* Posts by bcb2060

5 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Oct 2015

Microsoft 365 price rises are coming – pay up or opt out (if you can find the button)

bcb2060

El Reg was beaten to the punch by AtomicShrimp with this scoop, about two weeks ago (though I think Mike went through a few hours of pain with MS support rather than press the somewhat daunting 'Cancel' button). Since then I have told anyone who stands around long enough to listen about MS's dodgy practices and I've talked a few people through the process to remove the AI tax.

Why users still couldn't care less about Windows 11

bcb2060

My SO told me that her work computer is being upgraded to W11 this week, and so that I can provide ongoing support I removed the registry hacks that were stopping the W11 upgrade on my last remaining Windows computer. The first thing I saw in the new W11 interface was I'd lost my customized toolbars from the taskbar (just folders of links, but I use them *all* the time). After a little searching online, I discovered this feature is gone in W11, only to be reinstated by installing 3rd party cruft on top. So Microsoft/Windows has sealed its fate as far as I'm concerned. If I'm going to have to tweak my workflows and shortcuts, then I'll do it in Debian/Cinnamon, not in W11. My wife will have to ask her work's desktop service desk team for help from now on...

Corporate execs: Get back, get back, to the office where you once belonged

bcb2060

Re: Interestingly

HR failure? I think there's an element of responsibility on the team members here too.

Exactly the same thing happened in our office long before pandemic, when a team member moved far, far away from civilisation.

I felt it was worthwhile taking extra effort to make sure she was still included in stuff and was getting some form of human contact with those of us who were still in the office. Little things - a phone call rather than an email sometimes, or turning the camera on in Teams to marginally increase the personal connection.

Our team leader did the same, but I just don't think it occurred to other members of the team. In the end she found a better job, much closer to her new home. She did call out specifically when she left that she appreciated the small efforts the boss and I made to include her.

Go ahead, be rude. You don't know it now, but it will cost you $350,000

bcb2060

Re: You get what you order

Elephant lost my business when they were still a new brand name, by sending marketing email to all 2000 of their customers, all in the CC list.

BBC shuts off iPlayer to UK VPNs, cutting access to overseas fans

bcb2060

VPS in a UK DC

I tried hosting vpn or get_iplayer on friends / family computers but none of them had a useful upload rate so instead I moved the VPS that hosts a few projects from the States to a UK DC and use that for proxy / get_iplayer.

I wonder how long until the Beeb get wise to personal VPNs and start blocking anything that isn't a home broadband connection?