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Comment No longer my problem (Score 2) 30

I am probably intending to retire in a year. This means that I will not be affected by the horrendous security implications vomited out by Windows 11. Nobody wants their built in security holes and nobody wants fake AI on every PC!

I suspect that, like many IT workers, my first/last IT project on retiring will be to remove Windows from my home PC and putting some sort of linux on it. My current work was over the last few years forced to remove working systems and install, less functional, Windows 10 ones. Presumably this nonsense will continue until their new president crashes his country beyond repair.

AI is a scam. I have it on my Chromebook, my phone, smartwatch. I don't need.want them. If I want a fake AI, I can get an Alexa.

Comment We have some silly plans for that in the UK (Score 1) 38

After our conservatives were very strongly rejected at our recent election they have been getting nuttier and crazier.

One of the biggest failures was their default loathing of healthcare. They keep coming up with ideas to damage it. They have driven our healthcare up to nearly half what is spent per person in the USA!

One of their latest bright ideas is to use IT to translate the many languages patients need. If you have ever used Google Translate you will not be too keen to trust it with your life. If someone manages to get AI up to a clinical safety level (unlikely) it would cost a lot more than Translate!

I once went to help a friend at the Emergency Department. E We all had Google Translate I had very rusty Farsi. My friend's English was better than my Farsi and the Triage nurse only spoke English. That is not the future! That is a good way to kill people!

Comment Re:WE tried it - it failed (Score 1) 198

Consider yourself lucky. King James I could have moved the seat of government to Edinburgh in 1603.

Edinburgh is a LOT nearer the middle of this island (just north of Newcastle> What stopped him? It would have meant that our government actually knew where things are in the UK. instead of being horrified at the idea of "north of watford"! London is as central to the UK as Inverness!

Comment WE tried it - it failed (Score 2) 198

Being outside the USA, we call in summer time. It doesn't save any daylight..

We tried permanent summer time once. It was an impressively stupid idea that made life very difficult for half the country. The sunrise where I come from was after 10 o'clock. This idea had to be the result of having our capital in such an insane place as London! Towards the end of the year, there is over an hour difference. Perhaps, as the USA is entirely south of the UK it won't be so bad?

The logical answer to all this is to keep the same time on the clock and businesses can have the option to open when they want!

Perhaps everyone should use UTC. This would be technically simple and the only difficulty would be people in the USA would have to learn the 24-hour clock.

Comment They used to be proud of it (Score 2) 73

I used to work for a (very) small IT company. We provided equipment and support for Businesses in our area. I remember owners and senior managers assuming their superiority because they DIDN'T understand IT!

I was an anomaly to them as I had what they considered a "proper" education - Latin, Greek and a number of other, useless, subjects but I worked in IT. They were proud that they had little understanding of how the products they sold worked. A couple of decades later those companies are gone. That the managers thought they were better because of their lack of knowledge is insane. I remember one sneering at staff because they knew how to use lathes and he didn't!

A complex society like ours will always need engineers and mechanics. It does not, even now, need people who think they are better because they are unable to understand technology (not just IT).

Comment Re:so much for brexit (Score 1) 167

well a standard charging port, there is no such thing as a standardised charger

I use the same charger and wire for my phone (pixel7), BT earbuds and my Chromebook. Unsurprisingly, it charges (the little box for) my earbuds the fastest and phone the longest but it works fine on those plus any random item plugged in by family members. Seems pretty close to universal. Nothing gets warm (indicating too much power. I tried the phone on an old wallwart and it took several times as long but it worked.

The fun thing about USBC now is that it now annoys people who still insist on pretending Brexit was a good idea! If they are going to avoid it, they can avoid all smartphones - even Apple ones!

Comment Not for me! (Score 1) 48

I have dropped several podcasts that consistently got too long."

How long is too long? I prefer no longer than 30 minutes but am unlikely to choose much longer than 15. I listen to podcasts for fun and don't need them as long as a badly run business meeting!

Of the next items in my queue, one is 1 hour and 15 minutes and the next longest is 28 minutes

Multi-hour podcasts? No thanks!

Comment Trackpoint (Score 1) 99

I have never come across anyone who used a track point other than a support call who had to because the touchpad had failed. They were very thankful when I gave them a wireless mouse as the reason for the failure was coffee and it was outside warranty!

Has anyone ever encountered someone happily using track point?

Comment Re: 4 years - Measure the problems fixed after 4 y (Score 1) 283

Nope.

I suppose, not being in the USA or Russia, I am left of them but I thought I would as Google than something too far above your head try googling "bigot meaning" from them.

: a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person. especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)

Bigots are not normal people. We have bigots here saying that a few hundreds of immigrants a day is the same as the Russians invading Ukraine. No tanks, no planes, guns or helicopters. The main thing is that they are brown.

Now do you know any better? I suspect not...

Comment Re:4 years - Measure the problems fixed after 4 ye (Score 1) 283

I suspect that the main reason for saying very little was to give certain "newspapers" more room to make up lies. I have never been in a political party but even I am pleased at this.

They didn't say much about how they may intend to fix the bad relations between the UK and the EU. That would have led to lies about undoing Brexit. They didn't say how they would fix 14 tears of vandalism to the NHS but they already have.

I want to see good intentions, adult actions. We haven't seen either of those for many years!

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