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The next issue of MS-Windows promises to bring a whole new world of monopolistic behaviour to the computing world. Specifically MS-Windows 8 will require that secure boot will be installed for certification, which is fine in itself; BIOS really is a technology past its use-by date. However this will, in all probability, be used to prevent dual-booting with other operating systems like you-know-what. I have a presentation (PDF) on this topic from last Tuesday at Linux Users of Victoria and the policy we have developed. Since then ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zey has pointed out that "the slow moving train wreck" of a company has decided it would be good to include in its terms of service the right of the company to remotely kill or delete applications that you have purchased.
On Sunday gave an address at the the Melbourne Unitarian Church on aliens, or more specifically entitled "Is Anybody Out There? Little Green Men and the Fermi Paradox", which gave a brief introduction to the issue that space is so big and old and yet otherworldly life has yet to be discovered. Of course, people always raise the cost of scanning the sky for such and whilst it is notable, it is certainly preferred to most military expenditures. Apropos churchy matters, I have made a substantial start on the three-chapter bloc on studies on Abrahamic religions and should have the Judaism material finished this week. Finally, tonight the Melbourne Atheist Society is having a discussion on "Science and the Objectivity Myth", which hopefully will deal with pragmatics rather than just representational realism.
There have been some significant changes at work; from a staff of around fifty, six positions were made redundant, two others took voluntary redundancy, managers took pay cuts and other staff reduced their hours. I was one of the latter group, adopting what should be a pleasant four-day working week over summer. Nevertheless, I really feel for those people who have lost their jobs, an awful experience for those with families and mortgages etc. Although on the latter matter, we were doubly fortunate this week in shifting our mortgage (with our strongly recommended union-owned, ME Bank) to an offset account which, coupled with a recent drop in interest rates, now has the lowest rate in the country - and resulting in a "not insignificant" saving.
zey has pointed out that "the slow moving train wreck" of a company has decided it would be good to include in its terms of service the right of the company to remotely kill or delete applications that you have purchased.On Sunday gave an address at the the Melbourne Unitarian Church on aliens, or more specifically entitled "Is Anybody Out There? Little Green Men and the Fermi Paradox", which gave a brief introduction to the issue that space is so big and old and yet otherworldly life has yet to be discovered. Of course, people always raise the cost of scanning the sky for such and whilst it is notable, it is certainly preferred to most military expenditures. Apropos churchy matters, I have made a substantial start on the three-chapter bloc on studies on Abrahamic religions and should have the Judaism material finished this week. Finally, tonight the Melbourne Atheist Society is having a discussion on "Science and the Objectivity Myth", which hopefully will deal with pragmatics rather than just representational realism.
There have been some significant changes at work; from a staff of around fifty, six positions were made redundant, two others took voluntary redundancy, managers took pay cuts and other staff reduced their hours. I was one of the latter group, adopting what should be a pleasant four-day working week over summer. Nevertheless, I really feel for those people who have lost their jobs, an awful experience for those with families and mortgages etc. Although on the latter matter, we were doubly fortunate this week in shifting our mortgage (with our strongly recommended union-owned, ME Bank) to an offset account which, coupled with a recent drop in interest rates, now has the lowest rate in the country - and resulting in a "not insignificant" saving.