* Posts by Mark 65

3432 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009

Windows XP support ends a year from … now!

Mark 65

Re: Windows XP was considered a failure when it was first introduced

Switch sooner next time and you could have Win7 instead of 8

Is NBN Co about to pay for 80 years of power pole access?

Mark 65

Re: Party politics

Don't attribute to malice etc etc. This is just your standard gouging of the Government on a large project. Telstra took them for $11bn so it's open season.

Experts agree: Your next car will be smarter than you

Mark 65

Audis, BMWs etc

They only need proximity sensors so they can sit right up your arse on the motorway and then box you in when they park.

First Samsung Galaxy S4 review leak: Stop FONDLING, start FINGERING

Mark 65

Re: 8 processor core? 8?

"I can assure you, my 6-core workstation will beat the crap out of your 4-core on almost any process. Depends on if you need speed or not."

and I can assure you that you'd be surprised at how single-core dominated most software currently is. So, in all likelihood, his 4-core will probably have a higher clock rate than your 6-core and hence his will beat the crap out of yours on almost any process. PC benchmarks tend to be more multi-threaded than most typical use applications and their dominant tasks/workflows.

Take a temp job in Oz and become office pariah

Mark 65

Two points

"Australia escaped the worst ravages of the global financial crisis, experiencing neither a technical recession nor a major bump in unemployment"

A lot of people were moved from full time to part time so, whilst not unemployed, making ends meet will be tough. This has been widely documented in retail and manufacturing.

Point two is that 457s are widely abused, especially in IT. The typical ploy is the job advert for all the skills under the sun and 5-10 years experience but paying an unrealistic, typically grad+, salary. When you obviously get no suitable replies you play the old skills shortage card and bring in the Indian or other low paid worker of your choosing. It's disgusting and needs stamping out. Other industries such as engineering have more valid claims as there seem to be well paid opportunities going begging.

How UK gov's 'growth' measures are ALREADY killing the web

Mark 65

Re: Bloody tired of freetards

I'm also an amateur photographer. I have a question for you...

Why would you publish a photo on the internet of sufficient quality that you could lose revenue? Surely most photographers make an income from selling hi-res versions of their images in printed form? If you publish on the internet (it is broadcasting all over planet accessible to anyone except perhaps the Chinese, a point sadly lost on most) a suitably hi-res picture then, legal or not, you are asking for trouble. I also have the expensive kit and lenses and I'm pretty certain that if ever I were to showcase my work for sale that I would only put up images that would facilitate the transaction without the ability to undermine the sale.

News Corp challenges iPad with $299 education tablet

Mark 65

Cost

"At launch, the Wi-Fi tablet will cost $299, plus $99 a year for a minimum of two years for access to the tablet's contents."

So it'll cost $497 then?

Firefox to spit out third-party cookies

Mark 65

Whilst they're at it

Can they also consider fixing the situation currently whereby I receive multiple requests to store or update cookies from the same domain even though I've already given my answer once with the relevant checkbox checked. It really is irritating to continually have to respond to requests from a.domain.com one after the other.

Google whips out pocket cannon, fires VoIP patent sueball at BT

Mark 65

Re: BT

@Colin: Much as I hate BT, for the uninformed out there such as yourself, BT used to be a major league R&D house in its past and have plenty of stuff on fibre optic comms for example and the associated science.

Wind now cheaper than coal in Oz: Bloomberg

Mark 65

Re: Bloomberg "new energy financing" Press Release

Oooo, another sane comment with a downvote. Appears the windtards are out in force today.

Microsoft Office 2013 vs. Office 365: Is either right for you?

Mark 65

Christ

"Once the subscription Office apps are loaded, they also require almost zero administration. Not only are bug fixes and security patches applied automatically, but even major new features can be streamed from Redmond's servers without user intervention.

For IT managers, this could be a godsend. No more installing new versions of Office onto hundreds of desktops every three years. No more pushing out Service Packs and patches. Instead, you install Office 365 once, and from there on out, the applications keep themselves up to date."

Great. Now what if those bug fixes break something? What IT manager desires a desktop SOE out of their control? A shite one in my opinion though I guess some wouldn't give a toss.

As for the Microsoft puff about updates coming regularly but only for 365 subscribers I'll believe it when I see it. Large corporates have a way of getting the deal they want out of MS when there's big $$$ involved. Let's not forget it's these people that are really keeping the Office boat afloat, everyone else can use Libre Office.

Microsoft dev tools to add Linux-style source code versioning

Mark 65
Joke

Re: VS2012

"Is it just me or do the Windows8 ads all look like a tampon commercial ?"

You'd have to be a c*nt to use it.

Is your Surface Pro a bit full? Slot in an SD card, it's not from Apple

Mark 65

The other part to the story I have issue with is this...

"No fiddling about trying to stuff gigabytes up into cloud services through narrow pipes, no wireless transfers: just easy rapid copying from old card to new bigger card (probably using a costs-pennies USB gizmo plugged into an actual computer)."

You don't copy anything rapidly from one sd card to another especially over USB and especially not at the 64GB size point. Copying photos off of 8 or 16GB professional grade flash cards takes long enough. Poxy little files from 64GB would be a nightmare. Rapid compared to cloud yes. Rapid in terms of localised storage transfer rates, no.

YouTube's hilarious cat videos could soon cost you $5 a month

Mark 65

Indeed it is the bit they don't seem to get - people only watch the shit because it is free.

Review: Dell XPS 12 Windows 8 tablet-cum-Ultrabook

Mark 65

Re: How retro

Yep, I saw this

"the Dell machine is certainly light enough for prolonged two-handed use in tablet form."

and laughed. 1.45kg light enough for prolonged use. I think not. Great if you're into weight training.

Victory on mobile belongs to Google in 2013

Mark 65

Google now

Sounds like an Orwellian nightmare. It knows when you're going home, it knows what team you support etc. sounds like they have their hooks into literally every piece of data that passes through your device. Still, nevermind, it's all convenient and for our own good and would never be put to a non-beneficial use would it?

'SHUT THE F**K UP!' The moment Linus Torvalds ruined a dev's year

Mark 65

Re: Err...

@Ac: this is not about picking on someone this is about someone being a persistent prick in denying anything was their fault when it blatantly was. When you get someone this steadfastly in denial there comes a time when "in private" just won't do as they continually ignore you. This sound like such a case. In such situations other methods need to be used to shock them back into the real world. If you want understand this then your touchy freely only management style is of little use.

Ever had to register to buy online - and been PELTED with SPAM?

Mark 65

One reason I still maintain my yahoo account is those free disposable addresses, a real godsend.

Chill out, biz barons... your new IT system might not look like the old one

Mark 65

Re: Specify destination, not route

There's nothing wrong with specifying the technologies to be used. If you are a Microsoft shop you are not going to want to have to support Java and vice versa. Nothing wrong with specifying authentication either if you know the pluses and minuses but want anything to fit in with your current tech stack. I can certainly understand why a client would do this. The more important point is the one raised by the article and several posters regarding the desire to "do it the same way as we currently do it". I've seen off the shelf systems turned inside out to try and shoehorn them into current processes that are themselves horrendously inefficient but "the way we've always done it". Sometimes defies belief.

Google unlikely to get kid-glove treatment THIS side of pond - Euro biz players

Mark 65

US Governance

Rotten to the core.

Apple and Samsung mobile monsters: 'We only eat RAW CASH'

Mark 65

Re: @Tom 35 RE "How is this copying Apple's playbook?........

"that is definitely not Apple's style yet that is how the original "Galaxy Note" came into being. There were plenty laughing then when Sammy launched that "monster", they are not laughing now, hmm?"

Yes they are. The S3 is a better phone and the ipad mini or nexus 7 a better tablet. This thing is too large to be practical as one and too small for the other. Jack of all trades and master of none.

Google maps app is BACK on iPhones, fanbois spared death

Mark 65

Re: Maps worth more to Google than Apple?

"Do you not think Nectar/Clubcard et al don't collect and analyse your habits?"

It's better than that. Stores track your purchases without reward cards - the card you pay with is an Id source for them. Store all your history against this Id and attempt to link different payment methods together in future. i.e. if you order online and get it delivered to your house - do this with different cards and those Ids can all be linked back to you and your address. Move house and pay with an existing card online and they can all be relinked etc. There is a whole industry around it. They profile you for future purchases. There's a piece on the internet somewhere about Target in the US and the lengths of analysis they go to.

Review: Apple iMac 21.5in late 2012

Mark 65

Re: mechanical harddrive???

People order these with a mechanical drive because Apple, in their infinite wisdom, don't offer a solid state only option.

Mark 65

Re: When are they going to stop?

@JT: Using the rationale of moving parts making devices more prone to failure it would be nice if they offered the SSD upgrades for a lower price or even made them standard. It's a £200 upgrade to a fusion drive only available on the £150 more expensive model. No SSD only option. Pfft.

Another Apple maps desert death trap down under

Mark 65

Re: The Outback

I think if I were driving in the outback, apart from the various essentials, I'd be using a proper GPS.

Littlest pirate’s Winnie-the-Pooh laptop on the way home

Mark 65

Re: €300....

I don't understand why he paid, they either downloaded or they didn't and if they didn't then what's the crime? That is an extortion racket, nothing more, and should be exposed and prosecuted as such.

Hotel blames burglaries on hacked Onity card locks

Mark 65

Re: Low tech fix?

@Oninoshiko: I think you''re confusing your Super Glue with your Araldite

Defence Signals Directorate offers BYOD advice

Mark 65

Re: Cor blimey, guv'ner.

If the issues are that obvious maybe someone should pass the article to Matt Assay.

Google, Apple, eBay shouldn't pay taxes - people should pay taxes

Mark 65

Re: More detail

My issue with this theory, as much economic theory, is what's to say that the money left free from having little or no taxation doesn't just get held offshore in rich bastards' accounts? i.e. it doesn't re-enter the economy in any meaningful way as you'd hope (wages, spending, etc).

Epic e-tail fail down under

Mark 65

Re: Amazon

Sorry, but they're not located at the perimeter, mainly a couple of spots on the East coast. Almost 50% of the population live in just 3 cities - Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Nearly 11m people in three cities. Postage for items is costly, not because that's what the vendor gets charged, it's because it's another area where the bastards profiteer. How can you justify $15.95 for postage on a USB stick? It's not lack of reasonably priced internal air delivery it's that the business model of most companies here is "rip-off" and it got that way through protectionism and lack of competition/monopolies. We need an Amazon to break this cycle. Amazon is widely credited with bringing about the boom in online shopping in the UK - the need for a reliable, well priced service that people could trust. Here, we still have companies offering the same crap as their bricks and mortar stores for no discount which, considering the goods will come from the central distribution point, is taking the piss. Even Dixons offers web pricing.

Mark 65

Amazon

...would absolutely clean up if they moved into the market here. Most retailers (with bricks origin) will sell you exactly the same item at exactly the same price with delivery thrown on top. No online discount and postage is often another profit making exercise. I recently bought a particular type of memory stick I was after online and was fortunate to find it with no postage. Some outlets offering a similar sale price wanted $15.95 postage! That's £10 postage for a memory stick! Australia doesn't even seem to have decent distance selling laws forcing the retailer to cover return postage for broken/faulty/not as described items.

Retailers have zero clue over here and just want the Government to levy taxes on overseas purchases in an effort to shore-up their uncompetitive business model. It would really screw them if Amazon came onshore. What then Mr Harvey?

Ten four-bay NAS boxes

Mark 65

Re: For when the world isn't perfect

FYI - smallnetbuilder.com is the site to checkout on these matters.

Mark 65

Re: For when the world isn't perfect

QNAPs will email alerts, same goes for Synology I would imagine. As for power interruptions, if you worry about your data enough to be using a RAID equipped NAS then I suggest you spring for an APC UPS that can send notifications via its USB connector that the NAS will act upon (configurable in the GUI). I used to have a UPS on my PC before I bought the NAS to guard against power failures as it seemed only sensible. Array rebuild time will be a function of the processor as it's doing a fair amount of work. 2TB disk replacement caused a rebuild taking hours on a QNAP rather than days. It will also real-time sync to an external backup, send data to Amazon S3, Elephant drive or sync to another remote NAS. Both companies have built-in SSH amongst other things on their appliances.

Mark 65

Re: Data integrity?

Not sure if the QNAPs will ever get ZFS as I believe its memory requirements for good operation exceed what most boxes will have - I believe 1GB per TB of storage is recommended with typically 8GB min. for good performance. My TS-439 has 1GB as do most others.

Mark 65

Re: Weird NAS selection

It does seem strange that the choice of QNAP appliance wasn't the same level in the range as the Synology one. They are generally more expensive though so maybe that had a bearing but I agree that the 459 would have been a better choice and achieves over 100MB/s writes. I used to have the tower system running linux but moved to a QNAP as it can sit in the lounge and is small and quiet in operation. I like the appliance nature. My decision may have been different if the HP server people have was available then.

Liberals propose law to regulate social media

Mark 65

Re: What is it about these aussies?

Just like New Labour and most other Western Governments there's nothing they think cannot be fixed without a bit more regulation

Industry in 'denial' as demand for pricey PCs plunges

Mark 65

There is also the SSD effect...

"Q4 will set the template. Barclays Capital‘s hardware analyst, Ben Reitzes, meanwhile, believes the PC market could decline for “many years to come”. He reckons consumers are making PCs last longer, adding an extra year or two onto the machines’ working lives"

By adding a SSD to an old system you can extend its useful lifespan many years. Even ATA machines can benefit from the 4k read speeds of SSDs compared with their original 5400rpm HDDs. Machines within the last 5 years will easily have the computational power for most uses.

Apple MacBook Pro 13in Retina display review

Mark 65

Re: Backwards

@AC: not to mention that with USB 3.0 you can just carry a portable drive - a 1TB one is barely larger than a modern smartphone. Chances are if you're storing lots of data on a laptop you don't need it available at over 200MB/s. It'll also be a more convenient device in the event of drive failure.

Mark 65

Re: Ethernet vs wifi - HD streaming

WiFi is shite compared to ethernet when it comes to transferring data, it reminds me of using USB vs Firewire.You may get a good rate if you're in the same room using 5GHz band but use the 2.4 and it becomes a lottery with potential interference from microwave ovens, dect phones and anything else using that free-for-all band. You only need to look at the reviews on smallnetbuilder and other such sites to see how speed varies with distance, position of router and device (i.e. high, low, near a corner), kit compatibility, the list goes on.

Mark 65

Re: Worth it to me.

Certainly for XP it is well known that the OS needs re-installing every 18 months or so to keep the machine running well. In fact this advice was given to me by a couple of the guys that built the SOEs at a former employer and they were former MS OS tech guys. XP just had this magical way of slowing over time even when you had the necessary separate account for software installations from the normal use account. No doubt all those patches and updates were responsible in part. Not sure how Windows 7 goes as I decided not to bother with it.

Mark 65

Re: As a complete fanboi with a 15" rMBP...

My issue with this is also the price hike and the fact that you still have a dual core with integrated graphics. Surely you could fit a quad in there?

Job ad seeks devs to work two hour days in Australia

Mark 65

Re: The state is called Western Australia, not West Australia

The reason I didn't choose send correction is because this isn't the first occasion, a visit to the geographical naughty step is in order for someone at El Reg

Mark 65

The state is called Western Australia, not West Australia

See title

UK's planned copyright landgrab will spark US litigation 'firestorm'

Mark 65

Re: Can't wait

My first thought is "how does the litigation come about"? The main reason is that if you are in the UK and following the local law and find an unattributed work and use it within this law then how do you get sued? Sure, they could sue in the US, but who gives a f*ck?

Intel plans Core i7 bare bones mini-PCs

Mark 65

Re: Sincerest form ...

My thoughts exactly. I saw it and thought it'd be a cheaper alternative. Then I spotted i3 and thought, why?

Bargain! Desperate Comet SLASHES price of £4,400 iPod Nano

Mark 65

Re: Sad

To be fair he's onto something. They ge the sale and the insurance company foots the bill.

Judge denies move to ban ad-skipping DVR

Mark 65

Ads, the reality

"Why will advertisers be willing to pay so much for primetime ad slots if a large number of viewers can simply bypass them?"

As opposed to nipping out for a fresh beer from the fridge or a piss etc? Nobody watches ads. They pay a fortune for that which viewers despise and actively try to avoid. No wonder downloading is rife - get a new business model.

Skype accused of ratting out user to private security without warrant

Mark 65

Skype are clueless

"unless in exceptional circumstances - it wouldn't hand over a user's details without a warrant or court order:"

Err, no you fail to understand EU law which says you don't do it unless one is presented no matter what the circumstances as it is not for a private enterprise to make judgement on the law.

Apple engineers 'pay no attention to anyone's patents', court told

Mark 65

Re: There is no reaction image for this

Another reason software patents need to go. Sooner or later America's share of the global market will decline to a point whereby to be extremely successful you won't need to deal with them at all. At that point they can shove their patent law up their arse.

Psst: Heard the one about the National Pupil Database? Thought not

Mark 65

Also, I'm interested in knowing whether the Government only holds this data for state schools or independents etc as well and what data is actually held?

I believe there is a country out there that has a law stating that such data about you belongs to you and hence this sort of thing is not possible.

How does this square with the European data laws, specifically:

"Any state interference with a person's privacy is only acceptable for the Court if three conditions are fulfilled:

The interference is in accordance with the law

The interference pursues a legitimate goal

The interference is necessary in a democratic society"

and

"The directive contains a number of key principles with which member states must comply. Anyone processing personal data must comply with the eight enforceable principles of good practice.[6] They state that the data must be:

Fairly and lawfully processed.

Processed for limited purposes.

Adequate, relevant and not excessive.

Accurate.

Kept no longer than necessary.

Processed in accordance with the data subject's rights.

Secure.

Transferred only to countries with adequate protection."