Posts by Steve Davies 3

Re: PCI DSS

From memory they still swipe your payment card at the till when buying a TV. It has something to do with TV Licensing.

Re: Trebles and directorships all round.

My guess is that the Tories won't need that much in the coffers for the next election if JC (the saviour) is elected to lead the Labor Party.

But yes the greasing of the palms of all political parties is a problem.

I wish that HMG would tell the media companies to get stuffed and start living in the real world (not that the MP's are even on this planet most ofthe time).

The fact that pretty well everyone with a mobile phone has some potentially illegal content on their device (format switched from a legal source) makes the law an ass.

Re: Redmond's not been super-responsive of late.

Probably taking a leaf out of the Apple book and learning to ignore requests from El Reg.

This Windows 10 is keeping its new owners busy is clearly wrong.

The only owners Windows 10 has is Microsoft. They have graciously agreed to let us mere mortals use their product under their T&C's that they can change any time they want. If they really wanted I am sure that they could stop anyone from using it.

Who really owns your copy of W10 then?

Re: Better lawyers

This is the difference between Criminal and Civil trials.

In Civil cases the Discovery period is where ALL the evidence that is going to be presented at trial is released to the other side. In Criminal cases the Defence does not have to share their key evidence with the prosecution wheras the proecution has to share everything with the defence.

Outside this period? You had better have a really good reason for getting a Judge to admit some critical piece of evidence.

As I see it in this case, the face that a phone had been on sale before the suit was filed is a real 'Doh' moment. If it was that critical then Samsung should have given it to Apple during Discovery.

A common tactic is to hide bits of evidence like this in a pile of irrelevant stuff. The side hiding are clean becasie they have released it to the other side but....

IIRC they did this in the Erin Brockovitvch case. If the recipients of this 'stuff' can't find the key bits of evidence that they have in their posession then tough.

IANAL but the explanations of Discovery that PJ put up on Groklaw during the SCO case has proved useful.

Good idea but...

Perhaps that's how we should get around the funding issue, set up a space research body, give it tons of money and then let it fund Sabre.

Les Frogs will insist that all the research is carried out not only in French but in Fance/Guyana and be only staffed by Frenchmen/women.

Then the EU will say NON and it will die a long drawn out death.

And...?

Every website used by a bank is for on-line banking?

Are you really, really, really sure about that?

I do know of one bank that has a web server that only supplies reference material. No customer details are required or held.

Sure these banks do need a kick where it really hurts but some sites have a greater need for secure connections than others.

Californian Judge

Ah, you mean those same judges that the likes of Google, Facebook, Oracle and every other tech company based in CA will want to use?????

Nah, skip off to East Texas(1) and file your case. Sit back and Profit $$$$$$

(1) Ancestral home for Patent Troll cases

I think you mean

Peli Cases

They float as well.

Re: No mention of Tablets

What you say might be true for you and your tablets.

There are those of us here who don't want a tablet UI on their desktop.

My desktop (Windows 7) spans three 24in 1920x1200 screens. I don't want tiles or full screen apps.

They are just to much 'In your face'.

so my experience and needs are different for yours. Microsoft's insistent that Metro or whatever that crap (IMHO) is called this week is installed on my desktop means that W7 will be the least copy of windows I install. End of. No more.

That is my requirement.

One of the first things I learned when studying Operating Systems circa 1975 is that need to get out of the way and let your applications do their job. My opinion on that has not changed.

Once upon a time Windows would keep out of the way.

Now it seems that MS wants it to be all things to all men/women. It is in danger of becoming the master of none.

Just my take on the train wreck that is W10.

Re: Avoid

Are you talking about Microsoft for having this facility in the first place

or

Lenovo for using it?

Both?

Then yes, one is stupid and one is Evil. you choose which label applies to which company....

Re: Door Locks

Nah, they just got bigger hobnailed boots to kick them in with.

Re: WORSTALL! Please expound . . .

Don't forget to mention all those hidden strings that seem to be attached to a lot of Mr Gates acts of philanthorpy that end up meaning more $$$$$ for his buddies at Microsoft. He's just following in the footsteps of Rockefeller etc.

Re: Why did they still have people bank details beyond the requirements of needing them?

But...

If they did not have them (as no longer required) would that not limit everyone's risk? and doesn't the data protection act say something along the lines of not storing data beyond its requirement?

The other bits of HMG that are not subject to that law (MI5/MI6/CGHQ etc) will demand that those records are kept for at least 10 years. Can't have the plebs laundering a few squid now can we eh? Gotta keep track of everyone just in case they start supporting IS etc etc etc

Then there is the Taxman (cometh). They are a whole different Kettle (EU Size approved naturally) of Fish.

So do you really want to be the person who deletes some possible vital (in the eyes of somene else) bit of data?

Re: What a shift in concerns

You make some very good points.

The rub comes with MS themselves.

Will they keep on with the stance that everything in the W10 garden is rosy and that all these so called problems are just noise.

Or will they man up and :-

1) Admit that their privacy policy is crap

2) Withdraw W10 from downloading until they sort out a privacy and upgrade policy that does not need a Law Degree from Harvard to understand.

Guess which one is more likely?

A friend of mine called me today asking about the W10 upgrade.

"But it is free!" thay said.

I pointed then at this thread.

A couple of hours later I got a text saying simply "No way Hose"

Re: Battery life?

Maplin and Amazon (plus some others) do actually sell rechargable CR123's

I use them in my Nikon CLS Flash units.

Re: Apache Harmony

It is all about the Java Api's

It seems to me that Oracle is in danger of becoming the new SCO.

Re: Apple's market is cyclical

Whilst Apple is mostly a one trick pony these days by selling millions of iPhones they do have other irons in the fire (so to speak).

There are always those who spout 'Apple is Doomed' even when they beat those Anal(yists) of Wall St forecasts but even if Apple sold close to zero iPhones next quarter they won't go bust. The $200Billion that have in the bank will keep them afloat for quite a while.

Perhaps Apple are even preparing for a post iPhone era? Who knows. We will just have to wait and see.

***Notice that I said 'selling iPhones'. All of us here know that they are Foxconn rebranders and don't make anything apart from the MacPro which they assemble in Texas.

Re: has to be said

Funny that...

On my testing VM of W10 I've disabled the search thingy, re-instated the Quick Launch and loaded that area up with pretty well all the progs I need to use.

People tend to forget that pinning an app to the taskbar only starts one copy of the application. Pinning them in the QL bar allows you to start multiple copies of an app with a single click. No key presses, just a single click.

Oh and don't try talking about keyboard shortcuts. All the standard ones are designed for those who are right handed.

I use the mouse in my left hand. My workspace is designed so that I do as little typing as possible to start stuff.

Some of the programs I need to run are not GUI based so are really suited to a tiled interface.

The only thing I can say as a positive for W10 is that MS has not seen fit (so far) to stop the sort of customisations that people like me do to their desktop. Other than that... Meh!

Nah

The US is getting closer to becoming a 3rd world country every week.

Advertising Companies and Lawyers rule the roost ok!

Re: A Hard Disk - on a card?

Old? you young whippersnapper you.

The first HDD I used came in its own 19in Rack mounting and gave a grand total of 2.4Mb

This was a venerable RK05. It was connected directly to the computer Bus (Dec Unibus).

Ok Intel, drop the price by 50% and I know of a few people who would buy one right away.

Re: BMW was careful not to show off too much

Wouldn't it be far easier to jost go out an buy an i3? Pull it apart and bingo you get the plans.

I've seen all sorts of 'competitors' vehicles at research labs of a couple of car makers I've visited over the years.

The plans are one thing but the way they are made is the big ?????

Perhaps

winding everyone back to the days of Downton will stop all those in Calais from trying to get in?

Nah thought not. Even that is probably better than life where they've come from.

Re: Free you say?

Also Apple X86 kit can run Linux. If you do that, then Apple still get paid for the Hardware.

Microsoft lose out all round and get nowt.

It matters little to Apple what OS you run on their hardware. MS on the otherhand only have an OS to sell. (not including Surface devices because they don't run anything but windows)