* Posts by Pete 2

3483 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

KDE 'annoys the hell of' Linus Torvalds

Pete 2 Silver badge

It's what you expect from free software

> the default widget/plasmoid behavior

Generally the defaults for a piece of free software is whatever the author considers will evoke the maximum number of "Oh, cool doood, that's freakin awwwwwwesum" comments within his/her support group online friends. That's what most of them are in it for: the squeals of admiration from fellow geeks, not the silence that comes from well designed software that works intuitively with no fuss and zero learning curve.

So sure, you CAN change the defaults, if you can find where they are stored, and you can work out from the undocumented source what they do, and they aren't hard-wired into the application - which can only be rebuilt by gathering together dozens of obscure (and inter-dependent) source libraries from the 4 corners of the world - and installing all the languages they are written in AND their own sets of dependencies. But really, who has the time to futz around at that level when there's STUFF NEEDS DOING.

Mmm, what's that smell: Coffee or sweat? How to avoid a crap IT job

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Free coffee

> If they replaced the free coffeee with a dishwasher I'd be out of the door!

Some places I've been, the output from the dishwasher would be BETTER than the output from the coffee machine.

Pete 2 Silver badge

A wise check to make

Keep a copy of your CV with you and query that it matches the one that your interviewer has. Agents are not above (it may even be required for some clients) rewriting them, either to emphasise certain attributes or to remove particular things, like salary requirements.

Generally in the UK, if it's not your first IT job pretty much every vacancy goes through an agency. That way companies can distance themselves from some of the most egregious biases that still exist in IT, whilst still making sure that they only get the "right sort of chap" sullying their reception areas.

El Reg seeks hoardiest reader for crap-stashtic honour

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: I seem to recall

> I turfed out my ...

Well, that's you disqualified as a hoader then.

Debenhams cafes ban outré terms like 'espresso' and 'cappuccino'

Pete 2 Silver badge

And the selection of beans available in the UK is poor....

> We've got baked, broad and runner [beans]. What are you complaining about?

Not forgetting "coulda", "shoulda" and "has" ... lots and lots of has-beans

Pete 2 Silver badge

No. I asked: you for coffee?

> Latte? Wouldn't happen to be foreign for milk, would it?

Where coffee is concerned, I thought it was the famous bull-fighting term: Au Lait, Or simply "white".

We don’t talk any more... on the commute

Pete 2 Silver badge

Hell is in "hello"

> There must be something about my demeanour that makes people want to ask me about train schedules.

it must be the peaked hat and whistle that does it.

Seriously, the absolute LAST thing I want (in a long list, after getting off and waiting in the cold for the next train) on a journey is for some stranger to try and strike up a conversation with me. I don't care about their life and I really don't care about their cats, or kids, or holiday, or hopes and I REALLY don't want to hear about their problems or whatever trivial dilemma is fully exercising however many brain cells they can currently call upon.

The iPhone 5 WILL do 4G magic on Three ... but not until next year

Pete 2 Silver badge

2014 is a lifetime in Apple years

By then won;t the iPhone 5 be in museums - replaced by the iPhone 7 or 8?

Businessweek: 'It's Global Warming, Stupid'

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Its the election stupid.

Though, to be fair the only way to get the americans (for they seem to be the only major cause country that is unconvinced) on board about something is for it to affect them: directly, seriously and politically. In that respect something like Sandy is the only "evidence" they will accept. Every other manifestation of climate change - whether man-made or natural - merely falls into the category of "and now some foreign news <CLICK>"

Nationwide to perform IT equivalent of 'replacing jet engine mid-flight'

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: "Voyager"? Interesting choice of Project Name...

Maybe not a coincidence.

The Voyager spacecraft used Jupiter to gain speed in it's mission to the far end of the solar system.

Jupiter was also the name of an ill-fated Centrica project to migrate it's billing systems to .... SAP. In that case Accenture got it's arse sued off for the failures and problems after the project went live.

Hopefully that is the only commonality - as Voyager is still running well, long beyond expectations (much like banks' COBOL systems). I wonder if those SAP implementations will be able to make the same claims in 30 years time?

Sky squeezes even more money from customers, gets fewer new ones

Pete 2 Silver badge

It's BSkyB, not just TV

> Who said satellite dishes were for poor people

The line that pops out of the press release is the number of people taking BSkyB's TV product (they split TV, HD and Multiroom into 3 different "products" - presumably you need to have "TV" as a gateway to HD or M/R). That grew by 95,000 punters in a total TV base of over 10 million - or less than a 1% increase, Most of the new TV "product" sales - HD, etc. seem to be conversions of existing customers taking additional products.

So it would appear that so far as their TV activities are concerned, most of their growth is from existing customers taking more products, with only a small number of new customers. That lack of "new blood" doesn't bode well for future years' product stuffing.

El Reg acquires wildly dangerous laser cannon (with lightsabre option)

Pete 2 Silver badge

Next year's requisition

... will include (rather belatedly)

Laser warning signs (adhesive backed)

Food for guide dog

Freesat downs own website after Downton quickie

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Repeatedly repeating repeats

> if each channel only had one new programme an evening ...

But they don't. For example, just look at Comedy central No new episodes of anything on ANY of their 5 channels tonight.

> Oh and Sky don't own any satellites ...

Oh and everybody knows that. Just like the phrase: "Britain's aging population" doesn't mean that the country owns the pensioners. It's widely understood that the possessive can infer a relationship where that context makes sense - not only an ownership.

Pete 2 Silver badge

Repeatedly repeating repeats

> And I'm not talking about the crappy second rate ones that show nothing but repeats.

Actually, you are.

Once you remove all the duplicates (there are over a dozen channels for C4, alone), prime/subscriptions, smut, "plus 1's", telesales, god, foreign-language and single-topic channels there are maybe 40 or 50 "proper TV" channels out of the thousand or so that a scan of Sky's satellites throws up.

Out of those almost all of them show repeats for most of the time. Even supposedly good channels such as FX or Sky1 only have one or two new (i.e. never shown before) programmes on any given night and sometimes they have none at all. E.g. tonight: Sky1 have 1 half-hour sitcom that's new and 1 hour-long new drama.

So if you don't want "crappy second rate ones that show nothing but repeats" you won't find a solution on satellite TV (and hardly ever on terrestrial, either). Most programmes are repeats. Most new stuff is repeated 3 or 4 times in the week after first broadcast - even more on the +1's. And some channels may only have 4 or 5 hours (30% of which is advertisements) of new material in a week. The clever bit is that they have superb promotional people, who can make the stale, dull and tired content appear new, fresh and must-see. It's not.

Samsung ships two smartphones for every one Apple sells

Pete 2 Silver badge

But who has an app store up their sleeve?

I doubt that Apple is too worried about the number of units it ships. It has a whole different revenue stream that Samsung could only dream about. So for Apple, shifting hardware is merely a means to a (30% royalty/tax) end - whereas Samsung has to make all its profit from flogging kit, where margins aren't that great.

Facebook's stock rally may be shortlived: Small advertisers enraged

Pete 2 Silver badge

Laying golden eggs

Nothing on the internet lasts forever (except maybe spam and data caps). And FB has had a annoying good run. But like all the social sites that have gone before it - and all the ones that are still to come, FB will eventually go into decline.

Whether this is the start of the end or just the end of the beginning (we will fight them on the beaches ... harrumph!) will only be apparent in years to come. However if the FB management do have their finger on the pulse, it seems reasonable to squeeze as much out of the old goose as they can, even if that does hasten its demise.

Dyson alleges spy stole 'leccy motor secrets for Bosch

Pete 2 Silver badge

> 15 years and £100 million developing high-speed brushless motors

With such "world beating" technology, you'd think they would be more careful about protecting their designs - or do patent disputes only work for software?

Wonder why you live longer than a chimp? Thank your MOTHER IN LAW

Pete 2 Silver badge

The secret of old age

> Grandmothers are the secret behind humans' living such long lives

And here was me thinking the reason humans lived longer than chimpanzees was because we're far less likely to fall out of trees.

How Bodyform's farting 'CEO' became a viral sensation

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Wheeeeee, SPLAT!

> You just need to throw yourself at the ground and miss!

As D.A. pointed out. However, if anyone was ever in a position to do this it would have been Felix Baumgartner and even he coudn't make it work. Maybe if' he'd jumped sideways instead?

Pete 2 Silver badge

Wheeeeee, SPLAT!

> if you can throw in a few boxes of Bodyform for the missus, that'd be handy. She's off skydiving next week.

Wouldn't a parachute be more useful? Or is that part of the surprise.

If at first you don't succeed, parachuting's probably not for you.

Raspberry Pi SoC drivers now fully open source

Pete 2 Silver badge

Maximum smoke

Knowledge is power. Now it should be possible to do some serious damage to the chip. Who'll be first to set their Pi on fire?

Microsoft has no plans for a second Windows 7 Service Pack

Pete 2 Silver badge

Learning from XP

> there are no plans for a second Windows 7 SP – breaking precedent on the normal cycle of updating Windows

Microsoft found to their cost that their biggest competitor for O/S's was .... themselves.

The success of XP, which is still casting a long shadow over O/S releases has taught them to tighten up A LOT on the planned obsolescence of their products. W7 was undoubtedly a success and stood to to be the next "XP" (given that it only had to compete with Vista - not really much of a contest). However, it seems that MS have learned from the mistake of making an O/S too successful and are ensuring that W7 will die in a timely manner, such that it's continued support doesn't stop people from being forced into upgrading.

If there was ever an opportunity for another O/S to find itself a unique selling proposition, long term support for (say) a 10 year lifespan would be a very tempting idea. Presuming the O/S in question wasn't so buggy it needed patching every month.

How to get your bust in good shape

Pete 2 Silver badge

Exactly what the office party needs

Just when photocopying your arse becomes old hat, a new technology comes along to inject a bit more "fun" into the proceedings.

Now, how to persuade your colleagues that the output from the printer really is NOT full size?

Natwest biz banking service goes titsup overnight

Pete 2 Silver badge

The power of the underpaid call centre worker

> One biz customer was told "an upgrade last night had broken the website"

Lucky for Natwest their staff are so honest. If that caller had got through to an evil agent with a grudge, the message might have been:

OH MY GOD, we've been told to not move from our desks. There are police everywhere - they're taking away boxes of stuff ... I've just seen the CEO being led away in handcuffs. Get your money out any way you can.

... and even if the misinformation was detected and a statement (eventually) put out - and it was believed, the potential damage, do-able by one, lone individual in the right place at the wrong time could have been massive.

Don't try this at home, kids.

IBM slices UK GTS contractor rates

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: 1st rule of contracting

Indeed (having served my time with IBM). However on £425 a day the most expensive part of a cup of IBM coffee is the cost of the time it takes to walk to the machine (or cafeteria) and back again.

I did once suggest to my IBM boss that it would save them money if they employed a "waiter" to serve coffee to the "subbies" at their desks, rather than having the contractors fetch it themselves. Surprisingly, this was not well received!

Pete 2 Silver badge

1st rule of contracting

> contractors were getting their pay chopped

Rates go down - coffee consumption goes up.

IBM's bean counters may *think* they're saving money, but the reduction in pay WILL be compensated for in other ways.

British sheep falling behind Continental sheep in broadbaaaand race

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Sheep already HAVE twitter

> AND they've got their own subdomain

Maybe their bovine counterparts will ask for their own suffix: .cow.uk ?

Pete 2 Silver badge

Sheep already HAVE twitter

Just look at most of the comments.

Nokia puts Symbian out to pasture ... why not release it into the wild?

Pete 2 Silver badge

But what if it succeeded?

> underneath the crufty UI and bloat, there's still a remarkably reliable, low-power, real-time OS kernel. Nokia could do worse than release it into the wild

That would be a reasonable proposition if the company knew that the code was irredeemably awful and the people who saw it commented along the lines of "Wow, Nokia did a brilliant job of keeping it going as long as they did".

However, if it turned out that a collection of talented fans could turn a pigs ear into a silk purse, then questions would be asked inside Nokia, as to why their multi-billion $$ company couldn't do what a bunch of unpaid fanbois could (though the answer is in the question),

So, there's a huge potential risk to whoever was running the Symbian business, and no tangible benefit to that person. So: better to bury it, whistle innocently and claim "there's nothing to see here" than to open yourself up to embarrassing questions that can never be adequately answered.

McKinnon case is NOT a precedent – says his own lawyer

Pete 2 Silver badge

Not a precedent, but at least it's a start

This was always a special case - a cause celebre, even. However it does mark the point where one Home Secetary stopped fiddling while Rome burned, got off its arse and actually did something.

All of the "Homies" since McKinnon was arrested have had the ability to intervene, but they've all callously turned away and if not actively aided in outsourcing the british judicial system, at least been complicit in extending the anxiety and suffering of the guy and his loved ones.

Although the intervention here shows no sign of being a principled stance, just of the H.S. gauging the extent of public opinion and doing what politicians always do in the face of vociferous opposition. We can at least hope that at least some of the future, inevitable extreme extradition demands from our transatlantic overlords will be met with a "No!" even if that's followed by a "if you don't mind, sorrreeee!" sent quietly through the diplomatic channels.

Canonical flings out Ubuntu 12.10 – now with OPTIONAL Bezos suck

Pete 2 Silver badge

Naked yoga

> People want to be online and we want to make sure their online and offline works together well

and a big part of that "working well" is having absolute control over who can see what. Just like practising the limber arts in your own home is best done with the curtains drawn, so there's little to be gained (for the user) by conducting one's business "online" or in full view of all and sundry.

Being online, or having internet access is an enabler, not a benefit in itself (the benefit is what the internet allows us to connect to). Just like motorways allow us to get where we want to go, faster and more conveniently. However that doesn't mean we want to use them all the time, or live in the middle of the carriageway.

Pints all round as Register Special Projects hacks hack off feet

Pete 2 Silver badge

Squeeze hard

> consigning quarts ... to the dustbin

Or even putting them into a pint pot

McKinnon will not be extradited to the US, says Home Secretary

Pete 2 Silver badge

> I hope we see future governments follow in their footsteps.

Highly unlikely.

To quote Churchill:

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

This supercomputing board can be yours for $99. Here's how

Pete 2 Silver badge

How screwups happen

> the Transputer themselves were not focussed on making something that could be economically used in making competitive products

Which is exactly WHY the transputer team needed some intervention. It's all very well being a hairy-arsed techy, but for every HAT you need someone to turn the technical solution into a marketable product - and then someone else to actually make and sell the gubbins at a reasonable price.

It's not realistic to expect people who wave soldering irons around to be able to commercialise the fruits of their labours, nor for them to know what the "market" will be looking for in the next year or two. Those are the areas that needs helping - not the scientific innovation. Fortunately, a lot of universities have woken up to this and a lot of them are getting good at turning academic developments into commercial products. Sadly, they do seem to be hampered by lack of funding, archaic interactions with government and an inability to find and cultivate people who know how to make items by the million.

Last month ties for WARMEST September on RECORD

Pete 2 Silver badge

Science denier

> "I don't think we can control what God controls."

It sounds like the best way to convince this guy is to dump all the evidence-based research, the climate modelling and most developments in physics. Instead we just need a deity to whisper in his ear and his opinions will duly follow.

I have no doubt that some sufficiently advanced technology that follows Clarke's third law could therefore have him voting billions for pretty much any cause the tech-owners wished for.

Isn't theology technology wonderful?

Jam today: Raspberry Pi Ram doubled

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Incremental upgrades

Don't know about incremental upgrades, but you'd kinda hope that someone was working on the Mk2 by now. The RPi foundation has had a load of beta testers for the original board for 6 months or so. The crocs in that design are well known by now and given all the hype the produce is capable of generating a newer version would be a great way to keep it all bubbling.

Regulator spanks quiz line with record £800k fine

Pete 2 Silver badge

A nice little earner

> all of which mounts up to a £800,000 fine and refunds to anyone who asks for one.

Just call our premium rate number to apply

Facebook says it's LOSING money in the UK ... pays hardly any tax

Pete 2 Silver badge

Why would you expect more?

> Facebook's European headquarters are in Dublin

So presumably all its billings are done from there. That would mean that the company had little or no earnings in the UK for it to be taxed on. However we still get a (tax) benefit from FB having an office in the UK, as it would have to pay N.I. employers contributions and its UK employees would pay UK income taxes - as well as VAT on all the stuff they bought with their wages.

This falls into the same category as people complaining that UK banks make "huge" profits - and therefore assuming that because the bank is based in the UK, all the vast profits come from UK customers. The joy of global businesses is that if you can attract them into your country's liberal, tax-friendly environment you can make many, many times more by taxing them on the income they make from foreign trading than a "fare share" policy would get, if they all buggered off to somewhere more sympathetic..

Why will UK web supersnoop plan cost £1.8bn? That's a secret

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Are they stupid or something?

Actually, there's a very strong deterrent effect from telling people that every aspect of their lives is being monitored, scrutinised, reviewed and judged. It makes them think twice about stepping out of line and invokes a feeling of fear that keeps them under your thumb, but without the inconvenience of actually having to do anything.

Plus, if you do want to arrest some "troublesome" people, it's dead easy to make an example of them and cite "security" as the reason why you can't reveal the why's and wherefore's of their activities.

Pete 2 Silver badge

Same reason defence spending costs so much ...

... and produces so little.

Because the estimates don't deal with the expected cost, but with how much the proposers think they can credibly ask for. Of course once they get that, then the "in for a penny, in for a pound" mentality takes over and the real cost will be 3, 4, 5 ... 50 times the original ask. The more secrecy the project can be held under, the greater the costs can escalate to without anyone poking their noses in.

That horrendous iPhone empurplement - you're holding it wrong

Pete 2 Silver badge

Wise advice from my gran

"Well dear, if it turns purple, you're holding it too tight"

Though she was talking about babies - since iPhones hadn't been invented then.

Register SPB hacks mull chopping off feet

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Converting to old fashioned units

> How do you feel about PI?

Many answers depending on circumstances.

3 is generally good enough

sqrt(10) is often handy. Pi**2 comes up a lot in physics.

Also 78.5% is far more useful if you're working out areas (the percentage of the largest circle that fits in a given square)

Pete 2 Silver badge

Converting to old fashioned units

If you do decide to keep the old, imperial units, could you at least stop converting to (or even bothering with) multiple decimal places. For example in the article, does it matter that the dude in question reached a speed of 586.92 km/hr or that 1,315kg is 2,899 pounds.

Although I appreciate a bit more than "in a pressurised rather heavy capsule", I doubt it matters to anyone reading whether the capsule's weight is given to 4 digits of accuracy when 1.3 tonnes (or tons, the difference is slight and immaterial - just please god: not metric tonnes) would tell us all we need to know. Though informing us what that is in olympic swimming pools-full of linguini is obviously a definite requirement.

Skydiver Baumgartner's 120,000ft spacesuit leap delayed by bad wind

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: helium

It would be even more of a waste if he jumped from that height and then missed the earth

Pete 2 Silver badge

First rule of spaceflight

> spacesuit leap delayed by bad wind

Don't fart in your spacesuit

Amazon to buy its Seattle HQ from Paul Allen for over $1bn

Pete 2 Silver badge

Just the start

Wait until the Amazonians see the "customers who bought office blocks also bought ... " list and start getting spammed daily with emails telling them about all the other office blocks they could buy, too.

Don't panic, but UK faces BLACKOUTS BY 2015

Pete 2 Silver badge

Diligently obeying the law

> legislation forcing the early closure of coal and oil-fired power stations

Somehow I can envisage the rest of the EU, while being subjected to the same laws and restrictions will somehow just give a good old gallic shrug and carry on as before. It does appear that, unique amongst the EU signatories, the UK politicians and civil servants have a view that these "laws" are absolute and immediate - and must be obeyed to the letter, irrespective of the consequences to the proles who ultimately get stiffed with the consequences.

While it's probably a good idea to reduce emissions where we can, it makes no sense to do so when we're plainly not in a position to fill the gap with alternate energy sources.

It may give some UK politicians an extra bit of swagger, when dealing with their european counterparts (who would still have their lights on), but rather than praising them for obeying the rules, we should be holding them to account for not seeing this coming and getting their arses into gear and do the jobs they are paid to do.

The tips stop here: Starbucks to take Square Wallet payments

Pete 2 Silver badge

Original uses for the accelerometer

> no tipping until 2013

Shame, I'd really like to see the Fivebucks shop assistant be slaved to the phone app. The further I tilt the phone, the greater the degree of tipping they are subject to. I wonder if it's possible to get one past 45° and still stay on their feet? I'd pay extra to see that

Experts troll 'biggest security mag in the world' with DICKish submission

Pete 2 Silver badge

How to tell a security specialist

> these security specialists are regularly spammed with requests to submit articles

Surely any self-respecting (or even slightly competent) security "specialist" would never do anything as naive as giving out a real email address to an online publication?

BYOD cheers up staff, boosts productivity - and IT bosses hate it

Pete 2 Silver badge

Re: Please Speak English

I claim no originality for it. Check out the Dilbert cartoons and books.