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Comment Re:The reality of Sweden (Score 1) 467

Sure. I do not doubt that. But do you think that spending indicates what you get for your money? I remember a well functioning healthcare in my youth and compared to today the difference is wild. You can spend 12 hours in the emergency or more before seeing a doctor. Obviously, if you have been shot you get taken care of right away and that is all good - but that the mean case in the emergency can lasts for 12 hours? Is that super cool? The problems with the healthcase are many - it is not just finance.

The US healthcare has been shown many times to be extremely inefficient, yet is at the top of the list. Just to indicate what I am talking about - spending does not translate to quality.

Comment The reality of Sweden (Score 3, Interesting) 467

I am a Swede who left the country a few months ago. The Swedish system is not well funded at all. The health care is not what it used to be either - the population has grown some 20% in just 15 years whereas the health care system most definitely has not grown 20%. The tax base also has not grown 20%.

The Swedish "model" is inaction. How so many have failed to grasp that is beyond me. Not doing anything is not a model for crying out loud.

Submission + - Western Digital pulls a performance stunt (arstechnica.com)

castrox writes: Western Digital has quietly changed the technology in their marketed NAS drives and lowered the number of platterns driving down performance significantly.

From Ars Technica:
"Storage vendors, including but reportedly not limited to Western Digital, have quietly begun shipping SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) disks in place of earlier CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording) disks."

Comment Not an accident (Score 1) 241

The title says it was an "accident" which is incorrect. This was done with open eyes all the while security responsible protested and a lot of other IT people.

The director ordered this outsourcing project to continue and give access to the IBM contractors before they had been given security clearance. IBM's personnel are located in different countries such as Serbia, Poland, etc. The access is (still) administrative access to databases and data shares.

It's of course not just one big database but many. What's also not in the summary is that an encrypted inter-agency network was also exposed. Oops.

The motive of the (now ex) director's order was to speed up the project, because the transport agency otherwise would have issues with their daily work (issue driver licenses, etc.). The government has also been breathing down their necks to save money, hence this outsourcing (short-sighted madness).

It's a trainwreck from beginning to end, really. Heads will roll.

IAAS (I Am A Swede) as well..

Comment Re:Good riddance Gnome (and KDE) (Score 1) 134

I've fled KDE before when they launched the public alpha as a major release. Since back then it's improved hugely in terms of performance and usability. I used to be a Gnome fan, but the new UI, while usable on the TV, is unusable on the dev box.

About the bling and widgets/plasmoids I just don't use them so they're not a problem. It's a way of attracting a certain user group.

castrox

Submission + - Share links, become extradited to the US (arstechnica.com)

castrox writes: "Sharing links online, particularly links to copyrighted material, may render you extradited to the United States of America.

The case is unique because the site, which the accused 23-year-old Englishman ran, was not located in the US in any way. Does this set a new precedent of things to come?

The agency responsible for the extradition request is Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After contacting the site operator, shutting down the .com and .cc domain and finally paying the guy a visit in person, extradition is now on the table.

Read more on Ars Technica"

Comment Huge cost in PR (Score 1) 189

Okay, so everyone thinks the cost is directly financial. What about the cost in PR?

This company just got mentioned in article after article in just about every newspaper on the globe. No pretty headlines, either. Lax security. Leaked data again? Oh.

The direct cost might be possible to calculate - but the cost of no one trusting Sony with personal data could disrupt their online business entirely.

The rootkit disaster, as often mentioned, still sits in all of our minds and everyone we talk with. Do not underestimate the badwill. Want to be a contender? Do not fuck up - this economy will not allow it.

The cloud crap gets another black eye and this one is hardly deserving, considering the immense lack of competence security-wise on Sony's part.

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