Posts by Terry 6

Most of a business doesn't make you money, but it does permit the existence of the part which does.

This is the bit that fascinates me when I've heard these kind of stories. To me it sounds like they're saying "It's only the wheels that make the car move, so lets use the cheapest possible engine and do away with the doors and seats".

I moved from using Outlook to using Thunderbird once the Lightning calendar became a fully integrated component. Using TB with the add-on TBSync Without TBSync I would still be using Outlook on my PCs. I have my calendar synchronised, via my Microsoft email account, between my (Android) phone using the Outlook.com app, my laptop, my desktop and even my cheap Lenovo convertible. At a pinch I can even get it online too.

For me this is the deal breaker. I need to be able to enter an appointment while I'm out and about, using my phone, pick it up later while I'm using my laptop, look at it if I'm messing about on the tablet then refer to it when I'm sat in front of the screen using the full sized PC. I used to use Outlook for this, until TB with Lightning came along, and the TBSync add in made it synchronise across my devices. It puzzles me that this isn't a fully integrated piece of functionality in TB but someone had to create an add-in, which is itself dependent an another add-in (Providor for Exchange Active-sync). All a bit Heath Robinson. But that is the issue with FOSS software, it relies on someone with the specific set of skills also being interested in writing the programme and adding the functionality

I know that ProtonMail are bringing out a calendar function. I'll jump to that if it means I can escape Microsoft's clutches- and dump the Outlook.com calendar and TB's clumsy collection of add-ons..

But this Vivaldi mail might do the job for me, too. If it means I can synchronise my calendar across all my devices.

Re: Let's call it the "GPDPR"

And ironically, these same people (possible disguised as a "lobby group" who "care" for the NHS) will point to the NHS' failing in this matter and use it as one more piece of ammunition to dismantle the NHS.

We see the same with the BBC. Handicap the BBC as much as possible, reduce the amount it can afford to spend on public service and quality drama broadcasting, damage its credibility for fair news broadcasting by interfering with it. Then point to the reducing trust and popularity- failings that they actually caused - as a reason to remove it.

Re: Sound of silence

I've heard so many of these stories, and actually seen a few stupidly placed big red buttons.

So the thought is readily prompted..... Someone got paid real money for that decision.

Re: Mother knows best

We got both. The funny little voicey one lives in a dark drawer.

Re: Several thoughts

To many things missing from that.

There's the Peter Principle

Dunning-Kruger

A class system that emphasises knowing (or being) the "right people" over meritocracy*

And above all, the products of the above making bloody sure that no one more competent than themselves gets a chance to be in charge or, God forbid, change things.

*A bit of research into the background and career of Toby Young will tell you all you need to know (not Wikipaedia - which says almost nothing). This will do as a starting point- though I'm no lover of the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/shortcuts/2019/mar/13/us-admissions-scandal-oxbridge

Re: An alternative to FF.

I think one issue is that FOSS developers, even when they're actually paid professionals, see the software as their baby and the users out here in Userland, as just being lucky beneficiaries of their benevolence, which tbh is often true. So they see their chosen change decisions s as being none of our business. But it's not valid in big programmes, like FF or Libre Office which would not exist if there wasn't a user-base to justify them.

[ Does a software suite crashing in a forest still make a noise when there's no one to hear it?]

Re: I found it best to...

The problem often occurs when the fingers are still typing one thing, but the brain has moved on to something else, especially if this has been triggered by an overlap or association. e.g. You're ordering 3 sacks of manure - but the number (3) reminds you that you need to get £300 from the cash machine. Your conscious brain wanted you to type 3, but your fingers have picked up the thought "300" lying just below the conscious level and are now following that thought instead.

Re: Tea

This item is not uncommon in the UK, on the rare occasions that temperatures remain high for more than 3 consecutive days. Any self-respecting restaurant offering "Iced tea" should give you something approaching what you'd expect. Other places may well sell the Liptons stuff which is OK I guess.

However The local Texas-themed restaurant ....

If in the USA ( or anywhere else) I would remain as far away from an English themed restaurant as it was physically possible to do without requiring my passport. So I assume the equivalent holds for Americans in Europe.

Re: I predict excitement

These were two separate flats. They'd temporarily ( and without planning permission as far as I could tell) been given a single entrance for upper and lower flat. But both had their own mains supply and been returned to two flats ahead of the sale. Unfortunately he'd not sorted out the light switches by the entrance.

Re: Efficiency?? Ha ha ha ha….

The problem is that some developers, including Microsoft itself, actually dump essential installation files in a temp folder.

So that sometime down the line, if you've not unreasonably emptied the very oldest files out of a space hogging temp folder, when you ask a Microsoft installer .msi to add in a component that you'd previously not installed it will throw up a message demanding you tell it where to find a strangely named file that is nowhere to be found on your hdd. Because it was in a f***** temp folder!!!

Re: Dear Lord...

I've long argued with the Mrs. that my chance of winning was only marginally less than hers - but I haven't wasted any money on tickets.

Re: Tea....

The tone of voice seems ubiquitous among the (fortunately very few) American influencers I've stumbled across.

Maybe it's something in the water (but clearly not tea leaves).

Re: Certificates

In this instance, it just shows a massive abdication of management that when an app is submitted as coming from one of the world's biggest and most directly influential tech companies there's still no one who cares enough to check whether it really does come from them.

Re: A hefty fine

Yes. Fining a fly-by-night company a trivial amount of cash that they probably won't even bother to pay is pretty much the definition of ineffectual.

There has to be a sanction on the end users of dodgy data acquisitions, removing their impunity, and on the individuals responsible for doing the acquiring for an ICO to have any effect.

Re: We deeply regret the difficulties

Medical insurance....

I wonder if the same issue would occur with non-NHS supplies

Re: Late to the party?

Microsoft being "late to the party" is pretty much a given. They haven't done all that well in catching up in most other areas, which is why no one much uses/d their browser or search engine or phone.

And in the case of Zoom it's not just a matter of habit. There's an awful lot of inertia too. Everyone relies on Zoom, and has pretty much got used to it. The government uses Zoom, and my wife's Brownie group does too. And everyone in between.

Who's going to say "Let's rearrange our gathering to be on Teams" to people who've spent a year getting used to Zoom. And what would the response be if they did? Particularly now with the end of lockdown in sight and people actually able to meet face to face. And all the extra bells and whistles won't help, because to get into a non-techie mass market it's ease and simplicity of use that matters most. Stuff that "just works" with no clever choices that stop the actual purpose of the software from happening.

Re: I used one of my underlings for DR

For many years, a long time ago, I took home a copy of all our confidential files, because the powers-that-be couldn't understand the the idea of providing off-site backup*. Eventually I stopped, not because there was off-site back-up, but because there were then rules about taking this stuff off-site, and by then there was at least back-up to a separate USB hard drive that could be swapped and put in a different room.

*The risk of losing all those records seemed far higher than the risk of having these data stolen, particularly as there was some sort of password protection (not, if I recall correctly, encryption).

Re: Local council wasting money by not spending it

Oh yes. We (as an education dept.) did that, often. And even ordered stuff we didn't want which we returned for a credit note. Because a credit note couldn't get clawed back etc. But then we could buy stuff we actually needed to do our job- at the time when we actually needed it. And we didn't invent these ideas. Everyone did (and I assume still does) it.