Yawn
Obviously a slow news day.
643 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Aug 2008
(Alain Williams): 'Very often a site like this will have a "request for donations in support of the campaign", does this suggest that if they had done so the decision might have gone the other way ? Or would it have been a matter of "profiting" - ie generating funds over and above those needed to maintain the campaign ?'
The criterion is whether or not the organisation is "for profit", not whether or not they have made one in any particular period, whether by asking for donations or by selling sponge cakes.
Being in the black at the end of the year doesn't make an organisation "for profit" any more than a commercial organisation can claim not to be "for profit" by claiming that "we made a loss for the last five years".
Just up the road, they were the natural choice for practically all our computer equipment and consumables, especially for stuff you needed the same day. We spent £1,000s and £1,000s there. It was a comfortable relationship. You would sometimes see Dave Atherton indulging in a cigarette outside the "no smoking" warehouse.
But in the run-up to the BT sale, they became "faceless" - closing the counter for personal callers and going rapidly downhill. We haven't dealt with them since they became part of BT in 2006.
The next step is predictable: create inconvenience for those without a card.
Posting a package over 100g? Save time on the new Post Office anti-terror checks with a UK ID card! No need for your passport or two recent utility bills. Your friendly postmistress will check the ID card photo and scan your bar code.
Council imposed restrictions on your local pub after trouble? Walk straight in with a UK ID card!
Want a seat on that train at rush hour? Beat the security queues with a UK ID card!
Anonymous Coward wrote "If the EU invented The Internet, then they could do what they wanted with it...they have guided it to world wide integration"
And maybe, since Marconi invented radio, all spectrum allocation should be decided by Italy?
"The internet" became significant only when Berners-Lee invented the browser, so maybe ICANN should move to Switzerland?
As for world-wide integration, they still can't even handle non-ASCII domain names.
"...disclosure can still take place provided that there is no overriding duty of confidence in the particular circumstances, the purpose that the information will be used for is in the legitimate interests of the individual and will not prejudice them in any way and the organisation subsequently informs them of the unexpected disclosure"
The problem is with "subsequently" and with who decides what's "in the legitimate interests of the individual". It doesn't sound like the "individual" gets to express an opinion on what's in their interest before it's too late to do anything about it (which neatly avoids the inconvenience of their trying to do anything about it to those who gain from handling the information).
The word "legitimate" appears to have been included only to obscure the blunt message that someone else is deciding what's best. What other purpose can that word serve?
If, for example, someone decides to leave home at age 16 and prefers that their family not contact them again, who is fit to decide that it's in that person's interest that they be thwarted? Up to age 16, you have no choice. You destiny is decided also, if you're too old to look after yourself. It sounds like what's best will now be decided for us also for all the years in between.
"...interesting to speculate how much bigger this story would be if Microsoft were guilty of the same thing".
The latest MS browser that works on Windows 2000 Server (supported to July 2010) is IE6 (no doubt still in use also on many XP systems).
In IE6, if you select Tools / Show Related Links then (even if you close that pane), on subsequent use of Ctrl-R (to refresh), IE6 silently sent a clear-text copy of the request (including any "query string" or form data) to the site indicated in C:\WINNT\Web\Related.htm. This used to specify http://related.msn.com/related.asp, which redirected to a site within alexa.com but on my system today, I see that it now directs to google.com.
This (reported June 2003) happened even if the intended communication was via SSL, but it created no great excitement.
I checked again today (on a fully patched Windows 2000 Server). Sure enough, IE6 silently sends Google a clear-text copy of the request (passwords and all).
I've spent so long working on Microsoft systems, I once felt I'd never switch to anything else.
But why would I want an OS that runs slower (on faster hardware) and doesn't let me run stuff I ran before? I'm sure compatibility takes hard work, especially when keeping things secure. But is it so much harder than it was at Windows 95?
Must the Windows driver model change incompatibly at every release? If not, why does so much stuff need new drivers? Is it the same with Macs and Linux systems? How many businesses expect to change all their peripherals when they buy a new PC? How many home users expect to do the same?
IE7 loads from my "shortcut" key combination in less than a second, but when I installed IE8 recently it was so sluggish to start, I kicked it out the same day. I'm suspicious that Microsoft cares as much about how fast the OS runs. "Never mind the speed, feel the experience!"
I run four PCs here in my tiny home business. There's no chance that they or any replacement will run Vista and it sounds like Windows 7 will be no more compatible with the programs I run now, so I'll be a very late adopter. Maybe we should wait until Microsoft is desperate enough to make what users want. Windows 8? Windows 9? (Wake me up when it runs WinFS, promised with Vista).
Perhaps some really do thrill to the "visual experience". (Does Vista offer much else? Will its replacement) Perhaps we could hear from some of them. Meanwhile, I have work to do.
As oracle, the operators predict markets worse than the Met. Office predicts weather. How long did they block inter-network SMS because they thought there was no money there?
Do people care about TV resolution? If so, why watch on a phone? If not, what's the point of HDTV?
Do people care about monitor resolution? If so, how can web pages compete on a phone? If not, why was WAP so successful (ha!)
EcoVeg Customer Services...How may I be of assistance? You just received your bill? But Mr Green, when you told us we should be using wind power, solar power, wave power, we said it would cost ten times as much and we assumed you were happy with that. Hello? Hello? Mr Green? Operator??
boltar said "Yes , maybe it was hit by a UFO - a craft that can traverse light years of space in an instant, travel at hypersonic speeds in our atmosphere, accelerate at 1000s of G , and yet for some reason couldn't spot a 200 foot wind turbine in its path"
Alien was putting on her makeup, maybe ?