Posts by Neil Jones

@AC (Bad Logic...) & Red Bren

Nicely put both of you. Speed limits are set by law. You break the law, you pay the price. You might not agree with the law, but that’s a different issue. It’s not a principal of UK law that you only have to comply with those laws you agree with.

Yes, like the majority of drivers you think you’re a better than average driver and are qualified to make a decision that the speed limit is inappropriately low to the road conditions and your driving skills, but you’re just as positive of this as that as the Chav doing 60mph through a 30mph built-up area is. Basically, take anyone who’s just had an accident back in time by 10 seconds and I guarantee that they’ll feel they’re driving perfectly safely.

And yes, I do also exceed the speed limit. But before you call me a hypocrite I also accept that if I get caught, I will be punished. I won’t somehow feel hard done by or some great sense of injustice. I know the rules as we all do. Let’s be grown up and play by them.

Change for the Sake of it

I love it when organisations do away with long-established branding, tradition being the one genuine and often priceless thing that can't be bought at any cost, and replace it with something modern and up to the minute that within 5 years will look "so 2008" (or in this case "so 2002" already). So have heart, people of Oldham, you'll only be stuck with this for a couple of years, then maybe you can buy the rights to the London 2012 logo when they've finished with it.

As an aside, I can't wait till they extend the PR attempts to modernise the Royal Family to include a replacement of the Royal Coat of Arms. Maybe rather than use the College of Arms they could run a competition on Blue Peter?

And finally, thanks for reminding me to top up my Oyster Card.

Her We Go Again...

And I wonder how many of those pre-orders will be appearing on eBay on launch day (or even before) at fantastically marked-up "Buy it Now" prices?

Police State?

If you really think that the UK is bordering on becoming a "police state" then I'd suggest that you don't even understand what the term means. To compare the freedoms that you take so much for granted to the living conditions of those who live in *real* police states is risible to the point of being offensive.

Like the rest of us...

Everyone can see my back garden on Google Earth, despite the fact it's got a 6' fence surrounding it - can I sue?

C'mon people....

What an insular short-sited bunch us "geeks" are - and I use the term apologetically. Are we really so self-centered to convince ourselves that we represent the wider world? No, we're a minority. Forum users are a minority, those who use the internet as a proper tool are a minority. And the big Corporates know that. Don't let us fool ourselves that because Creative's (or insert your own love-to-hate corporate monster) latest naughtiness is splashed all over the interweb that Creative will be teetering on the edge. Compared to the NASDAQ as a whole, I can't see any indication that their share price has suffered in light of this incident.

The fact is, the majority of personal IT users do not spend hours trawling forums to research their purchases; they go into PC World and get what's cheapest, what the "expert" in there recommends, what's got the coolest and biggest box, what's been reviewed in the latest PC Newbie Monthly, or a name they've heard of (e.g. hey, Creative Labs, I've heard of them, they must be good, or the amount of people who chose AOL as there ISP a few years back just because they got a free sign-up CD). They may be the great unwashed, but they're still the majority. Most people buying a sound card this weekend won't have a clue abour Creative's attitude.

Even when corporate sins do get a wider billing, such as Sony's DRM rootkit issue that got picked up by the non-IT media, it doesn't really do as much damage as we might like to think. Walk away from your IT crowd and ask the bloke in the street what he thinks of Sony. He'll probably say that they make some cool kit, though it's a bit expensive. Ask him what about how they've screwed their customers in the past, and I think you'll get a blank look in return.

I know that all sounds very defeatist, and yes, the little man can always make an impression, but lets just venture beyond the end of our noses and take a reality check.

Obviously...

Cue Dom Joly....

"I'M IN A COFFIN!"

Missing the Point?

The fanbois comparing sales figures are missing a point here - the reason MS are incorporating a BR HD is because they realise that many PS3s are being bought as BR players, not games consoles. I (like many others) have both a 360 and a PS3 - the 360's for games; the PS3's for BR. If the Xbox had a built-in BR that was implemented as well as Sony's is in the PS3, then I wouldn't have bought the PS3. So to comment that "The 360 is dead" in response to a move by MS that is likely to bring about an sway in sales in the Xbox's favour by taking away an undisputed advantage that the PS3 currently has seems ill-considered.

If MS integrate a decent BR player, Sony lose a potential market of Xbox owners who want a BR player, as well as suddenly facing competition in the "next gen+BR drive" console market.

Or Alternatively...

Nah thanks, I'll just jump on my Xbox HD-DVD drive until it breaks, no need to pay £70 to do the same with the Wii.

Life in the Old Dog Yet

This might be the end of the future of HD-DVD, but it's not over yet for the format. There's already several hundred (thousand?) titles available on HD-DVD which will no doubt now be destined for the bargain bins, so those who've already got HD-DVD hardware can laugh as they pay less than us Blu-ray owners.

Plus, to recoup some of it's losses, I wouldn't be surprised to see Toshiba licensing HD-DVD technology on the cheap to manufacturers wanting to build dual-format machines to tempt HD-DVD owners who'll need to change camps in the future, but will still want to play their existing HD-DVD libraries. So if you did back the wrong horse, milk it while you can, if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor

Life in the Old Dog Yet

This might be the end of the future of HD-DVD, but it's not over yet for the format. There's already several hundred titles available on HD-DVD which will no doubt now be destined for the bargain bins, so those who've already got HD-DVD hardware can laugh as they pay less than us Blu-ray owners.

Plus, to recoup some of it's losses, I wouldn't be surprised to see Toshiba licensing HD-DVD technology on the cheap to manufacturers wanting to build dual-format machines to tempt HD-DVD owners who'll need to change camps in the future, but will still want to play their existing HD-DVD libraries. So if you did back the wrong horse, milk it while you can, if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor.

@ tardigrade

Why ask the question if you knew the pretty obvious answer? Oh, I see, you were showing us all how clever you are.

Do you expect to walk out of HMV with an armfull of David Attenborough DVDs for free because you've paid your license fee?

If you want to watch it in the future without paying for it, then video it or burn it to DVD. No-ones taking away your right to do that, so what's your problem?

Better than the Alternative.

To all you "I wouldn't trust a robot" knee-jerk luddites, I have to say I'd prefer to be on a forecourt full of cars being filled by robots than standing in a freezing gale pumping petrol into my car whilst the bloke using the next pump is yakking away on his mobile phone trying not to let his fag drop out of his mouth whilst he does so.

Meatballs

I think we should now demand in-store translations of all those Ikea product names to make sure I don't inadvertently buy my wife a "Wanton Hussy" kitchen unit or a set of "Old Slapper" bath towels.

And there's more...

Will it support Voice Over My Pee?

Hero?

Not wanting to take anything away from the aircrew, but why do the media always hail these people as heroes? I would hazard a guess that the pilot's actions were down to self-preservation as much as the survival of the passengers. So what would be the non-heroic (or even the cowardly) alternative? For the pilot to go "Yeah, whatever", sit back and admire the rapidly approaching houses? It's not as if the pilot willingly put himself in a more dangerous situation to improve the prospects for the passengers is it?

And, @anonymous coward at 23:11, grill over intake + birdstrike = bird AND bits of grill in engines.

Ahhhhh, Memories.....

Dragon 32 anyone? And all the jokes about it having 2 "L"s on the keyboard?

I remember reading a book about the development of the home computer between the mid 70's and end of the century, it was primarily focussed on the PC and Apple's efforts, although there was a lovely paragraph which said something along the lines of these being the pre-eminant systems across the world except "in Britain a number of home computers were developed, but only the British could understand them". I'm sure someone on here can provice the source and the proper quote.