Posts by Vic

Re: Two different languages

> much time and effort is wasted in misunderstandings

That's a comparatively simple problem to solve, in fact: you just need to make sure each side has a rudimentary grasp of the other's language.

That's expensive on the clinical side - consultants really aren't cheap, so paying them to learn about IT is probably a non-starter - but IT bods can learn enough about what their medical colleagues are up to that the problem is soluble.

But that would require IT staff to be a part of the NHS, which means manglement won't be able to outsource it and claim some sort of cost-saving.

Vic.

Re: My recommendations

> Why do people think that, on the internet, opinion disagreement == obvious corruption ?

Because the two are so strongly correlated...

Vic.

> I *think* thats only for the link-local address

More than that - using the MAC address is just one way of generating the link-local address.

It is absolutely *not* a mandatory part of the standard.

Vic.

Re: Smacks of the old scam

> Isn't that a quote from Lock Stock?

The joke predates Lock Stock by at least several decades...

Vic.

Re: Cybercrooks have quit pouring barrels of spam into email inboxes

> my catch-all is full

Well, I think we can see your problem...

Vic.

Re: @Oliver Mayes

> to remove the expectation of, and the need, for both parents to work

You're going to need much cheaper housing for that.

That's going to make a lot of people very unhappy...

Vic.

Re: I positively hate those loudmouth post cards

> - make sure there are at least four of them. Ten is better

- Put them in the microwave. 5 minutes at 650W is generally sufficient.

Vic.

Re: Wil Wheaton, Douch...

> i think Wil Wheaton is a Douch

I exchanged a few emails with him a couple of years ago. He's a decent bloke IRL.

Shame about his Wesley Crusher character...

Vic.

Re: Solution

> The sensor will have to be in the pilot's oxygen mask.

That's not difficult. O2 sensors are small and light.

Might be interesting getting one to work at high-G, though :-)

Vic.

Re: not only permitted, it is expected and encouraged.

> What is expected and encouraged is adding improvements and donating back to the code base.

No, absolutely not.

Whilst new commits are always welcome, there is no expectation *whatsoever* that users/redistributors add anything to the party. Section 3 of GPLv2 controls redistribution - either verbatim or with modifications. It does *not* require that you do anything to improve the code base - only that you conform to the licence.

And note that Section 6 explicitly prohibits adding any extra conditions - so that "expectation" of which you speak cannot exist, or else it would leave you in breach of the GPL...

Really, there is far too much "lore" like this that has grown up around the GPL, and IMO it is a big part of why some people misunderstand just how easy it is to conform to the licence. Please, guys, let's stick to what is in the licence, rather than what we would like to be there.

Vic.

Re: Redundant gobbledegook and propaganda

> a) you MUST license ... to anyone, and b) you must charge everyone the SAME fee.

Not quite; it means you must *offer* the same licence at the same fee to everyone.

Should that someone refuse your offer, things change. If it were not so, there would be no downside to using the patented technology without a licence - the only sanction would be to force the infringer to pay what he should have paid in the first place.

Vic.

Re: Not the only Java implementation without a license

> the error in logic is yours.

Once again, you accuse others of your own faults.

> Apache says that code isn't theirs...

Apache said no such thing.

They have said that *not all* the code in question is theirs. And that was never in dispute.

If you cannot see the difference between that and what you claim, then there really is no hope for you.

Vic.

Re: the problem with economics is

> The spectacular bust in house prices we saw recently can be

> squarely blamed on lowering interest rates

I disagree.

The house price problem is down to demand exceeding supply. The lack of supply is because all the councils sold off their housing stock (under Right To Buy) and couldn't replace it.

Rising rents meant that buy-to-rent made sense. So private landlords bought up stock, leaving the supply of housing further depleted. And we're straight into a positive feedback loop. To make matters worse, rising house prices meant that investors could ride the price bubble - yet more houses being taken out of the housing supply.

The only solution I can see is for councils to regain their housing stock. This won't be cheap...

Vic.

Re: Jeremy Hunt

> JIm Naughtie got it right on R4's Today Programme....

i watched Andrew Neill at lunchtime. He was being *very* careful how he pronounced the Minister's name :-)

Vic.

Re: I hope their marketing department gets fired. Out of a cannon.

> it's the sheer amount of paper they're shoving through my letterbox

Marvelous, isn't it?

I have a wood-burning stove. Virgin Media have helped keep me warm this winter :-)

Vic.

Re: OK

> all those governments who're going to go along with the FBI the next time

That'll be the UK.

We're used to being on our own.

Vic.

Re: Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

> Ceefax was shite

No. Ceefax was technologically marvelous, given the capabilities of the time, and extraordinarily useful.

> So Ceefax was the only thing on the box between 01:00 and the start of breakfast telly

Yeah, you seem to have confused "Ceefax" with the "pages from Ceefax" transmissions the BBC did overnight.

Ceefax was a 24-hour data carousel. It was an exceptional design - 40 years later, we haven't beaten it on a broadcast medium[1]. I, for one, mourn its passing.

Vic.

[1] On the grounds that the MHEG-based "replacement" really is shite.

Re: Bernie a subversive?

> Bernie Eccleston - evil genius or unconventional champion of human rights?

Of the two? Evil genius. But I'm not sure about the "genius" bit.

Vic.

Re: Linux vs stme cells, hmmmmm

> rather than paradigm-changing

What Linus did wasn't paradigm-changing either; it built on what the GNU organisation had done. Linux is the kernel that was missing from the GNU operating system, and it was written along similar lines to GNU projects.

That's not to belittle what Linus has achieved - I am a very satisfied Linux user - but what he did was to get the job done, not change the paradigm.

Vic.

Re: BZZZT - DAT DER

> Try and kill someone with cannabis, and see what happens.

The lethal dose of cannabis is roughly 10Kg.

Dropped from a third-story window...

Vic.

Re: Crimes of dispassion

> is a prime example of a crim still assuming they won't be caught

That would appear to be a pretty resonable assumption...

Here's one of my pet theories: in order to provide *effective* detection, any police force needs significant support from the local community.

Because the bobbies spend their time trying to get as many convictions - of any sort - as they possibly can, much of the population won't have anything to do with plod if they can avoid it. There is a fear - probably grounded - that an attempt to help the Old Bill will end up with a problem for the person trying to help...

So it is that we have a disconnect: there is a real "us and them" situation between the community and the Police. Just look at how many drivers jump on the brakes when they see a cop car - even if they were already driving legally.

There is a solution to this. But it'll never get past the readers of the Daily Fail.

Vic.

> there is 'an inventive step, non-obvious to someone familiar with the art' in the UK

The US is *beginning* to get its act together in that department.

If you look at the patents Oracle went to trial against Google with, they all fall into the "you patented *what*?" category. And the USPTO has now rejected almost all of them, with the others now far more narrowly focussed (so that they will probably not trouble any else in the future).

But the problem is that these duff patents were issued in the first place. That means there's going to be a trial. And under the US court system, just being a defendant can be fatally expensive, even if you win the case.

Thus the patent troll business.

Given what the Supreme Court did a few weeks back in the Myriad case, we *might* have turned the corner...

Vic.

Re: Heading in the right direction

> It's clear that the Lumia range is selling

That's not clear to me at all.

Vic.

Re: S.S. Microsoft?

> Either that or we will see market share for the various Linux packages jump

Sadly, most of the major Linux distributions seem intent on making pretty much the same mistake :-(

Vic.

Re: btrfs

> We have an extensive rewrite of the anaconda (installer) UI planned.

Does this mean there's going to be *even more* work to get revisor fixed?

I've given up on the Fedora team doing that, so it's probably going to fall to me. And I'm not looking forward to it :-(

Vic.

Re: Optional

> mySQL is still essentially a single server system, great as a back

> end for PHPBB on a website or a low volume transaction system but that’s about it.

Errr - a number of big players use it. Farcebook does, IIRC...

MySQL has its issues, but your statement above really isn't true.

Vic.