Posts by Nezumi

Still miss my TechNet...

Of course this does mean that I have the benefit of now running Linux instead. I'm sure this was what they wanted. Oddly enough I also haven't been particularly motivated to take any certs past Server 2K12 either...

Bought the original shareware release

On 3.5 inch floppy in a flimsy cardboard box. Installed it on a VLB 486DX33 clocked at 40 with a Conner (remember them?) 170MB HDD. It stayed on the drive for a long time. Good times!

I was in the market for a new Surface. Not now...

I had a 2nd hand Surface 3 Pro that I liked using until it died. I've been looking to replace it as I really like the form factor, however the lack of connectivity and the constant issues with Surface 4 and higher are really putting me off.

That and the fact that they are so expensive for not very much in the grand scheme of things...

Currently considering a suitable laptop form-factor with a decent pen. Guess who won't be making it...

Aren't the server parts of MacOS server being killed off?

I thought I read that MacOS Server is essentially dead moving forward. I humbly apologise if I'm wrong.

If I'm right, how the **** can a departmental server be a use case? Linux or Windows perhaps?

Obviously, all other vendors in our infrastructure are subject to the same scrutiny...

SpyBlog commented: "There should also be an equivalent to the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre for other foreign government-influenced networking stuff on which the UK Critical National Infrastructure depends. e.g. Cisco." ®

I bet they aren't... Anything to do with the Prince of Orange (TM) will be done on a nod and a wink... If I was Huawei, I'd prove this and then sue the living **** out of the UK Govt for unfair discrimination.

Stock Android as USP?

Just a thought... Might get timely updates as well...

If only they could hear me crying...

...Over the sound of the world's smallest violin.

I remember using Expansys many years ago...

I seem to recall that prices were competitive and that they had devices that others didn't. I /think/ this was when I was using Windows Mobile... Yes, *that* long ago.

Then when I looked again for my next device a few years later they had no advantage over Amazon and were more expensive.

This business is a dead man walking.

The only thing that may help is becoming part of certain Public Sector procurement frameworks (if they aren't already) If they do this however, then they shouldn't expect to be paid in a timely manner.

I'll never buy Seagate again

My *personal* experience with Seagate kit hasn't been good. Their HDDs have generally failed on me in spectacular fashion.

HGST, SanDisk and WD however are brands that I trust. Sandisk flash seems to work for me and I've always had good experiences with HGST and WD HDDs.

I was speaking to a colleague the other day that had a WD HDD that finally died after 10 years. They'd kept it for sentimental value as it just kept going. I seem to recall that it was used to hold a single game install.

YMMV or course! I would be interested in other reader's opinions...

I fail to see how a class action lawsuit will help protect the investor's Netflix investment...

Perhaps I'm being daft, but I strongly suspect this will not be helpful to the stock price.

The reason why the stock plummeted is because of this kind of mentality.

The market created this and now twats playing with other peoples money aren't going to earn a truckload of cash for doing nothing. *tears*

I'm going to be charitable and venture that Netflix didn't expect to be effed over to this extent by entities that had a vested interest in the company succeeding.

Did I mention I was daft...

Marketing and salesdroids want to sell cloud. We don't want to buy it.

A couple of IT managers I work with went to an MS technology conference. It was all cloud with no on-prem' even mentioned. They got up and left.

I work for a very large UK health provider. You can probably guess which one.

Frankly our particular organisation doesn't feel that we can get the level of resilience, security and data confidentiality we require. Well, we can but for us on-prem' is more cost effective. Of course YMMV, however as a user of our services we hope that you feel safer and more secure knowing we hold all data locally.

Anyone who has worked in education will tell you why RM isn't doing so well

Hint: It's rebadged overpriced crap.

It had to be said

IMHO, it's *properly* reaching the tipping scale.

SatNav has done cock all except tighten the screws. My personal favorite from recent memory is that Win' 10 Pro' can't block the Store. Please provide a pertinent technical reason why this is suddenly not possible.

BTW, nudging me to a subscription/hybrid license to try and convince the street you're still relevant isn't one of them.

Fuck Off.

You need to be careful SatNav. MS has no control over the endpoints that actually matter. If I have to use use cloud, then why would I use you?

You. Have. Failed.

There will be blood...

They are simply doing it on purpose to piss us off.

Yessss....

Many years ago (when my liver still worked) I used to work on a tech' bench for a computer retail company.

This is so long ago that you could still make money building PC's.

I would occasionally come across PCs that just wouldn't play nice whilst I was trying to upgrade hardware. Once they had done me the courtesy of skinning my knuckles, cutting my fingers or otherwise drawing blood they would then suddenly behave and start working correctly.

They were usually Packard Bell BTW

As a holder of various MS certs, I'm inclined to agree...

I've held one flavour of MS certification or another since NT4. Whilst they have opened doors for me, I fully agree that all they do is show potential. They show that I'm capable of understanding the theory behind certain MS technologies at a higher level.

I would suggest that practical experience and ability is more important, but these exams may be of use to the aspiring IT professional looking to get a few feet on the ladder.

I'm just about to finish my 2012 MCSE for 2K12 R2. I now need to make a strategic decision as to where my self-study and personal labs time goes. It's increasingly looking like I'm going to have to re-skill in the longer term. An exam price-hike might just be the final nudge I need to jump ship in terms of personal learning.

Guess which technologies I'm looking at...

Shame they stopped building servers...

Apple has no experience in this space. 2 main reasons:

1. They didn't build a reasonably large amount of their OS underpinnings. My understanding is that the BSD or similar licenses are responsible for this. Polite correction please.

This may also be why running OSX on non-Apple HW is possible and so simple. You didn't write this, you don't understand this and you can't control this.

2. Apple is a consumer electronics company, not a computer company. It's like asking Hermes to build a power station.

It would be a power station with some nice (shit, overpriced) watch straps though...

Does RHEL Dev' edition get access to patches and security updates?

I've started looking into this as I'm giving serious consideration to moving my home labs from Windows to CentOS. Whilst I'm aware that RHEL and CentOS are basically the same, I would like to use RHEL if possible.

I'm mindful that I'm going to need patches and security updates. I can't confirm my entitlement to these if I deploy instances of the OS. I'm also not sure if I'm strictly allowed to use the OS in personal labs for non-commercial use. I expect to end up doing some scripting, but not development per-se.

Can anyone advise? I need updates and also don't want to use the OS if I shouldn't be.

Ta Muchly!

Anybody that outsources to Serco\Capita deserves everything they get

I've dealt with Public Sector outsourcing companies on they other end of the phone\e-mail for a number of years now and they are_without_ exception ****ing useless. The money the Council will now piss away in fixing this could have been better spent by ensuring adequate levels of skilled internal resource. you know the kind of people who actually understand your site...

I hope who ever approved using Serco is now getting a rather stern talking to. The fact that they had to resort to simply turning everything off is rather telling. IMHO, the Council CIO should be considering their position.

InfoSec we've heard of it...

Having said that, they probably work for Serco as well. I look forward to the inevitable Freedom Of Information requests. The people who fought this internally will also now be looking for blood.

Stop wasting money on 'user experiences' that nobody wants then!

I wonder how much of that already razor-thin margin is eaten up by all the 'added value' that manufacturers insist on thinking I want.

Sell me a phone with stock Android. I don't want your skins and bloatware. Differentiate on spec and the quality of materials.

Also, if you could stop trying to rob me blind for accessories that cost a couple of quid to make I might actually buy some. I might even buy more than one!

16 lanes doesn't cut it

16 lanes isn't enough. Enthusiast class boards based on the latest Z97 chipsets either have to disable functionality in certain usage cases or resort to expensive PLX chips.

I haven't had coffee yet, but seem to recall that using Ultra M.2 storage can be an issue.

Why are we stuck on such a low number? Perhaps somebody more knowledgeable would like to shed some light?

BTW, reading El Reg before coffee. I know...

Enforced obsolescence

Apple already do a few things to make sure that a product's life is shortened. Non-removable battery, no expandable storage for phones. Soldered on CPUs, GPUs and memory for desktop computers. I also recall reading a story on Netkas that some Mac Pro's weren't issued with a required 64-bit EFI upgrade a few years ago when this was trivial to implement.

Of course they not the only ones. I'm reasonably sure they're the most aggressive users of this technique though. Apple devices are difficult to repair for a reason. They want you to buy a new one.

I admit it's a very cynical view, but I'm expecting iOS to be 64-bit only in the next few years. That way nearly everybody has to buy a new handset for the latest shiny. I'm also expecting a desktop OS upgrade that actually requires a modern GPU (or maybe more than 1) for a similar reason.

Personally I think El_Fev is right. Just keep shafting your existing userbase.

TouchWiz...

Is a POS.

I bough a Galaxy SIII and really liked the phone but strongly disliked TouchWiz. I sold the phone when I realised that I couldn't be bothered trying to find a community ROM that worked perfectly (although JellyBam was pretty much there...)

I have spoken to a small number of 'normal' phone users who have been similarly disappointed with Samsung's attempt at 'value add'. Perhaps this is the result of that... I personally know at least 2 people who disliked the interface so much that they sold their handsets and returned to Apple.

The point being that they were genuinely prepared to try Android, but disliked TouchWiz. They would also dissuade their friends from Android devices based on their experiences, not realising that they hadn't actually used a 'stock' OS.

If Samsung ever start selling stock Android as standard then I'll reconsider, however Nexus devices are just less hassle.

Also, whoever did the styling for the new Note needs to be introduced to a fully charged cattle-prod.

The idea is a bit tacky, even though the handset probably won't be...

In fairness to Apple, they know a thing or two about design. I'm not expecting them to **** this up. However...

Gold. Really? That's the best you can come up with? It has a whiff of 'chav' about it.

IMHO, the iPhone design is looking rather dated and could do with modernizing. If I'm honest the whole thin and aluminium look is getting rather stale.

Welcome to the world of devices and services

So Microsoft have already conceded that they can't compete in the 2 markets they're betting the business on.

Devices = Consumer Electronics. Customers buy on price, features and convenience. MS needs to get a lot more realistic about how much Windows is actually worth stop artificial product segmentation. Amazon, Apple and Google are killing them in markets that MS can't even enter due to the cost of Windows. Microsoft also need to start supporting technologies that people actually use OOB, rather than want they want them to use.

Modern apps are also a joke. You need to be best of breed here. Your current offerings are so poor, they're practically unusable.

Services = Utilities. Water is water, as is Gas and Leccy. This type of market is very price sensitive and doesn't give a shit about 'added value'. Embrace and extend is finished. MS need to provide *genuine* value, play nice with other technologies (i.e. the rest of the ****ing internet) and change their corporate mindset.

Balmer needs to decide if MS want's to carry on being Enterprise focused or not. The current Consumer, SOHO and SME offerings aren't good enough and are far too expensive.

Frankly, I was reasonably positive until they announced XBOX One (and the resulting DRM train-wreck, plus subsequent back down) and killed TechNet. Now I couldn't care less for my personal IT needs. I've gone, I'm not coming back and I'm not alone...