Posts by Mark 65

'cos

...if everyone is online then they can have a better look at what everyone is up to.

4,500 IT?

If a company the size of Lloyds has 4,500 IT people it can just drop then I'd say there are serious issues as to how the company is run. I mean, no matter how many branches they have the software/kit should be the same and hence scalable as they're all offering the same product suite. I thought IB's could be heavy on IT staff at times but to be able to shift 4,500 IT people and keep functioning is something truly special. That is the sign of one really badly run company.

Re:Finally

However it's more likely to cause one.

@Cazzo Enorme

I'd be interested in knowing what BATS and NYSE platforms sit on as they're two of the fastest exchanges out there with respect to order latency (around 250 microseconds and 5 milliseconds respectively).

@Sarah Bee

What if the kid's name was "Jack Daniels"?

Ship-to-ship

Indeed, aren't ship to ship encounters normally taken care of by some form of aircraft providing extended radar range? I'd have thought that once you're in ship to ship detection range you're fucked hence they don't need the surface level stuff. Plus they're normally operating in a battle group.

Indeed

Sad-fuck, that is all.

Great idea

I believe the whole point of the contactless bank card (they're introducing them in Oz for amounts less than $100) is that the losses from fraud are then covered by the nice customer whose money has be purloined rather than being a dreadful inconvenience for the banks/card providers. Of course it's advertised as "fast and easy" for the customer - a bit like a mugging.

I'm with the .50 cal concept

Surely phalanx systems or the like deal effectively with shit like this and NG are just out for some Govt. pork by researching a solution to a problem that already has one?

Not quite true

"in fact there are probably no real democracies in the World right now"

Switzerland probably measures up with all it's referendums etc. but it is not sizable.

@Andy S

The purpose of sanctions is to force a regime change - we've already done that bit, of sorts so perhaps we should get credit for that and the fact there's so much shit to sort out we just hadn't gotten around to that bit yet.

Men and colours...

Surely on a tech site they'd be limited to RGB and CMYK making 7 in total?

@AC 20:43

+1 for the bread joke. Now where's my screen cleaner?

Pay

I think you could justify giving them one hell of a salary. Bloody thing doesn't look like it was overly designed for climbing once installed - a couple of up over and around sections.

Offshoring

Hope the offshoring lives up to it's reputation and really fucks them over. After they're re-sold of course.

@kd

"Wireless hotspots will become fast, plentiful, and cheap, and will crap all over 3G/4G etc."

Cheap? You sir have obviously never been to Australia. Don't do anything for cheap when you can absolutely f*ck the customer.

Investors

For those that got in early it's like buying a call option with no expiry - it won't have cost them that much compared to what future investors may need to pay for a similar stake and it could either make them very rich or expire worthless. For venture capitalists you can bet there's big tax breaks on the sunken funds.

@annodomini2

If you're a major big business with 10,000+ PCs then you may not have to spend $50 per seat to upgrade as it's probably going to be taken care of in your volume license - after all, MS would like you to upgrade. The majority of the operating hardware will likely be fine with Windows 7 given that Core 2 Duo has been out since 2006 and hardware generally has a write-down period of around 3 years although renewal is likely longer. This should mean you are unlikely to find much predecessor kit about, but even then I have run Windows 7 on a 3GHz P4 just fine - it can automatically strip out a lot of the flash graphics to make itself more performant.

What it brings in the functional aspect is a 64-bit operating system which is far nicer and, in my opinion, easier to use than XP. It's also more secure. I have both on 2 different machines and XP just sucks after a period of using 7. Upgrading to Windows 7 is a great opportunity for companies to make the move to 64-bit and is exactly what I am witnessing with my current employer.

I'd go easy on the whole "staff need to be trained". IT people yes, but general staff should be able to use the OS. Logon, find app, do shit. It has a start menu, a programs section, pinned items and an ability to search for an application. All but one of those are in XP. You'd have to be a bit thick to not be able to make the switch as an end-user as the same old apps will be there.

Proprietary software can likely be installed in compatibility mode or you could just run up a XP VM in order to use it - don't hamstring an entire enterprise for the apps of the few. Most businesses just use the same old apps (mail, internet, office) with a few specialties thrown in, very few of which will be an issue. Such large businesses will likely have VM infrastructure and/or Citrix remote access infrastructure - either of which can be used for legacy apps.

The main demand paths for Windows 7 use will be (in no particular order):

1. The end of MS support - 2014 is a long way off but best of luck with the last-man-standing approach

2. The rising costs of XP support - there will likely be 3rd party software providers who don't want to support XP just like there will be ones who don't want to re-write/engineer for 7. Persuading them will come at a cost.

3. The need for 64-bit computing - XP-64 driver support is awful.

4. Software being 7-only

You mention 2 of the above and I certainly wouldn't underestimate the power of any of the above for pushing even large corporates to using 7 over XP. Using an OS that's 2 versions behind and around 9 years old may be seen as an unsustainable/unacceptable operational risk.

IMHO, it's becoming a tougher proposition to justify remaining on XP than moving to 7.

@Strum

"Military experience has no relevance to political decisions."

Yep, because the politicians have been bankrolling our guys so well in recent years. No shortage of kit under the previous Government that was only remedied through public outrage at articles in the media about soldiers not even having body armour on tour in the middle east.

Politicians should consult our military, that of our allies (for potential cost sharing) and maybe some independent advisers (military strategists etc not twats like Mandelson) then set objectives of what needs to be achieved and keep the f*ck out. It's pretty much how most departments should be run. Consult those that do the job, get some independent advice and put together the targets then leave them to it given most things pollies touch turn to shit.

Not sure

But would it be the Nikon equivalent of the Canon 7D or is that taken by another model.

Agree with the poster who commented on the naming scheme.

@Tigra 07

"Never heard a case yet of Google leaving peoples details in bins or out in the street"

That's because they're too busy out in the street collecting people's details, Wi-Fi info etc.

IP

Maybe it will be sold off with some kind of irrevocable license so that MS, for instance, couldn't buy it and screw everyone over. They could, of course, just give it to the "community".

Two words

Invested capital

@Grumpy

<quote>

Linus has chosen the course of action that will provide him and his family the freedom to pursue whatever he desires without the oppressive state leering over his shoulder and providing its "expert guidance and advice"

</quote>

Yeah, but won't he just be paying for the privilege? Seen the finances recently? Rather than being an "oppressive state" it is an "oppressive uber-capitalist free-for-all" where corporates take all and shit on the little man. You pays your money, you makes your choice.