* Posts by Rob Elliott

30 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Mar 2008

Mozilla mauls Microsoft on IE, Windows 7 bundle

Rob Elliott

@Chris Ovenden

I was thinking of something a little more friendly than Lynx, something more like IE2. It's bad enough that the user will want to upgrade, but not so bad that they can't use it at all.

Rob Elliott

In

the good old days I used to get my browser:

From a CD provided on the front of a magazine.

Via a command line ftp client.

From the CD my ISP gave me when I joined them.

If Microsoft hadn't integrated IE4 with Windows 95 then there would never have been such a big issue, IE4 was integrated so tightly with the operating system it was almost impossible to remove. I believe this stifled the competition.

Today I have the opinion that an operating system should include a browser, however I think this should be some sort of lite application capable of doing the basics. Much in the same way that Windows comes with a basic word processor (Wordpad). This way, if the user requires a more comprehensive application then they can choose which one they like.

Microsoft to offer Windows 7 downgrade to XP

Rob Elliott

Specs...

What shocks me is how so many of you can slate a product that isn't even finished yet. I've been running Windows7 on my laptop since Christmas, so far it looks promising. Generally the feedback from other people has been good.

To those of you that bitch about Vista being slower, well of course it is, but if you run Vista on decent hardware in 7years time you won't have anything to complain about. When Windows XP arrived it run well on anything from 800mhz and 64MB RAM and above. People bitched at the time because it was slow on their 400Mhz and 32MB machines. Now 2-3Ghz Dual Core and 2GB RAM is common.

I think we call it progress in the IT Industry. Hardware gets faster, so the software takes advantage of it.

If we only cared about speed then the command line OS would still rule.

EA punts SecuROM-less games on Steam

Rob Elliott

Software Licence.

Since I purchased a Spore Licence does that mean I can use that on Steam?

I bet I can't.

I'm doomed to DRM Spore. :(

US Navy's robot stealth carrier plane unveiled

Rob Elliott
Black Helicopters

Behold the iPlane!

Does anybody else think this looks like it was designed at apple?

Jacqui promotes police handhelds

Rob Elliott
Unhappy

What a waste of money!

I was going to write something here, but I can't be bothered now. I can't wait until this half wit is sacked.

RIM Vodafone BlackBerry Storm

Rob Elliott

Typing

I played with this in a Vodafone store, I found typing on the touchscreen felt better and was easier than on any other touchscreen device I've used before.

I guess its all down to personal preference though.

UK.gov says: Regulate the internet

Rob Elliott

Think of the Childeren

Its a bit like on Hot Fuzz where they death cult always repeat in unison 'For the Greater Good'

Well they can stick their 'Greater Good' where the sun doesn't shine.

Das überdatabase: Inside Wacky Jacqui's motherbrain

Rob Elliott

Sack Ms Smith

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Sack-Ms-Smith/

It appears there is already a petition to have her sacked.

Rob Elliott

Time to use the Number10 Petitions thingy

Somebody start a ePetition asking for her to be sacked...

Internet security suites fail to block exploits

Rob Elliott

So Slow :(

Quite often the security software makes the computer slow down to the point that it becomes unusable. The user really shouldn't know its there unless there is a problem.

Tw*tdangler defends Benito Mussolini stunt

Rob Elliott

one word

tosser!

Obama weighs into Shuttle-v-Soyuz ISS brouhaha

Rob Elliott
Coat

Exploration over War

They blow a huge sum of money every year on their fictional War on Terror, but can't dig deep enough to fund the advancement of human space exploration. Which is surly a much more worthy pursuit.

Mines the one with the 'Beam me up Scotty' device in the pocket.

Virgin Media rubbishes P2P throttling rumours

Rob Elliott

I know I'm sidetracking a little, but.

Virgin Media has a monopoly on cable connections in the UK, I thought when the cable network was rolled out we had regional monopolies in an effort to encourage competition. Isn't this exactly what was not supposed to happen to the UK cable infrastructure?

If the smaller regional monopolies still existed then wouldn't there be more room for debate on the way the networks should be run, and therefore more effort in keeping the network speeds up while at the same time charging a reasonable price.

eg, if I was with Telewest and had 2Mbps, and a guy in another area was with NTL and had 10Mbps, assuming we were both paying similar amounts I'd want to know what Telewest were playing at.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. :)

Brown pledges annual commons debate on surveillance

Rob Elliott

ID, Terrorism, Ingsoc

The only strong opinions I've seen for ID Cards are against it. The majority of the public don't seem to have given it much thought.

As for terrorism, I hardly feel terrorised by the current crop of amateurs. Especially when the best they can seem to do is drive a car into an airport, accidentally set fire to themselves, then get set upon by an angry Scotsman.

The “freedom of expression audit” may have some merit, unless its doublespeak. In which case we should start reffering to New Labour as Ingsoc.

Ransomware Trojan code break 'impractical'

Rob Elliott
Linux

Linux vs Windows

The only advantage Linux has over Windows in this example is.

1. The Linux user is generally more technical than the Windows user.

2. Linux has a smaller market share so there is less Malware produced to exploit it.

These two arguments will gradually become less and less as Linux is used by more stupid users and gains a larger market share, which I am sure it will. I'm not a Microsoft fanboy but bashing Microsoft here isn't going to achieve anything, Windows is simply a victim of its own success.

IBM 'advises' staff to opt for a Microsoft Office-free world

Rob Elliott
Paris Hilton

Standards

Standards are worthless if nobody uses them, I hate doing it but everytime I send a document I convert it from ODF to a MS Format because the fact is most end users wouldn't even know what to do with the ODF... They'd probably ignore it like my HR Department.

The fact is that the Microsoft Office formats are what everybody uses. Which is a shame.

Paris, because she is about as intelligent as my MS Office using HR Department.

EU orders horsemeat and chips in equine passport scheme

Rob Elliott

British horse meat

Why don't the british eat horses? I sampled some on a trip to scandinavia a while back, it was great! at least as good as beef.

Dixons admits 'it's even worse than you thought'

Rob Elliott

And this one time at PCW....

I enjoy baiting PCW staff as much as anyone, however... there is a pitfall. About 6 months back I was after a laptop, so off I trotted to PCW for a bit of a touchy feely session with some real products, I wasn't prepared to the absolutly stunning sales girl they had, I ended up parting with nearly a grand in an attempt to get her phone number, and all I left with was a pitiful HP excuse for a laptop.

PCW isn't the only chain that could do with training its sales staff... have any of you been into a mobile phone shop recently? The Carphone Warehouse Broadband Experts are quite amusing, and the Orange Shop staff don't even know the products they are selling, hardware or contracts.

Its sad really, since I am sure some less tech savvy people must be taken for a ride and its not their fault the staff don't know their arsehole from their elbow.

YouTube rolls out Scientology double standard

Rob Elliott

free speach

My main beef with the Church of Science Fiction Psychology is that they attempt to stiffle peoples right to free speach.

If I want to slag off Scientology I will thankyou very much

I hardly find it surprising that when Scientology carries out their kill crush and destroy campaign on its critics that a very large number of people become rather narked off by the organisation.

Ballmer bitch slaps Vista

Rob Elliott
Coat

Refund please

So does this mean I get my money back? Or at least a free upgrade?

No?

Well I guess I'll get my coat and head over to the Linux Camp.

Virgin Media mops up CEO's 'boll*cks' outburst

Rob Elliott
Pirate

The good old days

Instead of rolling out a 50mbps connection for those with enough money. Why don't they cap everybody at 10mbps untill the overall network can cope with more. I remember upgrading from 56Korpse to 0.5mbps cable, it was great... then I got a free upgrade to 1mbps, brilliant... then 2mbps, fantastic... after than I never really noticed the difference... I just wish they would tell the truth, like the good old days.

The Pirates flag, because thats what ISP's have turned into.

US punters don't want mobile music

Rob Elliott

Telecos

Untill the mobile service providers sort out the data bundles nobody is going to entertain the idea of downloading mb's of music onto their phone. Thankfully, in the UK 3 and T-Mobile already offer a decent data bundle with a good speed (O2 also have a similar bundle but their network offers significantly lower download speeds)

I just hope they don't get it into their head that it's acceptable to force you to use one service, by doing something like... use any other mp3 store and we are going to bankrupt you with data charges.

Going off track a bit here, but I think you get the point. :)

Schoolboy's asteroid-strike sums are wrong

Rob Elliott

Surface to Space Missiles

Hmmm... so thats why the Americans were so keen to show they can shoot things out of space the other month...

BBC vs ISPs: Bandwidth row escalates as Tiscali wades in

Rob Elliott

Public money.

I wonder if the ISP's would be moaning if the BBC wasn't a publicly funded corporation. Of course they wouldn't... They sense easy money and an organisation that might give in.

Stick it to em BBC!

Transcript disappears minister's 'hack-proof' ID register claim

Rob Elliott
Coat

Ministry of Truth

I sometimes think the current crop of muppets we have running this country see 1984 as a howto rather than a cautionary tale as I am sure it was intended.

E-passport security flaw allows remote ID of nationality

Rob Elliott

Lost the plot.

When I get home my passport is going straight in the microwave!

If I say that outloud I'm sure my co-workers will think I've flipped...

Scientology threatens Wikileaks with injunction

Rob Elliott

Boycott!

When I hear a actor is a member of Scientology I do my best to boycott them.

Hit them where it hurts. In their wallet!

BBC calls DRM cops on iPlayer download party

Rob Elliott

Why build the iPlayer for an unpopular platform?

Why bother making the iPlayer available on the iPhone anyway. The reason the BBC haven’t made a Linux version is because Linux is unpopular, so is the iPhone. This doesn't seem like good use of the licence payer’s money to me. Developing a client for Symbian or Windows Mobile would be a much better option, or even some sort of Java client.

Dear ISP, I am not a target market

Rob Elliott

Vote with your feet

If you don't like it, go to another ISP. If you feel really strongly you could also write a letter telling your old ISP why you left.