* Posts by d3vy

1633 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Mar 2014

Splunk to junk masters and slaves once a committee figures out replacements

d3vy

Re: Crazy

Not sure what side of the debate you're on here?

OK Windows 10, we get it: You really do not want us to install this unsigned application. But 7 steps borders on ridiculous

d3vy

Re: To be fair

Yes, but if windows is managing it you don't need to go in there and set a default at all.

You just select the printer you ant to print from when you're printing and windows remembers that choice for future.

So really, 4 clicks has become 1 additional one within the print dialog.

Unless you want to manually change the default and not have windows manage it which you absolutely can do, but it's probably not the case for most users.

They've only gone and bloody done it! NASA, SpaceX send two fellas off to the International Space Station

d3vy

Re: Awesome...

I was happy when my teenage son wanted to watch.... 6 hours watching on Saturday and then we were up at 7.15 to catch them waking up (we misheard what time it would be at so ended up two hours early) watched all day Sunday just to see them float through that hatch.

Only turned off when Ted Cruz popped up to give his speech.

US small biz loan system bans software robots. The lesson? Make sure IT knows about any automation projects

d3vy

@DVON

Yeah, I've worked with quite a few "green screen" systems, slap a web front end on it to let the users carry out the most common functions and you save a fortune in training then how to use a terminal.

d3vy

"Out of curiosity, did the target organisation not provide an API? Seems odd (to me) that if they were expecting this level of user input, that they'd provide an API instead."

That's the beauty of the sector my client works in.. the systems they needed to interface with are basically monopolies (Regional utility companies).

They created the software years ago (In one case I was using RPA to work with a site that claimed to require IE5.5).

These companies don't make profit from this software, they have to provide it for regulatory reasons but that doesn't mean they need to provide an API and that would cost them money, so the majority just don't provide anything other than a half arsed web page.

"Or if they did provide an API, why ever use RPA in the first place?"

Quite, The system that we created was capable or interacting with APIs where available, but out of the 20+ utility companies that we were interacting with, only one had an API and even then it was in beta and not suitable for actual usage.

So, yeah if there was a competitor available with an API that would be great, the reality is there are no competitors that we could have used, still cant complain, Its quite a niche area and it pays quite well when the work comes around :)

d3vy

I was working on an RPA project a few years ago where the target of the automation got wind of what we were doing and said that it was against their TOS.

We pointed out to them that our options were RPA with about 25 concurrent sessions hitting their service 24 hours a day or we were going to have to supplement the team we manually had doing the task manually (85 people at the time) with a few hundred off shore workers which would mean 300+ concurrent sessions.

A balance was met where we implemented RPA but with some small delays build into the process to make it more manageable from their side, but still faster and cheaper for my client than hiring a bunch of humans to do the job.

The headline holds true - speak to IT before implementing anything!

Netflix starts 30-day video data diet at EU's request to ensure network availability during coronavirus crisis

d3vy

Yes netflix already does this.

But if the maximum bit rate is capped at 75% of its normal then its still going to save some bandwidth isn't it.

d3vy

Re: What about the CDN?

"I'm not sure if the 25 to 1 ratio is correct but it feels like it and it seems to me that other European countries use a much lower ratio."

I was looking at business broadband around 10 years ago and BT told me that the main thing I would be paying for would be to be on a contention ratio of 20:1 on business as opposed to 50:1 on the domestic product.

That may have changed over the years.

d3vy

Re: But Netflix has kittehs!

"Or will Netflix (and Amazon) ever find the time to add a 'don't show me ths carp' filter option to screen out stuff I have no interest in watching"

You could just... you know... Not press play on the things you don't want to watch.

UK government puts IR35 tax reforms on hold for a year in wake of coronavirus crisis

d3vy

Bring forth my confetti cannon filled with £50 notes.

Banking in 2019: Sure, we'd recommend TSB's online, mobe banking say cowed customers

d3vy

I got a letter offering me more compensation* shortly before I was offered the survey.

Now, it's almost likley pure coincidence but the timing was definitely suspicious.

* They have paid out about 500 in compensation now as I had issues for 7 weeks and still encounter minor issues every now and then. I'd change banks but I have no confidence that the same wouldn't just happen at another bank - they're all as shit as each other.

UK contractors planning 'mass exodus' ahead of IR35 tax clampdown – survey

d3vy

Re: Expenses again.....

I guess I could have summed that up more succinctly with what I've been saying to recruiters..

Outside IR35 I'm willing to commute anywhere in the UK.

Inside I need to be within 45 minutes of home (in traffic)*

In the long term it's bad for clients.

* What actually ended up happening was a double whammy where I got a role outside IR35 15 minutes from home..

d3vy

Re: Expenses again.....

"Current Umbrella rules mean that I can no longer claim back those expenses. Ergo, I won't be working in Bristol for much longer."

Exactly why I've just ditched a client (perks of being a contractor) and found a new one closer to home.

I'm not saying I was doing them a favor exactly but they were chronically short of staff and paid well so me spending 15-20 hours a week commuting was beneficial to both of us. From April I'd be paying 6k a year on travel expenses out of my own pocket instead of my LTD... Just not going to fly I'm afraid. They are now down one contractor and the other 30-40 will be leaving in the next 6 weeks.

d3vy

Re: Anonymous Contractor

"Salary is not a net number. It has to cover income tax and NI, and what you keep is substantially less than that headline figure.

Just like a contractor, except they start from a substantially higher number."

Close.... The number the contractor starts on seems higher because your salary *even the gross* doesn't include all of the cost of your employment that is covered by your employer... Your pension matching, your sick pay, your holiday pay. The per head amount that is needed for HR and people management every year... Your travel expenses, your training costs...

All of these things and more your employer pays *not from your gross* but on top of it - they don't have any of that for a contractor.

d3vy

Re: Anonymous Contractor

"We could both do the job equally well, the only difference was that I was a wage slave while he was a contractor."

Sounds terrible, in what way was this nasty contractor forcing you to be a permie?

Seriously, complaining that you get shitty conditions so everyone else should have the same is ridiculous... Speak to your employer and ask for changes, if you're good enough they will comply (to an extent) to retain you.. but then again... There's probably a reason you didn't do this.

d3vy

Re: Anonymous Contractor

"For all those who are critical of the rates that some contractors are on please remember that it’s a club you are welcome to join"

Those people also need to remember that it's not just IT contractors affected by this.

Truck drivers.

Locum doctors.

Tradesmen working on site for a larger company

All also affected - I'm sure there are more.

d3vy

Re: Anonymous Contractor

@streaky

I suggest you look at the definition of evasion vs avoidance.

National Lottery Sentry MBA hacker given nine months in jail after swiping just £5

d3vy

Re: Oh pull the other one

"Responsible gambling"

As weird as it sounds... Yes.

If you had responded to say that you stopped because you were struggling financially because of it, or that you were becoming addicted (Or one of a number of other indicators) - you would be at least blacklisted from their service, have your account closed and given information about help providers.

We are not as yet required to add you to the GAMSTOP database blackisting you elsewhere (not in the instance you described anyway) - but you could refer yourself if you thought you were developing a problem. After that it would be very difficult to gamble anywhere in the UK which does proper identity verification.

d3vy

Re: It seems to me

They accessed the accounts by using valid user credentials, not exploiting any security holes.

Its incredibly hard to defend against - impossible in some instances.

d3vy

Re: This seems out of proportion to the offense

"Kinda like saying the rain caused your roof to leak"

Actually what they were doing was credential stuffing*

So in your analogy this would me more akin to complaining that someone is hosing your house with a high pressure hose looking to see if they can cause a leak... Or more accurately standing at your front door with 20k keys trying each one until they gain access...

* Using credentials exposed elsewhere online to attempt to log into other sites.

There's something fishy going down in the computer lab

d3vy

No me but a friend was "asked to leave" by his employer after adding a single rule to the auto complete in word/outlook on his bosses machine.

Bosses Name -> "The Lord of Darkness"

Dear XXX

......

Thank you for your help in this matter.

Regards.

The Lord of Darkness.

Brother, can you spare a dime: Flickr owner sends mass-email begging for subscriptions

d3vy

Re: Why?

"Uh ok. It benefits the company for users to walk away from their service? Don't think so..."

Free tier users... Yes, because they are not bringing any money into the company and their use of the service is a drain on resources.

Think about it.

d3vy

Re: Why?

"As SmugMug's grovelling email shows, enough people were pissed off about this to vote with their feet and bid SmugFlickrMug a cherry two-fingered farewell"

Presumably these people who didnt want to pay $50 a year had free accounts.. them leaving is no loss to the company, in fact... its probably beneficial to flikr that these people leave and take their media with them - reduced bandwidth and storage costs translate to lower losses so the company gets what they want either way.

Sir John Redwood backs IR35 campaign, notes review would have to start 'immediately' before new off-payroll working rules kick in

d3vy

Re: Interesting discussion

I think you've inadvertently stumbled upon the whole reason contractors have an issue with IR35.

No it doesn't stop companies hiring us, or even put any more restrictions on them doing so, what it means is we (contractors) will be taxed more but won't be eligible for any normal employment benefits.

Basically we get all.of the downsides of contracting with fewer of the upsides and we get to pay more tax in the process.

Many people like contracting, I decided to do it 5 years ago because I like the flexibility, the extra money is Handy too, but it was mainly flexibility, I have two kids and don't want to beg a boss for time off when it's needed if we fancy a day out or they're ill.

d3vy

"Not only will they get less in tax on the lower salary, don't forget they'll get NOTHING back in VAT."

Yep, I was looking at my first IR35 role yesterday - something better came up so it's not happening now but the income tax (&NI) increase for me was around 700 a month (8400 per year) this is less than I pay in Corp tax... And when I pay Corp tax I generally have some income tax and NI to pay as well.

d3vy

"I think most normal employees are sick to the teeth of grossly expensive (usually twice the cost as an employee per day worked) contractors doing the same job as them"

Well, I hate to break it to you, but IR35 doesn't change how "expensive" we are to your employer.

Also if you think contractors are not providing a service of value why do you think your employer has them? Is your company normally happy with needlessly spending money or do the owners quite like making a profit? Because I suspect it's the latter... Which means that someone somewhere in your company has done the maths and seen that there is a cost benefit to having contractors.

Still, if you're still sick to the back teeth of it and think that contracting is all sunshine and unicorns drop me message and I'll be happy to help you get set up with a LTD company, accountant and insurance so that you too can join the dark side... Surely if it's so much more lucrative and risk free you'd be stupid not to?

Cool 'joke', bro, you could have killed someone: Epilepsy Foundation sics cops on sick flashing-light Twitter trolls

d3vy

Re: Client Problem

"Why not just fix the client not to show the flashing images if the user so chooses?"

You didn't read all the way to the end did you?

Not everyone who is sensitive to strobing effects is aware of the fact until they have a seizure... Which (one assumes) is a little late for toggling gifs off in the browser.

d3vy

Did you miss the bit where many people don't know they have photosensitive epilepsy until they have a seizure?

Hate speech row: Fine or jail anyone who calls people boffins, geeks or eggheads, psychology nerd demands

d3vy

Pfft.

Not exactly brain surgery is it?

iFixit surgeons dissect Apple's pricey Mac Pro: Industry standard sockets? Repair diagrams? Who are you and what have you done to Apple?

d3vy

Re: Proprietary Flash

"I am not sure what "Flash storage" is in this context"

The SSD - Though the term "flash storage" is becoming more popular as its no longer a disk - certainly not the first time I'd heard it.

d3vy

"who the hell needs 700GB of RAM?"

Anyone doing any light web browsing using chrome?

d3vy

Re: "...the equivalent of a two-bedroom terraced house in West Yorkshire on a computer"

"OK, the price of a quarter of a broom cupboard in Kensington"

Price of a pint in South Kensington.

The National Museum of Computing goes Marie Kondo at Christmas: Luckily all the Lego sparks joy

d3vy

Re: Lego sorting machine

Had the same thought but 1 piece every 2 seconds might be the issue there...

I suspect a bunch of volunteers can do the job faster and with fewer errors for the time being.

GlaxoSmithKline ditches IR35 contractors: Go PAYE or go home

d3vy

"that's the company the individual own's and likely takes minimum wages from + dividends."

That's what I thought you meant, and this is why you're wrong :

We are talking about IR35. When a contractor is inside IR35 the company that they own is removed from the equation meaning that it has no income with which to give them the sick pay or holiday pay that you are suggesting they can pay themselves.

Inside IR35 the contractor is no longer an employee of *their own* company [1], they are an employee of the company that pays them (ie the client - the company that the end product belongs to) except they do not get holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions, maternity/paternity pay. Yet they pay exactly the same % Tax and NI as people who do (Actually with their slightly higher day rates they pay *more* £ than the employees who get these benefits.

[1] Well they are unless they decide to close the company down but as the company has zero income they are unlikely to pay themselves a wage.

d3vy

Could you clarify what you mean when you say "the company they work for"?

I need to work out how wrong you are before I comment further.

d3vy

"This decision means that GSK will not extend the contracts of any workers who operate through their own personal services company "

Thats fine - I do it through a Limited company.

Seeing as a "Personal Service Company" isnt a real legal entity - its just a term HMRC made up to mean "Small limited company that we want to tax more" I dont see the issue ;)

Xbox Series X: Gee thanks, Microsoft! Just what we wanted for Xmas 2020 – a Gateway tower PC

d3vy

Re: Ah yes but

"No more discs? Everything will be downloaded from the network. With the added bonus (for Microsoft) of killing the second-hand game market."

Well, its clearly got a slot so probably not in this iteration of the hardware.

Tory chancellor pledges to review IR35 rollout in UK private sector – just like all the other parties

d3vy

Re: Weasel words

"What major disruption? You may not like it, but if you're a fake contractor you'll have to stop the pretense and pay the tax due. How does that disrupt anything?"

What if you're a real contractor[1] but your client isn't willing to accept liability[2] so decide to put you inside even though you have done all of your due diligence and had your contract & working practices reviewed by a recognised institution in this area and been deemed outside? What if the client just doesn't want to take the time to understand the legislation and takes the easy route?

[1] Please don't take that as me accepting your term "Fake contractor" - for the purpose of the argument I'm lowering myself to your lever because I doubt you would understand anything else.

[2] Bearing in mind that the legislation isn't finalised yet and the guidance for companies isn't due out until march (a few weeks before implementation)

UK political parties fall over themselves to win tech contractor vote by pledging to review IR35

d3vy

Re: No real contractor ...

For fuck sake, how can you be a "real contractor" and still not know that length of contract and number of clients has nothing to do with IR35

You could have 2 clients simultaneously for a week and depending on how you work for them.be inside with one and outside with the other.

d3vy

Re: What annoys me is that contractors somehow think there BETTER than employees

Oh... Someone's a bit insecure about their abilities.

And by the way :

* You're

* You're

* Than

d3vy

Re: So why'd you do it then? @Rich 2

"It is currently used to describe the type of company where there is one director, the services are provided by the director, and the shares are all owned by the director."

Untrue - if this was the case then I could get round IR35 by simply having my partner set up the company, own all of the shares (and collect the associated dividends) whilst paying me minimum wage for my services.

And this highlights the problem - Like I said, its not a real thing, there is no legal definition of what makes a PSC so it can be all things to all men - to you a PSC is as you described it, to HMRC it could be something else.. more worryingly - on different days to different people within HMRC it could mean something else.

Which brings us back to the argument that was made a few years ago - we are forced for reasons of liability to use a limited company - why not just have a new legal entity with the liability benefits of a limited but with a tax policy more closley aligned to that of a sole trader (ie - you get taxed as normal PAYE rates on all income but are able to make deductions for expenses such as pensions, travel, hotels etc.

My plumber* isnt considered a PSC - hes the only employee of his ltd company and the only shareholder and he doesnt really sell any goods - only services - why should it only apply to IT staff?

To recap - PSC is a meaningless term - until there is a proper definition we should not use it - just say contractor - we all know what that means.

* Substitute any number of your own jobs here.

d3vy

Re: IR35

Not quite as we would still be able to claim expenses, pay into pensions, decide our own working times/days etc under that regime. where as inside IR35 as it stands now theres no expenses so the 6k a year I spend commuting becomes a ridiculous prospect under IR35 but a bit more bearable if it was just a hike in tax rates.

That said, under the conservatives at least there will still be some outside IR35 roles knocking about...

d3vy

You're 50% right, it doesn't look like a mop.

d3vy

Re: Don't review IR35

I'm a contractor and I don't mind it *if implemenyed correctly with clear rules and processes*

d3vy

Re: IR35 must be implemented!!!

PSCs don't exist.

Stop it.

d3vy

"I take it you're too altruistic to go freelance yourself. Or is there something else that's holding you back?"

I'd imagine there are a number of things holding him back... Not just in terms of contracting but just life in general.

It's a bit sad really.

d3vy

Re: So why'd you do it then? @Rich 2

*Personal Service Company (PSC)*

Let's remember everyone, PSC is a meaningless term, there's no legal definition. It's literally made up to stoke an us and them mentality so that there's someone to vilify.

d3vy

Re: Smoke And Mirrors

"The ONLY proposed change to IR35 is WHO makes the determination, Contractor or Client."

True(ish) - have an upvote, however I think everyone recognises that its not being implemented very well (See recent reports about the CEST tool) - the guidance for business isn't finalised yet and isnt due out until a few weeks before the legislation comes into effect. You also need to look at liability, why would a client deem a contractor oustide IR35 and accept liability for their tax if that decision if found to be wrong?!

The effect this is having on the sector NOW is ridiculous with many companies deciding its easier to take the safe route and either can all contractors or move them all to PAYE without an actual review to determine their status* (See articles about Barclays/Lloyds/Tesco/GSK)

"Quite frankly if this is the deciding factor in this election for anybody then you probably don't deserve a vote. Much bigger issues and our children's future is at stake."

Its one of many deciding factors, it will be for many.

Personally my children's present *and future* is massively impacted by how much I earn (Being that i bring in 90% of the household income) so a tax hike which effectively cuts 15-20% of my income IS a big factor for me - and Im fairly sure it will be a big factor for others too.

* Something that back at the start HMRC said that they should not do.. but backtracked on when it was realised that they had left it too late to actually do the reviews properly.

d3vy

Re: More nonsense

"I am really not a fake contractor. 10 contracts in last 15 years makes me outsidee IR35 afaik."

The number of contracts you have worked has no bearing whatsoever on your IR35 status.

d3vy

Re: More nonsense

"majority are fake contartors dodging the tax systems since decades, now it is time to pay. How could all permanent staff pay 40% taxes and get the same schools, NHS as a contractor who pays only 5 to 10% of taxes. The conservatives are very good in trying to implement IR35. Everyone should pay same taxes and enjoy same benifits and services."

Obvious troll is obvious.

Though given your spelling and grammar, I do understand your point that not enough tax is being funnelled into schools.