Posts by feanor

Tech that we want (but they never seem to give us)

I'd like broadband internet access. Of course it's just a CRAZY dream, but there you go you did ask.

Microsoft issues less-than-helpful tips to XP holdouts

Re: It depends on the distro...

You not understanding a very simple thing like a software centre is not a Linux problem. It couldn't be simpler really.

Re: It depends on the distro...

Quite right. You need to keep Windows as it is the game manufacturers favoured platform at present. Still says it all when the only thing Windows is kept for is a games machine....

My work-from-home setup's better than the office. It's GLORIOUS

Without trying to sound funny, it's amazing how the people who don't need the latest shiny kit always seem to have budget for it. i.e execs. managers and the bloody IT department. They're nothing more than glorified administrators and yet they always have the flashiest kit while the people who actually need the power get the ancient old crap. Funny how the people controlling the budget always seem to justify the toys for themslves....

Re: I can rotate my widescreen TFT into portrait mode

This is nothing to do with the fact that iPads and Tablets have accelerometers in them and monitors don't, obviously.........

Indonesia plans 10 Gbps FTTP as part of 20-million-premises broadband project

Meanwhile in the UK promises to get 95% of the country onto at least 2MB by 2015. The Uk, first world country - third world infrastructure. What a laughing stock we are to the rest of the world, thanks BT.

Distro diaspora: Four flavours of Ubuntu unpacked

Re: Mint not to my taste, but..

"because it is a lot like WindowsXP"

Errrr, eh? How do you work that out?

Another vote for Cinammon

Have recenty started using Mint/Cinammon. Couldn't use it for a long time because of AMD/ATI driver issues so used Mate which was stilll a million times better than Unity.On my new Intel graphics powered laptop Cinammon works a treat, and it's my favourite desktop yet.

Dell thuds down low-cost lap workstation for cheap frugal creatives or engineers

Re: What's the point?

Yeah, you need to be careful of HP laptops. They've had a lot of problems with fracturing on their BGAs.I know this is generally a problem with BGAs but HP seem to be particularly unreliable. My brother is making a fair bit of money reflowing HP laptops that are barely out of warrenty.

Microsoft to get in XP users' faces with one last warning

Re: End of support, not end of life!

Remind me, how much does it cost each time to upgrade your linux distro of choice. Oh yes, nothing.

What you beleive is irrelevant - In place upgrade is perfectly possible, I've done this lots of times, but hey don't let lack of knowledge prevent you from spreading fud.

Re: so... friends and relatives...

Mint. with the Cinnamon desktop. 8.1 lasted approximately 10 minutes on my new laptop before I got ticked off with it and installed Mint straight over the top.

The thought of never paying MS another penny is oddly pleasing.

Got 4G? Wake up, grandad. We're doing 4.5G LTE-A in London - EE chief

Hang on, I haven't got 3G yet!

German freemail firms defend AdBlock-nobbling campaign

Re: Because we all need more of this:

Can you beleive that anyone is stupid enough to click on these things?

We block it because we have to.

The problem here is not advertising per-se, its the fact that pages are covered in high bandwidth animated advertising that makes web pages unusable for a large proportion of internet users. I have to block it or pages take forever to load or timeout.

As for security, you open up a web page and it sprays http ad connections in all directions, connecting you to who knows where pulling down who knows what to your browser cache - theres your security issue right there.

If the advertising were low bandwidth and only connected to trusted sources I'd allow it. As it is, not a chance.

Stuff the delays! PM chuffed to have BT's superfast broadband in his constituency

BT is making our country the laughing stock of the technologicaly developed world. Third world countries are overtaking us in broadband provision while here we sit in the 1980s courtesy of BTs monopoly.

Re: Are you commercially viable?

BT and no competition here. Same response as you. P[$$ off bumpkin, you're not worth our time.

BBC, ITV gang up on YouView with 'FreeView Connect'

Oh good. Yet another TV service I can't use due to the shit state of what is laughably described as "broadband" in this country.

Android, Chromebooks storm channel as Windows PC sales go flat

Re: I don't get it

"They care only about having a job done the best and fastest way,.."

You forgot "most cost effective".

Linux does everything I need it to. It doesn't cost me anything. Thats pretty cost effective. When I discover a computing need it doesn't satisfy I may change my assesment. I don't understand why you want me to pay for something I can get for free just to affirm your ideology.

My problem with Apple is not the OS or the hardware, its all good (as it should be at those prices), but the fact that Apple won't let me do whatever I like with a product I've paid (quite a lot) for. It's a lock-in mentality that I, as a techy, find restricting and distateful. But if you can do everything you need to do without leaving your walled garden then more power to you. And if you can afford it of course.

My problem with MS is that I've spent decades struggling with their sub-standard products that they got away with foisting on a captive market (captured by many and varied rather dubuous business practices) who had little choice but to bend over for it.

In comparison, Linux is a breath of fresh air. Free fresh air.

I'd suggest you educate yourself a bit, before spouting tired old MS propaganda from the 1990s.

P.S. Yes I use it for business. I have it on a laptop, two desktops and a server. I've used it for over a decade now. I've never compiled a kernel for any of them at any time.

Re: I don't get it

"..and moreover want source code because Stalmman has said it has to be that way.. "

Oh dear, as a bit of friendly advice can I suggest you go and do some reading up on Open Source as a development model before you make yourself look even more stupid that you just did?

Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

It's on mine.

Re: So "The Year of Linux on the Desktop"...

And Linux on virtually all of the top 500 Supercomputers, Linux in Vehicle ECU's, Linux in the TiVo sets, Linux in Tablets, Linux in Smartwatches, Linux in ADSL Routers and Wireless Access Points, Linux in NASs, Linux in Satellites, Linux in Linux in etc, etc, etc

Linux is everywhere, in all the devices we all depend on, because it is affordable, stable, reliable, customisable, optimizable, maintainable, secure, and it is all of these things because it is Open.

However because it has not yet broken into the desktop market (where brand loyalty, blind inertia and picking the devil you know are massive factors) apparently it is rubbish and a failure.

Go figure.

Re: Sigh

Yeah, I keep telling my neighbour that his Golf GTI performs so poorly, its a hunk of junk that he should just get crushed right now. Then he can buy something decent like my Ferrari.

</Sarcasm>

See the thing is, these things only have to perform well enough to fulfill their stated purpose. And they clearly do. So while you may be able to afford the latest super duper turbo iPad

to dismiss all these other products because they don't perform like yours is frankly the abject stupidity of someone with more money than sense.

Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

Oh dear. You apparently know nothing about rural broadband then.

Can't wait for 4G? Take heart, 5G is on the way

Awesome, hopefully by the time they are talking about 57G my 3G signal might finally become usable....

MPs slam bumpkin fibre rollout, demand halt to further £250m cash spaff

So BT refuse to rollout fibre to large parts of the country on the basis that it is "not financially" viable. OK, even though they are and have made great efforts (some dodgy) to stay a monopoly, fair enough I suppose.

So the government hands over vast amounts of cash to provide for these non-viable area's, and BT STILL cherry picks where it wants to install, STILL ignores the difficult area's, and will STILL rake in profits from the new infrastructure that John Q Taxpayer is paying for!

Guess who's going to give Cameron a nice non-exec position when he leaves office?

'Silent' staff stood by as £100m BBC IT project tanked – DG

Re: That's going to lave a mark -- not.

It's standard practice in business.

The O2 4G Lottery: Are YOU in one of the three LUCKY cities?

1. Is anyone naive enought to think that 4G coverage will be any better than 3G, which is pretty appaling.

2. The problem with 3G, when you get a signal, isn't the bandwidth of 3G, its the hideously underspec'd uplinks. And a 4G final mile will not improve that at all.

So basically, meh.

Microsoft Surface sales numbers revealed as SHOCKINGLY HIDEOUS

Re: Boondongle

Then I definitely don't want it. Outlook: the application that should have been strangled at birth.

Re: Meanwhile...

It's on mine.

The basic problem is that Microsoft has spent its time releasing mediocre ( sometimes just crap) products into a market it had, by fair means or foul, captured decades ago.

It then releases a mediocre product into a competitive market place and arrogantly assumed that the drones would shell out for it in their millions without including brain in the process. It works for Windows! They just don't understand it.....

BT slammed for FAILING to explain why its broadband investment has shrunk

Re: Live in sticks

I was alive back then, and I am getting worse service now. I can think of no scarier prospect than BT remaining a monopoly.

Broadband rivals 'pleased' over Ofcom's market shake-up plans. Maybe too pleased

"isn't it a free market?"

How exaxtly do you equate a monopoly carrier that is so huge the government can't let it go under (a la UK banking) with a free market?

What bloody free market?

Thank you! Bloody right. Why don't ofcom pull their finger out and do something about the people who have NO servcie whatsoever? Useless tossers.

SURPRISE! BT bags more gov broadband cash - this time in Bucks & Herts

Re: Here we go again....

would you really want to go back to a BT only world?

WAKE UP!! That's where most of the country lives! If not the majority of the population, certainly the majority of the geography. Just because you've been spoiled, don't think your experience is universal, or even average.

The problem is exactly privatisation. As a public body BT had a responsibility to provide universal access. If you wanted service you got it, however inefficiently.

As a private company BT's only responsibility is to its profits, which pretty much guarantee's its current behaviour.

Here we go again....

So once again BT will pocket the cash, cherry pick the easy wins, say screw the rest, leave a large chunk of the population left with proportionately even less service, continue to charge us through the nose for the crap that we get, continue their monopolistic behaviour and continue to make vast profits. All the while the government, ofcom, the monopolies commission etc look benignly on like the bunch of well bribed officials that they are.

Given that these "contracts" are paid for by the tax payer, and I'm a tax payer, I'd like to know what my money gets me? Absolutely f^&k all is what. A piece of tatty aluminium providing what is at best a two decades old service.

Well done everyone. Privatisation of national infrastructure, what a fantastic idea.....

UK superfast broadband crew: EC competition bods are holding us up

Re: What has the EU do do with it anyway?

"a British service available only to some of the people who live in Britain. "

Re: Only three infrastructure providers in the UK

I agree with your logic, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating for those of us whom BT simply refuses to provide a service to.

This is supposed to be critical national infrastructure, more and more council and government services are being moved online, BT has the advantage of being a monopoly that is fully protected against failure by the Government (no way can BT be allowed to go under) and yet at a whim they can deny anyone access to this national infrastructure.

There is no responsibility on them to provide universal access, and that is ridiculous.

What's big, rich and goes down on you in every department? BT

Re: Easy answer?

I think you'll find its the accountants and the execs who gets obscene bonuses who are driving the policy of running the old copper network into the ground. R&D have done a fine job of producing a product, the rest of the company just refuses to make it available because that would hit short term profits. Best to eke every last ounce of profit out of the old crumbling system. Why not if you are a monopoly - the majority of the population has no choice but to use it?

BYOD: Bring Your Own Device - or Bring Your Own Disaster?

The main driver for me would be to have a machine that is actually powerfull enough for me to do my job with, unlike the laughable pocket calculator some desk pilot IT idiot thinks is suitable.

I could run a corporate image as a VM on my three year old laptop and it would STILL be 10 times as fast as the POS I'm lumbered with!

4G in the UK? Why the smart money still says 'Meh'

If 4G coverage goes the way of 3G then its going to become usable for me in about 2020. Whats the point?

Why you need a home lab to keep your job

Re: re: and best keep professional relationships professional.

"It's so rare to meet a contractor who doesn't think they are "better" than permanent staff because of how they choose to work."

I'm a contractor. I've got to say though that a greater proportion of the contractors that I meet are shite than the permies. They bullshit their way into contracts and by the time everyone realises they're shite they've got 3 months money in their pocket.

IT and Networking has a high proportion of busllshit merchants.

Re: Lucky?

+1 for Synergy. Its a superb bit of kit. Not the most intuitive to setup, but not really that hard. Free, Open Source and cross-platform. I mean what else do you want?

Microsoft Surface Pro launch: It's easy to sell out of sod all stock

Re: Holy cow get a life!

@ meanioni

"all from evil megacorps"

I'm fascinated, which evil megacorp is Linux from then? And when will they be knocking on my door demanding payment for their product?

BYOD is a PITA: Employee devices cost firms £61 a month

Re: What happend to the company providing kit to do their dirty work with?

With BYOD this could have all sorts of implications for other workers.

That is a fair point. It would be so much better if the IT guys just stopped keeping the good shit for themselves.

Re: What happend to the company providing kit to do their dirty work with?

"Either they wanted to show off their new shiny in the office or they wanted the office to buy their new shiny for them."

No, what we want is a machine that is spec'd to allow us to actually do our jobs. Without crashing, without the sync hanging, without the hard-disk paging constantly etc etc.

The problem with IT is they spec themselve the latest and greatest kit blowing all the budget on themselves, then foist junk onto everyone else, as if it wasn't everyone else that kept them in a job!

Re: What happend to the company providing kit to do their dirty work with?

@ Jason 7,

Every single member of the department I am currently contracting in owns a laptop that is at least twice as well spec's as the Toys R Us "my first computer"s that the IT bods allow us. Mine must be 4 times as good and mines isn't even the best!

Re: What happend to the company providing kit to do their dirty work with?

Mmmmm, the downside to this is that you get supplied the cheapest crap possible with which to do your work. It will be slow, so loaded down with "management" services that you can just about run notepad if your lucky, takes an age to boot, is tied to the network with some desperately unreliable synchronization software that means you have to reboot your hideously slow to boot POC just to get undocked.

All the while the IT desk pilots have supplied themselves with the latest all singing all dancing hardware because they have spreadsheets to full in.

I'd pay to use my own laptop just to remove the stress related to struggling along with a POC laptop. I could run a corporate image as a VM and it would still be twice as fast as the poxy abacus they gave me.

I'm field based and work mostly on customer sites and this is universal in my experience. IT bods and managers get the decent kit because they don't need it. Power users get crap.

Multi-billion Euro broadband fund obliterated by EU budget cut

Re: HS2?

Because its a vanity project, a distraction from the fact that the rest of the network is rotting away. They can't afford not to do it because its the only evidence they are doing anything constructive about the problem at all.

BT to end traffic throttling - claims capacity is FAT

Re: For all the bitching and whining at BT...

Not around my way they're not.

Re: Welcome to this century, BT

We'll not have any of your foreign type competion here! This is a local country, for local people! I'll have you know that we jolly well enjoy being shafted by our monopoly communications provider, it's the British way dontcher know. Must protect the precious things of the telecoms network.....