Re: I too was thinking the same thing....
Sorry that sounds like the usual failing management mumbo jumbo BS used to cover ones tracks.
Posts by jason 7
3181 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009
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CSC bundles NHS IT fiasco staff out the door
Microsoft sets October date for Windows 8 release
Monday 9th July 2012 16:29 GMT
Re: MS can afford to sell this OS cheap.
Because like you and most others have totally missed the point about what Windows 8 is all about.
Its not about getting rid of the Start button. Its not about all the UI changes.
Its all about pushing folks to buy Metro Apps. The changes are just to push folks into Metro land. There they will buy all the fart apps they so desire, cos if Android and Apple App Stores are anything to go by, people love to buy crap. MS wants in on that big time.
MS knows full well that Windows 8 is not going to be the corporate OS of choice. It's mainly going to be domestic. So they get the Metro infrastructure incorporated into employees homes and media devices and that then gains acceptance into the corporate field through familiarity and ubiquity for Windows 9 (basically Windows 8 Corporate edition).
Windows 9 may not even have a 'desktop'.
Monday 9th July 2012 16:08 GMT 
MS can afford to sell this OS cheap.
And no not because most of us here think its a bit lacking in a few areas.
But because they aim to make 30% on all the apps they are hoping folks will buy through Metro land.
This is the first OS that MS can make money from the customer all the way through the life of the OS.
I'm wondering what their projected revenue per Windows 8 user is? Probably a bit more then the usual £70 OEM copy gypsy like myself.
YouView recommends radio hams' pet peeve
Monday 9th July 2012 00:40 GMT 
Have to say I'm kind of in agreement. I don't know anyone that's a ham radio user or would admit to it.
I don't know any dodos or sabre tooth tigers either. I guess they all died out.
I do know many many folks that need to push their data round their houses so I guess they win over these mythical Hams.
Seagate fscks up: Disk drive sales fall short by $500m
BBC TV boss George Entwistle nabs director general post
War On Standby: Do the figures actually stack up?
LG 55LM960V 55in Smart TV
Microsoft: Don't overclock Windows 8 unless you like our new BSOD
Monday 2nd July 2012 14:00 GMT
Yes they are.
The often use lower power mobile versions of the CPUs and the GPUs (if installed) are often clocked far lower then their similar numbered desktop variant.
Sometimes they used to pull tricks like only allowing ram to work in single channel mode rather than dual channel etc. etc.
If it helps get another 20 mins or so out of the battery for say 10% less overall performance.....
Monday 2nd July 2012 12:39 GMT 
FFS! Its got nothing to do with overclocking, ram etc.
It's more likely to do with the $5 firebox 300W PSUs they install in the crappy white box machines.
It's all in the PSU.
Never spend less than £30 is my motto.
I average around £40-£50 in my machines. Never a BSOD to be seen. Thing of the past.
B&O Beoplay A3
Half the team at the heart of the RBS disaster WERE in India
Thursday 28th June 2012 17:33 GMT
Nationwide and their Mortgagre Quotes System
Back in 1996 I was looking to buy my first flat. As I had some accounts with Nationwide I went in and got three mortgage quotes from them.
I got home and that evening my Dad and I went through them. We couldnt get them to add up.
Just wouldnt work. So I went in the next day and asked the Mortgage lady. She just looked at me as though I was from Mars and then tried to work them out. Three attempts and a lot of odd looks she goes to the Manager. He sits down and just keeps starting at his calculator as he tries to work them out.
He then quickly makes a call.
Seems that their quote software was all wrong. All the quotes they dished out were incorrect. It seems my Dad and I were the only people ever to check them.
BT Vision beats rivals to honour of being worst UK Pay-TV
Thursday 28th June 2012 13:57 GMT 
Talk Talk = Lazy
My dad used TT for his ISP for several years. It just got worse and worse (getting down to less than 1Mb) and next to useless. I got him to call them up and they just said "Computer says no!" They said nothing could be done.
We tested a new router and that made no difference.
So I got dad to switch over to BT. He cancelled TT, we switched over the ISP details and....
Instant rock solid 6.5Mbps connection!
Nokia details 808 Pureview release
Tuesday 26th June 2012 21:49 GMT
Re: Or....
Yes good luck to the 200 or so folks that actually buy this phone.
Especially as it wont have Instagram to instantly crapolate their already crappy photos.
I despair that the early 21st century is going to be recorded visually by crappy pictures that had people had to pay to have them developed, they never would have taken them in the first place.
Good old film was a great filter and defense against having to sit through 566 holiday snaps of a two week holiday.
Tuesday 26th June 2012 17:07 GMT
Re: Erm yes it is
But if you are marketing this as a 41MP camera to the great unwashed then surely you should be offering 41MP images as the end result?
If not Trading Standards hassles ahoy.
If the end photo comes in as a 5MP size image that's going to disappoint some folks.
Like I said, marketing BS. Instead they should have said "This phone uses an over sized sensor to provide better fidelity 5MP images with greater clarity, depth and less noise.
DDR 4 sets the pace for fast memory
Tuesday 26th June 2012 12:01 GMT 
Well the one main benefit of....
....going to DDR2 then 3 and now 4 has just meant that messing around buying Turbo Nutter Mega Ram sticks with 'super low timings' has become largely a waste of time and money.
Just buy the good standard Crucial/Corsair/Kingston stuff and get on with your life.
If you have to buy fancy then just choose which heat spreaders look best with your motherboard.
Google brings HD sneezing pandas to UK: But why?
The Beatles Yellow Submarine restored
Mcafee gets fierce about resellers (but in a good way)
Sunday 24th June 2012 17:45 GMT
Re: Not a good advert really.
Some folks have funny ideas how current virus attacks work.
Basically no AV works to stop the daily written drive-bys that leave the AV companies 24 hours behind. I guess you could install EMET and turn DEP on for everything but thats a lot of work in the enterprise. Not too hard for the individual though.
The sites that get hacked to insert these attacks are usually those that are browsed by folks in their late 40's+ so cruise/holiday websites and financial investments. Not the kind of sites passed by too often in work possibly. But frequented by those all to keen to hand over their credit card details when something goes wrong.
Anyway if the fact that I get mostly infected PCs that have McAfee installed on it isn't exactly a great recommendation for it is it? Domestic or otherwise. One can assume that either McAfee is the most popular AV in which case it still isn't doing its job all that well, or it isn't that popular but is still not up to the task.
Crap software is still crap software whichever way you look at it. Next most useless appears to be Kaspersky followed by Avast then Norton.
Why I love Microsoft’s vapourware tablet
Friday 22nd June 2012 12:26 GMT
Hmmmm tough call.
Okay so for sitting on the coffee table and spending most of its operational time looking up stuff to confirm arguments/facts over stuff watched on TV or to look up where we saw 'that actor' before on IMDB we have the choice of -
A Windows 8 Tablet at £600+
or
A dual core IPS Android tablet for £200.
Yeah.....
Windows 8 'harder for malware to exploit', says security analysis
Surface: Because Microsoft does so well making hardware?
Wednesday 20th June 2012 09:30 GMT
Yes MS needs to start making the hardware too!
As a PC support guy, most of the time the issue isnt with the hardware or the OS its the crap that Dell/HP/Acer/Asus/McAfee etc. etc. has installed on it.
The crapware is a crime against humanity. I have yet to come across a customer that has ever used the HP/Acer/Asus Oberon Media games crap but its all on there. Constantly bugging users with requests for this and that.
It's not MS that's screwing up Windows its the twats selling the machines with Windows on it.
It's like buying a new Audi and the dealer has installed (for your convenience) a go faster stripe, fake dump valve and underside neons to it that you didn't ask for.
I would love to be able to buy a MS specced and approved laptop with just the OS and maybe a couple of fully tested and approved apps on it.
Maybe this will drop the hint to the manufacturers to get their house in order.
Microsoft next-gen Xbox details leak
Girl Geek Dinner lady: The IT Crowd is putting schoolgirls off tech
Thursday 14th June 2012 16:04 GMT
The one important thing they never teach you at school.
I wish on the first day of starting Secondary School the headmaster/mistress would call all the new kids in and tell them this -
"If you want to join chess club, the football team, drama, computer club or take any subject you like but your friends tell you "its not cool and not to do it!" Well just consider this. You are not actually at school for very long and chances are once you leave school you will never see 99% of your friends here today, ever again. Just consider that if it's something you want to do. What they say means nothing. It's up to you."
Apple pulls in TomTom, kicks Google off iPhones
Apple introduces 'next generation' MacBook Pro with retina display
Tuesday 12th June 2012 10:26 GMT
Never got a laptop to last more than 4 years?
What the hell were you doing to them?
I've been a laptop user since 1998, had around a dozen in that time (I have several on the go) and never ever had one fail on me. A few of them are still working with friends and family.
Look after your kit and it will look after you.
Smart meters are 'massive surveillance' tech - privacy supremo
Monday 11th June 2012 14:45 GMT
Economy 7
Has anyone ever enjoyed using that? Everyone I have ever known always starts of really smug (I don't know why) when they switch to it and from that moment on it just leads to ever increasingly bizarre behaviour (running downstairs at 2am to switch the washing machine on) and recriminations (when they didn't as it had to be done at the crippling day rate).
They all end up nervous wrecks on Economy 7.
Ten... Sata 3 SSDs
Monday 11th June 2012 10:38 GMT
Re: Quick question...
Yes it will. As mentioned above I bought the 120GB Sandisk Ultra drive for my SATA2 laptop.
The WD Black 320GB HDD gave me 85MBps throughput. The new Sandisk bumped that to around 270MBps.
Windows 7 now boots in 20-25 seconds. Apps fire up virtually instantly. So yes makes the laptop a lot smoother and snappier. A good upgrade for £65.
The benefit of buying the SATA2 Sandisk for an older laptop is that you know you are not hamstringing the performance so no back of the mind niggles of missing 500MBps performance.
Saturday 9th June 2012 15:49 GMT
Dont ignore the older drives.
If you just want a cheap but roomy enough upgrade for an older laptop then the older SATA2 Sandisk Ultra 120GB that are going for around £65 are worth a look.
Still three times faster then the HDD you have in there at the mo. Made quite a difference to my old laptop.
HP Z1 quad-core Xeon 27in PC
Windows 8: Not even Microsoft thinks businesses will use it
AMD and Nvidia extreme GPUs workout
Thursday 7th June 2012 12:00 GMT
Found a Heavyweight legend yesterday.
Opened up a customers old Compaq off the shelf PC and took off the HSF expecting the usual Athlon64 3500+ or Sempron in it to find to my surprise a FX57.
That CPU retailed for around $1031 in 2005!
Anyone give me £5? £5 anyone? The gentleman at the back...? £4 then......
AMD and Intel extreme desktop CPU workout
Wednesday 6th June 2012 10:54 GMT
Re: But is extreme what is needed?
Indeed, AMD (and Intel if it's honest) has realised that the CPU power race ended the minute dual core CPUS came out. At that point 90% of the worlds PCs users were sorted for life with regards to doing their day to day computing.
The fact Intel pushes out these £800 fastest CPUs is great and all but how many do they actually sell? Especially to the domestic market. Only a very small percentage of the worlds PC users actually read the tech reports on CPUs.
They are really nothing than a marketing tool and internet buzz creating. I've never seen one of these chips in the wild.
So AMD is wise to just concentrate of getting hold of Joe Average with a nice average CPU for a lower than average price.
Wednesday 6th June 2012 10:48 GMT
Just waiting for the herd of ....
...socially awkward PC enthusiasts that class themselves as 'Hardcore' because they have the £800 to spend on a CPU (guess why folks) that they only use for running pointless benchmarks on all day and nothing else. To say that "OMFG the AMD is so lame and the IPC of the INTEL is just so much better cos in X benchmark it does this and in Y benchmark it does that...."
FFS quit with the benchmarks and lowering the timings on your Extreme Dragon Hell For Leather Quad Turbonutter ram to get that FPS score from 146FPS to 146.6FPS.
You are wasting your life! Go outside and find a girlfriend or some real friends at least.
It doesn't impress normal people with normal lives.
Amazon's Lovefilm HD shuns Sony fanboys
Look out, world - Mad Leo Apotheker's back!
Wednesday 6th June 2012 10:37 GMT
Are we seeing the end result of that age old practice.....
...of if you cant sack someone then promote them up and out of the way?
So basically you have a group of total nitwits that cant manage their way out of a paper bag but get 'moved on' over and over getting a false impression of their own value and ability.
Saw it a lot at my old firm. If you were good you stayed where they wanted you but if you were crap you got promoted as it was the only way to get rid of them. By the time I left several of them had reached Director level, wanted the respect that went with it but because we all knew their history, little was given.
Company nose dives as a result.
How to get a job in Australia
White AMERICANS will have become MEKON brain-men by 3000AD
1930s photos show Greenland glaciers retreating faster than today
Saturday 2nd June 2012 22:40 GMT
Re: The Planet
Too true!
Whilst I strongly believe you should behave in a responsible manner and not 'shit in your backyard', I too am annoyed with the constant aligning of planetary cycles and changes in terms of a human lifespan.
A human lifespan is just too small. It's like trying to work out the plot of a book from one sentence. Looking at data from say just 100 year is daft. You need to analyse over thousands to find any sense of scale or pattern (if there is one).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
