Posts by James 178 publicly visible posts • joined 8 May 2007
... if I buy Command Central for about £15,000 I can reduce my storage requirements (which presently run at about £500 per year by 40% = £200. That represents a saving of MINUS £ 14800.
Great to see a commercially viable product for small businesses launched in these recessionary times!
.. we're on the Open Source route as well.
Hopefully, the "recession" will focus a lot more companies on the Open Source solution as well.
But "cor" seems to be an Open Source Activist (OSA). Suggest that you contact the above companies "cor" - but maybe leave it a few months when the pain of paying out has diminished !
.. and ask them why they DO NOT recommend the use of Open Source software?
Or indeed, as one comment had it, that they are actually recommending Open Source software in their commments:
>> Julie Strawson, Chair of the BSA’s UK Country Committee, said: "The continuing disregard for licensing law is a real cause for concern. With the economy entering a period of slowdown, companies should make sure they are compliant: no-one wants to face an unexpected bill after falling foul of the rules or encountering operational difficulties due to viruses." <<
The best way to "compliance" being to install open source software as far as possible. ESPECIALLY as the economy is "entering a period of slowdown".
If BSA aren't recommending Open Source then ask them why not? Ask them why they would force cash strapped companies into buying expensive, complex licenses when they could get pretty damn good software without massive cost and asset tracking requirements?
Come on El Reg - get your teeth into them!
When I read the headline I thought it was real 3D (which would be a breakthrough). This is just a 3D representation on a 2D surface....
When we get 3D holographic objects floating in the air around your desk (physical one) and can use them as though we were controlling real 3D objects THEN and ONLY THEN do we have a 3D interface. (My Patent !! - though as someone above has it - SciFi writers have already used it - even Dixons or Currys had something similar in one of their "futuristic" adverts - no it didn't encourage me to buy either).
Come on Apple, how about a bit of real innovation - get a 20 year jump ahead on current technology and you're laughing......
Mines the emperors coat over there........... why is everyone laughing?
that a company the size of Sony has not already got several dozens of "compliance officers" working in EVERY country it is present in ensuring that they comply with local and national laws.
"Sony is reportedly offering to hire a compliance officer to establish procedures to prevent the collection of data on kids"
Do they think they are so large that national laws not not apply to them. Corporate narcissism, anyone?
.. are those fluffy white (or sometimes grey, even black) things in the sky aren't they?
They provide rain, hail and snow - all of which can be beneficial or detrimental to humans (and animals). They are not solid, they are ephemeral (unless you live in the UK - in which case, granted, they are fairly permanent).
So by calling this digital thing clouds what we are really saying is:
1) Like natural clouds there's a good chance it won't be there a lot of the time.
2) You could get a hell of a lot of damage caused by the cloud.
3) The only time the sun really shines and you can get work done is when the cloud is NOT there ("make hay while the sun shines").
4) There's some chance you'll be totalled in a lightning strike from the cloud.
5) You'll be depressed by the cloud (cloud is associated with depression - ("I feel like I've got this cloud hanging over me").
6) You'll be involved in a pile up (low cloud - otherwise know as fog) and lose all your data.
No points to whoever thought this name up!
I don't see what was wrong with calling it "Big Brothers Eye" or something honest like that.
.. the "Investors In People" Awards this year then.
It also won't win the "Plain English" award either.
Synergy .. dinergy .. meglamaniergy .. it all means the sacking of many people and the further pressures on the nations economies with these unemployed people.
I really think bullshitters like "Simon Beresford-Wylie" should be made to eat their words (carved on a hefty slab of granite).
Whilst all this is going on I wonder how much of a salary reduction Mr Beresford-Wylie and fellow directors and upper managers are taking - synergistically speaking, of course.
.. of child abusers (in all the forms: sexual, psychological, physical, verbal) in the UK population. If we allow for 1 in 1 million that means there are only 55 in the UK. I don't think so !
If we're looking at several thousand or tens of thousands then that means that of the 1 million with access to this database perhaps several hundred to several thousand will be a abusers in some form.
The more I hear about this governments "utopia can be found through technology" plans the more I believe that this asylum (the UK) is being run by the criminally stupid.
"We've so little money with our mortgage going up, our fuel bills going up, our food bills rising. I know, instead of buying food for the kids I'll just by a new font for my mobile........"
Jesus wept - hasn't the "credit crunch" made us get real ?
Suggest that anyone from now on that brings out these time and energy wasting ideas should be banned from any work apart from washing Russell Brands underpants.....
Agree with most of what the others have said.
Would anyone seriously want to step off a plane onto a cloud (no matter how sold looking it is)?
It seems to me that cloud computing is more about control and world domination than a really serious, 100% rock solid business service.
I have 0% trust in any of the providers - so when I use any of the so-called cloud it's for totally non-critical, frivolous stuff !
.. it seems fairly stupid to have major data systems based near a large river, liable to flooding, in the centre of a city that could be a prime target for terrorist attacks.
It would be better to have our main data systems somewhere deep underground in a geologically stable part of the UK. There are plenty of old mines that could be used, as well as all those "not so" secret Nuclear bunkers....
.. have prevented the "Credit crisis" how?
Seems to me the Investment bankers have caused several orders of magnitude more damage to the world than any Terrorist organisation.
About time Jacqui Smith (and all politicians) started looking differently at those smart city gents who wine and dine her (metaphorically speaking).
.. really, really busy. Or at least their legal department is. I have seen huge numbers of fruit trees all bearing items that look remarkably like the Apple Logo.
I assume that Apple, Inc. will be taking legal action against God, Nature, the Planet for producing so many copies of it's logos.
Grow up Apple, Inc. !! Stop playing the spoilt wee brat......
.. find myself, unexpectedly, in a new country, a new city or a new coffee shop. So unexpectedly, in fact, that I haven't taken time to prepare myself and do some research about possible eateries.
Then again, I could always enjoy the pleasure of exploration rather than have some system tell me where the nearest (sponsor / donor / paid up) restaurant is!
... if it had been entirely ignored it would have been another teenage "prank" that would have been rapidly forgotten. Now the poor girl has to live with this for the rest of her life.
Perhaps they law enforcement agencies would be better employed rounding up the greedy Bustards that sold sub prime mortgages.....
@Gene Cash - great comment!
.. agree with Xander.
The first part of this rescue package should be to remove all assets from the directors of these companies - force them to cash in their pensions, sell their houses, sell their shares (if they're worth anything), repay their dividends. Don't allow them to leave their jobs - they will work for free until such time as they have resolved the god-almighty mess they have got the countries financial institutions into.
Any that try to leave their posts should be tried for treachery.....
.. what if the climate change is mostly part of the planets natural process?
The climate has ALWAYS changed, it always will. Humans and other life forms adapt to it (or die out).
What makes anyone think that mis-spending billions of dollars / pounds (whatever) and massive resources will make a great deal of difference.
Perhaps Canutes lesson needs to be learned on a planetary scale....
"King Canute is reputed to have had his throne placed on the beach so he could sit and command the tide not to come in. It did, of course"
It seems to me that there are a whole load of Canutes out there but without his wisdom (I believe he was trying to demonstrate his lack of power rather than being stupidly arrogant enough to believe he could prevent the tide coming in).
.. a flu vaccine under development that could be applied to all flu strains (inc. Bird flu). Seem to remember a BBC report about this in the past couple of weeks.
Good book to read: "Scared to Death" by Christopher Booker (Author), Richard North (Author).
Puts all this Media / Politico self-interested scaremongering into perspective.
Shows the massive amount of money, energy and resources that have been and are being wasted on stupid scares caused by a minority of idiots on very flimsy or inaccurate data (if not complete lies).
From Wikipedia: "Creativity is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. An alternative conception of creativity is that it is simply the act of making something new."
I suspect most software development now falls into the second type.
But for the purpose required I think what is meant by "creativity in software development" must be clearly defined.
And should the "creative" item be (a) functional, (b) useable, (c) required and (d) commercial ?
I'm sure others could add other items to the list.
I'm slightly thinking of those "amazing" web sites that people design which are all graphics and movement but which are a total pain to navigate and can take a day to find what you were looking for (if you had the time!). Are these creative?
Just my ha'penny worth...
"to share data about the private lives of its citizens. Travel plans, email addresses, mobile telephone numbers and even surfing habits will be made available to American security services in an effort to combat terrorism"
Why on earth is Norway sharing details about it's Nationals with a foreign power?
I have also heard that the UK government is allowing US firms bid to operate the UKs next census - passing OUR details nicely into the hands of the Homeland Security neds.
It's about time that Europe woke up to the fact that the US is NOT the be all and end all of international relations. Why are our governments prostituting themselves to the US and gormless Bushy boy?
As an aside: How many people are killed worldwide by terrorism? In comparison how many people are killed by cars?
Why is there not a "War on Cars" then? Ahh - major US manufacturing industry.....
Don't travel to the US. They'll be irrelevant anyway in a few years when China is the new world super power (both economically and militarily).
When people stop visiting them, stop doing business with them then, maybe, they'll wake up and become a bit more "user friendly".
My Canadian cousin has this story about a friend (Canadian) who had lived and worked in the US for 13 years. Had a house and family and good job. He returned to Canada for a visit with all his family. When he returned the border he was refused entry because his job could be done by a US citizen. He lost his house (had to sell at below market value for a quick sale), his job. His family lost their home. How often is this being repeated at the US borders.
XENPHOBIA RULES OK at the US borders.
BTW: The cousins said that they found the UK Customs and Security very polite and helpful even if security checks were stringent. Perhaps, says more about the people employed for these jobs in North America than it does about the UK.
it is time to have cars fitted with a method of detecting where your hands are and generate a loud ear splitting noise if they aren't involved in driving activities! This would maybe advise those who appear to be so stupid that they *even* contemplate texting whilst driving.
I have been in a bus where the driver was texting his girlfriend whilst driving at 70mph on a dual carriageway. He was reported and sacked.
Why on earth does anyone think they are so f*cking important that they must continuously be in touch with everyone else (shortly before they become deceased forever!)?
Perhaps financial companies and markets should come under the auspices of a national security and national strategic resources law. Any action that could cause national instability would meet with severe punishment for the directors of said organisations. This could include unlimited jail sentences, confiscation of all personal assets perhaps. The wages of greed.
The "Crash" is hardly a victimless crime - and it is a crime - it is not just vagaries of a market - the financial markets are not like the weather - they are controlled and manipulated by people.
5000 people in the UK have just lost their jobs - it is highly likely that many more will. They are victims, does anyone know what the knock-on effect to the families will be?
It is time to make the punishment fit the crime in financial circles - if the company loses 5000 jobs then the directors must pay the 5000 salaries for a specific period of time (otherwise it's the state that pays - i.e. you and me as some of the few remaining tax payers). If they can't pay then put them in jail and throw away the key. Harsh? The directors of most financial organisation do not appear to give a monkeys about their employees or customers - why should we have any concern for them.
...name the Cult of Global Warming. Might be a bit unpopular that one.
Anyway, I'm all for having two branches of the web - one called TheCriticalWeb the other called TheRemainingSh*t - the latter would contain YouTube, FaceBook, and all the other remote (anti) socialising junk ! ;)
Seriously, though I agree that "truth" is very hard to define in any context. Even scientific "truth" is a bit mutable (as it should be) ....
Tho' I'm not sure I agree with Peter - I think the web shows how quickly a single crazy idea can spread and gain in influence. I've seen a number of large scale "reports" that actually boil down to one single very "noisy" individual with an axe to grind!
Great ! Totally agree with this. Where is anyone going to place their strategic resources ***. They're going to keep them in-house, on systems they own, with software they own and know how to use. Not on a bunch of servers somewhere else in the world (probably the US where the Patriot Act can be invoked to access all your business data).
*** Apart from the UK government which seems determined to sell off, rent off and otherwise dispose of all the UKs strategic assets to the anyone with a pretence at IT knowledge.
And then there's the "green" angle. As a geologist and since I looked into the figures on this I no longer believe that "gobal warming" / climate change is anything other than a fairly normal climate cycle which our planet has indulged in since time immemorial. Now I can ignore the guilt these "green" pushers are trying to invoke!
I don't think it was an Al Quaida squirrel. It's red, so obviously pushed to it's death by a grey or gang of greys. As grey squirrels are from the US of A we can see that the CIA are clearly involved in this hence the action should be for Switzerland to declare a state of war with the US.
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