Posts by Hany Mustapha

Palm launches £399 Treo Pro

So what's wrong with Windows Mobile?

Familiar interface, good synchronisation with my PC and Exchange Server so on backup worries with SIM cards, push email, contact and calendar updates without any middleware or middlenetwork, meeting today and tomorrow's calendar on my screen, together with reminders and quick little voice notes that appear in my Outlook as soon as I connect. Add in a Terminal Services client for on-the-run repairs and the ability to make phone calls and use SMS. What's there to complain about?

Currently running an HTC Tytn - no real complaints... battery life could be better, but then it spends much of its life USB'd to my PC so never normally a problem. Oh - and the occasional reboot - probably once a fortnight. I can live with that.

I'm no Microsoft apologist, but if you use your phone for business, and I do, genuinely - what's there to get so abusive about?!

@ David Cantrell - thanks for your foul-mouthed rant. Really added value to the discussion!

Watchdog hits 070 swindlers with big fine

@ Sooty - sorry mate, you're way off beam

"The problem with 070 numbers is that they are redirects, you dial one number, that appears to be a mobile and so covered by inclusive minutes, and it automatically redirects you to a premium rate 09 number without you knowing"

The implication is that you pay on 09 cost, when you think you've dialled an 07. In this scenario, you're plain flat wrong. It is a redirection, but the initiating party isn't responsible for the cost of the redirection.

When you set up these numbers, you provide a "real" number for that call to terminate on. Most providers will only accept a regular landline 01/02/03 number or charge a premium to terminate the call to a mobile or another number. If the sponsor wants to terminate on an 09 number, it would cost HIM the fortune, not the caller.

The real problem with 070 numbers is that - in order to provide a margin to the sponsor, they are charged at such a high price. 070's were orignally planned to allow redirection to a mobile without any additional cost to the recipient. That's when calls to mobiles cost 25p/38p per minute. Calls to mobiles have become cheaper, 070 providers haven't brought their prices down - just pocketing the extra margin.

Paris... because I'm sure there's been lots pocketing of her margins...

Microsoft starts stoking hype for Windows 7

@ Jonathan McColl - who can't count?

Jonathan - you forgot Vista!

NT 3

NT 4

NT 5 = Win 2K

NT 5.1 = Win XP (check it - type ver at an XP command prompt!)

NT 6 = Vista

NT 7 = Windows 7

Pedants of the world unite!

MS takes Windows 3.11 out of embed to put to bed

Bless

DX33, huh! Before the days of clock doubling? I recall having a big conversation with a man from Intel as to whether "the one to recommend to our 'high-end' customers" was the DX50 or the DX2-66... still not sure the answer I got was the right one!

Paris - cos she knows all about embedding!

:-)

Hyper-V climbs into Windows

@ Anon Coward - Why no Sandbox

MS have exactly what you describe: formerly called Softgrid, about to be renamed "Microsoft Application Virtualization"

VMWare have Thinstall, and Xenocode have Application Virtualization Studio

Each is able to work as you describe... applications in their own little sandbox, no dll-hell etc; so you can happily run different versions of whatever software you want side by side (IE 6 and IE7 for example?) and do as you wish.

Hope this helps

H

Paris because I'm led to believe that she's had several different applications in her sandbox... maybe even simultaneously ;-)

Spam filtering services throttle Gmail to fight spammers

@Matthew Banwell

Has it not occurred to you that this email from Adwords might be a phishing email? Why would Google possibly need you to update your details? Have your ads indeed stopped running?

Paris because... erm... he and she might appear to be well suited!

Most spam comes from just six botnets

Why reverse dns a compromised computer

Part of our anti-spam controls check whether the sending IP address is a server, and the way we do that (amongst others) is seeing if they have a reverse DNS address.

Many ISPs routinely apply xxxxx.dhcp-range.isp-name.com or something similar. That helps our servers think that these are real servers on the other end. Why do ISPs do this and is there any reason why they can't stop this - surely it would help reduce the volume of spam travelling on their networks.

What am I missing here?