Posts by Scott Bartlett

Drobo tarts up storage boxen: Now they're APP SERVER platforms

So... ?

And this is different from what you can do on a whole pile of other NAS boxes... how, exactly? This should surely be filed under 'catching up' and not 'news'?

COMET ISON's sun dive climax: RENDEZVOUS with DESTINY

Re: Did anyone see

I'll plus one that - anyone know what the object crossing Ison's path is (most visible as it passes 'underneath' Earth from the video POV)?

DEATH-PROOF your old XP netbook: 5 OSes to bring it back to life

Whether iPads (or any other computing device for that matter) are suitable for use in schools (or businesses) is of course entirely down to how said school (or business) implements them. With mobile devices like iPads the issue is clouded slightly because there is the choice of having 'school owned' units and 'home owned' units - the former would normally be completely locked down, but with the latter you want to be able to secure them when at school (and add/remove things when needed) but leave them free at home because they don't belong to you. Both of these things are entirely possible to do of course. In fact, it's a bit of a doddle — managing iPads (of either type) is far easier in many ways than administering and securing a PC network for example. But, as ever, the results are determined by the implementation — both technology wise and, most importantly, policy wise. As for whether a PC or a Mac or an iPad is better (for school, not play!) then, well, it's all in the apps needed of course...

Just who is Apple's most frustrated fanboi? Surprise – it's GOOGLE

Re: They should be forced to use

Well, that's not really true is it? You can't support Windows "on an enterprise level" out of the box either. You still need tools like System Center or other third party things.

So Windows is exactly the same as the Mac — it's just that Apple doesn't really do it's own full-on management tools (silly Apple!) so you always need a third-party tool or two (or three, or four). And, to be fair, there are plenty of them about, both open-source and commercial. But if you want to do the full-on management policy GPO-style thing (and imaging/deployment with a whole fleet of Macs (or iPads) then... you can. No problem.

Sonos and I: How home media playback just gets SO FRUSTRATING

Re: Relax

... money to pay for all the electric that lot will consume?

Quality? Really?

The author wrote (about the Play 1's) - "the sound quality is simply amazing, with crystal-clear trebles, sumptuously smooth mid-range tones and solid base."

I helped install a couple of Play 3's for someone a couple weeks back (installation rating - yeah, pretty easy) —which I presume are supposed to be better than the Play 1's — but I have to say... well, I'm just hoping the owner doesn't read this, but I wouldn't buy them. Not even at well under half the price. I would put them as close to the statement above as Voyager 1 is to me right about now. My old analogue speakers (not expensive or high-end even over a decade ago) and cheapo amp knock seven bells out of those Sonos units. Pity, I was really keen on the idea for a moment...

Fury as OS X Mavericks users FORCED to sync contact books with iCloud

Re: But...

"Well, it would for me, since forwarding company info such as mail to a third-party server directly contravenes company IT policy and could have me sacked."

Er, remind us how you send email messages to business contacts *outside* your organisation then? Do you have a magic way that doesn't involve 'third-party servers' for every single one of your external business email contacts? I'm guessing: unlikely.

Your kids' chances of becoming programmers? ZERO

Clicked link, saw a big picture of a Research Machines 380Z — and it made be grin like a mad thing. One of those was the first type of machine I ever used. I remember paying my own hard-earned (paper round) money for my own 5.25 inch disk to store my own work, and (eventually) I wrote a sort-of-space-invaders game that had one (one!) invader that died when the one (one!) bullet hit it. I named that game after the 'fire exit' sign that had letters missing in the corridor outside. Ah, nostalgia...

Ten top stories from Classic Doctor Who

I agree that Remembrance — arguably along with Resurrection and Revelation — should be on the 'bubbling under' list. Each has it's odd faults, but each is also a better example of the show, as is The Curse Of Fenric (all things considered).

On the flip side, many will (probably rightly) argue that some on the 'bubbling under' list have been hard done by — notably Terror of the Zygons and The Brain of Morbius in my view — but then a top ten can, by definition, only have ten entries.

A special sideways 'must watch' special mention should also go to 'The Edge Of Destruction/The Brink Of Disaster' for it's insight into the early TARDIS crew.

Are you being robbed of sleep by badly designed servers?

iLo's and DRAC's have been a standard part of my life for longer than I now care to remember. They're as much part of a "standard build" for servers now as a power supply or NIC is. They've saved my bacon enough times, and now that Dell are up there with HP for general reliability and stability on those things I'm far happier. I'm not really a desktop person, so can't really comment too much there.

My personal annoyance has always been with HP: if you had a Windows server, and if you wanted to be able to KVM properly to it and see the GUI, then you *had* to buy the optional iLo "Advanced License" - that just totally smelt of price gouging in my view. It still rankles.

Apple's holiday Mac sales flatline

What's with the article headline

More to the point, what's with the article headline?! After reading the article itself, It's rather misleading to lead with "Apple sales have flatlined" when said article then goes on to say how well Apple's laptop sales (and laptop sales in general) have risen well. Duh! Did anyone sub-edit this stuff?! From scanning the headline you'd think Apple was about to start pushing up the daisies.

As it happens, personally speaking I don't know anyone buying desktops (Mac or PC) for home use any more (not even for gaming - they've all switched to consoles for an easy life). Everyone I know has been busy buying laptops, be they Dell's or MacBooks or whatever.

Methinks the Author was having a wee bit of a bash and is headline grabbing a little. Not that a bit of bashing isn't a bad thing now and again - which is why we all love El Reg of course - but only when they're accurate. Editor, please take note!

:-)

S.

Dealer debuts campest MacBook Pro in the universe

Blingbook!

.... could it have any other name?!? :-)

S.

The first rule of Reg Club is...

But this article itself...

... breaks the first rule of Reg Club!!

I feel a late-friday-afternoon brain logic exploding null recursion loop event occuring...

S.

Air chief: UK should have RAF astronaut

Obvious really, but...

... I think we should thus start scanning all the UK primary school class registers for a certain young Mr Daniel Dare... he must be out there somewhere :-)

S.