Posts by Doctor Syntax

The plan for Linux after Torvalds has a kernel of truth: There isn’t one

That makes a nice change from you telling us it's all put together by amateurs.

If you can just get over the notion implicit in the last line that that's what the rest of us were thinking...

When I got to that line I knew I didn't need to read any further.

Microsoft wares may be UK public sector's only viable option

Re: For f*--sake

"These idiots of all parties will bankrupt this country becaus they really don't understand the details."

If we were at that stage we'd be making progress. Right now they don't seem to understand the basics.

You're near retirement. So if the top team at wherever you work, public or private, look what happened to organisations as diverse as the BL and M&S start asking what alternatives you have, will that be your answer?

Re: Knocking the government for doing the same as everyone else

400-500 people constitute a herd, following each other. In fact the basic argument seems to be that if everyone else is going along the same route it must be right. In fact it puts everyone into a dangerous situation, not particularly because it's Microsoft, Oracle or whatever but simply because of a monoculture.

Even with simple things such as so-ans-so's cloud going TITSUP for a few hours that's maybe entire organisations - and many organisations - with staff sitting idle or trying to revert to manual operations. How many organisations were temporarily flattened by Crowdstrike and that was only an add-on to the main platform.

If there is a vulnerability that gets exploited the damage isn't going to be a few hours, it's going to be months.

That applies whether it's proprietary S/W or FOSS. It's the over-dependence on a single platform that's the risk. Proprietary does, however, carry the additional risk that we now realise proprietary software coming from a single country could carry a political risk.

Even if the latter is improbably it's likely to be the one tat actually wake politicians up. There are an awful lot of Creese's "public sector business leaders" who are going to be left floundering if their political masters start asking about their plan B as are a lot of their private sector equivalents if their boards start to look around. And where that question gets passed onto them there are quite a few folks here who would be equally flummoxed.

Re: I read this as propaganda

Stockholm syndrome at its finest.

"But it should be limited and controlled, not led by the technologists, but by public sector business leaders, accountable for and able to demonstrate return on investment, benefits realization, and UK public value for money."

Good idea. When are they going to be recruited. Actually, maybe not even a good idea because the usual complaint about business leaders in general is that they're likely to be technologically clueless and apt to believe anything the salesman tells them.

Re: Don't forget UK-specific training benefits

"*their* engineers tend to be in Redmond."

Are they? Not in India?

"Open source also comes with a range of less measurable costs – training, over-engineering, reliability, security maintenance, data interchange and interface complexity."

As opposed to assuming staff will just "know" Office etc* and be able to stumble along with Microsoft's next changes, under-engineering, MS <365, patch Tuesdays, proprietary "standards" and complexity**.

I think you make a convincing case for preferring FOSS to Microsoft.

If this Microsoft is the only viable option for public sector it is an excoriating condemnation of the public sector.

* Training costs saved here will become evident in CCed confidential data, Excel misused as a database with row limits overlooked and numerous other public sector ballsups traced back to lack of training.

** See stumbling along with Microsoft's next changes.

MS confidence in Windows 11: Pay us to host VMs for when your desktop inevitably dies

"MS confidence in Windows 11: Pay us"

The headline could have stopped right there. That's Microsoft's entire interest in the matter.

Chap found chunks of an asteroid older than Earth in his suburban living room

Re: Just curious

If it is it seems to be an odd use of "literal" by today's standards..

The White House could end UK's decade-long fight to bust encryption

They'd have their own E2EE. MP's wouldn't but, because at least one of their number in a chat group would always end up blabbing to a journalist if not posting direct on their own website, they probably don't realise confidential communication is a thing.

Re: What common sense could not achieve

Right outcome, wrong reasoning. I suppose by law of averages he's going to get something right given the number of attempts he makes.

Re: CSS

Any successful TLA must have at least two meanings.

That was the point. If they can't eve get to commission a PoC they might possibly start to wonder if it's really feasible.

Re: CSS

Would you be allowed root-level access any more?

I suppose that now we're just a small offshore island nation he doesn't have much choice.

"The Home Office's official lines on encryption are confused. It says it has no intention of compelling messaging platforms to break encryption, but also demands they implement safety features to help detect criminal activity."

If the Home Office believes this is possible all it has to do to persuade the rest of us is to produce a proof of concept that withstands proper expert dissection. If it lacks the ability to do so itself it could commission it, preferably under terms where most of the payment is made when the experts agree it really works.

Debian 13 'Trixie' arrives: x86-32 and MIPS out, RISC-V in

"Trixie complained about missing firmware, but even so, successfully brought up a Wi-Fi connection and installed fine."

It's done this for at least one and possibly more previous releases.

Colo operators flock to emerging markets to build DCs

"Earlier this year, The Register reported that the North American colocation market was struggling with unprecedented occupancy rates and difficulties in building new facilities, which might explain some of the growth in less-crowded regions."

And then there's imported duty on what they need to kit them out. Isn't North Virginia within easy foot-shooting range of Washington?

Defra doubles contract value for cloud and DC services

Farming's not really important in Whitehall. It's something that happens outside the North & South circulars. Even outside the M25

UK.gov's nuclear strategy is 'slow, inefficient, and costly'

Re: Industrial-Educational Policy Needed

Shouldn't have stopped taking the tablets.

News from a possible future: ‘Rampant jellyfish cause AI outage by taking datacenter offline'

Re: Farsands of em

Came here to say the same thing.

Wikimedia Foundation loses first court battle to swerve Online Safety Act regulation

Re: Wikipedia is used by every UK kid and teenager doing their homework.

"And by the rest of the country in their work. "

If they make Wilipedia Category 1 the consequent backlash may be sufficient to kill the whole thing.

"It's less sane than Brexit"

I'm not sure I'd go that far. Brexit was to get away from adult supervision and allow this sort of thing.

"Farage may as well start picking out wallpaper for No. 10."

That would be even less sane.

Re: This is bad.

They are the Continuity With The Last Time They Were In Party. Their failure then to reintroduce Identity cards was not for want of trying.

Re: This is bad.

"Most hoped that the new Labour government would mean a change in direction for the country and give us back some of the freedoms that had been taken away through acts such as the snooper's charter Mk2 and the police and crime legislation."

I don't know why anybody would hope that. Labour has form on this. Re-election for any party relies on demographic turnover. Some of thise who remember the last time that lot were in are replaced by those who can't.

You should also remember that while governments come and go the Civil Service stays and brainwashing Home Secs into this sort of thing, which is their core policy, is the the Home Office's core competence.

Education Ignorance, education ignorance, education ignorance.

The UK’s cartographer maps mission to help people and business

For a longer read "Map of a Nation" by Rachel Hewitt is an excellent history of the OS.

Humans make better content cops than AI, but cost 40x more

Re: Complete waste of money.

You watch TV live?

"Marketers looking to ensure that their ads do not surface in a toxic slurry face a dilemma – spend more money or see more Hitler."

They have a third option. Don't advertise where the toxic slurry is to be found.

Mexit, not Brexit, is the new priority for the UK

Re: Silly

Access is one element of it and I hope HMG are storing more data than the canteen lady's recopies. Trivialising that just makes you look silly. The other side is suddenly deciding to sanction someone - anything from an individual customer to a continent. The has already happened in the case of the ICC so it's something a government really shouldn't ignore.

Re: Even if it doesn't save money, it saves money

Upvoted for the principle but we're still a little way away from HMG collecting taxes in dollars.

"The challenge is finding the button in this version of MS Office/LibreOffice/Whatever."

And as far as LO is concerned it's up there on the tool bar, just like it was before MS messed with it. And if they use the "tabbed interface" (i.e. like the ribbon) it'll be where MS have it now.

Re: Simple options

"It'll need a bit more than the current antagonist is up to before it becomes a problem."

Microsoft's problem here is that their frog-boiling tactics have worked well for them but the current antagonist is not under their control and doesn't do gradual.

Re: Simple options

"Every part of the government reseller/procurement/IT/compliance stack is comfortable with a Microsoft solution"

Too comfortable.

Re: There are undoubtable some brilliant IT people working in the Public Sector

"Process owners are more interested in processes they can understand."

And for preference, processes that already exist. That saves thinking about what processes to adopt.

Of course they used to say the same thing about IBM - until things changed. Which only goes to show things can change

Re: Use opensource

Open source front ends to a proprietary service provider is scarcely a way to avoid lock-in. It's having the front end platform allow for a choice* of back end services that's critical, together with the availability of trustable service providers.

* Oh dear, that word. I'll have triggered all the Microsoft and Apple addicts.

Re: The elephant in the room is Brexit

You must be getting deafened by all the whooshes.

Re: Open Source MAKES Big Money

Some of that FOSS comes from Apple.

Re: Alternatives

I suppose one problem with their heads up Microsoft's arse is that if they choose replacement email they get the internationally accepted standard protocol instead of being locked into some proprietary alternative.

DEF CON hackers plug security holes in US water systems amid tsunami of threats

It sounds familiar: "Who'd want to hack us?"

The first step in problem solving is to realise you have a problem.

Faced with £40B budget hole, UK public sector commits £9B to Microsoft

Re: National Linux infrastructure development needed

Would have liked to have given an extra upvote for use of "midden".

I'm reminded of a favourite saying of an aunt describing unnecessary (in her view) purchases: "More muck to t'midden."

Prohibition never works, but that didn't stop the UK's Online Safety Act

Re: The Online Safety Act only protects children, it does not limit adult freedoms.

"Please note that our privacy policy describes how we manage our membership - newsletter distrbution and access to shared storage - it does NOT cover any age verification services as we do not provide these."

So at least the AVPA members' privacy is preserved. I suppose they're grateful for that.

One way of increasing the breadth of experience in the ministerial ranks would be to select suitable individuals and make them members of the HoL. I've often thought that the presidents or equivalents of the various chartered institutes should be members ex officio. I doubt, however, that the HoC would appreciate being challenged by real expertise in the other place. (Despite all the posturing it's unlikely that we'll see elections to the Lords. MPs wouldn't like their claimed legitimacy as the only democratically elected chamber taken away.)

UK unveils plans to 'transform' the consumer smart meter experience

From my PoV the only better experience would be to stop calling me every 3 months to try to get one installed.

The great unwashed are the least likely to be running washing machines all day.

Re: £2,500 off their bills over 10 years???

"Time to cut the whining"

Well?

Ex-White House cyber, counter-terrorism guru: Microsoft considers security an annoyance, not a necessity

Re: I disagree with this premise.

Not even threats will have an effect unless they start to get carried out.

"I'm not saying we should just get rid of Microsoft, I'm saying Microsoft has got to be better at what it does,"

But what does he think Microsoft does? It makes money, that's what it does. Until it's made clear to Microsoft that it won't be allowed to make any money until it gets better at security nothing will happen because doing nothing doesn't eat into the money-making machine. Starting to get rid of Microsoft on clearly stated security grounds would be the only way to get it to do what he wants it to do as well as what it wants to do. That, of course would have to be allied to a firm stance that the getting rid will only stop wen improvements are demonstrated, not just promised by salesdroids.