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Patrick Seurre, the Petition Creator, joined by:
Lewis Page
Looks like it takes as long to update, as the moderatrix takes to approve these......
31 publicly visible posts • joined 9 May 2007
While not working in uk.gov, on my desk here I have a client desktop for access to their systems, my work laptop for access to my employers systems, and a netbook I use for personal stuff and network testing. Knowing how many systems and suppliers have been in and out of uk.gov, I'd be surprised if a significant number of staff didn't have 2 or 3 PC's. just to get into diverse systems!
'Personally if you havent tried it (and by try I do mean run it on a system that isnt the bare minimum for running it) then before you continue to knock it you should.'
Couldn't agree more with this - I just had to purchase a new laptop and managed to get an employee deal for a HP. They shipped this with Vista Home Premium 64 (as the Laptop has 4gb of ram) and thus far I have been impressed with how stable it is.I was expecting loads of compatibility issues with my games etc but so far everything has worked......
However, I have older hardware that I wouldn't let Vista near with a barge pole as XP SP3 is stable and supports everything I need (mainly for internet broadcasting). It's a case of working out what is 'fit for purpose' for your INDIVIDUAL needs.
Working with kids in general is nowadays. I spent 7 years as an IT manager in a school, during that time 2 Heads of IT got suspended due to allegations by kids, all later proven innocent but lead to them leaving.
Needless to say, I don't intend on going back into education IT in case it happens to me, I took a pay cut and went to work for a telecoms company instead, well away from kids and vulnerable persons - still had to have a disclosure done tho! Madness!
I remember using it as a student with Compuserve and running a copy of Dr Solomons Anti virus, back when it used to check for a whole 6000 viruses!
Also remember Win 3.0 on the schools RM network, which had OS/2 on the server and a couple of old 186? PC's running Windows 1!
Those were the days...
But... aren't the BBC *the* production company concerned, or don't they own the rights to their own programs?
No, they also buy in programs internationally which obviously the producers want guarantees will be protected as well as from independents in the UK as previously mentioned.
However, I think that it's a fair point that it should be opened up as much as possible, 2 years for a MAC or Linux client seems extreme......
Maybe this is the rare occasion where big corporates can learn from Public/Government organisations. I was working for a UK.gov facility about 10 years ago, and they deliberately failed over to their backup generators once a fortnight for approx 20 minutes to ensure everything worked properly.
If the DC has a proper setup, I see no reason why they couldn't failover a small section to UPS/Generator backup once every month or two to check all is in order.........rotate through every section over the course of a day/week maybe
I'd actually move to Virgin if they would cable my road! If I was to move 0.2 of a mile, I could get Virgin's services - It's about time they made some more investment rather than just milking exisiting customers I think. Half the work is already done for them, when the new houses in my area were built in 2000, the relevant ducting & accesses were laid for them - they just need the fibre to be dumped in, and a couple of cabinets of equipment installed! I know that's still not cheap - but to access an extra 100+ customers, possibly paying £30+ a month, must be worthwhile long term surely?