Posts by John Smith 19

ID cards: the first year report

"Are doing a pretty good job"

How would he know?

Cyberspooks sceptical on UK.gov's IT cost-cutting plans

@Dave Murray

"I'm sure they're looking forward to the day when the national ID database is stored in the cloud, on servers in Israel. Still think the location of the servers is not an issue?"

I'm not looking forward to having an ID card at all.

However as others have pointed out *all* such database should be fully encrypted so that even a loss of storage media (like a whole hard drive) which IIRC was what happened when a US company the DVLC outsourced a load of driving tests to lost one of them.

US Navy SEALs' new airlock minisub - made in Blighty

Remebering Surrey Satellite

BAe would probably buy them if they thought they might have to seriously lower the cost of their bid for a large project.

Microsoft: Oracle will take us back to 1970s hell

Funny he did not mention Google as well

You call it "Mainframe" I call it "Cloud"

WTF Difference?

MS uses court order to take out Waledac botnet

2 fold problem

At least.

1) Development environments which don't *warn* developers what does actually *needs* admin privileges, so they can *decide* to move those insecure functions to one risky module, or replace them with higher security versions.

2)Users whose system is set up with Admin privileges, and who don't know there are higher security options.

This will continue as long as developers (especially on Windows) persist in expecting the users apps to have *full* privileges on their hardware. BTW this is not just a hacker thing. IIRC versions of at least 1 of the NHS hospital management systems would not *run* on desktops with only user privileges. This in an environment where security is *supposedly* a concern.

Although I think a name-and-shame website might be a good idea.

Thumbs up to MS for doing it. But I do wonder what proportion of the scam generating machines on the Net are running Windows.

Senators to NASA: Get your ass to Mars

Senator whines gravy train is hittting the buffers

NASA has 11 centers operating in rather fewer states. There may well be bipartisan support in *those* states, but rather less so that in others.

Bottom line if these guys were *so* interested in keeping their states site open they should have had a word with their (more numerous) counterparts in Congress. The people who didn't vote the budget NASA thought necessary to carry out the "Vision." It's the Augustine commission that stated the current budget was insufficient to deliver the goals and either it should be raised to do the work NASA has been asked to do or the project dropped.

Basically The Senate and Congress should put up or shut up (although I know *just* how much trouble politicians have doing the latter).

As for throwing cash at private industry the *whole* COTS package is c$500m and to date funded 3 developer teams (2 originals and 1 new 2nd round entry, when the team of ex-NASA staff spunked away c$150m on *top* of the $950m from various VC backers and *still* could not *complete* a single flight vehicle) while 1 team has already managed 4 launches and is well on its way to completing a man-rateable capsule.

NASA blew at *least* $1bn on the *multiple* re-designs of the space station during the 1980s.

Thumbs down to the Senators for bitching that NASA won't deliver their dreams, especially when they raid its budget with earmarks for projects which have *nothing* to do with space*

Thumbs up to Bolden for standing his ground.

*And they have. Historically the biggest section of "Earmark" funding has come from the DoD and NASA budgets, as El Reg has reported. The Dupont DP2 aircraft project was kept afloat for *decades* without *any* formal US Govt funding (and no obvious private backing at all) *solely* by earmark funding, despite *every* formal evaluation of the design saying it was a POS.

Hero corduroy overpowers US school gunman

Thanks everyone

IANL, especially in constituional law.

You have raised my level of knowledge and I hope made people think a little about the issues.

Math teacher takes down gunman

Breaking bad?

@DEAD4EVER

"what is it with americans and guns seriously they think its there best friend or somthing always people going about shooting in schools i mean wtf america needs to sort its gun crime"

You're either using a verbiage generator like amanfrommars or you've been hitting the espresso a bit hard.

It's called having a *written* constitution with amendments (you many not agree with it but at least *everyone* can read it.), one of which is the *right* to bear arms. It's one which is *vigorously* defended by the NRA and the gun mfgs.

America's problem is that most of the gun deaths occur in cities, most of the gun owning support is everywhere else, which as the US is pretty big covers a *lot* of ground. Colorado is also, IIRC an "open carry" state. No license required *provided* they are in plain sight. Not sure if possession is a crime but I'm pretty sure they are also a death penalty state.

" out its a joke. people over there shouldnt have guns in the first place but thats america for you. you hardly hear of any gun crime at schools here in the uk because guns are banned "

Technically gun ownership in the UK is not banned. It is however *very* difficult to do while complying with regulations. You might like to look up "Dunblaine," where the *total* failure of the Police to detect or control an active pedophile was spun into a hysterical crackdown on all *legally* held weapons*. It's interesting that as he set up his own boys group weather he would have needed a CRB check.

in this country and so they should be i hate them people who use em are sick should be locked up and the key thrown away.

Congratulations I think you're a shoe-in for the Private Eye "Great bores of today" column. It's your ability to do that in 1 sentence that's the key. If you can speak it out loud your lung capacity must be formidable.

*those holding weapons illegally IE criminals, did not give a stuff.

Silicon Valley hypegasm for miracle shoebox powerplants

AC@14:10

"Some of the SOFCs do have problems with cycling up and down, and just before I left, there were plans for one of their customers to use a couple of 250kW generators in conjunction with a large sodium/sulphur based battery to shave the peaks off the demand."

the Sulphur battery bit sounds very like the Rolls Royce Marine solution they were offering.

On a side note a *lot* is made of the chief developers NASA links to their in-situ propellant programme. AFAIK this involve electrolysis of Carbon Dioxide (from the Martian atmosphere) to Carbon Monoxide and Oxygen. This background implies a controlled pyrolysis of the fuel to a CO (and H2) rich gas before the catalytic cell. In principle a neat sidestepping of the whole strip-the-hydrogen-out-of-the-hydrocarbon-first business.

But I don't think it was very efficient, merely that it could avoid a failure prone mechanical pump.

Benefit of the SOFC

is that running *pretty* hot ( historically they *did* run 700-1000c, but newer ones are targeted in the 500-650c range, making the sealing tech a *lot* easier) they can crack more complex HC containing materials (Methane and Propane being obvious, but also Methanol and Ethanol) down to Hydrogen, which is ultimately what *all* these designs use.

So you *potentially* a multi-fuel cell with *potentially* useful amounts of heat you can use to run a domestic hot water, clothes drying or cooling system.

All the electricity for an average sized merkin's home in a shoebox. I'll believe it when I see it. The devil in this is the construction and the catalyst at the price point you need.

BTW The thing I saw in Popular Science (A *long* time ago) was a ceramic honeycomb with IIRC alternating channels for fuel, air and cooling.

Were they to get big wins off US dairy farmers (who generate *lots* of slurry ready for digesting) this might be quite a good idea. But *zero* emissions is BS *unless* you're one of those nutters who doesn't think CO2 is a pollutant

Oh wait, neither did shrub.

F$%k me. 10 tonnes to generate 100Kw

A capstone mini gas turbine package is about the size of a portable toilet cubicle. It will do about 200Kw. I'd estimate it's transportable by pickup truck in a pinch.

Landfill gas in perspective.

The landfill driven gas turbines I have heard of are int he MW class. Big by individual consumers but about 1/500 or less the size of the typical GW power station. They are *expected* to last about 30 years on a site and it's true the UK has *lots* of landfill. However it's not clear how many of these sites have the right construction (IE impermeable lining to trap it and an impermeable cap to lead the gas to the turbine.

OTOH it would be (more or less) carbon neutral.

However were more farmers and meat processors to take up anerobic digestion (as reported in El Reg a while back) this *could* cut gas requirement by 50% (Likely an *absolutely* best case but 25% off the UK gas bill would be a good idea) and of course it would make HMG less vulnerable to Russian err politicians.

Personally the best thing you could do would be to power your a central heating circulation pump and the controller from the gas supplied to the boiler. Otherwise you need *both* services just to make one work.

It's one of those ideas that looks *very* good, promotes independence, less reliance on central resources etc. Tickss all the right marketing boxes. But actually not very good at all, except for businesses.

Visual Studio 2010 - chunky but has a great personality

Has to be said

You won't get too many of those to the pound.

BT could face criminal case over Phorm trials

Good

But as others have noted *might* be a smokescreen tactic to avoid the EU prosecuting BT and the UK govt themselves.

Don't break out the champagne just yet however. This is still a *long* way from the court.

However were one to apply the standards used on say someone hacking the Pentagon computer network guilt standard (Yes I did it) then the CPS should be gearing up for court toot suite.

AFAIK BT have *admitted* the act already. I'd say that qualifies for a 90% probability of conviction.

And it still leaves the pestilential Phorm to ply their trade. The problem is it is *such* a seductive idea for hard pressed ISP executives to raise easy money. No thinking required. Large bonuses and trebles all round.

I fear that only some truly medieval level punishment applied to various senior Phorm staff will effectively discourage this sort of thing in future.

Broadband probe aimed at next gen upgrades

Do the ISP's know which homes are testing them?

Because if they do this is epic fail waiting to happen.

But let's be honest. What most users want is for any company to deliver a *minimum* speed *not* a promise that is "up to" a headline figure.

Vulcan kept airborne by £400k refuel

The Victor shape

Note that *none* of the V bombers were supersonic, although they looked like they should have been.

The victor wing shape was designed to delay the onset of airflow going supersonic over the wing and screwing up the aerodynamics, much as modern super-critical wings do (and oneof the reasons why modern commercial airliners are *much* more efficient than their superficially similar 1950s counterparts)

It has the side effect of looking very lovely.

On the reheat question Olympus was used on Concorde, which *did* have reheat. Not having it on the military version seems odd.

UK.gov IT minister makes open source gaffe over browsers

Probably briefed by a civil servant

Who knows as much about this subject as she does.

Google eyes hypegasm fuel cells for 'whole data center'

Thought the weight /size was a web page typo

So I checked the PDF as well.

WTF. A 100Kw generator weight 10 tons in a box 18ft x 7ft x 63/4ft (well it is US kit)

To put this in perspective that is <135HP. Packaged generating sets can deliver substantially above that. This is near a 20 foot equivalent container in size.

I strongly doubt it will be competitive with even a packaged gas turbine (the high end solution for this.

My first though was WTF but I'm raising to Epic Fail.

Aside from Kudos there has to be *major* subsidy being handed out

I cannot see how this V0.9 tech can compete against anything as simple as on site generating package whose coolant cycle is plumbed into the building heating system.

US unveils planet-hugging London embassy

One possible vulnerability

Would be all that glass. Making it triple glazed would be very eco-friendly. However if one were to (for example) Make a large metal plate with a lot of holes in and loosely screw a lot of bolts into it, liberally apply some plastic explosive to the back it would (in principle) be possible to carry it under a helicopter to said building before pressing the button.

The mother of all Claymore mines.

No doubt they will install the SAM battery on the roof for such an event. Of course they could just put the Ambassador's office in the basement, but that would not be very ambassadorial.

Mines the one with the Thomas Harris "Black Sunday" in the pocket.

Not subject to VAT?

Does *any* part of the US Govt in Britain get this treatment?

The Olympic Games won't (one reason they instantly went over budget) What part of the US Govt does not get this?

Pathetic IT pushes CMEC onto (pricier) paper

OMG. "Commercial" system good enough!

Even worse they had a V1.0 system to study to identify what *was* going wrong to write the spec for V2.0.

Anyone got *any idea how much this fiasco will cost?

Thumbs up for at *last* looking at a COTS approach. Weather or not they cock up its implementation (or rather whatever of the usual suspects gets the job this time) is another matter.

Virgin to offer 100Mb/s broadband by year's end

For the first 15 seconds

I'm guessing.

How about a* guaranteed* minimum speed?

Have we not seen this sort of maximum broadband speed oneupmanship before?

MPs bash broadband tax

@Howard Cole

"It is short-sighted not to invest in fibre. Other countries will do it and their economies will overtake ours as it becomes more apparent to business that the internet is critical to their survival. For example, why would an international company invest in a country which cannot provide the ability for its employees to work remotely."

Which begs the question why BT and Virgin say they can't *afford* to do it.

Or do they claim that the profit they make from their *existing* fibre is *so* low they cannot afford to roll it out to others sites in their network. AFAIK cross-subsiding *within* a division (BT Openreach) is allowed.

AC@00:54

"Virgin and BT have spent tens of millions of pounds digging up inner city streets to give people living there, giving city dwellers a choice they often take for granted. So, let's have less of the dog-in-the-manger attitude."

I'd *strongly* doubt Virgin have done *any* digging in town *except* where they have new build to cable. AFAIK they inherited damm near all of it from the upteen cable TV ops that Telewest and their ilk bought up, after HMG had given them plenty of cash assistance.

An interesting option *might* be that *any* operator commits more of their profits (demonstrably) to rolling out broadband (with a *minimum* service level agreement, like real companies have) they can offset that against part of their profits and pay less tax.

But *not* indefinitely.

Remeber it's 50p/line to *begin* with.

And as others have pointed out it's *not* ring fenced. In true NuLabour style push the bayonet in, if it meets fat, push harder.

But the bottom line is it's a *bribe* to BT to get them to do this work. alternatively how about letting their competitors take over *all* responsability for a local loop if they agree to provide broadband.

And the competitor keeps all the revenue. Pre-privatisation BT had an 18-24 month backlog in telephone installations. The arrival of Mercury dropped that quite a bit.

I think HMG bungs enough bribes to BAe already (You *have* to buy our UK made choppers, otherwise (sob) we'll just have to fire all those helpless workers).

Yes they are totally different companies. Both have a *very* substantial position in UK markets and both seem to play the helpless victim at every opportunity. These are multi *billion* pound PLC's, not some battered spouse. some parts of both of them have provided significant benefit to the UK economy. Others seem totally useless.

And remember for *any* of this to be real it would have to pass the election.

YouTube's IE6 support dies on March 13

Wot. Civil Servants cant access Youtube?

If only their other *main* applications followed suite.

Xerox sues Google and Yahoo! over patentspeak

Tried to arrange a deal

Not another stupidly obvious patent on something circulating within the developer community for a few decades.

Council backs down on CRB checking grown-up lecturers

@Ian 45

"What happens when a new paedophile with no history gets a CRB pass........ CRB just another excuse for more govt control over lives."

Simple. Whoever employs them can say "But *all* the CRB checks came back negative. We did the best we can and basically it's *not* our fault."

Which is *exactly* what this system was *designed* to do. Allow employers to state they had doen all they could to stop any harm, but the person had a bit of paper that said they were alright.

In the process scrapping a very large number of people who either not quite (apparently) perfect or who refuse to have their whole lives studied (or destroyed) because they do not *precisely* conform to some civil servants idea of what a perfect staff member *should* look like.

Remember the question El Reg asked Childline? 13 calls about employed staff physically or sexually abusing children in their care, 56000 about abuse in the family or by close family friends.

That rushing sound you hear is the flood of water as *all* those officials wash their hands of *any* responsability.

Did'nt they have a rather nasty childrens home sex scandal.

Oh, might have been some other Welsh council. It's difficult to tell them apart.

The myth of Britain's manufacturing decline

@Etrien Dautre

Bitter.Mois? I use the smiley as I am not flaming the the poster, but I am flaming the situation.

"Xe-xe-c"

I'm rusty. What is that the Emacs command for exactly?

@Joeeuro

You may be interested in a documentary made some years ago for British TV.

It took 2 factories which make kitchen units. Understandable by Joe Public with no subtle features to give either one the edge.

1 in Germany, 1 in the UK.

In Germany the workers reset their (CNC) machines for new products on instructions from the plant manager.

In the UK workers wait to have their (CNC) machines reset by the "Tool setter." I've no idea what that would be in German. (the-one-who-goes-round-and-sets-the-machines perhaps).

it also made the point that the *top* 20% of students get as good an education in the UK as *anywhere* in Europe. It was the *other* 80% that were poorly schooled, badly motivated and left early.

The combination of British historical practices in education (if you teach the working classes stuff, they'll *know* things), management (self made men, ex public school boys or self-made ex public school boys with about a day's formal management training between them) and labour relations (*you* can't reset the guide fence. You're not a member of the Allied Fence Guide Setters and Set Screw Twiddlers. Set screw twiddling is a *skill* which you would have to be paid *more* for if you had it. Pay differentials *must* not be eroded etc etc) has made a toxic brew, Paraquat* for UK manufacturing industry.

Note that anyone with experience of SME level UK management will know of many managers whose greatest contribution to their firms would be to take out key man insurance and get hit by a train. Untrained, over promising (to customers), under delivering (to customers and workers), short sighted and inflexible. They *never* end up in an industrial accident, but they run companies that are.

Or so I've heard.

OK We've confirmed that the scale *is* inflation adjusted (which should explain also Wikipedia's comment that UK GDP has grown 95x since 1950, forgetting the massive inflation throughout a large part of that time)

So the UK is doing better than its doom and gloom media class would have people think.

But could it do better? An 80% "rump" might serve the ruling class just fine, but could they contribute a *lot* more, apart from creating a near *inexhaustible* supply of disposable "celebrities"?

Just a thought.

*A highly toxic weed killer, probably banned now.

Citizens rail against government data sharing

About bloody time

Congratulations Britards. You've finally worked out your leaders (or rather the high ranking civil servants who tell them what to do) do *not* have your best interests at heart.

A *long* time coming.

Microsoft erases Windows 8 optimism

@jake

"to save the state of the system before going into protected mode. Ugly, ugly, ugly ... but very functional hack ... "

IIRC the issue was not going *into* protected mode, it was coming *back* to real. The former had 1 or more opcodes in the instruction set (no doubt with some complex data structures you had to set up) but not so for coming back. Either intel were "encouraged" to this view (because a machine as *powerful* as a 286 will only need real mode when booting *nix) or it never ocured to them it would be needed. Except to run legacy (MSDOS) applications, which turned out to be quite a big market for OS/2 running hardware.

Me, in the same timeframe for MS/IBM/Intel, I ran DOS 5.0, 4DOS, QEMM, and DesqView on a generic 8meg 386sx16 (with math-co; I still have it, and it still runs). It even ran Windows 3.0 in a "window" without problems ... Was faster "seat of the pants" than the 32Meg 3/260 Sun Workstation I used at work, and a hell of a lot more useful than the vaxen I left behind at DEC. My home connectivity box was either an AT&T 3B1, or a 386 running MWC's Coherent (The DOS 5.0 box connected thru' one of the UN*X machines). All of these overlapped in the mid-late '80s & very early '90s ... Was an interesting time :-)

4DOS I heard was quite good and had a following for turnkey systems supplied by small VARs. Isn't QEMM/Desq view the genesis of VMWare? At least the concept of virtual machines not dedicated to a specific OS (Although I suppose VM on an IBM 360 probably pre-dates them all). Was the 3B1 one of AT&T's proprietary processors? Hobbit? Coherent I remember as a small footprint (certainly by modern standards given the available memory and hard disk space) *nix clone.

MPs, Lords ask if Mandybill is human rights friendly

@blackworx

"...either don't have the Dark Lord's contact details, or his "mailbox is full".

They only have addresses for people in *this* dimension.

Windows Phone 7 will not translate to Win Mobile after all

@Mikel

"In IT the field is so dynamic that there are few things you can really count on. Over the decades though, one thing has remained reliable: the consistent performance, stability and security of a new Microsoft operating system. "

I sense, somehow a lack of sincerity in these remarks.

Minister deploys 'dodgy' DNA case study

@sed gawk

"Their fail warms me as I have long believed that incompetence will protect the populce from the ambitions of the pointy haired politos, ie they are collectively rubbish to the point where almost any scheme they attempt fails no matter how hard they try or how many laws they pass. They really want to get some value out of DNA/DB so QED it must turn out to be a shambles."

Never rely on incompetence.

It will always let you down in the end.

Microsoft's Mountain man sees Jobsian past in .NET

@serendipity

"Well er let me see...oh that's it, how about Linux!! Check out the Mono project John!"

Neatly handled by the AC who posted after you I think.

"Oh and if that doesn't float your boat, you could always write ASP.Net web apps. They'll run in all the major browsers across all the main platforms."

Active Server Pages I presume. That would be where the server executes the script much in the same way the 1st web servers emulated the web page then copied it wholesale to dumb terminals (good implementation tricks never get old but they can get forgotten) . So *obviously* they should run on *any* browser. Which web servers support that?

Seriously I do get that some people like some of the features that .Net has given them but would prefer if they could host it on something else. I can certainly understand MS not wanting to do this themselves.

Where I and the Mono/Moonlight developers part company is that I can quite easily understand why MS would *never* want it to happen. Not that ehy won't do it, that they will take active steps (or should I say pages) to prevent it. However I had thought MS was *compelled" to publish details of all Windows interfaces, which along with the developer kits should list enough API entries, return codes, headers, data structures and overviews to make the port *fairly* easy.

Basically Linux is code, .Net is code. Different calling conventions, data structures etc. If you're looking at a different implementation language I could see big problems there, but as a clean room implementation you don't *have* the .Net source code to begin with. You're mapping (or even easier) duplicating data structures under one OS in another. then you're mapping the I/P and O/P specs from each API to your new. Lots of bulk but the first cut should be eyeballing the D/S and API calls in *detail*, then developing a set of replacement macros to break the back of the problem, before humans start chomping on it.

I do wish the developers well. They seem to want Moonlight/mono to be free, in the sense of freedom.

They (you?) might like to remember that freedom (especially where *any* large corporations business is concerned) is *never* given, it is taken.

Global warming worst case = Only slight misery increase

Some notes on oil

It is oil industry policy to hold records showing them where to find 10 years *more* oil at some level of consumption. They either used outsourced geophysics survey companies to do the work in the first place or laid off them staff when the job was done.

It's the company oil reserve. they *expect* to find more in the meantime, if they have to.

Whenever you see some reporter spout on about "xxx only has oil for 10 more years. Shock! Horror!" remember this.

Oil companies are some of the *biggest* customers for processor arrays on the planet. Back in the day IBM SP2 arrays were top dog. If they have the biggest, they want 2. If there's a new model in the works, they want one of those on pre-order.

When they get it they re-run the seismic surveys they collected over the years *again* looking to get more detail or apply new algorithms (Not simple as you're trying to reconstruct a 3d object based on multiple scattered sound waves scattered in unknown ways). This still works out cheaper than actually *doing* a new survey out in the North Sea (or lately the South Atlantic).

Curiously despite all of the hardware generations that have passed Israel still seems to be one of the few bits of the Middle East with *no* oil under it. /were this ever to change it would (quite literally) send an earthquake through OPEC.

Also note that the bulk of the product prices are made up of the *oil* price itself and the local taxes. Processing costs are pretty minimal. However profit is a % of the oil price because if you need oil, or it's products, you're stuck with whatever the price happens to be. This is basically cost plus, which *might* explain why the oil business is as big as the arms business.

I looked up the "oil shock" of 1973 which seemed to put the global economy in the toiled for a decade. The price was a 300% rise. From $3 to $12/barrel. When I was finding out what oil company computer hardware was companies were firing staff because their *whole* budget was predicated on a price of $15/barrel. BTW an oil barrel is roughly 40USgals, not a modern 55gal.

Bottom line. Don't believe the hype.

A note on history

Based on my admittedly skimpy reading of technology and a *little* personal experience I'd say that *every* description along the lines of "We knew it was the *only* possible solution that would work. It was obvious" is written after whatever they are talking about has been a success. While such markets or technology are developing it's *never* that obvious, with the proviso you have to base your judgement on what people of the *time* knew. Global Communism (or the dictatorship of the proletariat) was at one time viewed as "Inevitable" as well.

AFAIK it really happens 3 main ways. 1) Person looks into subject and concludes whatever solution *must* meet certain (usually a very few) criteria. They then do whatever it takes to find a method that works that they can move forward (even if there are better ways found later) and do so.

2) Person studies subject in substantial detail, concludes the route with the highest chance of success and pushes ahead with that on the basis that "A working solution now beats a perfect solution a long time later." Frank Whittle's turbjet design is much simpler than some drawn up at Rolls Royce (by AA Griffith) but it worked with the materials and fabrication tech of the time.

3)Research team is put on a project and realizes they have found a solution to a problem even if they fail in their initial goal. IIRC the glue for post-it notes was a fail for its primary objective but nearly perfect for that application. This was a slight variation in that here it was the availability of this new stuff (within 3m) that set someone's mind thinking.

Note that this is only the germination stage. Plenty of also rans will fail to convince backers they have the right path and they have the skills (or can build the team) to get to the solution. They only tend to be recognized *long* after the fact.

@Aron

My old History teacher warned us to be *very* weary of *any* politician who proposed simple solutions to *very* complex problems.

He learned this from his father, who learned it in the early 1940s, around the time he acquired some unusual body art.

Six digits, two letters, on his left arm.

It's advice I have never forgotten.

ODF's doomed mission to break into Microsoft Office

ODF *not* from the Free Software Foundation

It is not a hobbyist standard. It comes from work done at Sun Microsystems and expanded through the OASIS consortium, originally a group of SGML tool suppliers.

With consortium membership starting around $3k for a company of less than 10 staff I'd hardly call them a bunch of hobbyists.

As others have said the message MS put up is *very* like the one that Open Office puts up when I try to save in non ODF formats.

Now it *could* be said they are *both* being cautious, as each *might* have trouble implementing a different subset of features and would therefor screw up a different set of objects.

Would *anyone* like to comment on the marvelous, stunning, outstanding, unforgetable parts of MS Spreadsheets/Text documents/Presentations that are dropped when saved in ODF?

I'd *really* like to know.

But OOXL is an ISO Standard!

That would be the one where MS stuff the voting process.

Perception has a lot to do with this.

If I save in ODF will the person who I email have it as well?

Note I *had* to do a recent format conversion between in OO from WinWord 97 to Win03 in XML The complex stuff worked out but the tabs on the first few lines were stuffed.

MS support for a true open standard will *always* be grudging unless forced by a govt. That on its own will spread a lot of FUD amongst casual users.

Organizations *have* to start thinking that whoever controls the data formats they use controls *them* in terms of their upgrade paths, when and how much they spend. This is what Bill Gates understood. Grab them by the data files and their wallets will come right along afterward. Forever.

WALL-E spaceliner smart hoverchairs debut in Japan

Floating the patient on a cushion of air

would prevent bedsores, and I think was tried years ago.

I suspect energy wise the making beds with some kind of towing thingy which could engage a mobile AGV would be a more cost effective solution. Although the DARPA style "Smart stretcher" has some attractions.

Humans get more expensive over time. Anthing that eliminates the routine would be a good idea.

UK government won't be keeping mobile database

@Ted Treen

"..are known to wear:-

a) Shoes

b) Underpants (exploding or not, as the case may be)."

Citizen

Now you're just being *silly*. If there's one thing The State cannot stand, it's *not* being taken seriously.

Signed.

The Nanny State.

Classic peice of HomeOffice work

"We don't keep the database. We just make sure anyone who operates a network has to."

Cyber attacks will 'catastrophically' spook public, warns GCHQ

@Bumbling Fool

"A successful 'cyber' terror attack on, say, the UK's banking network might have national security implications. If people cannot access cash or pay for goods there is the potential for short term civil unrest until the systems are back on line. "

True. But how feasible is that?

This is just one example. Although if we all get smart meters then a cyber attack launched to turn off power might be more than a minor irritation.

The ones which are *only* being included in the UK Gov'ts energy bill because one of his Lordships took a bung to introduce them. The ones which have *know* security flaws (as in transmitting the data in clear).

Now that should worry Britards across their land.

AC@12:16

"Either that or some department has been given a big budget and excessive powers and feels so guilty about that, they feel the need to justify it with vague exaggerated silly claims. Surely not!"

What is this word "Guilty" that you use in relation to a Govenment department?

Lost Nazi nuke-project uranium found in Dutch scrapyard

Nazi Nuclear

Did Eon buy up British Energy then?