mpe

This is something they shouldn't be doing in the first place. Though with some it can be difficult stopping them "playing technician". Depends what you are using, something like the SUNIX ST122LE (CS16522 from CPC) is tiny. Certainly compared with the HYUNDAI KVS532 (CS07984 from CPC), it's also more expensive, needs an additional cable, a free BS1363 power socket and has several times the size & mass compared with the SUNIX ST122LE. The issue is if they need to use the machine without any network connection. It can also be a problem with using wireless networks. Since typically things are set up such that there isn't any form of pre logon wireless configuration.

Unless you have some very cheap machines the cost of such a splitter isn't that high a proportion of the cost of the machine. I wouldn't assume that it's just "the kids" doing this. We have had one instance of a printer being literally pulled apart, it was in the staffroom. Even if there was vandalism of the ports on a desktop machine repairs tend to be easier and cheaper than with laptops. Part of the reason we went for docking stations is teachers are not generally competent to connecting/disconnecting anything. (Plus there's something about them not being ment to be doing anything other than teaching.)

It is still possible to get hold of the old docking stations. What is far more difficult to get hold of are the old D series laptops. Not bothering to "upgrade" (replace) laptops and fit a desktop (plus video doubler) is even less money. Especially if Dell part 452-10381 still has resale value. But this is still tens of thousands of pounds plus a large amount of time. Lots of lost business for Dell because they decided to change the design of a connector. If it were up to me I'd get rid of laptops, especially those used by teachers. Whilst those for student use can at least be easily re-imaged all too often teachers will insist on putting random applications on and scattering their data into apparently random places on the HDD.

It isn't exactly speedy on a machine with twice the cores and twice the RAM either

I don't think that the government wanted to nationalise Northern Rock or the East Coast Mainline. Just that they couldn't think of a viable alternative. AFAIK this kind of outsourcing is the policy of both New Labour and the Tories. So you'd first need to change that policy and get people into the civil service who knew how to manage an IT project. If our MPs could put half the effort they put into finding ways to put our money into their bank accounts into running the country we'd probably have the best run country on the planet.

I find it a bit strange that a company in Spain gives prices in USD (rather than Euros) and quotes their telephone number in a way which could be interpreted as being in India. Of course if would probably make far more sense for RBCs/NEN to be doing this in the first place. Maybe that is what this poll is about...

"Rubbish" can include "not integrating very well with what we have already". "E Learning Credits" being the most obvious example.

As well as PFI schools where all sorts of things are not under the control of the school and getting things done appears to involve about half a dozen levels of managment between the school, LEA and PFI company. In theory we arn't even ment to talk to our caretakers and cleaners...

Windows Jeri Ryan?

Especially when it's actually made somewhere which isn't twice as far away from the UK as the US. We even get charged more than the rest of the EU, which is ment to be illegal. Going by the recent elections most of the population appear happy to live in "Rip Off Britain" however.

I'm sure Microsoft are gutted by this As opposed to any normal business who would seek any excuse not to offer a discount... Anyway the UK price appears to overcharge by £7.31 on home premium and £6.20 on professional compared with France and Germany. Wonder what UKIP have to say about this.

How about Drusilla?

Is the "older model" the same part number? Note that in the case of faulty goods being sold by a mail order company they are responsible for all shipping costs.

They are also unlikely to put themselves on the electoral roll or pay council tax. Or if they do they are just as likely to fill out a census form. Thus get one of these "privilege cards". Even without one they can just claim to be be doing a house swap when they visit the swimming pool or the "recycling centre". How many people need to do 50+ things in a short period of time, if at all? The typical person might need some from a set of X. The problem with a card which has 50+ functions is that someone can easily impersonate you to do various things you never do in your name without it being obvious. With this many possible functions there are going to be some which few people ever do. Would it make sense for your front door key to also open your all the doors at work, bank safety deposit box, car. etc. etc. The technology to do this has only become available fairly recently. Otherwise having a driving licence with a chip on acting as an additional key to a vehicle is a very sensible idea.

Only available to skilled East European hackers would be an improvment over the most likely level of security.

If you are storing "offline" copies of such data then the security of the device is a serious issue. Especially if you are not restricting what is being stored to only what you need to check regisisters.

[quote=penfold_99;342240 Why not just combine the driving licence and passport with an ID card in one card? Because they have different functions and the more functions a document has the less secure it is. More sensible would be to stop abusing driving licences as anything other than proof that someone has passed a driving test. The idea of a machine operators permit being used to prove ID really is rather daft. In about two years "they" will get this information anyway, as has been done every decade since the mid 19th century...

When everyone starts wearing hoods all time

As opposed to the constituancy of Redditch Not everyone does all of these things at all. As well as it being unclear why any of these would require a person's date of birth. Even placing "children" in a borrower catagory which restricts what they can borrow dosn't actually required storing their date of birth. Even if they do not have parent/guardian consent to borrow anything. Wouldn't it also make more sense to link car parking to the car rather than any person? How long before things leak? ((Including "Chinese walls" between different departments failing.) Does the ICO have anything to say about this.

Given that they are often only concerned with area it's quite possible to end up with a space which is of little practical use, even though it might have the right floor area.

Those "running" the country being incapable of recognising this as a potential problem. Given that that appears to be what they spend most of their effort on. There appear to be far too many Architects who appear to be frustrated arists. Thus appearing more concerned with the outside looks of a building than anything inside them. Personally I like the approach of a Moscow judge for sentenced an architect to live in the apartment building he had designed. (The Russians have a rather practical approach to bad buildings...)

Or it may be as simple as there isn't anyone looking at the whole project.

There are actually two bandwidth issues. The first is that in order to get anything like LAN speeds with wireless you'd be exposing anyone to far more EM radiation than people are currently making a fuss about. 802.11g&a are actually up to 28M in each direction 802.11b being 5.5M. Since it's also a shared medium akin to classic ethernet (or ALOHAnet) the actual usable bandwidth is rather less. Even 10M switched ethernet can in some cases offer more usable bandwidth. The other bandwidth issue comes with the remote hosting. Whereas with onsite servers you can easily get 1G (full duplex) per server, even 10G.

It's probably closer to the truth than even if "they" have any qualifications or experience in ICT it is not from any form of educational environment. The whole process is also highly political, some of those involved possibly even earning more than cabinet ministers. (These people are likely to come with egos to match their saleries.) The last thing they want to be told is that the plans are fundermentally flawed. Especially by someone who is most likely paid a lot less, is outside of their "social circle" and dosn't have to waste vast sums of money on "consultants" and "reports" to come to a conclusion. This probably isn't anything especially new, considering what a well known Danish author wrote in 1837.