Posts by Dave 3

VMware desktop virt refresh lets you run Windows 8 everywhere

Virtual networks for macs too

VMWare Fusion Pro also now lets you create virtual networks, between virtual machines.

http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop_virtualization/fusion/professional.html#professionals

Storing punters' till receipts? UK.gov wants you to hand it over

Re: might have some benefits

Or relocate to a different jurisdiction.

Watch Smarter: video guide to... SSD installation

i want one

What make of caddy is that?

Apple MacBook Pro 13in

Re: but still only just managed 30fps when running Far Cry 2

Pretty flipping good, as it happens.

http://www.realworldtech.com/ivy-bridge-gpu/

Re: hold your wallets until october :)

In my case (2006 MacBook) the non-clicking trackpad button was due to a swollen battery.

UK.gov proposes massive copyright land snatch

This sounds an awful lot like Readability's business model.

http://www.readability.com/publishers/faq

Brit global warming skeptics now outnumber believers

Re: The question should really be

"A US government-funded survey has found that Americans with higher levels of scientific and mathematical knowledge are more sceptical regarding the dangers of climate change than their more poorly educated fellow citizens."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/29/science_and_maths_knowledge_makes_you_sceptical/

Python wraps its coils around the enterprise

Tiobe

Tiobe has:

1. C

2. Java

3. C++

4. Objective C

5. C#

6. Visual Basic

7. PHP

8. Python

9. Perl

10. Ruby

11. Javascript

http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

Britain's Harrier jump-jets reprieved to fly and fight again

Tish!

The Falklands is not defenceless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_Falkland_Islands

DfE probed over Gmail use for official business

Whether or not they use conservatives.com email addresses is up to them.

The point is, they should not be using .gov.uk addresses for this stuff, so they didn't.

Wrong.

These were not government business. These emails were all party political, so they should not be using state email/resources.

http://order-order.com/2011/09/20/gove-mail-g-mail/

FT hack playing party politics.

UK Channel insolvency rates soar to nine-year high

You tell 'em.

The Adam Smith Institute have a 'tax freedom day' every year. This year tax freedom day was May 30th.

"the first day of the calendar year that Britons stop working for the state and start working for themselves. This year, we've worked for a full 5 months this year to pay their taxes, with every penny earned in the UK between January 1 and May 29 taken by the taxman to support government expenditure."

http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/tax-and-economy/tax-freedom-day-2011/

Cuts? What cuts?

What 'harsh' public spending cuts are these? Gov't spending has been going up, not down.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/7042223/the-myth-of-cuts.thtml

Google open source guru: 'Why we ban the AGPL'

Not just users

I believe Google have contributed code to MySql, Linux, and Webkit. I think the Camino lead is a googler too, Camino being his "20% project".

Your census data will be kept secret - except from MI5, police, courts etc

yew

Yes, you can face a fine of £1000. That said, they can't fine everyone.

"Under the 1920 Census Act, citizens can be be cautioned under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and fined £1,000 for failing to answer questions.

However the powers have not been properly enforced previously. In 2001 just 38 people were fined for not filling in their forms."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7043822/Households-face-1000-fines-from-officials-with-police-powers-if-they-refuse-to-fill-in-their-census-forms.html

RUSTOCK TAKEDOWN: How the world's worst botnet was KO'd

Defaults to update

I think the default is to have automatic updates enabled now. So that should change the numbers.

Ellison drops iceberg in front of HP's unsinkable Itanic

Linux ++

Surely x86 will be seen as the safe bet?

UK biz prejudiced against public sector staff

Public sector productivity gets worse over time

"I left the public sector I was thinking how lean the private sector would - its not and appears to be no better than the public sector "

That observation doesn't seem to match the facts:

"According to the ONS, public sector productivity fell by 3.4% in the 10 years from 1997 — compared with a rise of 28% in the private sector over the same period."

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/public_sector/article6974029.ece

How about the office of national statistics?

The Taxpayers' Alliance used public data sources, you're free to check them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7036131/Record-gap-between-public-and-private-sector-pay.html

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/public_sector/article6974029.ece

No

This country has been brought to it's knees by the previous government overspending for the past decade. The bankers just provided the tax revenue.

Over the same period the Australian government paid down their national debt.

Public sector is not underpaid

IT may well be a separate case, but on the whole, public sector workers are not paid less than private sector workers. If anything, they're paid more.

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/economics/2009/02/response-to-polly-toynbee.html

Those govt cuts - slasher horror or history-changing brilliance?

que?

You seem to be suggesting that civil servants are unemployable, and that civil servants' pay is comparable to unemployment benefit. I think you're wrong on both counts.

Amazon customer purchases protected by US Constitution

tax competition

This puts pressure on the states to keep their sales taxes competitive, so that their resident businesses aren't at an insurmountable disadvantage from businesses in a low sales tax environment.

Cameron cocks up UK's defences - and betrays Afghan troops

NHS efficient? Tosh.

"...according to recent research at the OECD, despite Labour's spending splurge, Britain still has the 8th worst record for preventable deaths among all its members - right down there with Mexico, Poland, and the Czech Republic. And we have the 7th highest potential for efficiency gains in our healthcare system - ie the potential for improving health outcomes without spending any more money. "

http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/2010/07/dr-croesus-i-presume.html

Bonfire of the quangos begins

but but but

Yes, but the point of a 'bonfire of the quangos' is to make those exercising the power of the State, accountable to the voters.

http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2010/07/David_Cameron_We_will_make_government_accountable_to_the_people.aspx

Check your sums

If unemployment benefit is not substantially lower than quango wages, there is something very wrong with the level of unemployment benfit.

Appro overclocks HF1 server for hedge funds

shotgun

They're probably doing everything they can think of. This article is just about the server.

Margaret Thatcher celebrates 85 years

!Cheap

The BBC subsidy is £3+ billion a year.

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1699914&cid=32714214

Public sector earning more than private, but less than last month

Not so

That line's been tried before.

"That isn't the case. To the contrary, the public and private sectors have a remarkably similar distribution of earnings apart from the private sector catching up among the very highest ten per cent of earners. In every decile public sector staff earn more except at the very highest where compensation is roughly the same."

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/research/2009/02/response-to-polly-toynbee.html

NHS spunks £7.5k on porn room

Not like the NAO

The National Audit Office is a statutory body, it reports to parliament.

http://www.nao.org.uk/about_us.aspx

The Taxpayers' Alliance is a think tank.

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/

Why IVF on the NHS?

I don't see why IVF is provided by the NHS. I don't think it's something taxpayers should have to stump up for.

Sieze the day!

"They've never canvassed my opinion, or invited me to join."

Chin up poppet. I'm sure they'll let you join if you ask nicely.

http://www.mainhighway.com/tpa/join/join.php

Directgov gets Cabinet Office overlords

How many users?

Hits is a very vague metric.

How many actual users does that "20 million hits translate" to? I suspect its just 10,000 -ish.

Government delays ContactPoint closure

running costs

Wikipedia lists the runnings costs as £41 million pa. Why keep throwing good money, after bad?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ContactPoint

Microsoft bares Steve Jobs' Flash rant claptrap

nah

Last time I checked, the most popular (UK) accounts packages were MS Windows only, so I very much doubt that Macs are becoming more popular with small businesses.

Council staff helping selves to data

not so

Public sector employees are paid more than private sector employees, "In every decile public sector staff earn more except at the very highest where compensation is roughly the same."

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/research/2010/02/public-and-private-sector-pay.html

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/research/2009/02/response-to-polly-toynbee.html

Gadget tax needed 'to save US newspapers'

Bang on!

From Guido Fawkes:

"Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger got by on a total compensation package of a mere £544000 up from £473,000 last year [2007]. A 15% increase as a reward for losing £26.4 million – no belt tightening for him."

http://order-order.com/2008/07/30/guardian-lost-264-million-last-year/

Not that The Guardian believes in paying tax itself:

"Tax Justice campaigners had a small demonstration outside the Guardian’s offices today to protest at the hypocrisy of the Guardian campaigning for FTSE 100 companies to pay more corporation tax when, despite GMG making £300 million in profits last year, it paid none itself. GMG took advantage of a perfectly legal loophole to avoid paying taxes on the capital gains made on the sale of Auto Trader. Without exploiting the law they would have had to pay more than £50 million in tax!"

http://order-order.com/2009/02/06/tax-justice-protest-against-guardian/

Government wastes millions on redundant cycle route planner

Lay off Boris!

I think Boris's 'superhighways' is a very good idea.

When you're cycling long distances, what you really want is an equivalent of 'A' roads, and that can be achieved with a few road signs. Sustrans national cycle network is one example, Boris' superhighways another.

Most resistance to 'Aurora' hack attacks futile, says report

Apple aren't secure

Mac OSX isn't more secure than MS Windows, it's attacked less often.

Student racks up £8000 mobile broadband bill

Oh no he didn't

The article says that the £1,500 was, "the charge for using the dongle between the first bill's cut-off point and when Harrison actually received the bill."

Technology vs policy: Election smackdown!

Not that old one

@Martin Nicholls

This 'Tories have no policies' line is drivel.

Surely an El Reg reader should be able to find the 'policy' page @ conservatives.com?

http://www.conservatives.com/Policy.aspx

or their 'draft manifesto' page?

http://www.conservatives.com/Draft_Manifesto.aspx

Oliver Letwin, writing in Standpoint, said:

"One of the things that makes this particular fashionable canard so bizarre is that, for better or worse, the Conservative Party under Mr Cameron has actually chosen to be more open in its policy development and to publish more detailed policy papers than any Opposition in recent times.

An inspection of the Conservative website will reveal a dozen Green Papers, setting out detailed policies on schools, welfare, the Health Service, prisons, the low carbon economy, international development, the voluntary sector, local government, housing and so on. Alongside these Green Papers, of which there are more to come over the next few months, there are major speeches on foreign and security policy from Mr Cameron and William Hague, and a series of important papers on tax, financial regulation and the fiscal framework from George Osborne and the Treasury team, as well as a large assembly of more minor policy pronouncements by other members of the Shadow Cabinet.

In short, it is absolutely impossible to substantiate the assertion that there is an absence of detailed policy from David Cameron's Conservatives."

http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/2166/full

Why Microsoft's IE 9 will frustrate standards fans

Web browser war, reloaded

Yahoo's Douglas Crockford thinks the web needs a second round of 'browser wars' to push things forward.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3730137/10250950

Perhaps he'll get his wish.

Historian slams 'absolutely crazy' UK time zone

Fact police

@Dale Liney

Ireland isn't a country, it's a puddle.

Apple security lags (again) with critical Java patches

Is Tiger (10.4) supported?

In the past it's been reported that Apple supports the current (10.6), and previous (10.5) versions of the Mac OS, so I'd be surprised if Tiger (10.4) gets another Java update.

(I currently use 10.4, and I'm planning an update to 10.6)

Virgin Media 'overwhelmed' by broadband customers fleeing BT

I liked Virgin

I'm currently using '3' mobile broadband (much better than O2 for me), but I used to be with Virgin, and I found them very good.

I might try this new offer.

CRB looks to ID cards to solve accuracy woes

NHS was a mistake

@Anonymous Coward 13:28

The NHS was a mistake. The Thatcher/Major and Blair/Brown governments have been trying to create a market within a monopoly supplier, because the nationalisation of the existing charity/insurance/private/ratepayer model destroyed a well functioning mixed market system.

James Bartholowmew's "The Welfare State We're In" gives a good pre/post NHS history of British medical care.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Welfare-State-Were-James-Bartholomew/dp/1842751611/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250972923&sr=1-1

Virgin mail struggles to its feet

Virgin Mail, or Google Mail?

Don't Google provide Virgin's email service?

Health emails from US voters overload fed website

Storm in a thimble

Fraser Nelson points to a 2007 OECD survey that found 57% of Britons thought the NHS needed 'fundemental changes'.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/5266698/why-we-need-a-proper-debate-about-healthcare.thtml

And did the 'we love the NHS' thing really give twitter a problem? Dizzy says it was planned maintenance:

"...I say alleged Twitter crashing, simply because I'm yet to see any evidence other than the British press simply saying it happened. Meanwhile Twitter's own status pages warn of system maintenance and service degradation during the time of the supposed “crash” inspired by an outpuring of love for the NHS."

http://dizzythinks.net/2009/08/grow-up-you-morons.html