Posts by Roland6

What? What? Which? Former broadband minister Ed Vaizey dismisses report

Re: It's more than just download speed

>The ping times I get today are rarely any better than I got with dial-up a quarter-century ago.

And why would they be any better? There has been no substantive change in signal propagation speeds - okay we can just deliver more data in 50ms today than we could in the 1980's, but the speed of signals down a cable hasn't changed, and just because processors have got faster doesn't mean that your (ping) data gets processed substantially faster given all the additional overhead modern systems carry compared to those of the 1980's.

HMS Windows XP: Britain's newest warship running Swiss Cheese OS

Re: @Ben1892

one that you can upgrade from earlier than 8 years after its mainline support ends, worst case, before its extended support ends

Now we are getting somewhere! I suggest there is a very good reason why there are currently systems running Windows for Warships (based on XP) on QE!

Aircraft carriers are big ticket items and don't get commissioned very often. I suspect given the level of co-operation between the UK and US, the QE's systems are based on systems from a previous aircraft carrier (Ford class for which construction started in 2005?).

It would make sense to re-use/build upon existing software, however as noted elsewhere MS really want XP to die, so this platform doesn't have a 50 year future. Also Windows 10 is far too recent for any meaningful (military) applications development to have occurred on it.

So I suggest what has happened is that development to date has largely been focused on XP ie. what is deployed on other carriers, QE provides an opportunity to migrate such software to a new platform. However, to ensure consistency etc. it would be advisable to run both the old and new systems in parallel and compare output - something that can fairly readily be undertaken in the coming years as QE undergoes trials.

So to the causal observer (ie. any one without the relevant security and project clearance) they could see some systems runnng XP and some running something else - without such obvious branding and jump to the wrong conclusion.

Hence I'm more interested on what is seen on QE when she finally enters service in 2020.

Which raises another question, given the lifecycle of Windows 10, it is unlikely to be a Windows 10 derivative, given version 1703 (Creators Update) goes EoL in 2025.

Re: @Ben1892

Makes one wonder how useful it is to use commodity items - whether operating systems, computers or fork handles - for a military contract.

That was how it was before the rise of commodity PC's and governments intent on cost cutting.

Re: Less likely to annoy the user

>Recently one of my online XP PCs developed a habit of svchost task grabbing 99% of the cpu. Dug out another one from the spares box - very similar behaviour.

Came across this style of behaviour on a client's XP box last year - took it away and all worked okay on my network, returned it and took a look at the client's Virgin router logs, discovered they had the default RDP port forwarded to the PC and were getting a very high level of connection attempts seemingly from a robot, disabled RDP forwarding and watched the PC revert to normal operation...

I periodically enable RDP port forwarding, last time I looked the robot was still trying to get a connection...

Re: @Ben1892

@tony2heads

It could have been even worse: it could have been Windows 10...

The laugh about the OS is that ALL current OS's will be out-of-date decades before the ship is decommissioned. So on that basis what is an appropriate OS for something like HMS QE or a nuclear power station?

Concorde without the cacophony: NASA thinks it's cracked quiet supersonic flight

QueSST isn't Concorde..

Whilst QueSST is providing useful research, it does seem that it has a long way to go before it enters the same league as Concorde...

Remember Concorde carried up to 128 passengers, flew from existing airports (okay they did 'longer' runways) and was able to fly transatlantic (supersonic), refuel and fly back (supersonic). Plus we shouldn't forget that the Concorde that entered service was basically the prototype, the money effectively ran out before they were able to really think about building the production version...

We'll drag Microsoft in front of Supremes over Irish email spat – DoJ

Re: Doubling up

>The only reasoning I can see here is that the DOJ and other US agencies don't want to have to go to the time and effort or dealing with foreign governments

Which raises the question that this was a fishing expedition and that if the real details of the investigation were to be made public, it would sound alarm bells in various friendly governments and also alert the subject(s) of the investigation to the investigation... It is this adverse consequences angle along with the blind belief in the supremacy of US law that probably goes far to explaining why the DoJ haven't explored other legal options.

Re: They already have a legal route

>Microsoft employees based in Ireland cannot comply, Microsoft employees based in the US can.

Suspect MS US employees don't have the necessary passwords and access rights - security in depth..

Intel's Skylake and Kaby Lake CPUs have nasty hyper-threading bug

Re: ugh

>Anyone know how likely this is to occur?

Agree, if I understand the problem correctly, it should be causing user visible random system glitches and instability. Thus given the number of PC's running Windows it is correct to ask why we aren't seeing a lot of feedback about random Windows faults etc.

Additionally, whilst I don't know the extent to which the OCaml compiler is used, we should also be questioning whether there something the OCaml compiler is doing (with respect to hyper-threading) that Windows and other compilers aren't doing.

Latest Windows 10 Insider build pulls the trigger on crappy SMB1

Re: As Windows 10 grows and matures...

>"Why do you want to go back to crazy cd's and of of date win 7 iso's"

Because it is a good use of your time when your laptop requires a replacement HDD and you're looking at embarking on a transaltantic flight in a couple of hours...

Microsoft PatchGuard flaw could let hackers plant rootkits on x64 Windows 10 boxen

Re: Um....

"So while it's an interesting post-exploit attack, it's not a big security problem in itself."

Security in depth...

The problem everyone seems to be missing is that security software doesn't stop all malware, thus by definition you will get compromised systems. Knowing that there are fundamental holes in Windows x64 security (is this only Win10 x64, or does it date right back to XP x64?), really means that you can not be sure that a 'cleaned' system really is clean.

Now does this exploit appear in the NSA toolkit - would help explain why MS are laid back...

Also whilst "64-bit malware currently makes up less than 1 per cent of the current threat landscape. " may be true, the world is increasingly moving to 64-bit OS's...

IBM's contractor crackdown continues: Survivors refusing pay cut have hours reduced

Re: The cuts are impacting morale

Alot depends on how the cuts are implemented. A reduction in working hours isn't too bad if you can restructure your week/month to create usable time, ie. time that you can use working for another client. The problems arise when the job's worth's managers decide that you need to be present 5 days a week for "core hours" of 10:00-16:00 in the expectation that most people will actually be onsite and thus work 9'ish to 5'ish...

'OK, everyone. Stop typing, this software is DONE,' said no one ever

Re: TeX is done

Not quite!

I can't install the 1978 version of TeX on Windows 10 or even the WinXP/7 port and expect it to run!

This is the real problem, whilst the source code hasn't changed, what has changed is the OS platform, so TeX is only usable on Windows 10 because someone took the source and ported it to Windows and then updated the port and installer for each new edition of Windows.

Samsung releases 49-inch desktop monitor with 32:9 aspect ratio

Re: Only 1080 high?

>Alternatively with a decent Linux GUI you just rotate the screen 90 degrees.

Which Linux GUI provides an iOS style of transition between portrait and landscape?

Also you do need an orientation-aware monitor and driver.

It has always irritated me that the mainstream desktop OS's didn't properly support display rotation out-of-the-box. I have a Dell XPS-18, whilst it does support display orientation rotation, a side-by-side comparison with iOS shows just how basic and slow the MS version is...

Operators and vendors agree that Europe is falling behind in 5G

Re: To 5G or not to 5G

Don't you love journalist's who have no concept of scale other than money:

"China set to build the planet’s largest 5G mobile network for US$180b The mainland's spending on 5G infrastructure will be nearly four times larger than nearest Asian competitor Japan over a seven-year period. ...

It would also surpass spending in Japan, where the total 5G outlay was forecast to hit US$46 billion over the same seven-year mobile technology cycle."

A quick look at a world map and country statistic would show that China is significantly larger than Japan, both in terms of geography and population, so even with all things being equal, the total spend will naturally be much larger.

Re: 450MB/sec, 1GB/sec?

>Only on in Office femto cells and only if no-one else is in.

Well putting aside it's 450Megabit/sec and 1Gigabit/sec...

The real issue is the backhaul (well in-addition to the very limited deployment of LTE-A).

I can connect to my local EE/Orange 4G mast at whatever speed is negotiated, but the real data transfer speed is limited by the 2+ miles of copper from the mast back to the local POP...

Software dev bombshell: Programmers who use spaces earn MORE than those who use tabs

Re: My code won't run but the spaces are great

>but a fun way to catch people out

Back in the 80's there were a couple of good books on the joy's :¬ of C - The C Puzzle Book being one.

We used these and some other sources to both help verify various C compilers (specifically those being newly released for the PC) actually did implement K&R white book C (it was surprising how many didn't in their first release or two!) and determine how various standard C functions behaved (eg. In K&R it was not defined what should happen if a file pointer was moved beyond the end of a file).

Re: My code won't run but the spaces are great

>Whilst tabs or spaces makes no difference to the compiler/interpreter

However, the use of space and brackets will make a difference to human readability - remember there is a good reason why C was regarded as a write only language eg. the compiler knows the correct evaluation order of "i+++j" (and many other similarly constructs) but do youwithout having to look it up?

I think many here have jumped on the use of tabs for code indenting, however, tabs and spaces are used elsewhere, such as within the code and to separate code from comments. Not read the report, but would be interested if it has conducted some deeper analysis than just simply total the number of tabs and spaces in a module.

Windows Server to get twice-yearly updates, plus stable and fast-moving branches

Re: Huh?

>Its optional.

Is it?

"you'll need to be a Windows Server Standard or Datacenter user and have Software Assurance, or run Windows Server in Azure."

What MS haven't said is whether this is additional to the normal WS support life or not. So will a customer be able to set up a WS either on-premise or on Azure and run it for 16 years, fully benefiting from MS's bug and security fix service and not have to worry about Semi-annual or LTS updates?

The only real beneficiaries of the Semi-Annual channel are developers who get an early indication of what willis likely to be in the next LTS release and thus develop accordingly and have products available closer to the launch of the LTS that can utilise the new functionality. But then their needs can be catered for via the development build channel. For useful new functionality the out-of-fashion Service Pack or Extension is a much better way of getting new functionality into existing production systems before the next major update; from a production environment viewpoint, you just don't want (or need) the hassle of the Semi-Annual channel and even the LTS.

Openreach to comms providers: Why can't we be friends?

Re: No more money for Copper. Pointless G.fast shouldn't ever be publicly funded.

Community Cabinets alongside BT Cabinets

Sub-loop unbundling has been around for a long-time, I looked at it's viability in my area in circa 2009, but the final form of BDUK changed the market making 'community' (ie. parish-based) initatives uneconomic.

The challenge is that there is rather a lot of pure copper (or aluminium) cabinet-to--the-premise/home out there, (remember BT have only been providing cable with fibre and copper cores for new developments for a little over a decade) so improving on copper, requires digging up roads/pavements - which is what Gigaclear et al have to do.

However, in saying the above, I seem to remember that BT had finally got the agreement of Ofcom to allow them to drop the roll out of new copper...

Competing with BT Wholesale?

"He said fundamentally Openreach is a wholesaler "and when we go to market, it is through our retail partners"

I think (if I correctly understand the caveated words of colleagues) Openreach is more of a broker than a wholesaler.

BT on Openreach: "We’re responsible for providing services over the local access network" ie. Openreach don't own the local access network. [http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/Ourcompany/Groupbusinesses/Openreach/index.htm ]

Openreach: "Who we are: We look after the fibres, wires and cables that connect the country."

[https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/WhoWeAre.aspx ]

NB. This differs from Wikipedia:

"Openreach is a subsidiary of telecommunications company BT Group that owns the pipes and telephone cables that connect nearly all businesses and homes in the United Kingdom to the national broadband and telephone network."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openreach ]

Ever wonder why those Apple iPhone updates take so damn long?

Re: Why are they changing the FS anyway?

I'll also note that since the upgrade to APFS was already done in March for iOS 10.3, this is rather old news. It is done, complete, and it worked. As I said in another thread, Apple have pulled off an amazing engineering feat. Register is well behind the times on this.

Err I think many here have missed the 'news':

" In an on-stage love fest last week between Apple fanboi John Gruber and senior execs Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi, Federighi – SVP of software engineering – revealed that in the iOS 10.1 and/or 10.2 upgrades to its operating system, it caused every device to upgrade to Apple's new APFS (Apple File System), check it, and then roll back to the current HFS+ system."

Also note the total absence of the filesystem update from the iOS 10.n release notes.

[ https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1893?locale=en_US ]

So whilst the release of APFS might have happened back in March, what was not widely known until last week was that Apple had pulled off an engineering feat: using the iOS 10.1 and 10.2 releases to dry run the migration and in the iOS 10.3 update totally changed the running filesystem; all without fanfair or user awareness.

Re: no no no no no no no, Apple

Now, the remaining questions are if all upgrades involved the test, why it was rolled back despite being successful (to wear Flash memory?)

I suspect:

- 10.1 only supported HFS+, but contained the filesystem migration utility and test program.

- 10.2 also only supported HFS+, but contained the final filesystem migration utility (and test program?).

- 10.3 only supported the new APFS, as part of the update it invoked the preinstalled migration utility.

and what was the risk of failure (of the whole process including rollback or the rollback alone)

Properly thought through, ie. allow for failure and thus rollback at any point in the process, the risk is low.

and who would be liable for data loss.

You do have sync and backup to iCloud enabled?

Now you can 'roam like at home' within the EU, but what's the catch?

Re: Brexit

Re: "When you are roaming in the EU ...

With the new rules you will treated as if you are "at home" no matter what country you are in."

I think part of the issue and thus why people are getting confused is their understanding of just what "like at home" means. Specifically understanding that whatever plan and add-ons you have will apply whilst you are in another EU/EEA country, thus if you happen to be in Germany say, then the charges you will incur will be exactly the same as if you were using your phone "at-home".

The only difference seems to be with data, where an operator can set a fair usage cap (subject to EU specified constraints) - just as they do with tethering.

Re: Brexit

Re: "I'd say that for most people data charges when roaming are much more of an issue"

The use of data is also covered in the "Roam-like-at-home", although your operator can specify a cap - just as many specify a tethering usage cap.

See https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/faq/frequently-asked-questions-roam-home for details.

It's 2017 and Microsoft is still patching Windows XP+ – to plug holes exploited by trio of leaked NSA weapons

Re: XP

Do you have evidence that the bank isn't paying MS for XP support? Just because MS aren't providing support 'free' to joe public doesn't mean they aren't providing support to paying customers...

BT's Ryan Reynolds helicopter Wi-Fi ads 'misleading', thunders ad watchdog

>40Mbps at 200 metres? Utter bollocks!

No, but I would like to know more about the test set up - there is a reason why mobile phone aerials are mounted 6m up and not a foot or two off the ground.

But the unspoken 'hero' of all this is the WiFi chip in the unnamed tablet!

Windows 10 Creators Update preview: Lovin' for Edge and pen users, nowt much else

Re: Windows-as-a-service...

>The difference though is that IOS is a mobile operating system.

And Windows 10 isn't trying to be a mobile operating system with its tablet and phone platform variants?

>We're also talking about the OS pushing advertisements, not an app.

The AC explicitly exampled Solitaire, which is just an app bundled with the OS.

But the differences are irrelevant, it is the direction of travel that is being discussed.

iOS is an operating system and Apple has patents for the OS level integration of ad's. Yes presently the Apple hooks are only used by "non-OS" app's but there is nothing - other than market image and some degree of respect for their customers - that is preventing Apple shipping an ad pusher as part of the OS release. As has been noted MS follows Apple, albeit with a lot less finesse...

>Remember Windows 10 is no longer free but costs real money.

It never was 'free' - the 'free' giveaway was to selected existing Windows licence holders only.

Re: Windows-as-a-service...

>That was a sneak preview of what is to come.

Err that just confirmed that MS were still following Apple iOS.

Years back 'free' app's on iOS generally had relatively discrete ad's in a static bar across the bottom of the screen.

Then we got the full screen ad's which pop'd up between runs of games, but were easily dismissed. In the last year (since circa the launch of Mobile Strike?) the pop up ads now run for a minimum (not user controlled) time before they can be dismissed; which seems to be getting longer, plus they will change the location of the 'X' close button, between ad plays so that you have to look to find it.

So for a sneak preview of what is over the horizon for Windows, just look at other more advanced platforms - remember one of the patented features of iOS is it's ad hooks.

Microsoft dumps docs.com cloud file locker, sets December death-date

Re: The Almighty Cloud

@Hans 1 - I think Fatman was implying you spin up your own cloud, ie run a private cloud which is effectively what every business ran before AWS, Azure et al.

Forcing digital forensics to obey 'one size fits all' crime lab standard is 'stupid and expensive'

Re: "The government's forensic science regulator has dismissed these concerns"

>but digital forensics has no professional body

Step 0: Join the BCS if not already a member. (I would question the integrity of any digital forensics person claiming to be a 'professional' if they weren't already a member of a recognised IT industry professional body)

Step 1: Form a BCS special interest group.Join the Cybercrime Forensics Specialist Group

Step 2: Get the group to use the BCS professional standards umbrella to define a set of good practises.

Step 3: Use this platform to get the standard adopted internationally.

Yes the above will involve people's time, however if there aren't people/companies with deep pockets who are prepared to fund a new fully independent professional body it is probably the fastest route to gaining credibility, picking up a ready made set of basic professional standards, getting established and gaining access to relevant funding agencies.

Lloyds finally inks mega 10-year cloudy outsourcing deal with IBM

Re: Hmmm

Bit behind the times wolfetone :) travel needs to be under £0.

So suspect in the first instance transferred staff will remain at their normal place of work.

Boffins find evidence of strange uranium-producing bacteria lurking underground

Re: yes the Uranium is being used as metabolic fuel for the bacteria.

Now if the bacteria absorbs U235 preferentially things could get interesting.....

Might be interesting to science geeks, but not to Holywood: Uranium eating bacteria v. Godzilla...

IBM: ALL travel must be approved now, and shut up about the copter

Re: This is likely to upset some customers

Looks like an opportunity for IBM SI and support partners though...

Ability to pick up plum IBM customer contracts and also create opportunities for those in IBM looking forward to redundancy...

So does anyone here know the new IBM sales commission rules? ie. are sales people being better rewarded for sales through Partners?

EU wins approval to waste €120m on pitiful public Wi-Fi

Re: Pork Barrel politics?

Re: It's more gesture politics than pork barrel.

From other EU initiatives, I suspect it is more seed funding to encourage municipalities to deploy public space WiFi. Expect in a few years the EU to start turning the handle and make it a requirement for municipalities to provide free public access points, so free access to online public services is available.

Re: Homespots

Re: which speaks volumes about how the latest initiative is just a drop in the ocean, and how Homespots are the right way to go.

...

The major difference between a homespot and a hotspot is that hotspots are planned and spaced for maximum effectiveness and tend to be outdoors.

...

WiFi4EU is targeted primarily at public parks and squares, hospitals and libraries

Clearly the author didn't engage brain here; Homespots are not the right way to go if you want access at public parks and squares, hospitals and libraries...

Giffgaff 'roam like at home' package means £1/min calls in Jersey

Re: Why??

No not adhering to the rules, using the omissions in the rules to justify a commercial decision.

"A Giffgaff spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately, because the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Monaco and Switzerland are not classed as part of the EU, we cannot include them in our 'Roam Like at Home' offer, and have had to amend the current pricing structure."

The EU rules don't prohibit Giffgaffe from including non-EU members in their "Roam Like at Home" bundle. Additionally, Giffgaffes position requires a rather strict reading of the rules concerning the Protocol 3 countries and the classifying of mobile call handling as a 'service' and not 'goods'.

So the question has to be what has changed to cause Giffgaffe to voluntarily remove non-EEA countries and territories, namely: the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Switzerland and Monaco from it's existing European roaming deal.

German court says 'Nein' on Facebook profile access request

Re: You say that now

>Why can't they give us death options?

Death is something that IT is only relatively recently starting to get to grips with - remember the news stories of a few years back about enterprise systems not flagging or deleting details of dead people and thus cold calling, sending out mailshots, bills etc. to dead people.

Similarly, this case illustrates how IT service providers (and application writers) need to get to grips with the handling of minors and parents/guardians, so that a minor's digital life is respected in much the same way as their physical life: For example, when a child dies, a school simply gives the parents the contents of their (physical) locker, minus any school textbooks/property.

@big_D - This is a minor, a such they don't have an estate, everything they 'own' automatically transfers to the parents/guardians, just as it does between spouses. Although as we know, in the real world sometimes the courts need to be involved.

Re: a solution @AC @Big_D

In this case, the family had the password, but the "friends" had already petioned to put the page into memorial status, so the parents can't access the account.

There are several aspects of this case that are troubling, mainly because of the lack of any real detail in the reports. Also whilst this maybe a German court case, I'm uncertain about the potential implications on EU law which depending on timing will be incorporated into UK law.

Firstly, we should be concerned that Facebook changed the status of an account, seemingly simply on the receipt of messages from other Facebook user(s). Something they should have only done as a result of an official communication that unambiguously and uniquely linked a deceased person to the specific Facebook account.

Secondly, there are questions about the rights of Parents/Guardians of minors. From the Guardian's report ( https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/31/parents-lose-appeal-access-dead-girl-facebook-account-berlin ) it seems "The court said it had made the ruling according to the telecommunications secrecy law which precludes heirs from viewing the communications of a deceased relative with a third party." - clearly in the first instance, Parents/Guardians (of minors) are not simply 'heirs'.

Also the Facebook Terms of Service (putting to one side whether they are actually enforceable) don't allow for the situation where an over 13 user is still a minor in many jurisdictions and hence a parent/guardian have some rights/reasonable expectation of oversight and access.

Does Microsoft have what it takes to topple Google Docs?

>If I'd been in the cloud at that time, all my users could have taken their laptops to McDonalds and worked happily with access to email, files and phones

You're not alone, even large enterprises miss the obvious out of their business continuity plans...

McDonald's, Starbucks etc. don't provide printers, which can present problems if that nice proposal, report, invoice, timesheet etc. has to be delivered on paper...

It's not an insurmountable problem, just one that tends to get overlooked until it becomes critical.

>Lets talk about downtime and costs

Well let's not get ahead of ourselves...

Firstly we still have "the desktop", for many SME's that is still going to be full fat Windows - will all the issues of having a full fat OS on the desktop/laptop. why Windows? because that is what you get at PC World etc.

Secondly, cloud needs comm's which brings us to the whole broadband v "using something possibly more appropriate given your business depends on it" debate.

BT considers scrapping 'gold-plated' pensions in bid to plug £14bn deficit

Re: The scheme it states closed in 2009

@AC - AC because you are a beneficiary?

My confusion and query arises because I'm not a beneficiary and so only have an outsider and shareholder view on matters (many non-BT pension funds will have significant shareholdings in BT Group) and so contrast your comments with those reported by the media: "BT considering closing defined-benefit pensions scheme for existing staff" https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/30/bt-considering-closing-defined-benefit-pensions-scheme-for-existing-staff

Re: The scheme it states closed in 2009

Err it's not so clear cut. It would seem the scheme was closed to new members in 2009, not to existing members, hence is still accruing new liabilities. This is in marked contrast to many other final salary schemes across the private sector which were closed to both new and existing members around the same time.

Here we have a clear example of the escalating costs of not acting decisively circa 10+ years back. The writing was on the wall for final salary schemes back in 2002, with many companies closing their schemes before the 2008 financial crash.

Personally, I think the unions have done their members a disservice, whilst the final salary scheme may give the best payout for the employee contributions given, it has had the effect of putting their entire BT pension in a single pot and thus exposed them to more risk than was absolutely necessary. That ballooning pensions deficit will begin to bite BT's ability to raise capital and invest in the business and deliver universal FTTP...

Re: We'll need to work longer

IT ofen describes people as suffering "burnout", in many cases this is actually those people just no longer have the mental "spare capacity" to keep on top of a rapidly changing environment

From what I've seen, "Burnout" in IT is due more to 'mental indigestion' and lack of meaningful rest. I've seen people who have taken a career break (often enforced), who come back after 2~3 years reinvigorated because they've gone and done something else ie. a non-IT job for a while eg. worked in a bakery, become a primary school classroom assistant, built their own house etc.

Re: BT, a pension scheme with a telecommunications provider attached to it.

That's been true for for many businesses.

The UK government recognised back in the 1980's that the Exchequer was destined to become a pension scheme with the obligations of government attached. However, whilst it did take some initial steps, it didn't solve the problem...

Re: BT, a pension scheme with a telecommunications provider attached to it

>a 5% annual growth rate for 40 years

That's the problem, the assumed annual growth rate did not envisage governments changing the taxation rules (remember Gordon Brown's late 1990's raid that hasn't been reversed...), and long periods of very low annual growth rates, where the pension investment rules have meant near zero growth for a significant number of years.

Basically, at current rates of investment return, if between you and your employer, you aren't investing between 20~25% pa of your pensionable salary in a pension scheme, then you are under funding your pension.

Europe to splash €120m on free WiFi for ~8,000 villages and cities

Re: Can the UK grab some of the lolly before we leave the EU?

Well given local authorities can apply directly, I can see the more hard-nosed and switched on applying.

If on the other hand it was up to the government then I suggest this would be another late/failed application - the 2015~2017 government had to be forced to apply for the flood relief monies that it was entitled to, although I'm not sure if they actually managed to get their application to the EU before the deadline...

In fact with some imagination, the location requirement "the main centres of public life by 2020" could be extended to include: hospital waiting rooms, job centre's ...

BA CEO blames messaging and networks for grounding

Re: data centre performance..continuously monitor performance in real-time..performance based SLA

Re: House !

Bingo !

There are (currently) only two posts by CJames - and both posts look remarkably alike...

Defend yourself against ISP tracking in an Trump-era free-for-all

Re: Good ideas, but...

How could an ISP in the UK find a good reason for banning VPN connections when a large part of our office workforce uses them either to connect to services at work, or to connect to work from home?

Short memory 1Rafayal?

It was only a few years back that many 'residential' ISP's eg. Sky, Virgin etc. either did (and probably still do) block or made it difficult to use the sorts of VPN/RDP technologies commonly used by business. If you questioned them, they would point to their residential service T's&C's which excluded business usage...