Posts by Wayland Sothcott 1

Brazil makes it official: Gov email must be state-run and on-premises

Pretty much what I do

When I come across people using Google for their mail I try to get them off it onto an in house Linux server. One day they will thank me but at the moment I get them saying that gmail is so much nicer than Thunderbird.

FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS: Microsoft faces prising XP from Big Biz

Re: Or

You have a good point about office if you and your business associates are working on complex documents. However for sending each other the odd invoice or spreadsheet to look at then one side on Open Office and one of MS Office is fine. There are pretty similar problems with different versions of MS Office as there are to Open Office.

As long as we have XP and Windows 7 then Linux on the desktop is not a huge advantage. It's a different story with servers.

Gasp! Facebook's hardware king joins board of ARM server biz Calxeda

Re: Is ARM slower than x86?

As you say currently ARM is aimed at low power applications. This makes it a good choice for keeping infrequently used data online cheaply. The Intel and AMD PC and server chips are designed for high demand. I reckon servers based on low power chips will be popular in the home market too.

The thing about servers when compared to Windows PCs is they just have to follow some well known protocols so you can use Linux. This means you can use any chip you like if it runs Linux. The Windows PC has to be Intel architecture. This is the biggest market for powerful CPUs.

If Android based PCs take off then the ARM chip may well become the most powerful CPU.

ISPs: Relax. Blocking porn online won't really work

Re: Some highlights from that Cameron speec h.

There you have it:

"And today I can announce we will be legislating so that videos streamed online in the UK

are subject to the same rules as those sold in shops.

Put simply – what you can’t get in a shop, you will no longer be able to get online."

There are some excellent videos on YouTube about government corruption etc which would not get approval to be sold in a shop. Imagine going through the approval process every time you want to use a webcam.

Clearly this can't happen but Dave says they are doing it.

Re: I am starting to worry

IPv6 will allow different parts of your body to be identified on the Internet.

Re: So by "active choice" call-me-Dave meant *his* choice to opt everyone *in* by default.

It's not important who gets elected since they are all into politics so are all corrupt liars. You would be voting for a corrupt liar. Changing the system simply means different corrupt liars get more of an opportunity.

Re: What is this issue really about--- blocking smut or harvesting control....?

That's probably the most astute post here.

We know it won't be much good at blocking things people seek but it will be very effective at censuring alternative news sites and getting sites like YouTube to self censure. If you don't know what you are looking for you are unlikely to stumble upon it if it's hidden.

The gov tried to leverage PHORM to do their dirty work but we stopped that (I think). This is another attempt and won't be the only thing.

Re: I thought about filtering

Yeah what is stopping you? Personally if I thought that the law was stopping you commit murder I would come and kill you myself just to be on the safe side.

Re: I thought about filtering

That's nonsense. You are writing off quotes you say are good because you don't like the people making them.

Virtual currency speculators shut down cloud

Speculation not scam

It seems a new coin pops up ever week. I am on Digital Coin which is doing well since it's launch last month. Mining takes a while and I have not accumulated enough money to spend it on anything, £17 so far using a Radeon graphics card. I think it's a bit rude to use DigitalOcean's generous promotional offer in this way but then they left themselves open to this by selling cycles too cheap. BitCoin and LiteCoin are the established currencies and the rest are just getting in on a good thing. Whilst there is a large pool of CPU power behind a coin and whilst people hold the coin then it's position is secure. BitCoin probably has fewer devices mining since the faster ASIC miners mean there is no point in using a PC to mine. The PCs have moved to LiteCoin. I am a few pence short of receiving a payment from my BitCoin mining pool so I am stuck with having to mine that if I want a return on investment. Our pool has not found a coin in a week.

Microsoft: Still using Office installed on a PC? Gosh, you squares

Re: subtle marketing here?

Clear skies are gov policy at the moment. First stop the chemtrails then ground the planes.

Quantum: You know how EVERYONE's moved to the cloud? Yep... us too.

Mainframe

The Cloud is another name for the Mainframe computers of the olden days which were replaced by personal computers. People are siting some very good business reasons or should I say money saving and laziness for letting someone else handle your valuables. Putting you data in an online account is like putting your money in the bank. It makes it more convenient for the thieves.

Fitbit Flex wristband: What to wear out when wearing yourself out

Re: What a worthless toy.

Put the pasty down you fat bastard is excellent advice. The pasty contains wheat which makes many people tired and lazy. It contains fat and two types of carbs but not many vegetables.

It would be better to eat a kebab but with no chips and don't eat the bread. That way you get protein and fresh veg but no carbs.

I am astonished that it took a team of people to get you into shape. I have this image of the F1 team monitoring your stats on screens and communicating with you via an implant in your eyeball.

AMD joins LibreOffice, adds GPU grunt to free software suite

Re: OK, what does this mean in practice...

The GPU is very good as doing calculations. It's not limited to shoving pixels about, in fact it does not need to do any graphics at all. You can fit two cards to a computer and using SLI use them as a single resource.

The cleaver part is the OpenCL (yes CL not GL) language that AMD Radeon cards have when using the ATI Catalyst suit. They have added this feature to Photoshop 6 which massively speeds up some of the fancy filters.

I expect it will be similar to Photoshop where the GPU is detected but you can go into settings and turn it off to try comparisons.

You will need a AMD Radeon card of at least 4000 series and the current Catalyst suit to get the OpenCL working. Nvidia will probably get in on the act with their CUDA language.

It's worth doing because a GPU is about 200 times faster at sums than a CPU.

Re: Another nail in the MS Office Coffin...

MS Access allows sophisticated business applications to be developed quickly and easily. Admittedly it's not as easy to use as Excel but it does more and is by far the easiest way to develop a powerful database application. I emphasize ease and power, clearly there are more powerful tools like raw SQL and C++.

The fact is that LibraOffice has nothing for this so does not replace MS Office in all cases.

Windows 8.1: Here at last, but is it good enough?

Re: Back to 1990 anyone?

You are assuming that the failings in Windows 8 are because the very smart people in the worlds largest and most successful software company have got simple things wrong. That seems like an irrational conclusion.

Is it not more logical that they are actually trying to do something very difficult and unpopular and we are suffering the consequences?

I suggest that they are actually attempting to make computers both simpler to use and more limited. The problems we have with Windows 8 are the same problems we would have trying to input spreadsheet data into an etch-a-sketch. It's not for that.

Microsoft altered MS Office in 2007 making it much closer to the Office 360 on the web. Anyone wanting to do cleaver stuff now has to hunt for the hidden options. They did the same with Outlook Express, at it's peak that was a very competent and standards complaint email client handling multiple accounts and IMAP etc. By the time we reach Windows 7 it's faded into something almost useless for people migrating from Outlook Express.

There are a growing number of examples of Microsoft doing this and I read here that Apple are doing similar things.

Linux should have taken over when Vista came out but instead they decided to mess up the GUI almost as badly as Win 8 does.

Re: Way too little, way to late... their base of loyal customers has already jumped ship.

Excellent post. I often think that the effect of something is it's intended purpose. It may be hard for us to grasp that they are trying to make computers less capable but that seems to be it.

Putting the Start button back when what was really wanted was the Win 7 interface shows that they want computers to be less powerful. Obviously the smart people will find ways around this but the ordinary folk who we support will be in dumbed down land by default.

Re: In short.. (again)

I would love Linux on the desktop but there is always something that must be done in Windows.

The future is what we make it, and what is dictated to willing victims if you don't participate.

6 second boot up and long battery life is what the ARM cpu is for and Windows RT fits that. The PC was never built that way, a laptop is a miniature PC where as an ARM tablet is not in any way a PC.

MS Office is a cumbersome bit of old bloatware which is very useful. What is really required is a new design for business documents on a computer system. A sort of SQL or XML or HTML definition allowing a single document to contain all aspects of business documents. It needs to be an open standard and the program needs to be lightweight enough to run on Tablet computers.

Windows can then be the desktop OS for running all the old stuff as well as the new stuff. MS Office and Open Office etc can fade away and we can do business using the new open standard office document.

This almost happened with OpenDoc but MS bought the vote so that they could get another 10 years out of MS Office.

Re: missing the point

I would imagine it's possible for one of the Windows builders who make ISO disks for Pirate Bay to put together a disk which contains the best of everything with the crap ripped out. I am using Windows 2003 eXperience as my OS. It's a special desktop version of Windows 2003 Server, it's lighter and faster than XP and modern enough to run all the Windows stuff that I could not run on Linux.

The main problem is that they insist on selling new computers with Windows 8 installed. This means your average new computer will be crippled with Windows 8.

Re: Upsell

Windows 8 seems like all the bad things of Apple with none of the good things from Windows or Apple.

Home Office launches £4m cyber security awareness scheme

Re: @Martijn Otto @Khaptain

It frightens me how easy it is to tell people lies. More frightening is that it's harder to get people to believe the truth.

Pink Floyd blasts Pandora for 'tricking' artists with petition

Re: Music was the Greatest Bubble ever...

Exactly. It was mass media which created the super stars. Basically mass-production of a quality product brings in huge profits for those near the top of the pyramid and a good living for those flogging the disks in the shops. Anyone who is not a superstar gets almost nothing.

I believe there is a cultural shift but it's a constant battle. The mass producers will always be able to produce high quality on a mass scale and run the small producers out of town. The small producers keep innovating faster than the big boys can keep up.

Re: Would the Floyd gentlemen then also consider...

It's not illegal to rip your own CDs. It's illegal to distribute what you have ripped. When they write 'not for re-sale' or 'not transferable' that's not the law, that's an agreement they are asking you to follow.

NSA PRISM deepthroat VANISHES as pole-dance lover cries into keyboard

Re: without releasing any data that could harm someone.

A group plotting something illegal would secure their communications. A group forming and discussing ideas which although not illegal could lead to plotting something is who they are looking out for. This means watching everyone even though nothing illegal will be discussed openly. That's the problem, watching everyone as if they are up to no good.

Think your IT department's parochial? Try selling to SMEs

Central server

If what you need is a single server then trying to use two to do the job of one is a complexity in itself. Also two machines doubles your chance of a breakdown even if the functionality remains. Without someone to notice that you are only running on one machine you are no better off. Providing the system is good enough for the job it's more down to the companies response to a breakdown that matters.

How Microsoft shattered Gnome's unity with Windows 95

Re: I'm not sure Microsoft *has* won.

It does seem that Microsoft has thrown power users under the bus. I can't get on with Win8 and my stepfather gave his new laptop to my son and getting an Android machine instead. I still wonder if I just need more time to get good at Windows 8. You say they have done this deliberately but for what purpose?

When Labour appointed the wrong Milliband bro I saw parallels with Microsoft and Windows Vista and again with Win8. Some sort of deliberate concession to your competitors.

Re: I'm not sure Microsoft *has* won.

Like most people I using various computing platforms. Certainly the smartphone is the most available since you don't need a desk or even a lap. However if you want to do some serious sit down work then you want a big desk and a big screen or screens, a proper keyboard and mouse or something even better and loads of computer power and storage and a decent printer. There will always be an advantage in having a better tool for the job than your competitors. If you can sit down to do the job then sit in front of the most powerful machine you can afford, not some dinky hand held.

Re: To be fair to MS...

I don't see that Linux has to be number one. It's actually doing very well because of all the variety. However cloning stuff from Microsoft is simply following a company who makes good popular software. It's not innovating and producing something better. Honestly by now there should be one document format that can be worked on by one application which combines all the features of MS Office. Linux is not going to produce this first whilst it's Office is a copy of MS Office.

The Tomorrow People jaunt back to the airwaves

Re: That awesome Tomorrow People theme

I just watched Children Of The Stones. It's excellent. The pace is such that you can really enjoy the spooky atmosphere.

Re: Is anyone writing anything new in the entertainment world?

You have the escape from the garden of eden theme with The Island, Logans Run and many others.

You have all the Super Heroes as Orphans; Spiderman, Superman, Iron Man, Harry Potter.

You have the Woman In Red (or red hair) theme in Iron Man, Alice In Wonderland and loads of others.

The hero with a gammy leg, I used to be good at naming these until I took an arrow to the knee.

Look out for these themes in movies.

The bunker at the end of the world - in Essex

WISP - Wireless Internet Service Provider

The tower is now used by two wireless broadband companies, Skyline and County Broadband. From that height they get vast coverage, far more than your average BT Home Hub, but they put out about the same power.

Marks & Sparks accused of silently bonking punters over the tills

Re: another way to fix the contactless card?

So the chip 'n' pin gets fried also so the card is useless in shops.

Re: it isn't radio waves

It has radio frequency and it's magnetic. So a tiny step away from being a radiowave. It sounds to me as if radio equipment could be used to extend the range.

Astonishing stupidity

With all this chip 'n' pin song and dance when it was introduced to keep us safe how can they justify a system which bills your card by radiowaves? It's the easiest thing in radio to improve a signal so it goes 10 times further. Someone in a disused office above the highstreet could have all sorts of gear set up to skim the cards. And people worry about the security of Bitcoin.

Re: Thought this might happen...

If you are not wary of Romanians or other eastern Europeans then you are a fool.

If you allow your hip and trendy "I'm not a racist, I randomly kiss Albanians at Bus Stops" brainwashing to influence your actions not just your words then you will get pick pocketed or card skimmed or all sorts of different scams by dubious people.

It! Started! With! A! GIF!... Yahoo! Actually! Buys! Tumblr! for! $1bn!

Re: Lame! Yahoo! Headlines!

It's! Even! Funnier! Now! Someone! Is! Annoyed! By! It!

Re: Lame! Yahoo! Headlines!

You! Mean! Can? we? please? stop? with? this? joke? Surely!

Old hat

My daughter talked to me about Tumblr as if everybody knew what it was.

UK.gov blows a fuse at smart meter stall, sets new 2020 deadline

Re: @JDX

The price of things has to rise and we have to use less of the world dwindling resources. However on the other hand money is tight and we have to extend the existing ways of making money. That means making things that don't last as long so that more dwindling resources can be dug out of the ground.

So cunningly we claim we are doing it to Save the Earth whilst making the problem worse. This will drive up demand to 'Save the Earth' further increasing profits and making things worse.

It's gotta be the shape shifting lizards trying to destroy the earth.

The IT Crowd returns to Channel 4 for a final episode

Re: That line.

It's the very repetition that makes it funny. It's the fact that we all know most IT problems can be solved by turning it off and on when IT is supposed to be fantastically complicated. It was hilarious when they had a large reel to reel tape machine answering the phone and suggesting the user turned it off and on again and phone back in 10 minutes if that did not fix the problem.

'Liberator': Proof that you can't make a working gun in a 3D printer

It is a gun

Ok the ZX81 was a computer. People did amazing things with it. Now people are doing amazing things with the Raspberry PI. People will do amazing things with 3D printers but I expect they will also buy lathes and milling machines. A whole cottage or garage industry will spring up where people are doing big things in a small way. The Internet is like this too. Everything the Internet is made of you can do on a small scale yourself. The government is losing it's ability to tell people what to do.

PayPal security boss: OBLITERATE passwords from THE PLANET

Re: Fingerprints and Retina scans are fine.

Did you see the trouble that Tom Cruse had in Minority Report when he wanted to change is retina. If someone starts logging in using your retina you are going to need surgery to reset the security.

'Hotmail, since you changed to Outlook, you've been a massive pr**k'

Googles delete button for the Internet

That's funny coming from Google. Anonymity is what children should be using. When I started online people always used a nick. That way you could create some distance. If people post in their own name then ofcourse it will follow them. Google has been trying to get people out of the habbit of using their nick and to use their own name for some time now. YouTube constantly nags me to use my name.

YouTube channels at $1.99 per month could launch this week

Re: Unfortunately...

Presumably you have checked to see if there are any Wireless Broadband providers (WISP) in your area?

These small companies can provide very fast low latency service (better than ADSL in most cases) and plenty of bandwidth to watch video. If You don't have such a company then start one. If you do and that's what you are complaining about then help them upgrade, faster gear is available now.

Re: I'm rather looking forward to this

Not seen any YouTube ads? That's amazing. On a standard PC browser they make you watch about 20 seconds of adverts before you can skip to the video. Chome blocks this?

Apple to end support for original iPhone: report

Re: A few points

A PC is easy to upgrade. Even a Laptop can have more RAM and more HD. Windows XP will run on some computers made before 2001 all the way up to current computers and probably a bit further.

A PC will run Linux and that will run on any computer from 1990 to forever. There are many single board embedded computers based on the 386 CPU which run Linux and probably Windows 98.

The Android ought to be a device that we can treat like a PC and just keep hacking. You can't expect an Apple to be like that.

Re: Neither XP nor iPhone changed the world

MS Windows changed the world back in 1989, Windows XP is just an improvement.

The iPhone changed the world but the iPhone 4 or 5 or whatever is just an improvement.

UK faces hacking doom, but think of the money, security startups!

Re: Behind Firewalls is akin to living in the Jail System ......

The Man From Mars is back. The firewall must be very sophisticated if it could tell that this grammatically correct email is gibberish. But then how would government be able to send emails through this firewall?

World's first petaflops super dumped on scrap heap

Bitcoin mining

It ought to be good at Bitcoin mining. As long as it does not use too much power.