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cynicaleng

Listed below are comments made by cynicaleng between Thursday, 24th September 2009 and Friday, 20th November 2009.

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The Digital Economy Bill - does it add up? 9:08pm on 20 Nov 2009 So the "2 meg" "universal" service "commitment" is now dead and buried ?
Facebook v Ceop 12:52pm on 18 Nov 2009 Jim Gamble came over as a bully himself on Radio 4 this morning. Why should he be in a position to demand what is basically a free advertising link to his organisation when the site is multi national and operates in a number of different social and legal environments.

The "button" is just a simple link to http://www.ceop.police.uk/reportabuse/index.asp
Jim could pay for an advert for that if he wanted to.

There are many ways to tackle this and other issues, quangos shouldn't expect or be given the right to impose their chosen solution. Similar things happened with the IWF and with food labelling "traffic lights" - other solutions, opinions and agencies are available.

I would assume that Facebook et al are better placed to know who is connecting to their site from where and therefore be able to give a more productive first response to a user via their existing "report" features.
Orange's 'unlimited' iPhone 5:30pm on 03 Nov 2009 " What is the point of using the word unlimited at all? "
- to differentiate from tariffs that have fixed limits (after which they stop working or are restricted in rate) or tariffs with inclusive MB followed by paying per MB.

An unlimited tariff tells the user it's a fixed price and it won't stop working (unless they go bananas, which is what the FUP is for).
Make a suggestion 08:59am on 26 Oct 2009 interesting to read that the Copenhagen Consensus last year didn't have anything climate relatd in its top 10 effective projects to improve the world list. http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/Default.aspx?ID=953
24 hours with Ubuntu 03:05am on 26 Oct 2009 " not have to consult a forum or download a driver, they just want it to work."

- so this doesn't happen with Windows ? My triple boot XP / Windows 7 / Ubuntu desktop can only print from XP as neither Windows 7 or Linux have drivers available for the printer. Ubuntu works happily with a scanner that Windows 7 won't recognise, and so on.

The typical user experience of a pre-installed Windows OS is inevitably simlper than that of having to install an OS, but you can't use the fact that we are all virtually forced to buy Windows with a PC as evidence that Windows is better or easier than Linux, it's just that someone has already installed Windows for you !

The key advantage of Linux for me is that the Add/Remove Programs feature can actually Add programs from a vast range of software - Windows simply can't add software without you downloading it or going and buying it, what can be simpler than a package manager.
A week with Windows 1:38pm on 21 Oct 2009 " please ellaborate on the problem with a Registry"

1. Single point of failure. I've seen numerous machnies unable to boot because of registry corruption, registry files corrupted or just plain gone missing.

2. Complexity. I own two books each 50mm thick on the registry. Surely things can be named better than {065c132f036510fe66d5a41616} if humans are to work with them ?

3. Software installation / removal involves masses of changes to the single point of failure and almost always leaves significant amounts of data behind after uninstalling. The days when each app had its settings in its own directory were far preferable, as Barry Scott would say - delete the directory and the application is gone ! But no more, uninstall the software and there'll be 157 registry keys remaining, bloating the registry and slowing it down.

4. Unwanted retention of settings data. Something doesn't work, perhaps a wireless card or an application, you uninstall it to clear out the problem only to find the registry retained all the settings in their corrupt form.
What is a web browser? 11:47am on 11 Oct 2009 "why would anyoe need to know what an engine or windshield are called in order to be able to drive a car"

a friend of mine discovered last week why you need to know what the engine is called and how to look after it - her engine seized at speed on a dual carriageway as she hadn't put any oil in it for months. Fortunately there wasn't a 44 tonner on her tail and there was a place to coast off the carriageway.
A big match for Broadband Britain 4:16pm on 07 Oct 2009 Does it work with Linux? - yes, well at least the test site works at both resolutions in Firefox on Xubuntu. It's flash based so should be fine on most platforms - no downloads involved.

LOL @ cyberdoyle
Broadband Britain - how far down the league? 6:47pm on 02 Oct 2009 Over 50% of S Koreans live in large blocks of flats, if that's what gets you high speed broadband then you can keep it as far as I'm concerned.

The UK is 22nd in the league of this report's broadband quality per GDP per capita, ahead of Canada, Australia, USA, Iceland, Hong Kong, Norway. Doesn't seem too uncomfortable to me. Makes a change from being #1 in the undesirable league tables like binge drinking and teenage pregnancy.

The report also found practically no urban/rural divide in the UK.
Will you pay for a Digital Britain? 10:39am on 24 Sep 2009 Seems to me there are two questions, firstly do you believe in publicly subsidising high speed broadband to the 1/3rd (?) of the country that won't get it through the usual competitive private investment, if so then secondly how do you pay for it.

If it comes from income tax, VAT, a phone line levy, council tax, whatever we still get to pay it - so is it the subsidy we don't like or the detail of the funding mechanism ?

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