Posts by localzuk

Legacy sign-on service comes back to bite school software provider Bromcom

Re: School MIS

You are right, school MIS's are a ticking timebomb really. There's extremely poor auditing and individual record control within them - for example, I've never seen any ability to hide certain data from general users, or block access to certain records. Why does every teacher and TA need access to the full contact details of every child and parent? At least one major MIS didn't even have proper auditing in place when I used it, so there was never a way to find out who did what/when.

However, I'll correct one thing - Wonde is not a QUANGO. Wonde is a private company that processes data for companies that use it. Companies go to them, and integrate with their tool, which integrates with all the MIS providers. When a school signs up for that third party tool, Wonde handles connecting to their MIS for the third party, acting as the middle man, transferring data. The DfE uses Wonde to get attendance data, so you end up forced to use Wonde as a school, to allow the DfE to gather the data they are legally required to have. There are other such tools, such as GroupCall, but it all depends on the third party as to which tool is used.

VMware swings its focus back to low-end server virt, promises vSphere Standard upgrade

Too little too late

I know numerous organisations that used the smaller solutions, and due to the focus on the high end stuff and their increased licensing costs, have moved away.

I highly doubt they'll be moving back any time soon. Why would they want to?

UK.gov's tech department gets the chop after two years

Re: 'I am not a number'.

Whenever I see talk of a digital state, AI in government, etc... all I can think of is the Watchdogs game series.

London cops post £300M tech shopping list after Palantir contract blocked

Re: Framework?

Sure. But sometimes that is indeed the case - only one supplier feels capable of meeting a contract.

Framework?

So, this story seems odd to me, now that an extra detail is being reported - that the MPS used the Crown Commercial Services Framework.

The whole point of frameworks in public sector procurement is that they do all the legal legwork, comparing suppliers and ensuring all aspects of procurement law are followed. Public sector organisations all over the country use these sorts of frameworks - I use them all the time in my role in education.

So, while I have a strong aversion to Palantir being used anywhere, I do question the decision by MOPAC, as it doesn't appear to follow normal public sector procurement rules.

Capita £370M bid 40% under UK.gov estimate for Oracle HR and finance system project, court case reveals

Re: Definition of Insanity?

Somewhat useless, as it requires the Cabinet Office to do the work. It doesn't allow anyone else in public sector to look at contract performance for their own suppliers and ignore them.

Re: Definition of Insanity?

While the rule may exist on paper, the actual departments that have to apply the rules cannot actually apply anything because that list is indeed empty. It also means departments and public sector organisations with their own delegated budgets (such as schools), can't take into account prior performance still. If SuperEvilCorp has a contract in a school, and the school want rid, but the contract has to follow tendering rules due to size? There is zero way for that school to prevent that company coming along and winning it.

So, the outcome is the same.

Re: Definition of Insanity?

Even after all these years of bad contracts, public sector procurement rules still do not have anything in them to allow you to take into account poor performance of prior contracts or reputation. For some reason, we steadfastly refuse to change the rules that keep leading to a small number of firms, that consistently provide terrible service, to get all the contracts.

In an unrelated note, some ex-ministers just so happen to leave government and end up as advisors to a certain group of companies that win a lot of contracts...

Brit regulator finds mobile network service on trains is far from first class

Re: You could not make it up

Come now, Ofcom doesn't actually do things. They write reports. And letters. Then ministers make lots of noise about pilot schemes, and then the entire thing is forgotten again until the next report.

Microsoft reaches for olive branch after public dustup with 0-day researcher

Re: Is this not insanity?

That's not quite how it is. It isn't "pay me or I'll release". It is "If you find vulnerabilities, we'll pay you", then not paying you or acknowledging the vulnerabilities. Instead, deleting the account you reported those vulnerabilities through.

Indra rides off with £1.96B Transport for London ticketing deal as Oyster heads for back-office overhaul

Re: £1.964bn...

This is my thought about a lot of these huge contracts. When you start calculating things this way, they all end up looking insanely expensive.

Whitehall can't cost digital ID until it decides how to build it

Re: Poland

Poland is a perfect example. The digital ID system there is not mandatory. Just like ours. The system is going to get built, we can't put that genie back in the bottle. My point is looking at its implementation.

Poland

Why does the UK have to do everything like this as if they're the first to think of it? Poland has had a government app with a digital ID for years at this point. Why aren't we going and talking to them to see how they did it? Or Estonia, or Denmark, or India, or Singapore. Why do we always act this way?

Flying cabs, next-gen aircraft cleared for takeoff in 26 states

Crashes

So, a country with 45,000 road fatalities per year (5x the per capita rate of the UK) is going to move into having traffic in the air as well? This doesn't seem like its going to go well.

Microsoft 365 confirms new premium tier, stuffed with AI and few discounts

Re: Reassuringly expensive

Its the same group they're targeting that lots of tech companies target. I was looking for some Sharepoint management tools yesterday, and every site I visited was 90% about being AI, and how their platform will reduce overheads and increase productivity. It took more time than it should to actually find their products and see what they actually *do*.

As a lowly IT manager, I was not their target. They are targeting CIOs and other C suite. Or, those who are trying to get to that position. Those who get wow'd by buzzwords. Basically the Boss in the BOFH.

Accenture down to buy Downdetector as part of $1.2 billion deal

Re: Strange world

And that's the issue with stock markets. Most traders are after quick gains. Not long term stability. If they can make a profit by a company being asset stripped, they will. They don't care about next year, because they will just move on to the next company or market.

UK to demand social platforms take down abusive intimate images within 48 hours

Removing material that should not be removed can also be harmful. Having a deadline allows time for a service to lodge a legal case to object, and if the request is particularly egregious, then they can look for an emergency injunction etc...

Europe's sovereign cloud spend set to triple as geopolitics bite

Re: Sovereign

That depends on if Amazon Inc has any level of control or access to any data.

That said, even without CLOUD Act coverage, it does have the issue of it being a licensed system - so, if the US government turned around and, for some reason, put export controls on Amazon's technology, that sovereign cloud no longer operates.

Faux Sovereign Clouds

There seems to have been a growth in faux sovereign clouds. The big cloud providers setting up "Sovereign clouds" in the EU, using lots of fancy words, smoke and mirrors, to try and make it seem like they solve the problem.

But, at the base is still the simple fact that the CLOUD Act gives the US government the power to gather data from any company that has a US jurisdictional presence and has "control" of that data. A Microsoft subsidiary in the EU would still be seen as being under control of the US entity.

So, unless Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle etc, have no control or access to the systems - and, say, simply license the technology to an EU company without any input from them into its operation, then these "sovereign clouds" are simply not.

And it seems in some cases, some organisations are falling for it.

Moscow likely behind wiper attack on Poland’s power grid, experts say

Re: What's the limit?

That's a long post, but I will point out you base nearly the entire thing on one base falsehood "But the 'walking dead' are currently winning"...

There is no evidence Russia are winning. All evidence points to them being unable to replenish troop numbers, unable to advance. Unable to hold territory once they do take it, when a counter attack happens. Their economy is getting worse and worse.

So, claiming they are winning is not really very accurate. Neither side is winning. It is stalemate, pure and simple.

Also, we had a sustainable peace. Up until the point Russia invaded a neighbouring country which as no threat to them. This idea that it is about NATO expansion is deluded to say the least. Putin has even given speeches about it not being about NATO, but about rebuilding the Russian Empire.

Russia is indeed crumbling. They are no threat to Greenland - that is nonsense thought up by Trumpists to try and take Greenland's rich natural minerals.

Russia doesn't really have any Oreshniks. Intelligence points to them having 3 or 4. The idea that they're in full serial production is propaganda. If they had more, why weren't they paraded through Moscow at their last big parade? They're like the T-14. All noise, a few hand made ones, and lots of issues expanding it out. Even when in serial production, they'll only be making a handful a year. There's photographic evidence of Russia using them without a warhead guidance system, and have vacuum tubes in them... Hardly as "modern" as they claim.

Your last paragraph is hilarious projection.

What's the limit?

When will it cross that threshold requiring a NATO response? Surely attempting to infiltrate and damage the power grid of a country is an act of war?

UK tax collector plans £2B tech binge as legacy systems refuse to die

Re: "costs are higher than predicted"

This is something that bugs me about central government technology procurement.

Why does every last bit of it end up being outsourced? Rather than actually developing a proper government department that handles it. Builds government datacentres, runs their own cloud "selling" resources to other departments. Sure, they'd still be buying in software, but why are we just constantly handing every bit of our cash to other countries? Rather than building our own expertise?

AWS Compute?

So, they have a cloud computing requirement but have specified AWS? Surely that means only 1 supplier can provide it? Amazon? How is that allowed? I work in public sector and the rules are explicitly clear - we cannot specify specific brands!

Microsoft illegally installed cookies on schoolkid's tech, data protection ruling finds

Business model flaw

The problem is that people have to look at ways to turn this stuff off, because invading privacy is part of the business model of companies like Microsoft.

If companies approached the design of systems sensibly - lets look at relevant laws, regulations and local requirements and only then build it out, we'd end up with software that had privacy by design. It could then add stuff on top of that for markets where it can legally get more data, but instead it now has to scramble to undo what it has built instead.

Not hot on bots, project names and shames AI-created open source software

Re: Pandora's box

My thoughts on the LLMs not being amazing today is that the LLM of today is the worst it will be. Every day, they are improving. Even if we see some sort of industry collapse and consolidation, the technology isn't going to go anywhere. The datacentres and tech within don't disappear because companies collapse. Yes, we will see people lose jobs, but that's normal and part of capitalism. I think a collapse is inevitable, but I think that it would be an opportunity. It will level the costs out for trying new things - because a few behemoths would no longer be buying 70% of the world's RAM, the tech required to experiment and run new ideas would be available at a much lower price, due to the glut suddenly being available. So, we'd see rapid and interesting progress in the tech space again.

Ultimately, the massive layoff type culture is a corporate America problem, unrestricted to the AI/LLM world. Its a leadership problem. Just look at someone like Ubisoft. Spent a decade producing lacklustre games, designed by accountants, and now to remedy their terrible finances they are getting rid of talent and cancelling games. Utter incompetence of leadership. Exactly the same applies in the AI/LLM space, because the same "CxO class" runs those companies too.

Re: Pandora's box

Honestly, saying the luddites were correct is a truly wild take. That's a incredibly backwards way of looking at the movement. If the luddites had succeeded, what other technologies that we use daily today, that have improved lives, would have been rejected? Cars? Caused lots of job losses in the horse related industries. Computers? Caused huge amounts of job losses in administration - gone are the typing pools. The internet? Look at the postal services of the world, all shrinking, jobs disappearing in the delivery of letters. Telegram services gone...

But, technology, for all its ills, has managed to improve the lives of billions of people. Saying luddites were correct ignores this entirely.

The problem, as I have said, is that once Pandora's box is open, it cannot be closed. There is no way our societies will abandon AI work. Every government is working to encourage their development and use.

Projects like the original project are not useful beyond encouraging dog-piling, in my view. It also encourages people to make accusations without basis. The whole em dash argument, but in development form. Don't like the use of AI/LLM? Don't use the projects that are using it. Fork them, create a new "AI free" project. Get people to jump to your project. Don't buy software that includes AI features etc... Vote with your wallet and feet.

Re: Pandora's box

The negative votes are interesting to me, as it seems people are more interested in being angry than understanding that the world has changed, and we as people in the IT industry have to change with it.

We can't get rid of AI/LLM, just as much as stable hands couldn't get rid of motorcars, or weavers vs the mills.

Like it or dislike it, its here to stay and we need to adapt.

Pandora's box

I'm not sure I get the point of blanket hatred of AI/LLM produced code. It is very much Pandora's box, and it has been opened. Yes, the AI industry is massively oversized and they are pumping hundreds of billions into trying to figure out how to make any money from it, but the reality is coding as a purely manual process done by people only is effectively over. An AI/LLM is a tool in the box, just as a bandsaw speeds up cutting wood vs a handsaw.

It does mean the entire IT industry will undergo a change in how it is run. It does mean job losses. But what's new with that? This isn't the first time technology has done this. There's a reason we have a term for those who hate technology - luddites.

Bankrupt scooter startup left one private key to rule them all

If only...

If only someone had invented some sort of small portable object that can unlock and start a vehicle without needing an internet connection or app. Some sort of carefully manufactured piece of metal, unique to that specific device, but easily manufacturable so it is nice and cheap. Can even upgrade the security by embedding some sort of RFID chip that provides a second level of security.

If someone ever invents such a thing, I reckon they'll be rich!

Cloudflare CEO threatens to make the Winter Olympics a political football after Italy slugs it with a fine

You are still wrong. Many web hosts will host websites behind a single IP. I did a lookup on an IP once, and the service I used reckoned around 3000 sites were being ran from that single IP.

I mean, my own personal development machine has half a dozen websites in vhosts on one IP.

Re: "a shadowy, European media cabal should be able to dictate what is and is not allowed online"

No, it isn't undermined. The body was set up through government to operate as it does. The government was, as far as I'm aware, put there through an act of democracy and the laws that control the agency were created through further acts of democracy.

The fact that the government of the day has a different policy is somewhat irrelevant. If they want the agency to operate differently, they have to use the system of government to change the law. Not simply say it isn't their policy.

Democracies in Europe operate through laws passed in some form of parliament. Not by decree.

GNOME dev gives fans of Linux's middle-click paste the middle finger

Is everything that isn't ultra-capitalist "communism"? Such lazy thinking.

Capita tells civil servants to wait for chatbots to fix pension portal woes

Another basic database system... failure

How do these providers, who's bread and butter is basic business database software, consistently manage to mess it up?

Yes, it will have various moving parts, but at its core the system is a CRM, with added data. How are they so bad at this?

And how does asking people not to call to place queries going to affect the implementation of fixes? Are the developers answering their phones?

EU won't scrap tech regs just because Washington dislikes them

The more they push...

The more the USA complains, and pushes back against EU regulation of businesses operating within its territory, the more likely it is that EU customers will stop using those businesses.

There's already an active movement looking to move away from US cloud providers. Some governments are looking at replacing Microsoft stuff etc... Sure, its only a little bit now, but ultimately, EU countries and the EU make their own rules for their own back yard.

Microsoft won't fix .NET RCE bug affecting slew of enterprise apps, researchers say

Re: Irrelevant

I own a nice sofa. People eat cheese. See how these statements have no relation to each other? That's about as much as your comments about linux on the desktop have in relation to the topic being reported here.

Welcome to America - now show us your last five years of social media posts

Re: Pulling out the old foot-gun?

No social media? Why do you hate American tech companies so much? Obviously, you'd be banned for not allowing them to make money off you so far...

Cloudflare suffers second outage in as many months during routine maintenance

Cloudy with a chance of errors

Once upon a time, the goal was resilience. Let's build networks that allow things to fail without the services going offline. That was the underlying idea of enterprise solutions.

So, why have so many organisations decided that carefully selecting a single point of failure is a good idea?

Whatever legitimate places AI has, inside an OS ain't one

Finally making the switch

This may be the straw to break the camel's back for me.

I use LLMs daily, to speed up tasks that they do well at (assistance writing quick Powershell scripts for example), but they are a tool that I can very much put away when I don't want to use them.

At home? I don't need it. I don't want it. It may be time for a switch to a different OS.

Re: It's all about money not the user

This is the reality. In search of constant growth, companies must "innovate". So, out come the fads. Crypto, metaverse and AI seem to be the current ones.

But, all evidence seems to say that while there are slithers of usefulness in each of them, on the whole they are investor bubbles, perpetuating themselves through false hype.

Companies obsess over share prices, so we end up with this nonsense.

Trump wants to turn it on again with 'Genesis Mission' for AI in science

Re: Trump IQ versus AI IQ?

Why don't you believe the view that Russia will attack Europe further? He already is, with attacks on Poland being the latest hybrid warfare attacks.

Not to mention, to ignore Russia's history would be naive. They have attacked Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Chechnya etc... all in the last 30 or so years.

The idea that Putin will just go home, shutting down the massive military-industrial complex he has built? Seems strange to me.

But, then, you reveal yourself for the nonsense about "persecution" of pro-Russian Ukrainians.

UK tribunal says reselling Microsoft licenses is A-OK

Re: Common sense prevails?

Wifi options I've seen myself were Intel Wifi 6 or 7, then an option without bluetooth and a couple of models of an alternative make of wifi card.

Your experience does not match mine.

Your comment about prebuilt machines is likely true for bulk devices for consumers. But, it is not the case for where the majority of devices are sold - to corporations.

Re: Common sense prevails?

Only problem is, that's not how computers are made/shipped.

Companies like Dell do not keep large piles of laptops with their spec pre-made sat in warehouses. They have the chassis, and add the components based on the required specification. Its the only way to provide such variety when you look on their site. A single model can have 8 different CPU options, 12 different memory options, 10 SSD options, 5 Wifi options, 10 screen options, etc... So, for a single model, you end up with a huge number of permutations.

Its why, when I order 100 devices, they take a week to be dispatched.

So, shipping a device with something left out? Is a reduction in manufacturing effort and cost.

Re: Common sense prevails?

For home gear, it is definitely pricey. But for a business? It is very cost effective. I'm rolling it out at my current place and the price difference is significant. Like 1/10th the price of going for Aruba or Cisco. Even more attractive now you can buy enterprise support and extended warranties as well.

Developer battled to write his own documentation, but lost the boss fight

Re: Hmm

Changing highly technical content into "more readable English" is a very poor way of handling the issue though. What actually needs to happen is the users need to be at a skill level to understand the technical content in the first place.

If someone isn't skilled enough to understand the technical content, why would they be using a system?

All this way of writing documentation does is increase support requests for missing information.

Big Tech's control freak era is breaking itself apart

Re: Microsoft, Amazon and Google are complicit in advancing Trump's agenda

You fundamentally misunderstand how the ICC works. Just like any court, a warrant is only issued if there is suitable evidence. The level required for that is determined in international law. Once a prosecutor thinks they have a case, they must provide it to a panel of judges who will determine if there's sufficient grounds in law to issue that arrest warrant, and for a prosecution to actually take place.

It isn't political. It isn't in any way an odd system. It is a normal justice system.

Your silly example is nonsense.

Re: Experts have always known and were ignored, as usual

You'd be an incredibly poor leader then. You hired someone to engage in infosec and compliance, and would fire them for not doing something that is not their job?

Accepting a risk is not a valid response when the risk is related to non-compliance with either a legally binding or contractually binding obligation on the organisation. Anyone who thinks it is, should themselves be fired.

Deploying to Amazon's cloud is a pain in the AWS younger devs won't tolerate

Which is orders of magnitude less complex, you have to admit?

Pentagon decrees warfighters don't need 'frequent' cybersecurity training

Re: Very strange

You contradict yourself. If troops are unable to move past a line due to these tools, denying them territory, then by literal definition, they are holding that territory.

Kicked from RubyGems, maintainers forge new home at Gem Cooperative

Re: The woke mob

You've proven, by posting this evidence, that you don't actually understand what is being published. You conflate cause and effect, correlation and causation. Did you know that for the longest time, there were no "left handed" Catholic children? Amazing right? If you ignore the actual meaning of that statement, you draw conclusions like you have with ASD and trans people.

Re: The woke mob

We have pride in our nationality and history, there's all sorts of great things about Britain, from cheese rolling to cider to theatre, our compassion and care for others etc... However, to ignore our negative history and behaviour as a country (colonialism, slavery, sexism, widespread asset stripping of other countries, the millions we as a country have caused the deaths of) is about as un-British as you can get. One of the things British people are known for is our saying sorry. Its part of our national identity to recognise mistakes and own up to them.

Your comments on primary education are ungrounded in reality - how about you actually look at the curriculum, and look at the resources used before basically parroting what right-wing American christian-nationalist groups state. Your comment about "kink" is nonsense. Schools teach about the dangers of things that children see online. The reality is that this stuff exists online, and to combat its prevalence in young people, schools are forced to teach that it is not acceptable, that consent matters, and what the law allows. All these things are done at age appropriate points throughout the child's growing up. No primary school is teaching its children about the things you list.

How about you put yourself through some child safeguarding training? Then you'll see the reality of why schools teach what they do. As, at the moment, you are clearly getting your "facts" from right wing rags.

Your comments about surgery are not even worth talking about - as they are as ignorant as they can possibly be.