Posts by Banker

Patent flame storm: Reg hack biteback in reader-pack sack attack

We have to have a Patent System

Although I didn't like Apple winning that case, I thought Andrews piece was an attempt to get a decent conversation on the subject started, no more slanging match slanging match slanging match (Tech echo chamber!) please!

There are claims here that the Patent system is wrong, bad, government control, is only for the big boys etc etc and at the high end of Tech biz, I admit it does seem that way sometimes. But I think the system is an absolute necessity, it needs improvement for sure, but an absolute must have for a society that uses money to function.

In the mid naughties, I visited the Patent Office in the UK for a free advisory session, as I had an idea and wanted to see if it was patentable. After a very positive session, I then went to find out the costing for 'searches' (to see if your idea will clash with any other patents) and then UK, European, US and 'World' patent costs. Not a huge amount but enough to make me look closer at the value and marketability of the idea itself. Had I chosen to proceed with the idea, the amount I would have to have invested in design/manufacture/distribution was considerably more than the patent costs, and the patent would at least offer me some protection whilst I set about investing in the product itself. I can't see how anyone would set about investing in a completely new idea without this protection, especially where the idea can easily be copied - That isn't control, bad or evil, it's freedom.

Natwest, RBS: When will bank glitch be fixed? Probably not today

They've outsourced much more than that!

I worked for RBS during and after the merger with Natwest, I left their Global Financial Markets Department in 2004 after a 5 year stint. They had already moved some IT functions to India at that point and have continued to do so year on year since. The numbers some people are quoting 1600/800 are possibly the more recent figures, the total is way way beyond this.

The comments on documentation are comical, as if a document is the thing you turn to at a time of crisis.

The fact is, when you work closely with systems and the business users, you understand not only the quirks of the systems, but the risks and consequences of failure. You work with those users on the work around solutions that will get the banking day complete.

They haven't just outsourced the IT staff, but the very experienced and valuable back office / operations staff that would work with IT staff to solve the serious issues. I beleive these guys are mostly posted out in Singapore, who probably have never met the IT staff in India. The unseen cost of outsourcing is a compounding loss of shared experience and commitment, which becomes accutely apparent when the sh!t hits the ... cash machines

The chaps I trained out in India were nice enough, but they simply lacked the knowledge and experience of Finacial Markets trading, trade and settlement processing, Swift messaging blah blah and the risks involved.

I'll be drinking with a bunch of ex RBS/Natwesties soon enough, where we'll all be saying.....

"WE TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!"

I doubt any senior manager in RBS/NW is going to say the outsourcing was to blame and change anything significant.

Over the next 10 years, I would expect this sort of failure to happen to vertually all the big UK banks. Hopefully it will become such an inconvenience to the UK public, the government will have to step in and regulate service expectations, a kind of SLA for the public......... then maybe, the management will be forced to value to kind of 'Support Culture' I enjoy to provide. Then maybe.... the jobs will start driffting back to the UK once more.

One more thing......

......there's a certain UK bank with Horse. Trust me, their systems are older and more reliant on a bunch of old fogey staff in the UK than RSB/NW ever was. They've recently started to outsource their IT/Back office too.........

Rupert Murdoch was never Keyser Soze

Yep, spot on

I think Andrews’s article describes the power of the Murdoch myth quite accurately. As an example, click on over to www.thedailymash.co.uk, check out the article the day before Murdock appeared on telly at the commission, title "Are you scared yet? Britain spent last night staring at the ceiling with its duvet clutched tightly under its chin". This, satirically of course, highlights our collective British view of Murdock as this all powerful Soze type. Then look at the article following the event, title "Murdochs know far less about NI than you do".

The collective view has been challenged, that event showed the reality of Murdoch simply didn't match up to the Myth, turns out he's not that threatening at all.

Now this Chase Carey dude, he looks like a right scary monster!

Segway death blamed on good manners

Seen em at the new Bangkok airport

Which is quite a large building, plods in pairs on Segways scooting about. Wouldn't think you'd see them on the streets of Bangkok though!

Man says he lost $500,000 in virtual currency heist

No Centralised database, not a currency.......

I've read many a claim on this subject, some stating Bitcoin is a currency, others bonds, ponzi scheme, scam etc.

As my posting name suggests, I know a thing or two about how money works. Let me confirm that every true currency, traded electronically, will be manage by a centralised system, usually accessed through their RTGS, Real Time Gross Settlement system, usually run by the countries/currencies central bank (Bank of England for Sterling, ECB for Euro, Fed for US Dollars etc). This way, we know how much there is, and crucially, where it is.

Cash is different matter.

Bitcoin is not currency, banks are not going to buy it are they? Mugs game with a few lucky winners at the end, a punt at best.

And besides all this boring rubbish, the name "Allinvain" just seems a bit comically suspect eh?

Sony brings Skype to Bravia HD TVs

ahead of it's time...

hehe, the triagle tv has got Apple's Genius bar too....