* Posts by Combat Wombat

252 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009

Page:

NBN Co pulls in new CTO, CFO

Combat Wombat

The shaw appointment is a bad thing..

I am living in Canada at the moment and Shaw is not a company you want to be in change of any sort of network. They have the same business model as Telstra which is to milk the copper coax for all it's worth while at the same time refusing to do any sort of infrastructure rebuilding.

Congressman pitches bill to disarm FCC in net neutrality warfare

Combat Wombat
Gimp

It's spread...

I live in Canada, and this plague will spread to Canada where the CRTC has the same problem that the FCC has, in that it is entirely staffed by former Telco execs.

Once they have killed NetNu in the US you can sure as hell bet that the fastlane stuff will start turning up in international treaties like so much US policy does.

They'll force it in via the back door...so take a deep breath and brace yourself.

Telstra 'issue' hid ADSL availability from rival carriers

Combat Wombat

This has been going on for literally years.

I knew about this trick back in 2008 If you got denied ADSL you did the following;

1. Order ADSL Via Telstra, you would magically be able to get it with them

2. Cancel the services the same week, as you had a 30 day cooling off period.

3. Order service with the ISP you originally wanted.

I am not shocked by this in the slightest.

Apple haggles with ISPs for fast lanes to its own websites – industry guru

Combat Wombat
Pirate

This is apple

Having a bet both ways.

They are looking at the landscape and figuring that having bigger interconnects is not a bad thing, no matter what happens.

if NetNu dies, they'll have the jump on the competition.

If it doesn't they'll still have a jump on the competition.

Job for IT generalist ...

Combat Wombat
Boffin

Re: Job for IT generalist ...

"If you don't care about mind numbingly tedious documentation and basically being a very well paid secretary / administrator"

I disagree with this sentiment, if you are a really good project manager then it can be very hands on and very rewarding. I love project execution work and overcoming problems.

I also happen to enjoy the business analyst side of it as well. You can be a good project manager and just go through the motions, or you can be a great project manager by actually helping the client to see the best way of doing things.

My favorite kind of projects are the one who have gone completely off the rails, and they need a "Mr Wolf" to come in and solve problems. If you have an IT background you are much better at getting these sort of IT projects back on track, or having the tough conversation with the project sponsors that you need to "old yellar" the thing and start again.

Combat Wombat
Thumb Up

Re: Depends on the country

AC, I couldn't agree with you more.

The hiring system is the biggest broken part of this equation.

People need to learn how to network, rather than using recruiters and job applications. There is a LOT of work out there if you know how to make the connections and find it. The "Old boys network" is re asserting itself again because hiring departments are so bloody useless.

Combat Wombat

Re: Job for IT generalist ...

"Yes, Project Management, or an Architect role sounds like it would be a logical route for extra money,"

This is exactly what I am doing, after being an IT generalist for the last 15 years. Life is getting increasingly sucky for IT generalists. Employers want much more, for much less money. I was at the cross roads of "specialize in something, or get out "

At the end of the day, my heart just wasn't in it, so I went off and did a 3 month project management course at my local Uni, and I am making the leap to Project Management.

There is a lot of need for GOOD project managers in IT, Software Dev and telecommunications.

Things you will need to do to be successful

1. Get your PMP or Prince2 certification

2. Get your Agile Certification

3. Have an awesome reputation for not just understanding IT, but also the business side of things.

Generalists tend to have a really good set of skills for this.

Another option is getting into "business analyst" type roles. IT generalists have good logic and problem solving skills which lends itself to that side of the business system as well. If you can translate business needs into SQL or programming specs then you will have a license to print money.

So, you CAN make the leap, but I am not going to lie that the first few jobs will be the hardest to get, so have a financial buffer to allow for it.

Best of Luck !

Check out my LinkedIn, and you can see my generalist history,

ca.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-fraser/1b/43/514/

How exec snatched $6m budget from his infosec team because he couldn't see ROI

Combat Wombat

Re: Well there we have it

I bet the (ex) CEO of Target cares a whole heap more than he did this time last year.

Combat Wombat
FAIL

A = Take the average number of detected hacks a year

B = the rate of successful breaches

C = The average cost of dealing with those breaches.

A x B x C = X

If X is less than the cost of paying the legal fines, then they won't finance security.

The only time a company puts serious money into security is after they have been royally and totally owned (See Target in the US), and then it's really just for show until the rep is restored then they just cut it again.

Fail.. for obvious reasons, but we really need a Tyler Durden Icon, with alt text of "A x B x C = X"

FCC mulls two-speed internet, axing net neutrality ... unless you convince it otherwise

Combat Wombat

Re: What bothers me most about all this

The back bones are fine, the issue is that the ISP's in the US have a "Last mile monopoly" In a lot of places in the US you have a choice between 2 isp's or worse no choice at all.

Those two ISP's are are about to merge in a lot of places, so there will be no choice at all.

When cities and municipalities have tried to break the monopoly by installing their own, publicly funded, publicly run fiber networks the established ISP's have sued the pants off them to stop that happening.

There is effectively no competition in the US, until Google gets its fiber rolled out on a bigger scale.

This is the established ISP's trying to get paid twice for every bit they push across their network, and pocketing the profits, rather than updating the last mile services

US broadband providers holding last-mile traffic ransom, ISP alleges

Combat Wombat

Re: I'm not surprised....

*rubs nipples*

How much is this bumming you out?

Microsoft: Let's be clear, WE won't read your email – but the cops will

Combat Wombat

*sigh*

Time to start hosting my own mail.

Michelle Obama speaks out against censorship ... in China

Combat Wombat
FAIL

Standard US policy continues

Do as we say, not as we do...

NBN backbone passes TERABIT test

Combat Wombat
Pint

This just makes me

Weep for what could have been.

Unfortunately my countrymen (and women) elected a bunch of complete twats to office, so likely this system will be sold off to Telstra at some point in the very near future.

beer icon, because the death of the NBN has driven me to drink.

MtGox: Yup, we're pretty sure your Bitcoin were stolen. Sorry about that.

Combat Wombat

I still call...

Bullpucky

You have thousands of obsessive nerds going through every blockchain to find those coins. And no one has found anything even approaching that Mt Cox is reporting to have happened.

As Richard Nixon's head would say.... "You've been scammed baby ! Arrroooooo! "

Mt Gox is just trying to throw up enough smoke and mirrors so he can lay low until this all blows over and bitcoin recovers it's value. Then he'll cash in for all the latte's he can drink.

Trials of 'Iron Man' military exoskeleton due in June

Combat Wombat
Trollface

Re: TALOS a bad name???

The marketing guy be dressed in robes and screaming about how much the TALOS suit will love you !

Sputtering storage space portends poorly for PCs

Combat Wombat

This is the beginning of the end..

For Physical HDD's

Now that SSD's have the life span and space that is comparable to platter HDD's, and the price has come down to affordable levels, you'll see their sales go up.

HP execs Bradley and Donatelli ready to walk: reports

Combat Wombat
Trollface

Meg is suffering from "Ballmer syndrome" methinks.

AKA Delusions of Competency

First Dell, now IBM: 15,000 jobs face the axe at Big Blue, says union

Combat Wombat

Already flooded market a few bucketfulls more won't hurt

I am getting the hell out of operational support for this reason. Market is flooded, and with all the axe swinging, it's only going to get worse.

I am lucky to have learned business and people skills in my time, so I am off to the dark side of IT project management.

Got a TorMail account to avoid Uncle Sam's web snoops? About that...

Combat Wombat
Facepalm

Anyone..

Who is crazy enough to host in the US, deserves everything they get.

Time to start building data centers in 3rd world countries, to keep the US snoops out.

1.1 MILLION customers' credit card data was swiped in Neiman Marcus breach

Combat Wombat

Yet more XP related issues

All the POS devices are running windows XP and they likely aren't being patched or maintained.

You see the same thing all over the place. I remember doing work for a metal shop who had a virus box somewhere on the network.

Turned out it was the automated C&C machine, which was running XP SP 0 and according to the manufacturer could in no way be patched updated or even have AV loaded on it.

It got put on it's own little isolated DMZ in a very short order.

You are going to see more and more of these hacks, as XP gets older and older and POS providers drag their feet with the replacements.

Microsoft loses cash on each Surface slab – but core biz strong as ever

Combat Wombat

*yawn*

Stats show that "the cloud" is mostly a load of tripe, and that having your own server is as popular as ever.

After this whole NSA thing I am expecting even more cold water will be thrown on the cloud marketing types.

Wow, gamers on YouTube really love the Xbox One. It's like they were paid to say that (Hint: they are)

Combat Wombat

Hail mary pass by MS

No one likes the Xbone, and it's being out sold by the WII U.

The Wii U is being seen as a failure by Nintendo, so it tells you how bad the XBone is.

It'll just be one more stinking mess of failure that the new CEO of MS will have to clean up.

If I were the new CEO, I would have StevieB flogged in the MS town square for what he has done to the company

How the NSA hacks PCs, phones, routers, hard disks 'at speed of light': Spy tech catalog leaks

Combat Wombat
Mushroom

So..

All hardware is full of gaping holes and it's a matter of time before these holes get exposed to the hacker community and we are screwed.

Nice job NSA / USA.

I can't wait until it happens I'll sit back and watch the carnage.

So glad I made the decision to get out of front line IT in 2014.

Slurp away, NSA: Mass phone data collection IS legal, rules federal judge

Combat Wombat

I am jacks complete lack of surprise

Just watch it get ruled legal on the top level too.

Speaking in Tech: The Snowden Effect... Why 2014 will be the year of PRIVATE cloud

Combat Wombat

LoL

Yeah "Private"

That's hilarious.

Has someone had too much Nogg ?

Ross Ulbricht: 'Oi! Give me back my $34m in Silk Road Bitcoin booty'

Combat Wombat

Meh everyone knows...

DogCoin is where it's at !

To the moon !

Foxtel announces broadband, Australia yawns

Combat Wombat

The NBN is dead...

What you are seeing is some residual writhing and twitching but it'll just take the LNP to put a few more rounds into it to truly make it die.

The LNP is just waiting for the country to stop paying too much attention to it, before they issue the final deathblow.

The Telstra panel they appointed will come back with the recommendation to kill it by about the end of the year. They are already winding it down.

Sysadmin job ad: 'If you don’t mind really bad work-life balance, this is for you'

Combat Wombat
Gimp

That ad is pretty honest

I have been in IT for 14 years and I am getting the F**K out because positions like that are becoming the norm more and more, and the pay is getting worse and worse.

At least the PA guys are honest

Pro-fibre-to-the-premises protestors call NBN Day of Action

Combat Wombat

Re: Suck it up Australia,...

Tim

The ABC published a bunch of election data that was broken down by various demographics but it showed that old people overwhelmingly voted for the LNP.

I am sure you are one of the good ones, but sadly you are in the minority.

My own Parents both voted LNP, despite my best efforts to convince them otherwise.

Combat Wombat

Suck it up Australia,...

You voted in these idiots, so prepare to reap the "rewards"

The LNP is laying the groundwork to kill this thing outright. They just need to slowly press the pillow down over it's face first.

The current government rode to power on the back of the "Grey vote" And all they really care about is getting the most out of their retirement, and keeping the brown people out.

'I'm BIG, I'm BALD and I'm LOUD!' Blubbering Ballmer admits HE was Microsoft's problem

Combat Wombat
Facepalm

The fact I can't tell if that is satire

Means that Stevo is completely mental, and was always out of his depth.

How is that imbecile a CEO !?!?

Jesus Tap Dancing Christ...

Canadian teens cuffed over alleged Snapchat child sex pics ring

Combat Wombat

Re: Child facing child pornography charges?

It's only a crime when boys do it.

Mandatory HTTP 2.0 encryption proposal sparks hot debate

Combat Wombat

SSL..

Is already broken, so I would wager that any sort of NSA complaining is more professional theater than anything else.

Anything truly unbreakable would be illegal.

Turnbull appoints Simon Hackett, Justin Milne and Patrick Flannigan to NBN Co board

Combat Wombat

They are there for show

They are "non executive" board members.

All the major decision makers are ex telstra.

So it will be a board that decides how best to kill the NBN and sell it's carcass to Telstra

Tesla battery fire pushes beleaguered firm's share price even lower

Combat Wombat

Time to buy Tesla stock, while it's cheap.

It'll bounce back once the paranoia goes away

REJOICE! Windows 7 users can get IE11 ... soon they'll have NO choice

Combat Wombat
Pirate

Meh

I'll install it as part of the normal patch thing, bu there is no way they can actually make me USE it.

The unsung heroes of the networking team: Who appreciates you?

Combat Wombat
Gimp

Nobody loves us....

Until something breaks...

Then they love us, in the same manner an abusive husband loves his wife...

With lots of yelling, screaming and occasionally violence

How long will the next NBN Co board last?

Combat Wombat

You'll just see the board stacked...

with political cronies of the liberal party and ex Telsta and newscorp execs.

None of whom will know a damn thing about delivering a 21st century broadband infrastructure.

ENTIRE NBN BOARD offers to walk the plank: report

Combat Wombat
FAIL

Re: Not shocked

Not really being a bigot.

Old people primarily voted for the LNP, on the basis of a "Turn the boats around, to keep the brown people out" campaign.

The NBN is just collateral damage as far as that voting block goes, because old people have no idea how to use the internet and generally don't see any problems with the speed they have now.

It means they have time to make a cup of tea, and lunch while they wait for their email to load.

Combat Wombat
Mushroom

Not shocked

If I were in the NBN board's shoes, I would do the same thing.

The new boss wants to implement a substandard project and add a billion dollars onto it for no good reason.

After just 10 years the project will be an abject failure because FTTN / Wireless was a looser idea from the get go.

The LNP's model is built with keeping the existing Foxtel / Telstra / Newscorp happy at the expense of the Australian internet user.

So they are taking a stand and saying "You think you can do it better ? Then you are welcome to try, F**kwit. "

This whole election has been a farce (except without the "being funny" part), that has been handed to us by the old, white racist baby boomer demographic.

Microsoft cans three 'pinnacle' certifications, sparking user fury

Combat Wombat

MS Certs are not worth the paper they are written on.

MS certs are pretty much useless nowdays. The exams are badly written, horrible exercises in memorization and offer you no clear view of the persons actual skills.

They are pretty much a key word filter for recruiters these days.

Ballmer departing, now this.... things might actually getting better at MS.

Thought the PC market couldn't get any worse? HAH! Think again

Combat Wombat

Meh

I am not shocked.

PC computing power has pretty much flat lined, so businesses are holding onto the kit for longer, and just re imaging when they need to upgrade..

The PC markets will shrink back down to a more reasonable level.

NBN builder Syntheo gives up in two States

Combat Wombat
Mushroom

Western Australia

3 hours and 20 years behind everyone else.

So glad I left.

Nuke because Perth needs to be nuked from orbit... only way to be sure.

Barbie paints Red Planet pink with NASA-approved Mars Explorer doll

Combat Wombat
Trollface

LoL

That's utterly hilarious.

But we all know the first humans on mars will be men.

Does that mean Mars will belong to "The patriarchy" ?

Snowden's XKeyscore revelations challenged

Combat Wombat
Gimp

I'd believe it.

You know why?

What else are they going to be using that 2billion dollar Utah Data centre for ?

Storing Bill Clinton's porn archives?

WAR ON PORN: UK flicks switch on 'I am a pervert' web filters

Combat Wombat

Well my English cousins...

You need to do what we did in Australia.

Protest the shit out of it, and make it clear that if they try and implement that PoS, they will not be re elected.

Although Labour isn't much better, they aren't messing with your porn

NBN Co CEO Quigley retires, won't deny he was pushed

Combat Wombat

So glad I left

Watch the Coalition completely destroy any hope has for modern Telecoms if they get elected.

It'll be back to wires, tin cans and pigeons

Study suggests US companies use overseas workers to cut wages

Combat Wombat
Trollface

In other news...

Water has been deemed to be "wet"

Sky has deemed to be "blue"

Bears reveled to dedicate in woodland areas

Pope revealed to be of the catholic faith.

NSW may fire 610 school tech support officers in March

Combat Wombat
FAIL

I used to work in the Vic program

Vic govt did the same thing to us... sacked them all.. and hired people at half the price, on a per hour contract.

No pay on holidays, xmas etc.

Page: