Posts by Nigel 9

Wait a moment....

Errr.... Isnt this EXACTLY what BT Broadband do in the UK with Openzone on the HomeHubs?

A Well written article, and an interesting read :)

However, I think there is a slight skew in some of the maths - Most Test / Dev environments are kept on all the time because:

1 - The kit is from decommissioned live environments (and therefore there is no Cap-Ex), and is therefore so old the tech's are afraid to turn it off.

2 - Tech's are too lazy to spin it all up again as (and when) needed. Much easier just to have an RDP session available for use when you can grab a spare few minutes (or have an hour to kill on a friday ;-) )

Test / Dev tends to costs only power and space...... meaning its a soft target for transition to cloud if you have a hippie-friendly Carbon reduction scheme on the go....

They think THAT plate change cost is expensive?

Still not as expensive as the stunning rip-off merchants of the automotive world.....

The DVLA.... :(

£250 for a basic custom plate

£A LOT BLOODY MORE If they think its remotely like any word / name etc

£80 PER YEAR if you already own a plate, but its not currently on a car.

I tried to pre-reg BA57 ARD but they wouldnt let me :(

Re: Sales Director

"I use the exact same make and model laptop our Sales Director does and surely thats's a job in which you're considered a power user"

<giggles> :-)

Word, excel, and MAYBE a bit of powerpoint / project?.......... errrrr, nope.

So in effect.....

They've made the "MS iPhone"....

- Apps locked out from running in background unless approved (sound familiar?)

- Have to sync through Zune (iTunes?)

- No external storage permitted

"a camera button as well as a power button. The latter two are dual-function: tapping on power button either locks or wakes up the phone, half pressure on the camera button starts the camera focusing, while pressing fully takes a snap."

WTF?!?! - Am I the only person who believes that this is a terrible idea, resulting in lots of "accidental" snaps as you tried to take a damn picture?

Now , Im by no means an iPhone fan... but I cant help thinking that MS have taken the decision "You know what? Apples right..... people are stupid" and just locked out everything.

Heres hoping 7.1 will add support for removable storage in V2 phones and iron out the kinks (and for the sake of balance, kudos for adding in XBox live and a getting the browser working well on a review phone)

Need a title here....

Someone want to tell what exactly is the point of Firefox any more?

You want pure speed (which used to be FIrefox's domain) - You install Chrome.

You want features and standards - You install Opera

You want to be lazy and things to work without caring about anything - You carry on using IE :(

I have *two* websites that don't work in Opera (and both are because the web dev was too bloody lazy to include it in the list of identified browsers, since the "identify as IE" option magically makes things better).... Im no fanboi (leave it on all day and watch the RAM usage riiiiiiiise.....) but its a good browser that handles 12+ tabs stabily with alarming regularity on an old P4 2.8GHz.

I admit (with FF) the Ebay toolbar is handy and I suppose "personas" are kinda nice in a home User way. But the browser often just "freezes" for a few seconds before letting me carry on and the bloat is increasing with every release.

re: "This Stinks"

<Quote>None of the phones they offer are any good, in Decemeber I had a choice of 41. Now I have a choice of 6. None of which are top class. (They removed the N97 and G2 from my options of upgrades) I can't help think they are either squeezing me, or they are cutting costs for the merger.</quote>

Most Operators base your upgrade options on your previous years usage, others also factor in length of contract and time as a customer. If you are squeezing them (i.e spending £150 over the year max) then they are hardly likely to throw a £300+ smartphone at you in return for another years revenue, are they? :-(

Anyway, T-Mobile are an irrelevant annoyance to me, used by PAYG chavs in line with Virgin / Tesco / ADSA mobile etc etc.

I use O2, and suprisingly they've been great (as long as you know how to play the cancel / upgrade game) and compared to Vodaphone they're gods (in contrast to Orange, who STILL think Im with them despite porting my number 4yrs ago!)

Plonkers

MS are behaving is a very "Apple" way on this one, and I cant believe Im saying that....

iPlayer has changed from a dog-slow and annoying app to a Sky-Plus style "Bloody hell thats handy" part of my viewing life - I've used it on the Wii (white useless piece of Apple wannabe kit that it is) and it actually works really well :)

I have no issue with paying some points for the App itself (because believe it or not, developers have to EAT (shock)) but to restrict access to a free service is bonkers, as they arent responsible for the App!

Methinks they dont want it (even though it would shift more units) as it will expose the SKY Player for the overpriced piece of shoddyness that it is :)