Sandburd - Slashdot User

The State of UK Broadband — Not So Fast 279

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday November 26, 2008 @06:29AM from the but-you-have-actual-competition dept.

Barence writes "The deplorable speed of British broadband connections has been revealed in the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, which show that 42.3% of broadband connections are slower than 2Mb/sec. More worryingly, the ONS statistics are based on the connection's headline speed, not actual throughput, which means that many more British broadband connections are effectively below the 2Mb/sec barrier. Better still, a separate report issued yesterday by Ofcom revealed that the majority of broadband users had no idea about the speed of their connection anyway."

Submission + - MS exec: Pirating software? Choose Microsoft

Submitted by on Tuesday March 13, 2007 @12:02AM

An anonymous reader writes: ArsTechnica is running a story regarding Microsoft's view that should software piracy occur, Microsoft's desire is that the pirated software be theirs, to potentially, in the future, convert users from the "dark side" into legit users who obtain licenses...

"At the Morgan Stanley Technology conference last week in San Francisco, Microsoft business group president Jeff Raikes commented on the benefits of software counterfeiting. 'If they're going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else,' he said. 'We understand that in the long run the fundamental asset is the installed base of people who are using our products. What you hope to do over time is convert them to licensing the software.'"

Obviously Microsoft prefers the market to use their software even if it's pirated rather than the alternative to occur: the use of free software which threatens their dominance in the software market.

Submission + - Drug selectively removes rats memory

Submitted by rednuhter on Monday March 12, 2007 @07:24AM

rednuhter writes: Nature online is reporting scientists have used drugs to selectively remove one memory while unaffecting another. Musical tones were played to the rats and at the same time the subjects were given a mild electric shock. Half the study group were given the drug (not approved for use in humans) and then the experiment was repeated with a new tone. The following day the rats that had not been given the treatment were afraid of both tones while the treated half were only afraid of the second tone, the memory of fear of the first had been erased.

Submission + - Linspire to be based on Kubuntu

Submitted by

FliesLikeABrick

on Monday March 12, 2007 @03:05AM

FliesLikeABrick writes: "The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter has unveiled that Linspire announced that they will be switching to base their distribution off Ubuntu. With their polished KDE desktop this makes Linspire the latest in the impressive list of operating systems based off Kubuntu.

It was also announced that Linspire's Click and Run install programme would be added to the Ubuntu archive, giving users of all Ubuntu distributions easy access to a large range of free and proprietary software."

Submission + - Commodore returns with new gaming PCs

Submitted by

JamesO

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @05:56AM

JamesO writes: "Commodore is a name which will bring memories flooding back to many a gamer and it's been announced that the legendary brand is to return with a new range of high specification gaming PCs.

The new Commodore PCs optimised for gaming will be launched at the CeBIT show in Germany on March 15 and attendees will be offered the chance to play the latest PC games using the purpose-built PCs.

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/06-03-2007-4930.html"

Submission + - 30 Days with Ubuntu Linux

Submitted by jkwdoc on Monday March 05, 2007 @09:07AM

jkwdoc writes: Vexed by Vista's hardware requirements and product activation issues, many have claimed on various boards that they plan to "switch to Linux." [H] Consumer spent 30 days using nothing but Ubuntu Linux to find out if this is truly a viable alternative for the consumer. Linux has indeed become much more than the "Programmer's OS." http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI5O CwxLCxoY29uc3VtZXI=

Submission + - Dell censors IdeaStorm Linux dissent

Submitted by thefickler on Thursday March 01, 2007 @08:05AM

thefickler writes: It seems pointless seeking ideas and feedback if you 're going to ignore and delete the ones you don't like. That's exactly what Dell is doing with its IdeaStorm web site, which has been set up by the company to solicit ideas and feedback. It deleted a post that linked to an article that criticized its handling of the "preinstalled Linux" issue.

Submission + - Samba Success in the Enterprise?

Submitted by

gunnk

on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @10:11AM

gunnk writes: "We've deployed a Samba server here to replace some aging Novell Netware boxes. It works great: fast, secure, stable. However, we have one VIP that feels that Samba is "amateur" software and that we should be buying Windows servers. I've been searching with little success for large Samba deployments in enterprise environments. Anyone out there care to share stories of places that are happily running large Samba installations for their file servers? Or not so happy, for that matter — better to be informed!"

Submission + - New technique for recycling PCBs

Submitted by

MattSparkes

on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @07:04AM

MattSparkes writes: "PCBs from discarded computers, cellphones and other devices could be recycled less harmfully using a technique developed by researchers in China. Unlike current methods, it can be used to reclaim metals such as copper without releasing toxic fumes into the air. Only a small numbers of PCBs are currently recycled."

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