* Posts by Mike Tyler

32 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Apr 2008

Prepare to be shocked: Employees hate this One Weird Clause

Mike Tyler

Yaks

I had a quite reasonable contract that allowed the company I worked for to "consider" any out of work IP I produced.

I always told them that if I was to write a book on Yak Fu*king, I would have to put out a press release that said company was considering publishing a book on bestiality.

UK.gov threatens to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

Mike Tyler

Dead Cat

I guess this is a dead cat moment for Boris, just a load of unworkable noise to show they are doing something.

UK Department for Education to schools: Maybe delay signing that 3-year licensing deal for MIS with Education Software Solutions

Mike Tyler

So what is?

I suppose all those PPE contracts for the government - fast tracked to their chums is the way to go forward.

Test and trace so astonishingly bad that we note WE are still paying a £1M a week to contractors.

If taxpayers are fully funding state schools and all schools need a management system, yes you do, just keeping track of where everybody is, is difficult enough let alone all the reporting that has to be done for government. Why not have one mandated system funded directly by government and reap the benefits of scale, or for those who want something custom or different, they can pay for it.

Training costs would be reduced, all data would be easily interchangeable between schools and governement.

Perhaps if it cost the department of education money to change their mind every six months about what data was required it would make them thing hard about the changes.

Then again it could be like the failed test and trace and just be an expensive exercise in poor quality and money shoveled to ministerial mates.

Education Software Solutions tells school customers: We are moving to 3-year licensing contracts and so are you

Mike Tyler

Leaving SIMS is not easy

The real problem is the cost of changing to a new system. The legacy data on thousands of students and staff will require to be imported into the new database. SIMS is mostly undocumented from a user point of view, you used to need a developer licence to access the complete database.

I guess RM will collect quite a few SIMS leavers, if you have to have a three year contract, it will make most institutions look at the alternatives, far more than the usual cursory look, and worry about the retraining costs, data transfer costs. Though SIMS is a bit crap, it's the crap every member of staff has to know at some level or another. Many schools use the add on modules for Timetabling, parent communications,registers,rewards,discipline,staff appraisals,catering and Wisepay etc.

It will be interesting to see how many schools jump ship, though I'm sure migration will be a very expensive pain in the arse.

One of the better aspects of SIMS was the training department, pity most of the experienced trainers were made redundant for the sale.

Stuck in R/3verse: East Sussex County Council struggles to move forward with £25m SAP replacement

Mike Tyler

I'd be worried by

The wording, "Best of Breed", usually several things of medium/poor quality that do not communicate or integrate and have differing UI and ways of working, but will need heaps of customisation, sounds good for a supplier.

Capita inks deal with NHS to 'bring back staff': Workers get an hour of training to recruit and vet retired doctors, nurses

Mike Tyler

Crapita speaks with forked toung

I see no mention of those that have been laid off, sorry furloughed from Capita, such a great company to work for, blood sucking leaches who only know how to bid for things, and bugger all about running them. As usual a money for nothing deal.

UK Home Office: We will register thousands of deactivated firearms with no database

Mike Tyler

Re: What's not to like?

and probably no worse than giving it to Crapita etc..

Delayed, over-budget smart meters will be helpful – when Blighty enters 'Star Trek phase'

Mike Tyler

Maintenance b*ll*cks

We are on our third set of smart meters(both gas and lecy), nice to not have to be in for a meter man.

But when you swap providers you need a new meter, they still send round a meter man even though after weeks of not doing anything much they finally agree with the old provider on the change over and send an email saying the smart meters are now working, not really the only thing they provide the display seems to be a bit off. Perhaps they should spend the smart meter money on customer service rather than sales.

The chances of a smart meter switching tariffs to find the best deal ... I think Faster Than Light travel will come first. (don't worry de Pfeffel will sort it out, when he next has IT lessons with one of the smart meter trainers)

Former BAE Systems contractor charged with 'damaging disclosure' of UK defence secrets

Mike Tyler

Why

Why the Manchester Police reference from Sky ?

Seems an odd connection.

Should ISPs pay to block pirate websites? Supreme Court to decide

Mike Tyler

well

Perhaps if the infringement is costing the likes of Cartier so much money, they should see paying to have it blocked as a good business decision, I don't suppose the court order / injunction came cheap, of course if they are just making a lot of noise and want to bully the ISP into paying ...

Ford giving electric car investment a jolt to the tune of $11bn

Mike Tyler

How long is the question

If the battery lasts as long as a combustion engine, say 20 Years all will be fine, if by chance they last little beyond the warranty of say 5 Years ....

BT boss: Yeah, making a business case for 5G is hard

Mike Tyler

Perhaps it's this

Perhaps if 5G is rolled out and the data is cheap enough, we can finally get rid of the wired connection, now that would upset BT. The question is can data be supplied at a price that will match the price of wired + line rental.

Probably not, but no local loop monopoly would be really bad for BT, Openreach etc..

PM resigns as Britain votes to leave EU

Mike Tyler

Might not be a bad thing, I don't think I'd want to be the party in power if the standard of living drops and interest rates go up, but who can tell

Mike Tyler

Well I guess Farrage has done his work, he can now retire the UKIP, as they have met the solitary goal they had set, so a little silver lining as the pound drops like a stone and the stock market is whistling as it falls. I hope white van man enjoys the increase in the price of petrol they have voted for.

How do you build a cheap iPhone? Use a lot of old parts

Mike Tyler

Is this not 1 April

Really

Microsoft promises Windows 10 will mean two-factor auth for all

Mike Tyler
Facepalm

Interesting

This should be really funny in say shops, doctors, schools or anywhere with an industrial machine, atm, digital signage, there is an endless list of places it won't work and will be an interesting pain in the arse when say half your employees change their phone in a year or perhaps have an old non nfc iphone or perhaps one of the new ones that may or may not play nice with microsoft. Just how will the enterprise enroll not only a user but their phone.Hyy move to windows 10 increase your support costs and make sure nothing is recoverable when you lose your phone. Lets hope windows seven support stays around for a very long time.

Running the Gauntlet: Atari's classic ... now and then

Mike Tyler

My memory

"I have never seen such bravery" just before you die.

Plusnet goes titsup for spectacular hour-long wobble

Mike Tyler

Filter

Filter 100% working then ?

Wait for it, waaiiit for it: We update an Atom tablet to Windows 8.1 Pro

Mike Tyler

Re: consolidate all your downvotes into one convenient post

sound likely

Black-eyed Pies reel from BeagleBoard's $45 Linux micro blow

Mike Tyler
Meh

I quite liked the look of this, but it's just over the price barrier that I can justify a quick purchase. Yes it's only $10 more than a Pi but its nearly £60 delivered in the UK.

Nice to see some more devices at this level though.

Ten badass brainy computers from science fiction

Mike Tyler
Thumb Up

Worst computer

Perhaps the "Talky Toster" from Red Dwarf should get a mention, it's toasted bread products obsession was something to behold. I always thought of it as a Microsoft Product.

Credit card-sized mobile simplified for oldies

Mike Tyler

Re: Crap

Possibly not quite that much, but still a whole heap of money for a not very nice product.

Girl Geek Dinner lady: The IT Crowd is putting schoolgirls off tech

Mike Tyler

And doctor who ?

Doctor Who generally shows women in a positive light, ahh but that's only a TV show, NEWS so is the IT crowd, even reality TV is only TV, does anybody think that they are real?

Official: Britain staggers into double-dip recession doom

Mike Tyler

Re: Austerity?

Children may have been a past lifestyle choice, but not everyone knows how life will treat them. If we don't want children for the poor people, I can accept that, but make it clear that is what is wanted and what your are voting for.

It's a bit like the heath service, we don't really want older people to keep on going, it's a bit expensive. Cuts already apply, try and get some physio treatment over 70, "old dear won't neet to walk properly will she".

Nice to see your parents had a council provided home, just why should we pay for the old and infirm, if you object to paying for children to be properly fed and housed, people are people child, adult or older.

It's fine that education is now only for the wealthy, oh yes it is, covering up pockets of poor teaching in secondary schools by having tutors, paying for travel to colleges because the Sixth form is a bit poor, subsidising the young adults at university, we may as well give up on educating children at all

Getting rich off iPhone apps is b*llocks, say UK devs

Mike Tyler

Re: A panel of engineers and boffins ...

>>network app for sharing the numbers of Deltic locomotives extant on Britain's heritage railways.

Bugger another idea bites the dust

Sandi Toksvig puts the 'n' into cuts - on the Beeb

Mike Tyler

The Daily Mail!!

It's not as if she actually said the word, I don't suppose any children said "Daddy why is that joke funny" and needed it spelling out. The only people offended were those who had already seen the joke on "Mock the Week" and those who know the word and can spell it. As someone who works in the public sector, I think it's a fair comment. Let's face it the only reason Cameron and Clegg want to make sure the Pound is a strong currency is because they have so many of them. The Cuts are for them not for the man on the Clapham Omnibus

BT reveals faster broadband pricing

Mike Tyler
Paris Hilton

Great Checker

Can you get BT Infinity - just fill out all your details not just phone number but house number and postcode.

And then - no you can't get a fraction of the advertised speed, so need some other product.

How about is BT eligible for "Great Company of the Year award" .. just fill in the details

.....

checking....

.....

Well done you are eligible for "Crap Company of the Year award"

Paris ... bunch of .... etc

'I can see dinosaurs from my back porch'

Mike Tyler
Paris Hilton

Creationism is the least of her problems

I don't care if she believes in ID and creationism, it's not a problem, stupid and misguided but not a problem.

That she is blessed in church against the action of witches, by someone who hounded a poor woman out of town as a witch is more than a bit of a problem.

I fully expect the president to declare Iran, home of the devil, evil and witches, and promptly go to war with Iraq probably in late October.

Palin could be in charge of nukula weapons, God (should he/she exist) help us.

Paris, 'cos at leash she knows she don't know.

US imposes 72 hour pre-reg for Visa waiver travellers

Mike Tyler

Liquid explosives, made in the toilet.

>>8 Englishmen were in a London court today for trying to destroy 7 planes headed >>TO America with explosives disguised as Lucazade

These were the no hopers that had a plan for a liquid explosive that would never have worked.

I still have yet to see / here about a liquid explosive that could pass for a soft drink in a plastic container, really explode rather than just burn, and have an undetectable plastic detonator. Maybe these things do exist, but a far as I can make out these were dangerous conspirators that whilst they had the will, were mostly just dangerous fantasists.

They might just as well have taken LUCOZADE for all the likely hood of it ever exploding.

Whilst conspiracy to commit these acts is bad and should be stopped / punished, I am sure the excitement about it, is to fan the flames of the Terror, so the Home Secretary can appear to be doing something about it, or maybe just have people look the other way whilst we are pissing our taxes and soldiers up the wall in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Paris because any liquid in her would be non explosive as well.

Mike Tyler

Well ...

Well I hope it's a reciprocal arrangement, that applies to all persons traveling to Europe from the USA. Including the CIA and the military. Won't bother me, I gave up going to the "Land of the Free" when they started to fingerprint all entrants and stopped being the "Land of the Free".

Controversial DNA profiling technique approved

Mike Tyler
Happy

Hmm

Often wondered if this technique for dna amplification could be used to take dna from some innocent, say one wacky home secretary and introduce it into a crime scene along with maybe a finger print from the same person. As they say neither DNA or fingerprints are ever wrong are they ?