives I have?

The Grauniad says it's about working patterns - OK but is that every tube driver*? (in the same way some shops are happy to open on Christmas day) and what about the user demand for a 24 hour service?

The world was going to end, according to some, when buses went cashless - doesn't seem to have happened.

Sure society needs some oversight, but always beware of special pleading and always ask "qui bono?"

* I'm grateful as ever for the Daily Mash view no thanks, we're paid enough

Obligatory

"Flipper" reference

what people say and what people do

"The boffins also asked 32 folks, none security experts, how they feel about this form of 2FA: most said they would prefer it over no 2FA being used"

Whatever the merits of the proposed system, I was deeply underwhelmed that they prayed-in-aid the preferences of general users. General users generally know what is the right to say when asked however, the researchers would do well to research the dangers associated with relying on Revealed Preferences

In general, general users are underwhelmed by security measures, nobody cares

Somehow

I was briefly on a list used by sub-continent scammers. The first few were wanting to discuss my recent car accident which stopped after a few pre-emptions of the Boris Johnson gambit but my deepest regret was never to have received the Microsoft support call (worse, a non-technical friend for whom I have provided LOTD, has) but my most recent (and hopefully last) call gave me (Linux user since 1999) that satisfaction

one feature omitted and a user comparison

I got a Chromecast on special offer (£15 with about that on credit with Google play) I was offered a Fire Stick for £18 so I thought I'd give it a go.

Both have their plus points

The Firestick has 8 (5 free?) GB of memory which enables buffering and makes HD watchable on my 19Mb/s broadband - it's more like a DVD experience

Using your phone or table with Chromecast is OK but still gives a clunky UI, I prefer the Firestick remote control, clunky UI, but easier to use.

Use case: I don't have TV and find it neither shiny nor pointless

Grommet? Was that a good name?

Are HP making cracking contraptions these days, Gwendoline?

Way back in 1972 when the EEC was being created

It was to be formed by countries accepting 100 directives. This was amended to 99 by the UK's refusal to sign up to a directive banning pattern parts (not just any radiator hose but now it's a reassuringly expensive BMW radiator hose)

I've sometimes mused whether this and similar gave rise to the IP wars we've seen over the year ("rounded corners" anyone)

Perhaps the return to trying to eliminate third parties reflects the turning tide in IP wars, but it would be interesting to see how this one pans out as the topic is well worked over

see also

Microsoft claims victory over second-hand software broker

iFixit boss: Apple has 'done everything it can to put repair guys out of business'

Hacker catches Apple's Lightning in a jailbroken bottle

among others...

er, wrist rate

They might be wankers, but the last time I checked (see what I did there) right-handers wear their watch on their left wrist and left-handers on their right wrist.

openSUSE

Along with almost every desktop environment under the sun, find it here

Before "digital transformation" I suspected incompetence; after, I knew

I have lived where I live for over 16 years. Every year I used the two part no-change on-line process to update the electoral roll

With the new process involving gov.uk my local authority couldn't use that information but instead had to match my address details to those held by DWP. Despite me having contacted DWP a few years earlier from the same address by post because I couldn't use their on-line service for my NI record as my address details didn't match their records, they still couldn't match me, so I had to do the passport and inside leg measurement fandango.

It does actually leave me wondering if they are deliberately this bad.

where to start...

"I don't think there is risk, because in the worst case scenario the government could take it over," he said

no longer about Linux

"It might have a point, given that the work IBM and Novell did on Linux is thought to have have helped the operating system reach its current status as a data centre darling."

For those of you who haven't been following this since the start it is worth reading the history on Groklaw.

This no longer about Linux, Novell settled that. So now they are going after IBM on contractual matters.

It was a failing business then (remember we are talking pre-2003, when the suit was launched (oh, how I remember) and it has failed ever since. IIRC IBM have been waiting for them to bring this on.

If NASA made beer...

...it would probably taste better than this

Too big, too safe

It's a strange thing, there's a lot of concern out there that [insert your least favourite private sector leviathan] is getting too big and that this cause problems for you, me, world peace and global warming

However similar behaviour in the public sector tends to be treated differently and I've never understood why.

If bad outcomes are caused by size then it seems irrelevant what those bad outcomes turn out to be (profits, too many bureaucrats, overpaid "talent", whatever)

Anti-competitive practice in the public sector is loosely described as illegal state aid

it's not as if the BBC hasn't been here before with its digital curriculum.

Their margins are different to most others

As in "at the margin"

What else are they going to do with their money, put in a post office savings account and borrow it back? Invest in each others' shares and profit from each others' growth. If anyone can see how this works they've probably got a patent on a perpetual motion machine too.

Speculative R&D is an essential part of a portfolio investment strategy. They've got to stop it all becoming a zero sum game by finding new areas of economic activity from which they find new sources of return on capital.

It's not difficult.

Yes, no doubt they could give it all to developing countries and no doubt all of it would be usefully and efficiently deployed on schools hospitals, clean water and sewage systems (and none of it would end up Swiss bank accounts and other syphoning activties)

However in the real world, villages in Africa are getting all this stuff through earlier examples of speculative R&D, e.g., mobile phones, solar power and, earlier, bicycles