Posts by M.Zaccone

Re: El Reg is more influential than you would think

Why does your comment remind me of the Mitchell and Webb sketch about being the baddies?

Re: I've always thought archeological programming sounded quite interesting.

The vast majority of my living comes from trouble-shooting legacy systems. It is a hoot, really is. You have to be prepared to search lots of error logs, be comfy with text editors, scour the book section of charity shops for old manuals etc. Generally though the technology is not the problem.

Most of the challenges come from finding documentation.

Anything pre-2000 did tend to be really well documented. Post 2000, CTOs seemed to have it in for technical authors so the quality of documentation goes downhill rather quickly.

Then the more recent trend away from shared NT drives to keeping everything in the cloud/sharepoint/orifice 365 means that even it there was documentation , it has long gone. The source code normally makes it through storage migrations, but the design docs rarely do.

Of course this is just based on my experience. Your mileage may vary.

Re: Mature market shake out

"how many have multiple working but unused computers mainly laptops going back years."

Often there is a flavour of linux that will allow an old laptop to be useful again.

Re: What a clusterfrack

"And yet the UK politicians still approve the 4th largest budget in the world for military spending. I'm not sure how much more committed you would want them to be..."

The politicians do seem to spend this budget really really badly! Or is it down to civil servants? I have no idea. It has all gone a bit tricky at any rate!

Definition of legacy

I hate it when the term "legacy" is used. In my experience it has always been used to describe systems or products that work and that regular folks are using quite happily but that don't fit with the corner office dwellers vision of the future.

Re: you must be joking.

The original ford ka is closer to the mark - simple engine barely updated since the fifties, manual everything,no power steering, simple maintenance schedule and no rev counter , no temperature gauge, heater but no air con, manually adjusted mirrors and a radio/cassette that had FM but no AM.. I ran an early Ka for many years, and by the standards of the time it was pretty reliable, when it did go wrong it was cheap to fix. A total rust bucket by the time I got rid of it, but still remembered more fondly than the p.o.s Mark IV Golf that replaced it.

Re: Bang

The Swiss don't need to do anything like that. If you do attack them, they'll burn your money!

(* copyright Jasper Carrot 1980!)

Re: @AC The United States doesn't have enough power to influence Ecuador...

" I was disgusted to read that she knew a rapist she defended was guilty and that it 'put her off the polygraph' (not that any honest lawyer or forensic psychologist should entertain anything but a sceptical opinion), and there is for me some sort of an irony in the current situation."

Isn't that what defence lawyers are supposed to do - to defend their client regardless of what their own opinion is of them? On that basis that rules out anyone who has been a defence lawyer standing for public office, because I guess most will have got scumbags acquitted.

Re: Say goodbye to vi

I loved EVE aka EDT/TPU. Especially the learn functionality.

To be able to use an OS that doesn't care about what case you use, and that has consistent command arguments. And using task to task processing and proxies to do stuff on other machines. Sometimes tech in the olden days was better!

Re: What would happen if...

"What would happen if someone ran for PM on a platform of NOT invoking article 50?"

I don't think that's how our system works. You don't vote for a PM - you vote to choose your MP - or in the case of where I live - to quote the late great Alan Beresford B'Stard - the hat stand with a blue rosette. Then all sorts of stuff happens that results in someone in a shiny suit that you wouldn't trust to run a bath let alone run a country being put in charge...

But theoretically, say if you could run it that way - well isn't that what the referendum we just had was all about. David Cameron basically said that a vote for REMAIN was also a vote for him. And look where that got us.

Re: "forces to be deployed without human loss of life"

Quite. It also depends on where and why you are fighting the war. Having just read Robert Fisk's "The Great War For Civilisation" , I find my beliefs in question and now I find I'd rather we never sent a drone of ours overseas ever again...

Re: Even here at the bottom end it's a mess

So you run a business that trades extensively in other currencies but you don't hedge? Jesus...

Re: Last time i checked

And it is based in Cheltenham. Increase the wages. Open up some offices in more locations. Otherwise they should STFU about recruitment issues.

Re: Will the last programmer, please turn off the lights

Many of the large multi-nationals (e.g. IBM, HPE to name the most obvious candidates ) are already dead. They just haven't stopped twitching yet.

Despite (or perhaps because of) redundancies, restructuring, mass offshoring and selling the family silver, many haven't grown their revenue in years. What you are seeing are the death throes of dinosaur organisations, and the creative destruction that leads to new growth elsewhere. Of course, that doesn't help the poor bastards on the shop floor who have done their jobs impeccably.

There are plenty of IT jobs in smaller companies.

Are you a PM ?

" if they can fix the downstairs loo"

Unless you are physically unable to do so , if you cannot fix something as simple as your own toilet then you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a computer in any kind of professional capacity. It's down there with wiring a plug or a patch cable in terms of difficulty. I've built ikea bookcases that were more difficult than changing the syphon on our bog.

@denarius Re: meanwhile back in reality..

Yep, you've nailed it. I'd go as far as to say that (IMHO) what you have said also applies to private sector outsourcing deals. The only difference is the government tends to air its dirty laundry. Often in the private sector the CIO just moves on to repeat the mess elsewhere before the full "benefits" of outsourcing are realised, and the real cost of outsourcing is hidden.

Re: Plenty of people out there, just not at the price industry wants to pay.

"The only Cobol programmer I know is now 70."

I know plenty in their mid to late forties. Mere whipper-snappers , ankle biters, rug rats!

Re: Iphone Fail

No click wheel, no sale.

Re: where's the click wheel?

"Play/pause/skip/volume are all on most peoples headphone cords."

Nope, not on mine, nor those of the tech savvy teenagers in my house. Not on my cheap earbuds nor on my high end cans. It's not that I'm a luddite, it is just that my headphones need to be able to work with many different devices such as TVs, the household stereos, my personal DAB radio, my old cassette walkman , android devices , several different laptops of different vintages and OSes and I don't want to spend money on several sets of almost identical things... sheesh, I'm begining to feel like Mel Smith in a hifi shop asking about his old 78s.

Apple, you want to sell me another iDevice, bring back a proper tactile interface - you know - one with buttons or similar that I can operate by touch in the dark or when I'm wearing gloves , or when the device is in my pocket. Of course the cynic in my thinks that the main reason you dumped the classic is because it might mean you sell less apps or Apple music subscriptions.

"When I went to buy my Honda CRV the salesman said there was an option that would allow control of the accelerator where it would gauge the distance to the car in front and control the cars speed appropriately...he said it was a complete waste of time and money! "

So were you employing the salesman as your chauffeur ? Seriously though, I've got a CRV with exactly that feature and it is brilliant, especially on decent bits of motorway or autoroute. It makes cruise control worth using rather than some annoying buttons on the steering wheel.YMMV