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Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

I am a fan, generally speaking, of Microsoft and Windows is my preferred OS – Operating System. I have been a user of Windows since version 1, yes there was one and I have a set of original floppy disks to prove it. I have lived with every version both the good and the not so good over the decades and can look back on the highlights in the journey of Win 95, Win 2000 and Win 7 as well as the horrors of Win 98, NT 3.5 and Vista.

Given the opportunity to download a “Windows 8 Consumer Preview”, the other day, I did and when it finished installing on a spare PC I have, I started playing with it and after an hour came to the conclusion that Microsoft have created another “Horror” to match Widows Vista. Whereas Vista was a cods up caused by truncated technology, Windows 8 suffers from a serious case of “Design Delusion”, how on Earth have they managed to do this again in such a short space in time ?

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I suppose with the passing of Steve Jobs plus the success of the iPhone and iPad, people will be looking forward to what is happening in the “IT & Gadget Space” going forwards and The Economist had a very amusing article which focused on employees using their personal gadgets whilst being connected to corporate networks likening it to “IT’s Arab spring” (http://www.economist.com/node/21531112 ). As with most things, it is not quite that simple I suspect.

As to the future of Apple without Jobs, it will go the way of all technology companies, prosper for a time because of current good products and the iTunes lock in plus it has always been a “cult brand ”. However without him and his instinctive feel for the right products, eventually it will start to fade away as the Circus leaves town and in the end, the brand and its history has more value than its actual inventory.

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I am often amused by the sort of careless headlines/stories one gets on computer technology in the National Press, often written by the clearly technically illiterate. I came across the following headline today: “The PC era is over. The tablet has won. Inside the Enterprise: Internet “enabled” devices will outsell PCs within two years. Businesses need to change tack accordingly.”

I almost fell about laughing because it is a ridiculous headline to anyone with even a limited amount of understanding of the computer market. However, I also check myself on condemning this sort of thing outright, perhaps I’ve been around too long and witnessed some of these changes at first hand, for some acne spotted youth, it probably does seem all “NEW”.

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The other day there was an article concerning scrapping the huge NHS IT project that had got under way whilst Blair and his “Wild Bunch” were in power. The whole project just like the one on ID Cards was totally flawed from outset and before a Penny had been spent.

As a result, many experienced people from the IT Industry did warn the Government about both but their warnings fell of deaf ears the article that explains the story is as follows: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-pulls-the-plug-on-its-11bn-it-system-2330906.html

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It has been said that there often has to be an End before there can be a New Beginning and with regard to the Space Shuttle Atlantis un-docking from the International Space Station and on her last journey home, we are witnessing the closing of a 30 year period of all the Space Shuttles and no less than the last flight of Concorde, a touching moment for an iconic machine.

Does this mean the end of the US investment in manned space flight ? Despite the current budget restrictions, I suspect not, American pride won’t stand for that and in an odd way, the end of the Shuttle programme is more likely to focus both mind and energy into building the next generation, we shall see, safe journey home Atlantis. Read the rest of this entry »

This may seem strange or, merely prove that I am a very strange person all together but, the other day when considering graphics software updates from Adobe, I saw a stark relationship between the situation in Libya and especially from the perspective of of the Rebels based in Benghazi, the US company Adobe and a software update to their range of products.

I will tell you that this essay is essentially about graphics software rather than Libya but, there is a relationship between the latest Adobe ‘upgrade’ and calls for arming the rebels in Libya…

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I had an interesting if rather amusing ‘incident’ the other day with a computer magazine I subscribe to, I suspect that it is a sign of the times within the media in terms of an economic downturn. On their web site they have lots of articles which providing you register and login, you can post comments to them.

The current “Big Thing” is called Cloud Computing (I will return to that later) and in replying to a particular article, I wasn’t aware that in effect, it was Paid for Advertising and presumably by Microsoft. My comment was published but later in the day removed. This of course is the tightrope that all such magazine publishers must walk; Give soundly based comments and product reviews for their readers whilst not upsetting their advertisers and “Industry Insiders”, this led to some reflections on my part…

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I am a regular reader of an IT magazine called PC Pro which is very good and one of their regular reviewers and contributors who specialises in ‘graphics related’ matters because he runs his own graphics design business up in Scotland, is called Tom Arah.

I have never met Tom though we did once have an exchange of emails on the subject of Wacom drawing tablets and although I ignored his advice at the time, experience will out and in due course, I came to appreciate the points that he was making. Although I don’t take everything he writes as Gospel, when it comes to computer graphics, an area of great interest to me, he is always worth listening to as I did recently on a rather excellent Photoshop plug-in.

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Really following on from my earlier post and in case anyone actually follows this blog, a minor announcement: There will not be that much in the way of “new posts” over the next few weeks although the “look” may change a couple of times.

I am redesigning this site and that is a bit of a major undertaking because of the very nature of WordPress sites which because they are “live”, the pages being made up on the “fly” as demanded by users requires quite a lot more work than say, changing a simple xhtml site knocked up in Dreamweaver.

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As I contemplate my personal future and at the age of 65, had discounted going back into IT as a possibility and would have to seek a different ‘trade’, but then I was taken aback yesterday to realise that perhaps I should not have been so hasty, there are still idiots out there complete with loon pants on ! On reflection, I thought that perhaps, I was far too quick on ‘discounting’ the knowledge that I have built up over the years and should review that.

The reality is simply determined by the “business goals” and translating those into ‘business outcomes’ is what IT is all about, the technology is very much secondary. What occasioned this was me writing some comments against an article in the “Indy” on the Coalition Governments Freedom Bill:http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-a-victory-for-civil-liberties-ndash-and-a-challenge-for-labour-2209670.html#comment-144334168

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