Kevin, Kevin, Kevin...
Kevin (is it just me, or does the name Kevin perfectly embody Microsoft),
Please remember that people buy Microsoft products because they have to. But people buy Apple products because they want to...
Posts by RichyS
664 publicly visible posts • joined 22 May 2008
Apple's panties in bunch over Microsoft ads
Whining serial commentard bemoans Reg bullying
Microsoft's Flash-challenger Silverlight 3 hits web
Friday 10th July 2009 11:01 GMT 
What's in it for me?
So, what's the benefit for me? I'm not going to download something just for the sake of it. What does Siverlight give me that I can't achieve without Silverlight?
I can see MS facing an uphill battle here.
And why does Office online need it? What's wrong with HTML 5? Or is it that IE8 makes such a pigs ear of applying standards that MS figured it would be easier to develop a whole new AIR environment to see off Google Apps (disclaimer: I don't use Google Apps either).
In summary: what's the fecking point of this?
UK tabloid in phone hacking probe
Thursday 9th July 2009 14:05 GMT 
Lots of Vague Information
So, what's really allegedly supposed to have happened here? Is it actual wiretapping and interception of live conversations (which would be quite hard), or simply listening to messages in someone's mobile voicemail box -- really quite simple.
Is the latter actually wire tapping? I can listen to my mobile voicemail from any phone by calling my voicemail box and entering my PIN. Anyone else with my number and PIN can do the same. I suspect most people haven't changed their default PIN. And it's probably the same for people on other Operators too.
So, is this wiretapping? I suspect not. It's just being sneaky. We need more information, El Reg.
As for John 'Two Buffets' Prescot -- it's not nice is it? So why are you and your party so keen on wiretapping every citizen's phone? John: if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear...!
Google's vanity OS is Microsoft's dream
Thursday 9th July 2009 11:37 GMT 
Article is a bit daft
The fact is that the majority of home users simply surf the web, upload a few photos, check their email, and probably sync up an iPod. Occasionally they'll type of a strong missive to the Daily Mail/Bank/whomever has upset them that week. For this, you do not need a full blown laptop, and a device running a cloud based OS will be perfect.
To suggest that Google OS will fail because it can't support making music or video files is similar to suggesting that the Ford Fiesta will fail because it can't get to 60 as fast as a Porsche Boxster. I don't need to go that fast -- I just want to go to the shops (disclaimer: I don't have a Ford or a Porsche, or even a 'My other car is a Porsche' sticker in my standard issue IT consultancy Audi).
A lot of Linux's problems come down to most people not knowing what it is. Most people have heard of Google, so are much more likely to trust a computer so branded. Weaning people of Windows won't be easy, and won't happen over night; but it can happen.
Ofcom coughs 3G coverage maps
Microsoft bribes Oz to ditch Firefox
iPhone 3.0 - born on schedule...
Thursday 18th June 2009 09:10 GMT
As an iPod Touch G1 user
It all seemed to go pretty seamlessly early this morning (thus avoiding yesterday's server hammering). Though oddly my iPod seemed to think it was French. Fortunately, I can remember enough schoolboy French to find the language options in Settings. Feck knows what I would have done if it had defaulted to Turkish, or something.
Spotlight is good. Cut'n'paste I worked out in about 10 secs (though I wasn't in a pub). The iPod seems snappier, but that may just be down to the effective restore (i.e., if I'd restored my 2.1 install, I'd have noticed the same speed increase). Fortunately, I'd spotted the autofill settings before launching Safari (Settings is always the first place I start after an update).
A couple of nice new features in the iPod app -- Podcasts now have their own shortcut options. No more Genius button (no use for Podcasts), now there's an instant 30 sec rewind, and a button to change the voice speed (1x, 2x, 0.5x). Quite handy. Another nice feature is the scrubbing speed can be changed by moving your thumb up and down the screen after selecting the scrubbing bar. Handy on those very short or very long tracks.
One slightly worrying thing is that my battery seems to being eaten at a frightening rate. On a 2hr Tube/train ride to my client, I seem to have consumed about 50%... I'm hoping a reset will sort it out (it has previously).
Finally, it's really small, but I like the fact that the iPod now jumps to the playing song in a playlist when I click the back button. It was always a pain to have to scroll through the list to see what song was coming up!
All in all, nothing major, but assuming I can get the battery issue sorted, the update was worth it just for the Safari autofill (thanks to unmemorable hotspot usernames and passwords!).
Palm politely cuts Pre tether
Tuesday 16th June 2009 09:40 GMT 
Stop Reading Everything so Literally
Dear god Reg readers. Stop taking things so bloody literally.
A bigger screen does not (necessarily) mean that each individual web page is bigger to download. Not until ISPs and network operators start charging for data by the square metre.
But it is well known within the network operators that the bigger the screen, the more web browsing and other internet usage the user does. It's simply to do with how the user browses -- multiple windows open, browsing to bandwidth intensive sites that render badly on the small screen, background applications, Windows update, etc. etc.
Why do you think the operators charge more for data on a USB dongle compared to data attached to a phone contract? It's not because they can get away with it, it's because dongle users make use of more bandwidth.
Microsoft fans call for Opera boycott
Tuesday 16th June 2009 00:02 GMT
Can't comply
I'd get rid of Opera and replace it with IE. If I could.
Firstly, for some reason Adobe CS3 insists on installing a crippled version of Opera somewhere in the bowels of my system, purely for the support documents...
Secondly, the horror that was Vista made me try a Mac when my venerable Vaio Z1 with XP died. I couldn't believe what I'd been missing. So no chance of installing IE on OS X!
So, no dice Bill. I like what I have, and I'm staying with it.
Tube Deluxe 3.1
Mobile directory made legal threats to get personal details
Friday 12th June 2009 13:46 GMT 
New business plan. Look for investors...
I have a brilliant new business plan.
I'm going to announce to the world that I have a database of everyone's number. If they want, they can opt out by sending a text message to a premium rate shortcode (say, 50p per message), or calling an 0870 number (50p per minute, mobile charges may vary).
Do I have a database? Do I feck. But I reckon I'll make enough money by people 'opting out'!
Any VCs want to through some cash my way to spend on a website, call centre, and some bean bags and table football?
Microsoft to bomb Europe with IE-free Windows 7
Friday 12th June 2009 10:11 GMT 
Re.: Comparison to OS X
On the face of it, I think it does look a little awkward that Apple can 'get away' with bundling iTunes and Safari with OS X. However, I think there are a couple of key differences.
Firstly, with the Mac, Apple do not have a market position to abuse. Apple bundling Safari does not automatically mean that 80-90% of the world's Internet users browse via Safari. At best, Apple will get around 8-10%. We have seen the affects of this with IE in that most websites are developed for MS's view of the web, not a standards compliant way. This further creates barriers to entry to other browser developers.
Secondly, iTunes and Safari are simply applications that sit on top of the OS (media management and a web browser are not parts of an OS, however much MS pretend they are). Microsoft developed IE and (to a lesser extent) WMP to be tied to the OS. If you tried to uninstall IE from most versions of Windows, you'd break the OS. There is nothing wrong with the application making use of components of the OS (say an HTML rendering engine, or media codec playback engine), but I should be able to buy/download any other application that has the same access to those components.
I tend to agree with you that Apple may be in danger of abusing it's position with Safari on the iPhone/Touch though. But, that is only looking at 'smartphones'. Taking all mobile devices into account, and we have a very healthy and competitive market. Figures from StatCounter taken in May this year show that Opera took 24.6% of the worldwide market compared to 22.3% for Apple. Nokia retains third place with 17.9%.
RIP Personal Computer World
Thursday 11th June 2009 15:34 GMT 
Nostalgia overload
Ah, I remember PCW well. Growing up with the fast paced change in the computer industry in the 80's, PCW was essential reading.
Like many, I think I stopped reading it when the PC compatible finally won out over the varied and interesting 'home' computers. Probably around the time Windows 3 came out...
I still have a few copies lying around somewhere. Probably underneath the BBC Model B, Archimedes (I loved that machine) and Cambridge Computer Z88 (that I used at school, much to the consternation of some teachers) in a cupboard at my parent's house!
Possibly the most significant one in terms of modern day computing is the June 1990 issue. Cover star was the first colour laptop (from NEC -- bloody expensive, and a pretty hopeless screen!), some new fangled 486 computers (from RM and Compaq -- I think they were about £16k each, with 4MB of RAM!), a group test of sound cards (the cheap but low quality one from some new start up called Creative came dead last), a report on some fancy 'multimedia' thing called DVI (which transmogrified into DVD, I think), and a report on CD-ROMs -- what could we possibly want to do with all that space! And Guy's NewsPrint column -- do you still wear those natty bow-ties?
Ahh, fond memories...
Cartoon lion urges Lancs kids to dob in terrorist classmates
Phorm gets £15m lifeline
iPhone 3G S in the UK: what you need to know
Tuesday 9th June 2009 13:10 GMT
Let's have a look at the pricing...
Well, for me, an 18 month contract is plenty long enough, as is 600 mins.
A 32GB 3GS would cost me £274.23 plus 18x 34.26. TCO: £890.91.
Now, what if I wanted to say 'sod you O2', but still wanted an iPod Touch. Well, a 32GB Touch costs £283 from the Apple Store.
Obviously you'll still need a mobe... Having a look at Vodafone to see what you can get in terms of a basic but functional phone, I found a Nokia 6210 for free. It has a 3.2MPx camera, and takes video, has MMS and GPS. So, bases covered, I think. 18 month contract with 600 mins is £32.50. TCO: £868
So, over 18 months, I save a grand total of £22.91. I think I can afford that for the benefits of full integration of phone and iPod. In fact, it seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Now, if you're happy to buy a cheap phone and a few micro SD cards for your music, then good luck to you. This isn't for you. But I want an iPod. And If I'm having an iPod, it might as well be a Touch. And 32GB at that.
In which case, as the above shows, I pretty much get the phone thrown in for free by O2. At least compared to Voda's plan.
There are some other minor differences, but nothing that affects me (unlimited SMS vs 1200 SMS on O2 -- both are effectively unlimited for me -- only send a 100 or so each month!).
Still seems a rip off compared to the states though. Has anyone looked at the price of AT&T plans to compare the TCO yet? Does it even things up a bit, or are we being royally shafted compared to our louder speaking brethren again?
Apple takes Snow Leopard for walk
Tuesday 9th June 2009 11:40 GMT
@Shaun Roe
I've tried going to the first URL using Safari 4 Beta on my Win XP lappy, and can't really see what the issue is. The screen doesn't 'corrupt' on resize, as far as I can tell. The CSS states a fixed table width of 1000px, so that's why it doesn't resize, if that's your issue.
The W3C web page validator does give 3 warnings for the XML, by the way. Maybe you should look into that once you've finished trying to end the world in CERN!
Tuesday 9th June 2009 10:04 GMT
This is not a service pack
I think those above calling SL simply a service pack do not understand much about software architecture.
This is a ground up re-write of much of the OS, and fancy new things such as Grand Central and OpenCL. While these latter two won't give much effect until developers fully support them, the future gains will be immense. This level of hardware abstraction will make it very easy for devs to write much faster software.
I think it's a brave and wise move by Apple to focus on getting the core of the OS right for the future, rather than focussing on endless gimmicks and 'features', and eye-candy. This, I think, is partly the reason for charging $/£29 -- it's a difficult sell to most people if they can't see themselves getting anything new.
The other factor is that Apple need rapid adoption of SL in order for devs to start coding for GC and OpenCL. Hopefully this will speed adoption.
Finally, as others have noted, this makes a bit of a mockery of Win 6.1 (or 7, as MS's Marketing team would prefer you call it). This is no less of a 'service pack' for Vista than Snow Leopard is for Leopard -- yet all the indications are that MS is going to charge for it as per a whole new OS. While MS can be congratulated on finally fixing the graphic compositing architecture (which was responsible for much of the slowness and astonishing hardware requirements for Vista), they still have not fixed the basic architecture of the OS. The Registry is becoming a joke. And fully expunge backwards compatibility and properly adopt virtualisation (rather than the piecemeal adoption announced).
And finally, while a small OS footprint is laudable, I suspect that much of the 6GB saving is down to not having to include PowerPC binaries, which, for some reason, OS X insists on installing even on an Intel Mac.
Somerset County Council to review 'shambolic' SAP system
Hackers claim T-Mobile scalp
Monday 8th June 2009 08:56 GMT
Really.
So, Hackers with access to many terabytes of storage space have a copy of every bit of data that TMUS have. I'm not sure I really believe that.
They appear to have a (genuine) list of servers. While slightly worrying, that doesn't mean that those servers have been compromised. Could easily have come from some Ops monkey leaving their lappy behind in a bar...
Do they have any actual proof?
Britain leads world in police state survey
Monday 1st June 2009 13:08 GMT
Wrong Eddie, Wrong
While I agree with the first comment, that Cryptohippie would have a lot more credibility with a significantly less stupid name, I have to take real exception to your post.
Great Britain will have been split into 'England & Wales', and 'Scotland' on account of the fact that the laws for those two regions are significantly different in key areas, and that the law making bodies are different. Ask a lawyer, if you know any (other than court assigned ones). The only mistake here has been in El Reg's headline writing.
You then compound this mistake by confusing Great Britain with the United Kingdom. The latter includes N Ireland, the former does not.
And furthermore, doing a rather basic 'add together then divide by 2' average to get the score for GB rather diminishes the effect that population sizes within the two regions would have. Even taking Scotland into account, the result for Britain would be very much closer to the England & Wales score than the Scotland score.
Taking a first bite out of Wolfram Alpha
Lame Mac 'email worm' limps into view
Sacha Baron Cohen scars Paula Abdul for life
Number 10 doubles as 'House of Flying Nokias'
GeoCities demolished
Microsoft's online Office variant preps for business
Thursday 16th April 2009 14:55 GMT
Standing up for Office???
@Paul Powell.
I don't think everyone's down on Office, just the pointless tinkering MS have been doing. Frankly Office 97 is enough for most people, and Office 2003 a little better. MS broke the perfectly adequate UI with 2007, without giving sufficient benefit.
The real problem is that MS haven't fixed the problems that have been the same since Office 6 (or whatever the early to mid-Nineties version was called), including the hopeless paragraph/heading numbering (trying to do appendices still makes me cry), tricky cross-referencing, useless header & footer control. you know, the basics. Once you've fixed those MS, then you can start messing with the eye-candy.
I still use Office at the, erm, office (2003, thanks); but have slowly been removing bits of Office 2008 from my Mac at home in lieu of iWork. I still have Word installed just in case I get emailed a doc that Pages can't cope with. Don't really use it much though...
Teens reject Microsoft's Zune
IPS misses its ID cards for foreigners target
Why the iPhone's megapixelage alone won't matter
Monday 6th April 2009 10:26 GMT
A couple of replies...
@Andrew Davenport
The next iPhone (with OS 3.0) will have MMS. And you can still send photos via email and upload to MobileMe (and all sorts of other things with various apps, I'd have thought); so the point is a little moot.
@Cameron Colley
Apart from your fairly pointless post (Apple are way better at using open standards than most other big software houses -- AAC used by iTunes/iPod is not an Apple standard [okay, so the Fairplay DRM filth is, but at least they're getting rid of that], H.264 used by Quicktime/iPod/iPhone/Apple TV is another MPEG standard, Safari 4 is the most standards compliant browser, etc. etc.); Apple did once release a camera. If I remember correctly, it was a re-badged very early Kodak digicam that looked more like a Sony Discman. It took very bad VGA images. I remember my school having one (the Kodak one, not Apple), and it was useless. And very expensive! I'll see if I can dig up a link
Here it is: http://www.epi-centre.com/reports/9403cdi.html
Old stuff is rubbish!
AT&T mistakes netbook for phone, sells with service plan
O2 starts giving away iPhones
Google Street View hits UK streets
Apple plays catch-up with new iPhone features
Wednesday 18th March 2009 16:52 GMT
Billtard
"Whether these distinctions are enough to sway iPhone users is debatable. Technology and features in the iPhone have always been secondary to the cool factor."
No Bill, technology and features on the iPhone have always been secondary to usability.
My Sony Ericsson W910 has most of the 'features' you've mentioned, but they're implemented in such a poor way that I don't use them. I'd rather have 10 features implemented well that I can use and derive benefit from all the time, rather than 100 features of which only 1% is usable.
World's first proper flying car makes debut flight
T-Mobile pushes consumer mail
Wednesday 18th March 2009 11:26 GMT 
Useful for how many?
I suppose this might be useful for some people. As other posters have pointed out, most handset support some sort of push/pseudo-push email (I have my GMail messages 'pushed' quite happily to my SE W910).
However, for all these methods, you'll need to pay for data -- either per MB, or by having a web'n'walk subscription. The latter costs at least £7.50 per month. So, if _all_ you want is email, then the push email service will be fine. But it strikes me that getting the whole of the Internet for another 4 quid makes the email only service seem poor value. Especially as T-Mobile seem to be punting free web'n'walk at the mo...
Paris, 'cos she represents poor value for money too.
'Talking' iPod Shuffle spills guts
Friday 13th March 2009 20:57 GMT
Headphone Upsell
Apple are being very clever here.
The headphone controls are (essentially) the same as the iPhone controls. A quick look at the Apple Store shows you that these headphones are pretty pricey, so it seems pointless to buy some headphones that double the price of your Shuffle.
So, might as well buy a Nano. But you still have some crappy headphones.
Sooo, the obvious answer is to buy an iPhone. At which point the expensive headphones with inline controls don't seem too expensive.
And seeing as you've got these nice headphones that include inline controls, you might as well buy a cheap Shuffle. After all, you wouldn't want to damage your iPhone while at the gym.
Apple are _genius_. They've managed to sell you an iPhone, expensive headphones, _and_ a Shuffle, when all you went in for was a cheapo MP3 player!
Paris, 'cos she knows how to sell herself.
Apple restyles iPod Shuffle
Apple 17in MacBook Pro
Tuesday 10th March 2009 16:34 GMT
Batteries
Well, I've never carried a spare laptop for my personal MacBook Pro (15" non-unibody), nor do I carry one for my work Thinkpad. I'm never that far away from a power point (even taking into account the hopeless battery in an X61 Thinkpad).
If people really need more power than the sealed battery in the 17" MPB, then I'm sure some enterprising 3rd party will come up with an external battery pack that plugs into the MBP's MagSafe power port. That way you'll be able to charge both your batteries at the same time, and the external pack won't take up any more space than carrying a spare. And you get a primary battery that lasts 6-7 hours.
What's there to complain about?
Paris, 'cos she likes battery powered stuff.
UK IT should 'fire men first', says Kate Craig-Wood
Metallica's Lars Ulrich illegally downloads own album
UK.gov ditches multi-million spooknet project
Polish Spitfire shoots down BNP
Vista SP2 release candidate gets public airing
Toshiba Portégé R600
Friday 27th February 2009 12:29 GMT
70 per cent ???
70%? Are El Reg tests dumbing down to the same extent as GCSEs and A Levels?
You basically spent the review slating its looks, battery life, screen and construction. And it's bloody expensive. Yet it still gets 70%. Feels more like a 30 and a fail to me.
Still, the R600 makes the MacBook Air look like good value... And the Vaio TT.
Paris, 'cos she's dumbed down. Obviously.
Apple squeezes JavaScript juice from Safari 4 beta release
Wednesday 25th February 2009 16:22 GMT
Blimey
Well, it certainly is lightning fast. I've installed it on my Thinkpad X61, and am very very impressed. No websites going wonky yet, and no crashes.
I'll reserve judgement on the tabs for now -- I wish I could make the text smaller. The 'top sites' feature and browser history tool are excellent though.
I think this one will replace Firefox 3.0 for me...
I'll install on my MPB as soon as I get home!
Chicago Bears fan hit for thirty grand for a bit of Slingbox
Monday 23rd February 2009 20:23 GMT
Typo?
<quote>Roaming rates like that, without even leaving the country, make the EU look like a haven for the international traveler - perhaps once Ms Reding has battered EU operators for unreasonable behaviour, we can ship her over the pond to sort out the septics. ®</quote>
Is 'septics' a typo? I can't decide...
Paris, 'cos I can't decide about her either.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
