Posts by Doctor Syntax

Re: Buried the lede

The difference is that car manufacturers have spent many years concentrating on refining their products to make sure cars just work. The IT industry has spent years adding more an more complexity so that computers all too often continue to only just work. However, with encouraging the motor industry with aspirations to self-driving cars they seem to have found a way to close the disparity.

Re: No company ever forced its staff to do 90 minute commutes...

I don't know where you work but a great proportion of jobs are in cities so large that they require a few thousand square miles of commuter belt to house the workers. Property within 15/20 miles of work is likely to be hideously expensive and it's only practical to supply a small percentage of that space with single ride public transport so that property in that percentage is also likely to be hideously expensive..

Yes, "we" as a society have done this to ourselves. "We" as a collection of individuals haven't. It's been an article of planning policy for all my working life and earlier to separate workplaces and homes. It was done in the name of getting rid of slums surrounding factories. No thought was given as to how the gap between the two was to be bridged; hand-waving assisted public transport was probably envisaged.

It was stupid. It is stupid. Will you ever get the planners to admit it was stupid? Not until the whole lot collapses in a heap. Hopefully the present situation might give it the push it needs but if the "come back to the office" movement succeeds we're going to have to wait for an even bigger failure.

Re: "Maybe a handful of people can work remotely"

Time to get out whilst there's a company to get out from if that's their grasp of what's happening around them.

Harrow? Out in the Chilterns and beyond there are fields where these grey woolly things live.

Re: You misquoted your own poll

For those commuting by train this days in, days at home alternation is going to play havoc with the economics of season tickets.

Re: High-level manglement can be just as much a nuisance as unions

"What I was proposing was that they had to do some work, instead of enjoying expensive lunches at fancy restaurants."

Until some more entrepreneurial firm realised the advantages, took their work and ate their lunches.

Re: Free school meals

"From now on I attach this thank you message to my every post until they fix battery drainage problem they introduced in iOS 14.4.2."

At least that'll be one AC we can recognise.

Re: Peace and quiet

"anyone who thinks saving money on work space will pay in spite of increasing the stress and discomfort levels on workers, is a moron."

Sadly, there's no shortage of those in manglemnt.

Re: Peace and quiet

"I think I'm running a bit of a temperature"

Without explaining that it's your laptop that's running a bit hot.

Re: Peace and quiet

And that's against strong competition.

Re: Preemptive Ticket Closing?

"a well-known Outsourcing Company (known for comprehensively screwing customers)"

You worked for all of them?

My current point of interest is a login screen which will throw an error on the first attempt irrespective of what credentials if any are given to it. It might, I suppose, be an attempt to discourage any bot with a set of leaked credentials for the site. I now just click on the login button before entering anything and then log in.

I suppose an ideal way of handling those would be to automate bundling up the entire pile of crap and bundle it back to the third party's support email - assuming they have one and failing that the CEO's email address and simply advise the user that there's been an error which has been passed to $Named£rdParty. Bonus points for giving the user the ticket number to chase up themselves.

Yes but they were rapidly promoted to management roles to get them out of the way. At least, that's the only explanation I can think of.

Re: Want more integration

OK, let me give a more considered answer which yes and no.

The skills you have as a Windows admin or whatever are in wide demand but a lot of people have them. They're a commodity to be traded, at least that's the way agencies and HR will look at them and at the people who have them. Wages will stagnate because there's always somebody who hasn't got a job will take your job at a low wage.

So, yes, your response should be to teach yourself new stuff but no, not so you can stay in the low wage trap. You do it to get out of that trap. What you need is to know stuff that's just coming into demand but that relatively few people have.

You also have to remember that the new stuff you learn will become a commodity skill in due course by which time you need to be somewhere else.

Re: Yes, of course

"and i replied no (obviously)"

Not at all obviously. The correct answer is that there's no need.

Re: Want more integration

"Or we could just provide the bear minimum, much like the salary offering"

It sounds like a grizzly fate.

Re: Want more integration

"Next up I dream of Git integration in Windows"

Remember who owns GitHub and be careful of what you wish for.

Re: Yes, of course

"Yes it has, but if KDE suited people's needs then they wouldn't be running Windows."

Which is exactly why I run it on Linux and have also run it on Free BSD.

Re: Defending Tesla

Why restrict this to known idiots? Surely unknown idiots should be allowed to join in. The line needs to be drawn at those around them who aren't willing participants.

Re: It is very important to select your victim carefully,

"Person selected was known to be both able to take a joke and deliver one"

Tell us about his revenge.

Re: It touched the IRB - which is an alternate name for an ethics review board

So where's the ethics review board that deserves the name?

Re: A punitive sanction against the Uni for approving it

Perhaps the board should look on it as an attempt to QA the board's processes.

Re: Place your bets...

"If their careers are destroyed, no one did that but them!"

I have a sneaking suspicion that it will have enhanced their careers in a fairly restricted field. But in the wider industry it isn't going to enhance the University's reputation.

Re: Place your bets...

"and THEN banned the Uni, as the ethics committee refused to intervene."

When the department finally issued a statement it was the most anodyne they could have got away with. An apology at this stage would have been appropriate pending the results of an investigation.

Re: Place your bets...

First, remember that Linux gets used in a lot of places these days. It's critical infrastructure.

Second, if the sanity check I suggested test is too complicated for you here's a simpler one. What would your reaction be if you were the guinea pig in this research?

Re: Phew, glad they caught them.

But too much like hard work, maybe.

Re: This All Falls Under The Category Of...

One Streisand effect will happen when recruiters see "University of Minnesota" on candidate CVs.

Re: TITSUP

I think "Inclination" fits better than "Inability".