Posts by Observer!

DeepSeek-R1-beating perf in a 32B package? El Reg digs its claws into Alibaba's QwQ

The author has simplified the wolf, goat and cabbage problem by modifying the boat to have three secure separate compartments. Instead of the original problem which as a single compartment..

This simplifies the use case to a single trip.

Trump tariffs transform into bigger threats for Mexico, Canada than China

Unintended consequences?

Canada is the biggest export market for 39 states. Yes US sells $400B to Canada so around the total sales of Walmart in the US. Walmart employees 1.6 M.

We'll put tariffs on Tesla, Boeing, Corn, Dairy, Caterpillar, John Deere, GE etc.

We'll diversify our supply chain to friendly and stable trading nations of Korea, Japan and EU and transfer a million jobs out of the US.

Renting IT hardware on a subscription basis is bad for customers

Re: I wrote the article

So you never looked at the 107 pages of amazon's cloud service pricing then?

Cloud = 0 cost certainty and no fixed price ever. Super high risk your monthly cost is fluctuates 2X, 3X 10X

On Prem - 99% cost certainty and fixed price monthly cost fluctuates .97 - 1.03

Poorly constructed motion.

Current:

"Renting your IT hardware on a subscription basis is bad for your customers"

How does renting affect my customers? vs How does it affect me?

Much better candidate motions:

1) "Renting your IT hardware on a subscription basis is a poor decision"

2) "Renting your IT hardware on a subscription basis is a poor financial decision"

3) "Renting your IT hardware on a subscription basis is a both a poor financial and operating decision"

4) "Renting your IT hardware on a subscription basis negatively impacts your customer service"

IBM cloud tries to subvert subscriptions with pricing plan that stretches some discounts

Access Fan

On Prem

cost certainty

unlimited use up to installed capacity

cost ceiling is capped

you control and trouble shoot

Cloud

no cost certainty - only a cost floor - sky is the limit

they maintain and trouble shoot

Capacity can ramp up with no initial capital cost

Need pricing and ops analysts to monitor micro billing consumption in real time

Excellent if your business transaction volume fluctuates widely - i.e. monthly sales look like $500B, $412.34, $100B, 0, $700B, $60.10.....

Dropbox basically decimates workforce, COO logs off: Cloud biz promises to be 'more efficient and nimble'

Re: Literally decimates?

sometimes its not good to be in the 1%

Yes, Microsoft Access was a recalcitrant beast, but the first step is to turn the computer on

Access Fan

Built tons of stuff on Access.

totally fine and pretty solid for <15 users

Pros

1) Requires 15% of dev man hours compared to full stack web apps ( I do those too)

2) changes at run time without any compiling for forms, db, queries and reports - makes to super agile evolution

3) very short learning curve for full stack

PC makers warn of battle for air freight capacity, will have to fight for cargo space with... the COVID-19 vaccine

Seafreight takes 3 weeks

You can put 8000 laptops in a 40 ft container @ a cost of $5K or 60 cents ea.

The world needs more problem solvers

Brexit border-line issues: Would you want to still be 'testing' software designed to stop Kent becoming a massive lorry park come 31 December?

Re: How hard is it really?

So you're offering fixed price contracts before the trade agreement is finalized?

I'd like to play poker with you for money.

Re: Not a problem at all ...

Yup there is COTS - here is the sequence:

1) Finalize the trade agreement

2) Codify tariffs and rules into COTS

3) Test

Nothing happens until step 1 is complete.