Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:Pointing out greater problems (Score 0) 420

As an admin type speaking for.. well, me. I find that all the blocking decisions are made by the management who choose to buy stupid filtering products.

Management generally ask for staff to report on the pros and cons of blocking software and then proceed to ignore the report and make a decision based on what is least likely to get them in trouble. Whether it is workable is not an issue until after it has been implemented...

Comment Re:So, basically the parents are screwed? (Score 0) 420

On my campus this is a very common problem. Teachers cannot access resources to teach their subject. Students cannot access learning resources due to the heavy handed and uninformed blocking filters.

The irony is that the students work out how to get past the filters by talking to each other and setting up their own proxies but the poor old teachers are left filling out endless bureaucratic forms to request access to the needed resources (one at a time). I have not yet seen any of the lecturers on my campus succeed in getting a blocked resource unblocked.

Sadly the network I am referring to is the Australian goverments, NSW Department of Education

Comment Fashionable to release stimulus packages (Score 0) 325

It's fashionable to release stimulus packages at the moment. Everyone is doing it, why shouldn't Microsoft jump on the bandwagon. Of course those of a more cynical nature may construe this as just a trick to try and get more customers on board... The cynics may have something there.

The game remains the same but the presentation changes.

Comment Re:Pay now or pay later... you still pay the MS pi (Score 0) 234

Open Goverment (up to a point), seems to be the stuff of dreams.
Wouldn't it be great to know exactly what the process is behind this whole, "billion dollar promise". Probably not much money when you consider how much the education sector here in Oz spends on licensing and re-licensing software that has open alternatives.

Have you ever tried using any gov.au website? They are generally hard to navigate, bureaucratic and bloated with useless information. Admittedly it must be a huge and difficult job corralling all that information but I'd love to see someone trying (hopefully with a little success).

Comment Missed opportunity (Score 0) 234

Seems like we are headed for another missed opportunity.

There is a pattern. The technical research staff hand in their reports and are sent back to their labs and only then do the Microsoft sales people swoop.

We all know that 'Selling Windows' is Microsoft's business, not making our lives easier. ...sigh, hoping it is not so.

Comment Re:Very simple.... (Score 1) 335

Okay, so here's what you do. You keep a padded, heat-resistant safe in an upstairs room of the house. Mount wheels on it, and place it on an inclined track, facing toward a pre-scored section of thinner wall. Rest it against a swing gate or chock held shut by a locking device made of lead. If your house starts on fire, the heat will melt the lead, the gate will open, and the safe will roll down the incline, bursting through the wall and landing safely in the yard, outside the major heat zone.

Of course, you have the problem of your house becoming a flaming safe-launcher as well as being on fire... I'm sure that can all be worked out in the implementation.

And wouldn't it be ironic if the safe crushed you as you ran to put the fire out...

Is Apple Killing Linux on the Desktop? 1224

Domains May Disappear writes "Chris Howard has an interesting commentary at Apple Matters on recent trends in OS market share that says that while OS X has seen continual growth, from 4.21% in Jan 2006 to 7.31% in December 2007 at the same time, Linux's percentage has risen from only 0.29% to 0.63%. The reasons? 'Apple has Microsoft Office, Linux doesn't; Apple has Adobe Creative Suite, Linux doesn't; Apple has easily accessed and easy to use service and support, Linux doesn't; Apple is driven by someone who has some understanding of end-user needs, Linux is not,' says Howard. 'Early in the decade it seemed that if you wanted a Windows alternative, Linux was it. Nowadays, an Apple Mac is undoubtedly the alternative and, with its resurgence and its Intel base, a very viable one.'"

Slashdot Top Deals

An adequate bootstrap is a contradiction in terms.

Working...