* Posts by localzuk

1653 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Jul 2011

Microsoft, Google et al form club to push 25/50 Gbps Ethernet

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Why?

You should shop around a bit more if you pay £500 for a 10Gbit NIC. An Intel dual port 10GbE card costs £320 inc VAT. Shop around a bit and you could probably get it for less.

Patch looks like Microsoft FAIL, quacks like FAIL, is actually quite good

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Vista?

It only gets security updates now. It left mainstream support on April 10th 2012!

Adobe Creative Cloud 2014: Progress and pain in the usual places

localzuk Silver badge

Re: I need to get this to my client right away.

The link you just posted @PassiveSmoking contradicts your statement that "EVERYBODY'S copy of software" stops working. Only people who were not logged in, or those who updated during the outage, were denied access. Those of us who were logged in during the time were not denied anything. It carried on working just fine for me.

You're extrapolating one piece of downtime and declaring it reason not to use the software. Microsoft have regular license checking on Windows, complete with grace period when it fails, yet people no longer complain about that. Gmail has had downtime, yet people still use that - and many pay for it in businesses too.

Do those people who are so anti-subscription run their own mail servers, and use Linux too?

localzuk Silver badge

Re: I need to get this to my client right away.

There are *always* factors outside of your control which can prevent your being able to work. Thing is, if you're in a business environment using CC software, there's no reason you would be locked out of your software. Once you've logged in, there is a grace period of "up to one month + 99 days" for individual licenses, or "up to 2 months + 99 days" for team licenses bought through resellers. If you're using it so rarely that you don't use it within that period, then you are not really someone who screams "spend £600 a year" on software...

As I said, FUD. Fear, uncertainty and doubt, based on perceptions that make little sense.

localzuk Silver badge

Re: I need to get this to my client right away.

That is pretty much FUD.

I have been a subscriber to Adobe CC for almost a year now, and have never been denied access to the installed programs because of server downtime or new updates. Sure, this is theoretically possible, but so are many other things that don't happen all the time.

Microsoft challenges US gov over attempts to search overseas data

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Why Not

"Ah, but here we touch the rather insiduous part of US law, and the surrounding politics. First off, US law doesn't care one iota that it gets you in trouble abroad. As far as US law is concerned, the rest of the planet doesn't exit so making you do something that is a crime abroad is not their problem (Gitmo is a good example of "not on our soil" excuses, but I'm drifting off topic)."

Not completely true. The USA is a signatory to a long list of international treaties, which mean they have to respect the laws of other countries/areas, else those areas will themselves ignore the laws of the USA. International relations are a balancing act, and the USA knows this.

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Why Not

But the remote data centres aren't directly owned by Microsoft USA, they're owned and operated by a subsidiary, which is registered in the country where it exists usually. So, the USA has no direct oversight over that company. In fact, the local laws may specifically disallow such interference by the USA.

Revealed: GCHQ's beyond top secret Middle Eastern internet spy base

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Loyal Commenter

Forgot to mention, if you are referring to Section 5, it doesn't apply either, as it wasn't disclosed initially by a British Citizen or in the UK - it was disclosed by Snowden outside the UK, and the Reg is simply re-publishing what has already been disclosed.

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Loyal Commenter

Slight issue - the OSA only applies to "persons who, as the case may be, are or have been crown servants, government contractors, or members of the security and intelligence services".

So, unless The Reg works for the government, OSA doesn't apply...

US citizens want stricter CO2 regulations by two to one – Yale poll

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Yale Poll=Tainted Goods

@Big John - You just linked to a project page for a climate change communication project. Of course it has information about climate change and CO2 - they go hand in hand, and the evidence thus far has been providing evidence that supports the conclusion that climate change is happening. The consensus, no matter what the media manages to dig up, when you look at peer reviewed research, is pretty clear also.

So, the questions are based on the research that has been undertaken. Which makes sense.

You seem to be under the impression that bias means presenting an equal amount of coverage to both sides of this argument. If we apply that same thinking, when the media does a report about the space station, they would also have to provide coverage of some lunatic who doesn't believe that it exists...

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Yale Poll=Tainted Goods

Do you think that a poll by Yale means a poll of Yale students and staff?

I read it as "a poll performed by Yale" which doesn't mean that...

Carry On YouView Regardless, BBC Trust tells the BBC

localzuk Silver badge

It isn't just available to those 2 companies' subscribers. It is also available to buy for a one off cost from many retailers, such as Tesco, Currys or Amazon...

localzuk Silver badge

Its a device that people will trust

Thing is, when you look at the rather large and confusing market of set top boxes and smart TVs, it is a device that has big British names attached to it. Names that many people know and trust. So, imagine you're someone who simply doesn't understand this stuff - there's plenty of them around. You go into a shop and you say you want to be able to watch iPlayer catch up on your TV. On the shelf in front of you is everything from Roku to NowTV, to new Smart TVs, and this Youview box.

The sales rep tells you about them and comes to the Youview box, telling you it was created by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, and its used by BT and Talk Talk. Simple sales tactic. It'll work.

Vodafone turns to EU, asks it to FORCE 'fair' fibre pricing

localzuk Silver badge

You're confusing 2 different things entirely. Vodafone are not talking about the FTTC/FTTP products that BT have invested in. No, they are talking about Leased Line fibre connectivity.

Thing is, with leased lines, they are expensive. The provider has to lay dedicated fibre from a POP to your premises - this means digging up roads etc... Not cheap at all.

So, I can understand the pricing that BT charges for this service. That said, there does need to be an element of absorption of costs for those areas like the one I'm in. To get a 1Gbps leased line from BT to my employer would cost us £37k+ a year. If I were in our nearest city, it'd drop down to £20k or less.

ARG! A GHOST SHIP! Pirates sunk by UK cops return from watery grave

localzuk Silver badge

Another strong arm tactic based on lack of knowledge

They're trying to force domain registrars to take down domain names because people host torrent sites, which host only links, and search aggregators (which don't even host links, they just, err, link to links).

I always thought we lived in a country bound by laws which are enforced via the courts. You know, the prosecutors present evidence gathered by the police, the defendants present their defence and the court makes a judgement based on that evidence and their reading of the relevant laws. When did it become OK for the evidence gathering agencies to start threatening defendants to do things?

Google: 'EVERYTHING at Google runs in a container'

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Ever talked to a Google employee?

I like how fact filled your comment is. Very informative!

Spotify boasts 10 million paying subscribers ... Um, is that all?

localzuk Silver badge

I pay the £10 a month

And think its worth every penny. I was rather disappointed when they stopped selling tracks too though.

Personally, I'd like them to integrate physical media sales and concert ticket sales into the program. So, when a band releases their new album, I can listen to it just fine but I also want to buy the special edition box set, and book a ticket for their new tour... At the moment, Spotify isn't my one stop shop for music.

EBay, you keep using the word 'SECURITY'. I do not think it means what you think it means

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Tried to change password ..

The 20 character limit is worrying. It screams "flawed reversible encryption" rather than salted hashes for passwords.

Gee thanks, Ofcom! BT 'pleased' to hang onto pricing 'freedom' for Openreach fibre product

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Not one to ask BUT

4g coverage is still very poor. 3g coverage isn't great either. Plus, the average user would gobble down the data in no time, so it'd cost them far more than a tenner a month.

Google staggers toward BEEELLION-dollar Twitch gobble - report

localzuk Silver badge

Re: God no...

@Buzzword - do you watch any sports? How does watching people use skills to compete in sports differ from watching people use skills to compete in video games?

localzuk Silver badge

Worrying

If they do this and keep it as its own thing, then that might work. Rolling it into Youtube would be terrible though, as the whole reason Twitch succeeded where so many haven't is the community. The best streams involve broadcasters who interact with the community. The moderators and admins are community members (eg. I'm a mod in a few channels). So, the site is mostly self-regulating.

Youtube simply does not have the same type of community in my experience. Its more about drive-by viewings than people consistently watching you every day.

Activist investors try forcing Google to pay more taxes

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Interesting

@codejunky - You earlier didn't include Education in the things you're happy to pay taxes for - saying that people think it is shoddily run. Therefore, I took that to mean that you don't think it should be government led.

Working in Education, I will say one thing - there is simply not enough money spent on it. The rationing of resources seriously holds back our children. Research shows that classes should not be larger than around 20 pupils, but most schools have classes of at least 30 in the UK. At one point, our school was stuck in a position where we had to have 34 pupils in a single class! Sure, the top level management of education is often questionable - eg. Free Schools spending, or the push for Academies in the UK, or the obsession with SATs test or the like, but the changes needed aren't in the schools themselves most of the time, they are simply a vote away from being changed.

Different levels of taxation wouldn't affect that.

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Already been shown to be a poor concept over the last 100+ years...

We did better when things were private? What, you mean when anyone without money didn't get an education (unless someone took pity on them)?

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Interesting

What is your suggestion for fixing education then? Eliminating public sector education? Already been shown to be a poor concept over the last 100+ years...

If I had enough money, extra tax *and* charity would go out. As I don't, I already pay some tax and therefore I give extra to charity as and when I can.

Careful financial planning will leave no debts and no cost for funeral... Doesn't mean I have to hoard anything.

Greece had a bit of a different problem - they had a *huge* black market of people not paying taxes... Same in Cyprus.

Activists telling Google to pay their fair share - which means not creating weird tax structures with subsidiaries with the sole purpose of avoiding taxation. Activists telling Google to comply with the will of the democratically elected government.

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Interesting

@codejunky

Every organisation has inefficiencies. They are part of life, as they are ran by us, fallible humans. Am I happy to pay for all the services I and others use? Absolutely. Am I thrilled by the waste? No, but I do have faith that the actual purpose of the organisation will happen. Its not perfect, but its pretty good...

Working in a school, I will say that I agree that education is currently not running in the best fashion, but you know what? It isn't the end of the world. A different government will come in at some point and change things again.

Government bodies don't "spend every penny to demand more the next year". They spend every penny to do the most they can with it. In this school, we spend every penny absolutely. We spend it on educating our kids the best we can, to provide the best resources we can, and to get the best staff we can. Should we be leaving some at the end for some reason?

Voluntary tax payment is a nice concept, but I can't currently afford to, I don't get paid enough. If I do have spare, I generally give it to charities though.

Currently? I don't have children. If I did have children, I would expect them to learn about working hard and earning their own way. I would not be putting my wealth aside for them to live a fancy life when I die - there's better uses for it than that. Can I rely on the state to care for me? If I get to a state where I have no job, I have options, based on my willingness to work. I'd move to wherever there was a job. But yes, I would hope the state would support me enough to feed and house me until I found that job.

Common sense in this case doesn't seem to be very common... We decide upon our spending in this country (UK) by voting for people. If we don't like things they do, we vote for someone else...

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Interesting

@codejunky - you're still seeing taxation as a burden though. It isn't a burden, it is a responsibility and should actually be a point of pride to be honest. If I were rich, I would be doing as much as I could to give as much back to society as possible - be it through taxes or charity. But then, maybe that's just my way of thinking. I see hoarding of money and possessions as an entirely pointless endeavour...

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Interesting

Your argument seems to imply that paying taxes is a burden on the wealthy, but ignores the fact that they wouldn't be wealthy without taxation, as universal education wouldn't exist, the infrastructure that they use to ship products wouldn't exist, etc...

Job for IT generalist ...

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Public Sector Potential

Totally agree. IT generalists rule in the education space (not including further education - ie. University). Schools and districts cannot afford to hire in specialists but they still need enterprise class systems.

Problem is, at least in the UK, pay is appalling. Looking at my own role, managing 300+ workstations, a fleet of printers, 25 virtual servers on an enterprise class server setup, a voip phone system, firewall, network switching and routing, school information system, and a plethora of specialist software systems, along with running bespoke inhouse software, plus line managing a technician also, and the £26k I get seems rather low. I could get more if I shopped around - probably up to £35k in an academy chain but that's about it.

The other disadvantage is lack of continuing professional development and career progression. It isn't unheard of for a school's support staff training budget for a year (to cover all non-teachers) to be below £1000. Once you're the Network Manager, you're somewhat stuck - you'll more than likely not be able to enter the senior leadership team as you have no teaching experience too...

Maybe I should be looking at the USA myself!!

Graphics pros left hanging as Adobe Creative Cloud outage nears 24 hours

localzuk Silver badge

Re: What?

I love OSS, but there simply aren't equivalents to Adobe's software. Photoshop runs circles around the competition. InDesign is better than anything else I've used. Illustrator same. Adobe Edge Animate? Excellent.

The only one that I'd question the need of is Dreamweaver, but then I do more web coding than design, so Notepad++ suits just as well for me. Or Vim.

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Why not have a short grace period for licenses?

They do have a grace period - 30 days.

The service that is down here is the cloud aspect, ie. syncing files and the like. People can still use their applications (I've been using them fine).

ULA says to blame SpaceX for Russian rocket rebuff

localzuk Silver badge

Nothing to do with the heightened tensions then?

Its all SpaceX's fault for wanting a fair market and for the US government not to break its own sanctions against Russia. Definitely not the fault of the increased tensions over Ukraine... Nope.

Watch the left hand, watch the left hand *right hand stabs someone* watch the left hand...

Apple poaches Nokia photo guru Ari Partinen from Microsoft

localzuk Silver badge

The average score is not really that helpful.

DxOMark gave the Nokia 808 a score of 81 for photo ability, but the Apple 5S received a 78. So, that's a bit of a drop. However, if you want to take video with it, the score for the 808 drops to 68 whilst Apple's only drops to 72.

So, it looks like Nokia have focussed their development work on Photo rather than video. Apple have done a bit more video work.

Oh Sony. Have we learned NOTHING from SuperAIT?

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Release it asap

Really? I think most financial analysts would disagree with you there. They might not exist in their exact current form, but they won't disappear. Their technology certainly won't disappear. This sort of technology could easily be farmed off into its own company...

Not to mention the fact that the company has 14tn Yen in assets. Around 10tn of that being physical or investment assets, rather than intangibles or good will. That's $136bn/$97bn. A fair amount they can work with to restructure... Even if they simply absorbed the losses and sold off assets, they could exist for decades yet.

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Release it asap

I don't see why they couldn't provide all that. With this sort of product, you build the support around your target market. If you're creating a 185TB tape, then you'd obviously be aiming at big data - your CERNs and Facebooks of the world. Therefore, you realise they want 4 hour repair/replace on drives/libraries. They want tapes to last X number of uses. They want support to be available for however many years etc...

If Sony were to release such a product and *not* provide this support, then they'd deserve to fail!

localzuk Silver badge

Release it asap

The only way they could succeed against LTO is to release that 185TB tape well before everyone else does a similar size. If they could get it to market while LTO is still peddling 2.5/5/10TB raw data tapes, then companies will eat it up. They'd obviously have to price it at a sensible price also (something that Sony has historically had a problem doing), but they could definitely capture the market.

The verdict is in: Samsung to pay Apple $120m chump change, but gets tiny rebate

localzuk Silver badge

Re: The entire patent system in the USA is nonsense

Whatever the system, it is broken. That's my point. If the USPTO isn't doing a proper search for prior art, then US patents aren't worth the paper they're written on.

It should be simple. If you invent something, and by invent I mean are the first person to come up with the idea of how to do something unique and innovative (not swipe to unlock), then you should be able to get a patent. In order to get that patent, a thorough search should be performed - at the claimant's cost. Just like if you go and buy a building, or whatever - the cost of doing it is entirely up to you as the buyer.

localzuk Silver badge

The entire patent system in the USA is nonsense

Nearly every case I've seen in the last few years, relating to Apple, Samsung, Nokia or whoever else in this patent fighting party, seems to be frivolous and shouldn't have been brought. The reason being that the patents in question nearly always have at least one of these flaws:

1. Obvious and not innovative

2. Prior art exists before the patent was logged

The only cases that seem to have any merit are those regarding licensing of FRAND patents, and those are about things fundamental to the operation of phones using standards.

What we seem to be seeing though is that those foreign companies that hold FRAND patents seem to be treated like crap by the US justice system, and those who hold crappy "slide to unlock" patents get handed huge amounts of money. Those foreign companies aren't able to block sale of US produced goods, but US companies are able to block import of foreign devices.

The entire US system is flawed from a perspective of protectionism, from a faulty patent system and from a judicial system that seems unable to understand even the simplest of technologies.

Sony nanotechnicians invent magnetic tape that stores 148 Gb per square inch

localzuk Silver badge

Commercial product?

I wonder if they'll release it as a commercial product at that density though? Or will they play the usual "gradual increment" game. Eg. Release a 20TB tape, so they'll be the market leader, then release a 40TB one a year later, etc... So, they stay ahead of the curve, but can continue to milk the market for money by artificial scarcity...

Microsoft: The MORE Surfaces it sells, the MORE money it loses

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Lose a little on each one...

It is the same business plan as that used for entering the game console market - and it worked very well for them there!

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Ah Gavin,

@Tom Maddox - you may want to go and do a bit of reading elsewhere. Microsoft made a net profit of $5.66bn last quarter. This article is discussing its Surface sales only. The idea that Surface could eat up their entire profits is hilarious quite frankly.

I'm not a fanboy either. I hate many aspects of Microsoft's products (as a quick look at my many ramblings online will happily confirm). However, I am a big fan of the Surface Pro line, as it is a great form factor in the education market (where I work).

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Ah Gavin,

Its funny that people focus on a single product line and say "see, it lost money". People don't do that with other retail outlets where loss-leaders are commonplace.

The thing about the Surface range is that they are the gateway to an ecosystem that Microsoft is attempting to create. They are trying to build a world around their app store, music store and the like. That's where the real money is - software. Just like Google and their Android OS. It gets people to use their app store, it gets people to use their search tools, their email system etc...

My view has always been that Microsoft have been going about their Surface 'world' wrongly. The devices should be cheap. So cheap that its silly not to buy them. There should be very nice incentives for developers to get onto the platform too. That way, Microsoft can make the money where it matters - their core business of software and services.

So! Long may the Surface lose money for Microsoft. And hopefully, long may its app store make it plenty instead.

Microsoft to spend $1.1bn to build Iowa data center

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Creating jobs

Yeah, you're looking at it from a "they're getting a discount" angle, rather than a "they will be a new employer in the area" angle.

What you've got now is 85 jobs that don't exist. What you'll have in the end is 85 new jobs. At the moment, they're getting zero taxes from Microsoft. Afterwards, they'll be getting $8m a year in taxes.

Not to mention, Microsoft aren't spending $1.1bn to make 85 jobs. They're spending $1.1bn to make a giant data centre for their business needs. It isn't $13m per job created. It is a lot less than that.

localzuk Silver badge

Golf courses

How many golf courses does that area need?! I count at least 4 within a couple of miles of each other!

Next Windows obsolescence panic is 450 days from … NOW!

localzuk Silver badge

Virtualisation

Many organisations will have migrated away from 2003/2003 R2 already as part of larger virtualisation schemes, as hardware consolidation became a big thing after 2003 appeared.

I know my setup is pretty small, but if you look at it as an example, we migrated from 12 2003 R2 boxes to 2 2012 servers last year. Sure, there was a bit of fiddling in between with a couple of 2008 R2 boxes around, but the bulk of the migration was 2003->2012.

Many organisations that I know of dived in earlier than we did too, and went from 2003 on lots of physical severs to 2008 or 2008 R2 on a much smaller hardware estate.

So, I doubt there's *that* many 2003 era servers still running to be honest.

Sorry London, Europe's top tech city is Munich

localzuk Silver badge

Re: @ Don Jefe

Seems some of the people commenting are still mixing up a decline in manufacturing with a reduction in manufacturing employees. We manufacture more now than ever before. We build more cars here now than every before. Sure, the companies aren't UK owned any more but we still do the work.

Also, @Don Jefe - your anecdote about not being able to buy advanced manufacturing equipment from the UK makes no sense, in a wider look at the sector as a whole. The UK also doesn't manufacture cheap t-shirts. So what? We do manufacture many other things. We manufacture heavy plant machinery (a heck of a lot of it) for example. We manufacture satellites! We manufacture nuclear reactors! Boilers. Cars. Pharmaceuticals. Aircraft parts. The list goes on...

Over half of software developers think they'll be millionaires – study

localzuk Silver badge

Make a difference? Sure. Become a millionaire? Probably not

I definitely agree that I feel I can change the business practices of my organisation, and already have, many times, saving quite significant chunks of money. I also believe that if I try, I could expand some of that outside of my individual organisation and improve other similar organisations. (I work in a non-profit sector).

However, I doubt it'd earn me enough to become a millionaire. I wouldn't complain if I did though.

Apple has THREE TIMES as much cash as US govt, TWICE the UK

localzuk Silver badge

Waiting for the corporate bailout

When the corporations bail out the government and take over... Then we only have to wait a few decades until time travel comes in handball form...

Apple to flush '£37bn' down the bog if it doesn't flog cheapo slabtops

localzuk Silver badge

Re: Why would they do this?

That's not how their business model works though - they don't make devices and sell them at cost + a fixed profit margin. No, they sell them at whatever price they want to sell them at, with their brand accounting for a nice chunk of the price.

So, they'd have to actually devalue their existing markets in order to create any value in a new market.

It wouldn't make any sense.

localzuk Silver badge

Why would they do this?

Why would Apple do this? Their entire business model is to get you to buy into the Apple ecosystem. Having a device that behaves as a tablet and a laptop would mean they lose sales in both their tablet and laptop divisions. Why sell a single $1000 device, when they can sell 2 devices for $1600?

Not to mention, I simply can't see a 'pretty' way to produce such a hybrid device. Sure the Surface looks good, in an industrial kinda way, but Apple devices are a head and shoulders ahead in terms of looks. Apple won't go producing some ugly mongrel.

Not sure about the CPU talk though. It really depends if they want to upset their developers again.

Microsoft crows about 149k-seat Office 365 deal that costs it MILLIONS

localzuk Silver badge

Those prices?

Highly unlikely they are paying those prices for the service. Large customers get a better deal.