* Posts by Andy 73

779 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Jul 2009

Europe completes first phase of silicon independence project

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Is this an EU or Europe thing ?

It's not an unreasonable comment given the last attempt at building a home-grown fab involved a billion pounds worth of subsidies and resulted in a fab that came on line just as chip prices collapsed. You don't hear about it much because it was never fully built out, never made a penny in it's original form and was almost immediately out dated.

It's ignorance to not be aware of the history, or to assume that the only reason we don't have a fab is because we haven't wished hard enough.

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Jingoistic nonsense

Global and interdependent, sure, but also pretty much a monoculture (ASML and TSMC). Given the relationship between China and Taiwan at the moment, being concerned over this very brittle industry structure is not jingoistic.

We have single points of failure that would have a profound effect on the world - this isn't just a question of whether AMD can produce enough mining rigs, but whether factories, automated production lines, transport and communications systems can be built and maintained.

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Is this an EU or Europe thing ?

"We probably aren't in there, processors don't work well when you put borders around your parts of the chip design and waste valuable silicon space decorating them with flags and royal insignia."

Comments like this are as prejudiced as the Daily Mail nonsense that prompts them.

As for this initiative, it's not clear how deliberate it is that the ability to design is being confused with the ability to manufacture. We (the West - Europe, UK and the US) are short on skills in both, with demand outstripping supply of people with relevant experience. It's relatively (in terms of industry scale) easy to increase the design skill base, but incredibly expensive and difficult to improve the manufacturing capability.

This isn't just the issue of the astronomical cost of a modern fab, but also the very limited number of people with the skillset to utilise it. Remember that Intel struggled with moving from 14nm for years. Unfortunately for many academic centres, the theory of design and manufacture is taught, whilst the practicalities are left to technicians or simply treated as a 'virtual' problem. In short, how are we teaching the next generation how to run a fab when we don't have a current generation with this knowledge?

The expectation has to be that after great strides in design, the second phase will see relatively small numbers of 'proof of concept' parts produced, with as much reliance on foreign fabs as we currently have.

£42k for a top-class software engineer? It's no wonder uni research teams can't recruit

Andy 73 Silver badge

Wait. what?

"A top class engineer probably started writing in FORTRAN"..

That'll be a very OLD top class engineer then. I know a lot of top class engineers who've never lived in a world where Java didn't exist, and that list is soon going to include an increasing number of developers who were born after C# was created.

If we're not even clear amongst ourselves what constitutes relevant experience, how are we meant to communicate it to scholars who've got no understanding of the field whatsoever?

Web3: The next generation of the web is here… apparently

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Forget technology

I think the question more accurately is what are the practical benefits of this miraculous new form of decentralisation, when web 1.0 already provided decentralisation?

As with Bitcoin, what can I do now (better, faster, cheaper) that I couldn't do before?

People are using "web 3.0 terms" as though they're bringing something new to the table - but smart contracts and decentralised platforms are meaningless unless there is a use case that end users actually value.

The dark equation of harm versus good means blockchain’s had its day

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Something will come of it one day

And? Will you now remortgage your house and put it all into bitcoin?

If not, then the 'value' of bitcoin for you is purely historical, and of no relevance to people looking at it right now?

If I won the lottery last week, that doesn't mean the lottery is suddenly a great place to invest your money.

Brit MPs blast Baroness Dido Harding's performance as head of NHS Test and Trace

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Share the blame

It's still the case that the existing bodies within the NHS did not "step up to the mark" and provide a coherent plan that could have been adopted by Harding and the other ringleaders.

If NHS X is duplicating functionality, then NHS Digital should have at least been able to make a case for their own capabilities and services. Whitehall and the NHS cannot hide behind the idea that thousands of capable workers were completely unable to present meaningful options just because a 'nasty lady' was at the helm.

Clearly the entire structure and organisation was poorly managed - but there should be some collective responsibility and an attempt to learn from this, rather than the usual revolving door attempt to place all blame on one person. As with so many other government IT project failures, this is a systemic problem that the civil service and professional services within the NHS are meant to be protecting against, not repeating endlessly.

Harding and NHS X have been a disaster, no question, but long after they have (hopefully) gone, there will still be a need to see rapid and effective projects delivered to order, and I don't see any desire to make changes within the service to help that happen.

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Share the blame

The NHS itself did not (as far as I'm aware) have a centre of excellence for developing public facing apps of this kind. Suggesting that it was an evil Tory plot to divert money to their mates rather misses out the long history of failure of government IT projects in general and NHS projects in particular.

No-one in the NHS was ready for this requirement, and external contractors and consultants were pretty much inevitable at that stage. That it was handled badly came as no surprise whatsoever, and whilst Harding deserves the harshest of criticism, it would be a failure to learn to suggest that no-one else in the NHS and Whitehall shared any responsibility for the cock-up.

RIP Sir Clive Sinclair: British home computer trailblazer dies aged 81

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Brought back memories

I saw him give a lecture about technology, where a cheeky student asked about the disaster of the C5.

His response? "I lost about seven million pounds of my own money on that, but there you go."

Many of us owe our careers to his early influence on the tech scene in the UK. Besides the technical leaps and wild experimentation, he also had a keen enthusiasm for design - Rick Dickinson (Sinclair) and Jony Ive (Apple) were both graduates of the same Design for Industry course in Newcastle.

Oracle sets its own JDK free, sort of, for a while

Andy 73 Silver badge

About turn

Oracle originally inherited Sun's approach to Java, then went hard on the attempt to commercialise it by not allowing "free" use of the JDK.

Unsurprisingly, given that there are solid alternatives, not only to Java itself, but also to Java running under the JDK, they've had to do an about turn and accept that demanding money with menaces doesn't make for good business.

Perhaps there's a lesson in there for them...

Horizon Workrooms promises a virtual future of teal despair

Andy 73 Silver badge

Someone asked...

"So, how do we get from here, to The Matrix?"

"I know!"

Tesla promises to build robot you could beat up – or beat in a race

Andy 73 Silver badge

That time of year...

When Musk makes vague promises about fantasy technology that will be delivered "very soon", and will completely transform the world..

Not sure he's kidding anyone these days apart from the most fanatical.

What is your greatest weakness? The definitive list of the many kinds of interviewer you will meet in Hell

Andy 73 Silver badge

Oh go on...

I travelled six hours (it would have been my daily commute - the recruiter refused to tell me where it was until I'd agreed to an interview, but did insist it was a "short journey" for me to do each day) to an interview. They asked if I wanted a drink. "Yes please"... so they returned shortly later with a plastic cup of water. I think my lack of enthusiasm shone through.

One company rejected me as "not being technical enough" - I'd asked a question about their shiny new product which they'd waved away and had decided that I didn't want the conflict of telling them they'd missed one of the reasons that sort of product was very hard to develop. It never did reach the market.

Another company interviewed me for role X, went through the entire process of agreeing a contract for role X, then a day before the job was due to start sent a revised contract with X crossed out. Same pay, promises of same work and role, just not on the paperwork. Foolishly I took it, and spent the next year regretting it.

After lockdown, quality of life is getting much higher priority, so if a recruiter offers a complicated interview process, I'll turn it down. Show me how I'm going to benefit from working for your company..

As Europe hopes to double its share of global chip production, Intel comes along with $20bn, plans for fabs

Andy 73 Silver badge

"But not Brexit Britain"

.. well of course not - they're after the 8bn subsidy, not giving a vote of confidence for the political leadership of the EU.

...who are in turn panicking over global supply chains. It looks like the new fabs will all come on line just about the time we go through the bust phase of the chip supply cycle.

Richard Branson uses two planes to make 170km round trip

Andy 73 Silver badge

Miserable and small minded

What a shameful article.

One of the reasons Bezos has had the success he has had, is that America celebrates and supports success of it's citizens - even the ones who (like Bezos) manipulate the tax system to reduce their outgoings to a bare minimum.

To read an article where there is an apparent need to do anything to 'take the piss' of a hard won achievement is quite frankly unpleasant.

Grow up.

Robots still suck. It's all they can do to stand up – never mind rise up

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Musk, are you listening?

I think you've missed the point that, with Autopilot Musk is selling everyone robots, with grand claims of their abilities for autonomous control.

Andy 73 Silver badge

Musk, are you listening?

Are you in there, Musk?

Microsoft: Behold, at some later date, the next generation of Windows

Andy 73 Silver badge

Poor Show, The Register

Satya does a whole presentation with a ZX80 sitting on the shelf behind him, and you didn't notice?

Watchdog 'enables Tesla Autopilot' with string, some weight, a seat belt ... and no actual human at the wheel

Andy 73 Silver badge

Defending Tesla

Fascinating to see people rushing to defend Tesla here, "Idiots will be idiots".

Yes that's true, but knowing that, perhaps it would be a good idea not to give known idiots the easy means to kill themselves and those around them, whilst claiming "This thing drives itself!" ?

The 40-Year-Old Version: ZX81's sleek plastic case shows no sign of middle-aged spread

Andy 73 Silver badge

Bluto - mysaterious expansion card

Close examination suggests the mysterious expansion card is the little known Sinclair WiFi Receiver.

Truly ahead of its time.

Amazon turns Victorian industrialist with $2bn building project to house workers near new headquarters

Andy 73 Silver badge

Quite in Favour

The Cadbury development dramatically improved worker's housing, and is still used as an example of progressive and socially aware architecture.

Given that there is a death spiral of housing costs and worker pay in high-tech communities in America, it seems quite a good idea to take the price of putting a roof over your head out of the equation. Optimistically, we could even see innovation in modern homes and communities.

Ultimately, though the article tries to paint this as an example of Victorian-style oppression, workers have a choice to go there or not. People willingly moved to the new developments like Cadburys (and ultimately formed major cities in the UK) because it was a damn sight better than living in a rural hovel.

And now for something completely different: A lightweight, fast browser that won't slurp your data

Andy 73 Silver badge

Good to see

Good to see this still evolving, and a refreshing change from the all-guns-blazing announcements from VC-backed dream factories.

Cabinet Office takes over control of UK government data: Mundane machinery or Machiavellian manoeuvrings?

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: You know you're in trouble..

Just replying to myself here.

Cadwalladr having to hand over £62,000+ for not being able to produce any evidence whatsoever for the Russian influence claims she made should be a deep embarrassment to those who fawned over her. Withdrawal of the defense of "truth" from her court case with Banks, despite so much support suggests that (to put it politely), she "made up" the stories that got her so much attention.

I'm sure this will add to my collection of thumbs down, but there you go.

Andy 73 Silver badge

You know you're in trouble..

..when Carole Cadwalladr is being sited as a news source. She is obsessed with conspiracy theories around the Referendum and the Tories.

The exodus continues: Less than half of contractors expect to stick with their employment set-up after IR35

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Reality is not agreeing

You may have to wait for HMRC to release any figures - it's not the done thing to set policy based on actual data. Instead, vague threats and faith based policies are to be pursued.

This should be a real embarrassment for our Government, right at the time where agile support for new businesses, SMEs and greenfield projects are most needed.

Why is IoT locked in 'proof-of-concept hell'? Stakeholders don't talk to each other, and return on investment is hazy

Andy 73 Silver badge

Hmph

If the benefit of some huge investment in IoT 'stuff' is so unclear, or so diffuse throughout a business that no-one can become passionate about it, then no-one is going to champion it.

Proof of concept usually limits itself to "is this technically possible?". The problem is "Is this adding sufficient value?" Until one (or possibly two) stakeholders can say "yes", then we have a Mexican standoff, with everyone waiting for someone else to pull the trigger.

Alternatively, if your IoT thing only becomes valuable once everyone has fully invested in it, then - short of the CEO becoming an evangelist overnight - no company will risk adopting it.

Immediate and localised reward is necessary. "What do I get for investing in this gadget for my department?"

UK privacy watchdog wraps up probe into Cambridge Analytica and... it was all a little bit overblown, no?

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: ICO is a Chocolate Teapot

I assume that means it didn't give the answer you wanted it to give?

Tech ambitions said to lie at heart of Britain’s bonkers crash-and-burn Brexit plan

Andy 73 Silver badge

Sigh

I can't see the point in trying to have a grown up conversation about how to improve innovation, research and business growth in the UK, when the mere mention of Brexit, Cummings or any current political party will bring all of the frothing loons out of the woodwork arguing that we can't/ won't/ shouldn't do whatever the other frothing loons insist we can/ will/ must do.

For what it's worth, if we are to replace initiatives like Horizon2020 and other research and innovation friendly schemes, we should do so with our local knowledge base, workforce and skill set in mind. On the whole I think such schemes are good, if rather heavy on procedure and documentation.

Equally, Cummings is a big fan of the idea of a UK equivalent of DARPA, funding 'moon shot' projects and encouraging emerging technologies. Again, I don't think it's a bad idea.

As a country, for various reasons, we are not very good at risk, early business growth and long term market ownership. However, we've got some very smart guys who drive real innovation and deliver engineering excellence that brings the whole world to our doorstep. That suggests that we should think carefully how we handle funding and finance.

Not going to happen though, because the political infighters will be too busy ripping each others' heads off.

Bill Gates debunks 'coronavirus vaccine is my 5G mind control microchip implant' conspiracy theory

Andy 73 Silver badge

Editor!!!

Can someone with a good grasp of English go over this article and sort it out please?

All-electric plane makes first flight – while lugging 2 tons of batteries aloft

Andy 73 Silver badge

Not really new..

Yuneec (which at the time was 50% British owned) developed the E430 Commercial 2 seater aircraft eleven years ago. It won various awards but was sadly not developed further.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuneec_International_E430

Author of infamous Google diversity manifesto drops lawsuit against web giant

Andy 73 Silver badge

Hmmmm

In the rush to demonise him, a small portion of the internet are only serving to bolster cases like his.

Yes, of course his memo was supremely badly judged, sexist and all the rest - but the reaction to it shows all the characteristics of a purity spiral (go look it up). He's gone from being a socially maladjusted geek (hardly rare in this industry) to being a fascist sympathiser in just a handful of comments.

Ex-Imagination Technologies boss tells UK Foreign Affairs Committee: Britain needs to stop overseas asset stripping

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: And who will pay ?

Companies don't *have* to be sold.

Andy 73 Silver badge

Security and stability

The recent pandemic has been a timely reminder that, even ignoring security, the last couple of decades' rush to globalisation has resulted in chains of production and ownership that are highly dependent on a status quo.

We saw this sudden awareness of structural risk emerge from the 2008 financial crisis - but didn't extend that awareness to physical production and intellectual property. We should be clear that the financial benefit of handing production and ownership offshore can result in structural risk and a long term weakening of our ability to compete, produce and innovate.

I'm doing this to stop humans ripping off brilliant ideas by computers and aliens, says guy unsuccessfully filing patents 'invented' by his AI

Andy 73 Silver badge

Lawyers will currently be pulling up their sleeves...

...they just need to convince USPTO to accept machine generated patent applications, write some dumb-ass software to mash together every word and phrase in the USPTO database, and hey presto, everything that could every be invented will be patented in one fell swoop.

"And pray that we find intelligent life in space/because there's bugger all down here on earth"

IBM Watson GPU cloud cluster Brexits from London to Frankfurt – because GDPR

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Genuinely...

Fascinated by the down votes on that first post. How many years have we been banging on about the infrastructure and processes needed to do stuff in the cloud?

Saying that we should be ready and able to do this by now, even for large systems, should not be controversial.

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Genuinely...

"Perhaps it's a lack of imagination on your part if you can't envision a scenario where complex long-running operations on petabytes of data might be tricky to move."

Been there, done that - nine petabytes of data moved. Sure, it wasn't a standard deployment cycle, but it was a thing we were prepared and able to do.

But note that the article specifically said "Customers do not need to move their data".

I can (and do) imagine far worse problems!

Andy 73 Silver badge

Genuinely...

...if moving from one server to another is difficult for you in this day and age, you might need to think about your software practises.

Internet Archive opens National Emergency Library with unlimited lending of 1.4m books for stuck-at-home netizens amid virus pandemic

Andy 73 Silver badge

Current copyright terms ignored... the world keeps turning

It won't happen, but just imagine we take a dispassionate look at the amount of 'damage' done by making these books available, compared to the number of authors actually significantly affected by the decision.

It's timely that Tom Scott has done an excellent piece on copyright on YouTube, arguing for shorter terms for copyright so that society as a whole might benefit without materially affecting more than a handful of creators (the very, very rare exceptions who still benefit materially from their work over fifty years after they publish).

Unfortunately, a balanced call for moderation in these matters is drowned out by corporates who benefit from endless extension, and freeloaders who want to pretend that any copyright at all is unfair on consumers. Still, it's a nice experiment...

That upgrade from Java 8 to 11 you've been putting off? UK fintech types at Revolut 'quite happy' after a year in production

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: "Software gets new features"

Rather misunderstanding the longevity and consistency of Java, there.

This is a language and VM that has been around for nearly twenty four years, with remarkably little breakage. Libraries and the core VM have been compatible for the majority of that time, with breaking changes only occurring when the current 'state of the art' has advanced so much that the old way of doing it can no longer be supported.

It speaks volumes that they were willing to upgrade everything - if breakage was a serious concern, it would have been easy to keeps parts of the system wrapped in containers running older VMs.

If you're writing code in Python, JavaScript, Java and PHP, relax. The hot trendy languages are still miles behind, this survey says

Andy 73 Silver badge

C9 RET

Burned into my memory

Brexit Britain changes its mind, says non, nein, no to Europe's unified patent court – potentially sealing its fate

Andy 73 Silver badge

Brexit Filter

I'm a little confused. After years of critical reporting of the mess going on at the EPO, and the lengthy delays over UPC, suddenly El Reg has decided it's the best idea evah, and killing it is an ideological choice?

Surprise! Plans for a Brexit version of the EU's Galileo have been delayed

Andy 73 Silver badge
Joke

Re: Shame we aren’t in Galileo?

Comrade, you're not allowed to criticise the EU. This is the comments section for people who want to savour the schadenfreude of Brexit not being a time of unicorns and cake.

Please report to the centre for reconditioning, and in the mean time remember to state that the UK is incapable of delivering anything, or achieving anything without help from people bigger and smarter than us.

Drones must be constantly connected to the internet to give Feds real-time location data – new US govt proposal

Andy 73 Silver badge

Hmmm..

Not only would FAA regulation require your car to stop driving if you got too close to Buckingham Palace, Heathrow or any other sensitive site (including the hundreds of grass airstrips throughout the countryside) in the UK, but it would also be a legal requirement that any existing car must be retrofitted with the tech, or removed from the roads.

In addition, you wouldn't be able to race your cars (not permitted) or drive them off roads, or build go-karts.

And, before you drove anywhere, you'd have to file a request to drive with the DVLA.

And, all of your journeys would be publicly available for people to examine.

Review of IR35 is in: Quelle surprise, UK.gov will forge ahead with controversial tax reforms in the private sector

Andy 73 Silver badge

Shameful

Not only tin-eared, but apparently divorced from reality.

Don't worry, IT contractors. New UK chancellor says HMRC will be gentle pushing IR35 rules

Andy 73 Silver badge

..for the first year...

Don't worry about the punishment beatings, they're going to be gentle for the first year.

Yes, that's apparently a reassuring phrase that should settle the matter. Back in your hole, contractor scum!

I hope the government learns it can't just take instruction from the large firms when it comes to economic policy.

UK contractors planning 'mass exodus' ahead of IR35 tax clampdown – survey

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Anonymous Contractor

These articles are like a dog whistle for people with chips on their shoulders about someone else's income.

Oi! You got a loicence for that Java, mate? More devs turn to OpenJDK to swerve Oracle fee

Andy 73 Silver badge

Re: Oracle drives non-java uptake

Very true, but then you get efforts like Flutter and slowly the libs get replaced as well. Again, if Spring provide top level support, then the reasons to stick with Java are eroded.

It's hard to overstate the value of the Java libs - you can get Java to do just about anything thanks to the vast, well supported and consistent APIs they provide. But... nothing is forever and there is always an incentive to build a 'free(er)' version if there is someone attempting to gate-keep.

Andy 73 Silver badge

Oracle drives non-java uptake

Of course, money from an existing resource is 'free', so it doesn't matter if that resource is decimated in the process. No incentive for Oracle not to squeeze the pips for juice.

In the mean time, we start with languages that compile to JVM, but aren't Java. Then we get a VM that isn't Java and the whole world moves away from Oracle. Kotlin, Dart and all the others are the bridge away from Java, and if something like Spring suddenly starts to support those other languages, devs will be happy to move.

EU tells UK: Cut the BS, sign here, and you can have access to Galileo sat's secure service

Andy 73 Silver badge

Wow, strong filter there...

A whole article about what the author believes in. Disappointing, but I guess it plays to the peanut gallery.

Sir John Redwood backs IR35 campaign, notes review would have to start 'immediately' before new off-payroll working rules kick in

Andy 73 Silver badge

What a surprise. This sort of comment crops up whenever IR35 or contractor rates are mentioned.

If, as a permanent employee you are earning half that of the contractor next to you, you should ask why that is the case. No-one is forcing your company to engage that person, and no-one is forcing you to stay as a permanent employee.

Don't underestimate the 'disguised cost' you place on your company - all those benefits, employee rights and cost of an inflexible workforce add up.

Given HMRC's antagonism towards contractors over the last few years, I've taken the path to permanent employment. I'm paid less, pay less tax and offer much less flexibility to my employer - but I don't have to jump through hoops to prove I have a right to exist and I have more stability in my life. No need to complain about the guy sitting next to me - if they earn more than me, perhaps it's because they're worth it to the boss.