Posts by John Smith 19

Re: What happend to the company providing kit to do their dirty work with?

"BYOD was thought up by an small elitist bunch of gadgeteers that didn't want to be part of the herd. However, as usual didn't bother to think how the rest, that really don't give a crap about their computer hardware and showing off how much disposable income they have would fare."

That sounds a more accurate idea of how it came about than most of the bo**cks talked about this.

Either they wanted to show off their new shiny in the office or they wanted the office to buy their new shiny for them.

Dumb for any company that falls for this solely on that justification.

Re: Pay for my own device, and have them lock it down???

"Security is not only important but often a legal requirement. In our IT dept we couldn't care less if the Queen brought her iPad in; shes not connecting anything to our network without security in place. The potential for data leaks from mobile devices is massive. Guess who's ass is on the line if data is leaked because of poor IT practices...

You want the convenience of using a devices you're familiar with? Fine, however we need to ensure it meets standards."

Sadly I fear your employers policy is the exception rather than the rule.

But thumbs up as this should be the way all such devices are treated.

Re: A question

"And, as you point out, Windows doesn't update Firefox and all the other programs and NOR DOES WINDOWS PROVIDE THAT FUNCTIONALITY."

That was my big concern.

Windows is history for me. My next box is Linux.

Thanks.

Re: Note to Microsoft

" Well, let's just say there aren't many things that would bankrupt both MS and Bill Gates, but that's one of them that could."

One can hope.

"Id' expect the same as is true for any other US company such as Amazon, Netflix and others that operate in the UK"

Why?

AFAIK if it's data on a server in the US (and US companies love centralised services) anyone with a badge can pull your details.

Your hope is they leave those services in the UK under the control of what will be the UK subsidiary.

Re: Limited Expansion

"It's a weird one, especially as they won't cable up new builds. "

As a business decision I find this completely bizarre.

New build is the time to install new services and facilities and (potentially) build market share, provided you can let people retain their old phone numbers (can't all telco's offer this?).

Fibre should remain the state of the art for the foreseeable future. The stuff in the cabinets will change but as long as the fibre can transmit the colours the lasers are using it should last a very long time.

Obviously if the development is a long way from any exchange, or there are doubts about occupancy (which is always a risk) I can see why VM would not do it but otherwise it seems a no brainer to me.

Perhaps now they are making a profit they might re-think this policy.

Re: well we can hope

"Actually thats not strictly true, once the complaint has been escalated to the scottish call center and you manage to get an engineer sent out(usually the next day) the customer service aint too bad"

Be very careful what you wish for.

US companies are very fond of the centralized services idea. I've known one that runs its UK recruitment process from the US through their internal phone network. Staff can only be contact after 1pm in the UK.

VM customers would share customer services with whoever they use at present wherever they get those services from (odds on bet not the US).

Re: BAE 89% on budget --- after being paid for features that are not delivered

"Is the MoD/BAE definition of 'on budget' along the same lines as First Great Western's definition of 'on time'?"

Obviously not.

That is far too restrictive.

Re: It's this bit that worries me the most:

"The poor sod at the MOD who signed for this was probably under the illusion that all the bits were included in the contract but not having thirty years writing contracts with invisible gaping holes in didn't know. I"

Well that explains 1 of them.

What about the other 19999 who work in Bristol for MoD procurement?

Re: Usual story: persecute the innocent; overlook the threat

"We do not have a police force that just picks people at random and goes through their communications and hard-drives."

But that's the point. With this they don't snoop "randomly"

They snoop everybody permanently

You appear to have great faith in the British police forceservice.

History demonstrates that it takes a very small amount of potential guilt (especially in high profile cases) for the idea of "objectivity" or policing based on actual evidence to go right out the window.

Re: Self signed certs are the way forward

"I'm concerned about my privacy, don't get me wrong. And I don't believe a carte blanche to rifle through every aspect of my life without reason nor judicial approval is something that should come about. "

That's rather odd.

Because that is exactly the goal of this legislation and the system it will enable.

You appear to be of the "But they'll only use it to spy on the "bad" people."

Just like RIPA only being used for the usual suspects (paedophiles/terrorists/terroristpaeds/paedoterrorists/

Re: The USA is sabre rattling again

" He's the one in charge, yes?"

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of US politics knows the US president "leads" (at best) a "coalition of the willing."

The "coalition" that passed the PATRIOT act, often without reading it (but fair play it was one of the biggest acts ever passed).

The "coalition" that bailed out US banks to roughly 50 years of NASA's current budget in 1 year.

The "coalition" that opened the best AQ recruiting office on the planet in Cuba.

The rest of the time the President is more like "Cat hearder in chief."

Re: All true

"What we need to make real money in the UK from ARM, is a UK-based implementor-manufacturer. Should we make 2013 the year of the British Mobile Phone?"

A brilliant idea for the UK.

IIRC the going rate for a new IC fab line is about $3Bn.

Probably a bit big for Kickstarter....

Re: Genuine question

"If Intel decides to licence core designs for a reasonable fee then it might be game over for ARM."

Intel stopped giving their chips numbers so they could even control the name you are allowed to call your compatible chip.

Does that tell you something of the level of control that Intel think is "appropriate" for their core product designs? They b**ched about having to license the 286 because the DoD did not like having a single IC supplier for core systems. That won't be happening again any time soon.

You will pry the IP for Intel's core processor designs out of the cold dead hands of their CEO and the members of the board.

Re: Key assumption:

"That doesn't solve anything. The "filling" station still needs the infrastructure to charge those batteries, and "for a busy station that means hundreds on charge at a time, ready to be swapped.""

Not so. It de-couples the charging from the loading process.

With a big enough pool of each battery type charging goes on 24/7. In extreme cases you can have bulk deliveries of charged batteries.

The key development is in thinking. These batteries are a commodity not a component like the battery in your car. Grades have to meet certain minimum performance criteria (or devices like fuel cells and can expect certain charging rules to be observed.

As for "dangerous chemicals" what would call the 10s of 1000s of litres of gasoline in those tanks?

Thumbs up for the idea as this is one of the ways you could break the trap of long charging times (standardised charge point plugs help but they don't change how long you've got to be plugged in.

Re: Why not just convert your existing car?

"He was generating the hydrogen on-demand using simple electrolysis, extracting the gas from natural water. "

And the source of the electricity for this is.....