Mark Dormer : My Opinion

Hello World, I'm Back

Mark Dormer — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:12:00 GMT

OK, I have been slack with my blog the last few months. This was by choice rather than pure laziness. Sometimes you just need to walk away for awhile. After a hard year I decided to give myself a break.

I didn't blog, answer newsgroup or forum posts, attend any user groups or most of the other stuff I usually do. I kept a lazy eye on a few email lists I am a member of but by and large most of the posts in them are unread. I didn't read any blogs or computer related stuff either. I even turned my mobile phone off most of the time.

Sometimes our connected world is just plain tiring, not to mention boring!

You know, when I was 20, I didn't have a phone, a computer, a PDA. I certainly didn't feel underprivileged. I never felt pressed for time. I did things until they were finished and then thought about what to do next. Yes, that involved a lot of drinking and partying ;-) Work was something to do to make a buck but not to be taken seriously.

Anyway, I feel like I have the energy to get back into now and more pertinently, the desire. I wonder if that will last after the birth of our 2nd child in around a month's time? aaaahhh the phones ringing...later.

Where am I?

Mark Dormer — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:58:00 GMT

I guess I lied in my last post. I did write a blog post, just didn't publish it. This is from mid December.

Oh well, I haven't had much of an online presence in the last few months. The initial reason was moving house, but then I realised I was actually enjoying not reading newsgroups, answering questions, beta testing, reading the feeds, keeping up with the new tech....yada yada.

In all honesty I was bored, stuck in a rut. Wake up, check PC, read mail, read groups, read RSS, fiddle with some new tool/idea, go to work, read mail, read groups, read RSS, fiddle with some new tool/idea, go home, read mail, read groups, read RSS, fiddle with some new tool/idea....ad nauseum

I suppose it was inevitable. It's just not that exciting or interesting. Another new site/idea, another new mp3/vid player, a new methodology, Web 2.0....yawn. It seems like those making the running are all touts for some product. Maybe I need to treat it like work and take holidays from it every year!

For someone who has spent the last 12 years virtually living in it, it has been a good thing to walk away. Taking a step back I can see it isn't really that important.

That's what I like about this life. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want. No ones forcing you to do stuff.

Australian Computer Society and the ICT Industry

Mark Dormer — Mon, 01 May 2006 13:13:00 GMT

I caught a post on Mitch Denny's site that piqued my interest.

The crux concerns the ACS requiring a degree for entry vs real world experience/ability whilst it's membership is in steady decline. It also touches on, or comments on the post do, about whether IT is a trade or profession? What do you think?

My experience was like this. I applied to join the ACS. I jumped through all the hoops, supplied details of years of experience and prior learning, organised a couple of referees. What did it come down to? Yep, you guessed right, no degree, no entry. I was slighty peeved.

When I see people write "technically you don't need a degree to join" I take it with a grain of salt. So who does get in without one? Fine, it's your closed shop, you can do what you like with it but it will come at a cost. It has become rather irrelevant to me. I did a little asking around and found that most of the people I respect in this industry aren't members. Even members said it was in decline and at the mercy of a bunch of old cronies.
I read they lost 3000 members since 2003, yet the ACS claims to represent the ICT sector in Australia, Hello!

The ethics of the ACS are also questionable in my opinion. On one hand they complain about the number of people getting visas whilst they make money from testing the applicants for these visas. So how do you reconcile that? How can you protect your members when you are actively helping undermine them? Here's some reading on it. http://tinyurl.com/l7pqr Seems they don't like the reports they commision so they bury them. I wouldn't mind hearing a response, after all what I have read is not validated as the truth. Let's hear yours.

So what did I do? Well I joined the ACM instead. It's the world's oldest computing society and has a lot of resources. Then I joined and did a little bit of work helping the CompTIA launch IT Pro Australia. It seems more relevant to the average IT person and has the backing of some of the major players like Cisco, Microsoft, Apple, Sun and HP and even the ACS to be fair to them. I was in a room where the Microsoft & Sun reps actually agreed <g>. It has open membership maybe people will actually make use of it and turn it into the premier IT body in Australia.

Oh, I now have a postgraduate degree from CSU, thanks Irfan, that is accredited by the ACS and again you guessed right, I won't be rushing to join. Of course you can feel free to try and change my mind, after all nothing is as dull as a closed mind. On second thought maybe I should join and take up the fight.

Malware using EULA to block detection

Mark Dormer — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:14:00 GMT

Spotted this at ZDNet http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5944208.html

RetroCoder, makers of Spymon are threatening legal action against Sunbelt Software.

The British company wants Sunbelt, maker of CounterSpy, to stop flagging its SpyMon software as spyware.

RetroCoder charges that Sunbelt has violated the terms of the copyright agreement contained in its software, which specifically excludes anti-spyware research. The full EULA

Yeah I laughed my ass off too. If this ever held up in court, hell would freeze over.

So this software may have legitimate uses, but it can be used for illegal purposes. Sounds like P2P sharing! So why isn't anyone going after these guys? Oh there is no money in it!

Check out the Spymon website. Is it just me or is this site bad?

Mod chips ruled legal in Australia

Mark Dormer — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 22:44:00 GMT

After a protracted case involving a couple of appeals, the High Court of Australia today ruled that 'mod-chips' are not breaches of copyright. Sony had been trying to push the line that they were a technology used to breach copyright.

Initially the defendant, Eddy Stevens, won the case in the Federal Court. Sony appealed and had the decision overturned. Stevens then appealed to the High Court and won.

All six judges of the High Court held that 'mod-chips' were legal.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission argued that Sony was using the copy control mechanism to erect artificial trade barriers between Australian and overseas games and DVD markets.

Region coding is a technology for segregating markets, not protecting copyright. Anything I can buy here I can get cheaper overseas. So if I pay for a genuine copy of a DVD in the USA why can't I watch it? Why do I have to pay a higher price?

In the end, as always, it is about money. Sony doesn't give a stuff about consumers. They just want to milk us for every dollar possible.

Halo - The Movie - God help us

Mark Dormer — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 20:22:00 GMT

Hot on the heels of Doom - The Movie comes an adaption of Halo. Imagine the rivetting storylines.

The Oscar-winning creative team behind the "The Lord of the Rings" films, including director Peter Jackson, has been named to run the production of the upcoming film based on Microsoft's blockbuster "Halo" video game, the company said on Tuesday.

Is that to try and con people into watching it?

Jackson and his wife, Fran Walsh, will serve as the executive producers for "Halo," which is targeted for worldwide release in mid-2007 by Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox film studios. The "Halo" movie will be shot in Wellington, New Zealand, and will use Jackson's production and post-production facilities there.

Is it just me or are we all being treated like fools. I haven't paid to see a movie in years. If the Studios want me to go to a movie they need to write some decent screenplays. Putting out a continuous stream of dross won't get my ass on a chair.

Kazaa now illegal in Australia

Mark Dormer — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 21:16:00 GMT

Following on from an earlier ruling in the USA, Kazaa is now illegal here in Australia. I find it rather strange myself. If the users of the product do the wrong thing with it, how is that the makers problem? The judge, Justice Wilcox, said "The respondents have long known that the Kazaa system is widely used for the sharing of copyright files." Should we now expect Wilcox and cronies to clean up all those other little bothersome areas? The makers of cigarettes have long known they kill people, the makers of cars know that their products are used to kill people, even those that make guns know they are used to kill people. I could go on but why, you know what I mean I shall enjoy watching them brought to "justice", just like Kazaa. Australian record companies -- including units of Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group, Warner Music, and several independents -- will now seek damages for hundreds of millions of illicit music downloads at a later hearing. Greed is good! I'll bet the artists see lots of that money So now the same old cartel who have been charging me $30.00 a CD are happy. You gotta love this funny old world As the beatles said "money can't buy me love", but it sure can get legislation enacted and court rulings in your favour.

Google Library - Purveyors or Pirates

Mark Dormer — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 23:26:00 GMT

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, the Association of American University Presses and the Association of American Publishers in denouncing Google's copying of books without first seeking permission from the copyright holder.

Google is saying it is OK to copy the books because it isn't publishing them. It does use fragments of the texts in search results though. They also claim it is for the benefit of all. There self appointed mission to digitse the world! Well that may be, but lets see if I can ever access all that data for free. I wonder if they will start selling ebooks?

Seriously, can you imagine them doing it for the fun of it? Of course they will leverage it into dollars somewhere along the line. Now that is fine, they can make their money, I just want to see them do it the right way.

I really like the idea of being able to read or find anything that humans have created, in books, online, at home, wherever. Does this outweigh the rather cavalier aprroach that Google is taking? They have a dodgy opt-out scheme. They are saying that publishers should tell them what books they don't want copied. SO if I am unaware that google is doing this, I lose all rights to my work! If they truly believe that what they are doing is legal, why would they need this opt-out scheme? Wouldn't all works be legitimate targets under fair use??

I tend to agree with Lauren Weistein's opinion
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200508/msg00158.html

What do you think?

Technology Blues

Mark Dormer — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 17:12:00 GMT

Who would have thought that it would be this hard to find a $1 plastic part.

My main system is down at the moment. The little plastic retainer that the processor heatsink clips onto has come away from the motherboard. No worries, I'll just pop down the road and pick one up. Yeah right!

So far I have been to 5 shops and none could help. The best offer so far is buy a new motherboard!!!

Even searching online I have found it very difficult to find this part. I am about to head of to the computer market to see if I can scrounge one.

It is so annoying, a $1500 piece of equipment down for the want of a crappy $1 part. Not to mention lost access to all the data. Oh well, the joys of computing need to be experienced <g>. Now I just have to resist the urge to buy a socket 939 board and a AMD dual 64 cpu...maybe next week.

Stupidity

Mark Dormer — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 14:45:00 GMT

Is it just me or do you see stupidity everywhere?

We recently had an Australian, on drugs charges in Indonesia. It was a no brainer case, the drugs were in her bag. She claimed they were planted by someone else. Of course thats easy to say, very difficult to prove.

The trial occurred, according to Indonesian law. The maximum penalty available was death. The defendant ended up getting 20 years. Now, people are saying we should boycott Indonesia. That will really help. Do they have a brain? If so, why don't they use it?

Who will it effect? The Indonesian governemnt or the poor locals who rely on our tourist dollars to survive. I'll give you one guess.

Consider this example. An Australian arrives in LA, has drugs in luggage, get sentenced to 20 years. Do you think anyone would be calling for us to boycott the USA? Of course not.

In a poll, 75% of people said they believed she was innocent. Based upon what? Their feelings? How useful.

In truth the media coverage of this event, all the inane and stupid comments etc. only served to guarantee that the sentence handed down was hefty. The pressure was on, and the Indonesians had to stand up and show they wouldn't be dictated to by foreigner's. If it was handled quietly, there would have been more chance of a lenient sentence.

Fair enough I say, we wouldn't have any truck with foreigners meddling in our justice system. Why should we expect them to?