Posts by Nick Charlton

Microsoft unveils 'lightweight' Office for Web

Talking about Something before they have it

I find it amusing that Microsoft still, after the failures of Vista start marketing their products before they've actually made them.

The same went for WinFS among others which then hurt the company more by them not delivering what they promise.

Microsoft needs to unveil a product as they have some to a stage where they feel it just about works. The reactions would be much different if they weren't just talking about it, but were infact going to release it in a few weeks.

Scotland Mountain Rescue turns on Ofcom

They never get it right, do they?

Ofcom never do get it right. One minute they're supporting Phorm, the next charging the RNLI through the teeth for licenses.

If people understood (in the mainstream) how unfit for purpose they were, we wouldn't be just tuting at them..

Debian all business with Lenny and Squeeze

Balance?

Open Source is fortunately one of those things where the only thing to balance is time. If people have the time then that is what needs to be put into the many projects.

The fortune of open source is time, not money, so when such times come around, it seems to be able to balance out. The trouble is though is that people who before who may have been more willing to help out on non-paid work will now need to focus on paid work to make sure that they can afford to live.

PM Brown dusts off one interweb per child plan (again)

IIRC: The government recently put out a report saying...

The opposite, saying that it was an unessesary priveldge. So, er exude me...

So, why should I be paying someone else to go online?

Brown's website is Web2.0tastic

@David: Only in the code.

GPL states that it only needs to be mentioned. So it will be in the code..somewhere..where no-one can see it....

What's more annoying is that you can't click on the top logo; apart from the fact that the site is a complete waste of my money.

Blu-ray to rule by 2011

@Greg

Films shot in 35mm, are of a higher "res" than HD. There is more detail that what DVD can fit - that's why you can get old films in HD. Even if it isn't specifically made for HD, the quality is there and just requires recapturing from the original film stock in a better quality.

Given BD's backwards compatibility I can assume that DVD's will rocket to nothing, people will start to buy BD players but still buy DVD as it's the same real price. That is assuming that we still have SD *free-to-air* TV. If we don't and have HD, then it will be a little different. I can't see HD taking over as fast as VHS did though, and that was shockingly slow...

At the end of the day it's all about cost.

Microsoft pledges love and money to open source

PR

It's a PR trick. It's there to make their dwindling image after the Vista fiasco look better. They do say though, you can't polish a turd...

Security shocker: 75% of US bank websites have flaws

The trouble is...

The trouble is is that the bigger the bank, the more willing they are to cut costs in areas which they shouldn't. Like customer satisfaction/security. It happens everywhere. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to get out. Fortunately there are good banks. HSBC, is an example where having to get into mine requires remembering a 21 digit code, plus a 6 digit one. I personally find it annoying, but it saves me loosing my hard earned student riches... >_>