Posts by eamonn_gaffey 40 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Apr 2018
I got rid of Kaspersky years ago because it crippled my machine......but for me the argument is not whether Kaspersky is trustworthy, but whether I should be supporting a Russian company with the history that the founders (Mr and ex Mrs Kaspersky) have with the Kremlin. No chance, I will spend my cash elsewhere.
I often wonder how nonsense like this even gets funded.... just what is the point of it ? In a UK the most divided in my lifetime, the authors seek to introduce the highly invidious dimension of religion to Brexit ? We don't need this given what we have just been through and are still dealing with (Brexit, pandemic).
We had enough nut jobs during the Brexit debate without encouraging the just as crazy religious fanatics. I am working on the assumption that this work is so obscure that it will go largely unnoticed, acting only as some raison d'etre for 2 out there academics to justify their salaries. All that education, what a waste.
That, plus it sounds like they may not have a test rig that reflects production on the Hubble....or if they do, adequate testing was not performed.
Still, sounds like they had sufficient contingency/resilience to enable a fix, which is impressive given the nature of the live environment.
...and there are so many examples of such incompetence in IT, that this could be an entirely believable defence. However, there must be rules/law on corporate responsibility around things like DR that make a business a going concern that apply. At least, one would hope so...........
I nearly always find errors on reading the printed version, even after having done the same on screen.
My explanation is those of us who grew up with paper will find proofing a printed copy fruitful, and the kids of the digital age won't ever need to look at one.
Agree that marking up is so much better on paper, Word Review is just plain awkward.
..maybe data scrubbers :-).
You would expect at least some empathy, but unfortunately, being female does not exclude such crass, odious and illegal behaviour. These "managers" were motivated by an internal culture that brooks no dissent. What an awful place to work.
All power to Ms Davidsen for having the courage to take them, and the company hierarchy on - very brave.
George3 : best development environment I ever worked on. Part of the ICL VME OS as I recall, a great piece of British software that unfortunately was rolled over by the IBM juggernaut....that and a sad lack of technological foresight, awareness and interest from various UK governments.
To be fair, even if Plod had the resource their historical clear up rates are so dire I'm not sure it would make much difference (not entirely their fault as they have been badly blunted by the PC brigade of smart arse law people and misguided liberals) . I stopped believing in the fantasy of someone being there to help years ago - everyone for themselves now unfortunately.
The testing legacy has been replaced by the mentality of : "sling any shit live because my bonus depends on it", in an "agile" fashion, because we need to "act fast and break things(literally)" yawn, yawn, yawn..... Some things are fundamental, like a comprehensive test pack.
This is the most common sense I have seen on this thread. 'Contractors' (i.e. permanent staff dressed up as such for tax avoidance) have had it so good for so long, but this was always going to happen - someone has to pay for the increasingly lower UK tax culture.
There will be no 'mass exodus' as economic reality becomes apparent. - where are they going for a start ? EU looks like a big risk currenlty. As previously pointed out, there are loads of very well paid permanent jobs in UK currenlty. Be thankful.
Contractors won't sue RBS or anyone else over this, because they would lose. All that money on expensive QC's (also contractors) would be wasted.
Hirers of contractors are free to pay whatever rate they want, so if contractors (who claim to run their own businesses) don't like it, then look elsewhere.
All this complaining is starting to sound like permanent staff who actually are covered by employment laws - but contractors aren't, because they are not permanent. You can't have it both ways.
I suspect most of the complaining is coming from "contractors" who are de facto permanent staff, but have arranged recompense to avoid paying their fair share of tax.
Lots of posters here are delusional if they think non-public companies are going to cough up extra, just because (ex) contractors now have to pay their fair share of taxation. This is the Gig Economy going up market. We all watched it happen as we binged on Uber, Deliveroo (literally) et al., never expecting it to encroach upon the elevated world of "professional" jobs like IT.
Well, here it is, and unless the neoliberal revolution comes abruptly to an end (which it may still do with another 2008 style disaster), then this is our future. The share of the pie going to workers ( or "associates" in neolib speak) will decrease, and the share going to capital ("owners' rent") will increase - an inexorable trend since the late 1970's, of which this is yet another example.
"lingua latina" - Is that some software product that enables speakers of different languages to communicate, a bit like like a babel fish ? You might mean "lingua franca", which English certainly is both globally and specificlly in IT.
An excellent example of miscommunications between speakers of different native languages, even using a "lingua franca" like English.
Disgusting as it is, that is the business model for the IT supplier industry, and it is no wonder they now own the earth. There have been notable exceptions in the software industry, where suppliers support everything they have ever released, but these are exceptionally rare.
As mug punters, we all (reluctantly) have go along with it. Maybe we should vote with our feet, except there are not a lot of places to go. As my (futile) little protest, I hang on to "stuff" until they are broken, putting up with ever decreasing functionality and performance, and only upgrade when I absolutely have to.
Yet another bubble, and a definite sense of "deja vu". Neither Lyft nor Uber make profit, or are even projected to - so unless you are speculating (in which case your problem if you get burned) why would any sane, rational person buy their stock?
This is the current owners of venture capitalists, founders, employees etc. dumping essentially worthless equity on the market, which eagerly gobbles it up. These people are incentivised to market their "product" in any which way they can to dumb investors.
Find something better to do with your cash, and leave it to the snakes to fight it out amongst themselves - just say NO !!
We need to be worried by a lot more US 'overspill' than election language, although that is the tip of an insidious iceberg. If the mob lead by Johnson/Rees-Mogg get their way, after they have screwed us with Brexit, the NHS will be re-born a la US privatised/medical insurance style. NHS 'staffers' pissing about on social media will be the least of our worries.
...and it comes at a "lower cost", at least in terms of pounds/dollars - undoubtedly a significant driver behind outsourcing this rather crucial system. Unfortunately you get what you pay for, and the exec leading the project, thus achieving his/her inflated bonus for that year, will have long departed.
As a veteran of many such migrations of bigger proportions, I can attest this this is the only sensible approach. To go 'big bang' on something like this is just too risky. I'm guessing the reason TSB did it was because some megalomaniac in charge decided to go for the macho high risk approach, and fucked it up royally.
Interesting to hear Paul Pester,TSB CEO, on BBC Radio 4 this morning. Sounded very upbeat, almost smug (if you can beleive it), now that he has a global IBM team on board !. I'm sure that will be productive for TSB's customers (or rather, IBM in terms of fees generated).
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100% correct......and there are many "non sane" IT depts. that do spiral down this plughole. There is a reason why all the big vendors (IBM, MS, Oracle, HP, AWS..........) have concentrated on Global 'Services' and Outsourcing over the last decade - because it is a licence to print money. Moreover, it is like taking candy from a baby as they have their friends strategically implanted in many corporate IT set ups. Some people might say it borders on corruption................
I am reminded of the UK Police's esrtwhile advice to young people when being approached by drug dealers - just say "No".
If you are already on FB, minimise what data you share, and then don't engage any further with this particular data dealership. If you are not in the FB clutches, don't sign up in the first place !!
I am also reminded of the maxim "there is no such thing as a free lunch" - so don't be surprised if FB is dealing your data, 'cos you are not paying for the FB 'service'.
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