[Gllug] [Long] Down-under response. Was: File On 4 on waste in Govt computing projects

[David L Neil]

On 03/03/10 10:52, Richard Jones wrote:
>
> No surprise to anyone on this list ...
>
> http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/fileon4/fileon4_20100302-2038a.mp3
>
> Rich.
>


Rich, (and GLLUGers)

Many thanks.

Much to my surprise I was able to hear this all the way down-under, and 
using the MPlayer Plug-in to Firefox under CentOS - having heard that 
the BBC has recently taken negative steps towards our FOSS community, to 
say nothing of being too shy to support expatriates or 'educate the 
natives' (ie imitate the grand vision of the "World Service" - the WWW 
^H technology that came before the Internet...)

You may be amused to hear, that whilst working on 'smoothing-out some 
wrinkles' for a friend I had an amusing conversation with Telstra-Clear 
about her Internet connection. It turns out that her connection is rated 
(and billed) at 256Kbps. 256K??? I chortled and questioned if that met 
any international standard for what is 'broadband'? This is where New 
Zealand was (at least) ten years ago and the accounts still exist. To 
'upgrade' would only be possible by literally doubling the monthly fee 
(thank you for sticking with us all these years!) - or, my 
recommendation, moving to another supplier (BUT... one of those package 
deals: land-line, Internet, tolls, cells,...)

Another point: this is what happens when another country's 'experts' 
come in and start telling 'you' what to do (see also suppliers to 
British gas clients, Spanish electricity companies, US helos and 
Euro-fighters, etc, etc)

On the plus side, something I hadn't come across in the UK excepting 
some cellular rates, (her) traffic is paid for in 'packs' (with no 
monthly 'allowance' or 'maximum') - and the 'first' pack costs the same 
as the n-th. Thus if one downloads a new distribution .iso this month it 
will probably cost an extra pack/few bucks, but next month using (say) 
1GB less, one pays for fewer packs. Thus one neither pays a premium rate 
during a 'heavy month', not for unused traffic the next!

My brother-in-law has a slight variation on this. He is a professional 
photographer and on the days when he completes a commission at home he 
needs to deliver tens or even hundreds of MB, but on other days he 
barely makes the meter move. So he is on a plan which involves 
throughput-throttling once the paid-for traffic level has been exceeded, 
but his 'level' applies to a twelve hour period - from six to six 
(IIRC). Thus he rushes the first few images, and fires them off to his 
client (before 1800), then settles down to work on the rest, likely 
extending beyond six and into the new traffic period.

Thereby, even during a heavy-usage month, he can still do quite well, in 
all aspects: financially, throughput, and traffic-wise; even when 
compared against (say) my (in London) commercially-oriented account with 
Andrews and Arnold* where I had something silly* like 10GB during peak 
time and 40GB more off-peak (again IIRC - and hoping I'm not confusing 
their plan with A.N.Other I've used in the UK).

*free plug: good outfit - no connection other than as client (pardon 
pun!) There was NO WAY I'd ever meet those numbers during the last few 
years, and probably into the next couple of years...

Over here the populist (current) Internet plans are essentially similar 
to each other, just as is in UK and particularly amongst the incumbent's 
re-sellers. However there are a few of these intriguingly tailored 
plans, particularly from the boutique outfits*, who follow the 
smaller-scale line of paying attention to the needs of their customers.

* food for thought Jason?

Whilst I'm rambling: I'm seriously thinking of not returning for a while 
(perhaps I'm 'cheating' more than a little, given that last week I 
completed a web project for my client in Durham???), but when I read: 
The economic forecast is simple: the next 10 years are going to be a 
drag | Business | The Guardian (2 March 2010) 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/01/drag-deficit-reduction-anaemic-growth 
and many similar, I can but shake my head...

By comparison:-

Australia (particularly Western Australia with its mineral wealth - 
that's Perth for those of you with a burr in your voice) is booming 
again, on the back of its natural resources and selling to clients in 
the Asian economies, and the country has just raised interest rates for 
the third time, so it's even worth thinking about saving some of your 
hard-earned... The West Australian (newspaper) carried an article last 
week: Another boom, another skills crisis*.
*apologies can't quote source/temporarily unable to reach web site to 
search (see above. Telstra-Clear also seem to be practicing for the 
Australian National Firewall/censorship by blocking this, and also the 
Times and the Telegraph's sites, amongst others... as they say in New 
Zealand, with an exasperated tone of voice, "Aussies!")

Today's reports in New Zealand are already predicting the same 
boom/need, for IT in particular: Computerworld > Skills shortage to 
return, but with variations (3 March 2010) 
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/careers/skills-shortage-to-return-but-with-variations

I've often heard Brits comment that they can't afford to move down-under 
because they convert expected salaries to pounds-sterling and worry 
about a "drop" (change in lifestyle/better quality of life 
notwithstanding). I have checked-around informally, and basically the 
rule-of-thumb that I have offered over the years still applies: take the 
pound sign off and replace it with a dollar sign - thus the salary seems 
lower in pound terms, but then so is the cost of your grocery bill, by 
the same proportion! Apart from heavy (weight) imported goods, it pretty 
much all comes out in the wash...
(the last less of a concern in Australia, but they don't have an NHS 
system so living costs are higher)

Both countries have requirements for immigration. Again anecdotally 
(because I qualify for residence for other reasons) I laid hands on a 
write-up of the 'points system' for New Zealand immigration and kept a 
mental count as I read through. Simply having a degree and years of 
'experience' piled up most of the points necessary to 'qualify', so by 
the time I added previous residence and various other attributes (my 
astonishingly good looks?) had no trouble meeting the requirements - 
YMMV, but for fellow professionals I would suggest, not by much!

Should I set up an in-bound residents' or travel service for GLLUG?

Keep warm!
Regards,
=dn

PS glad to hear that a meeting has been set up. Sorry I can't be 
there/contribute. Well done Ciarán!
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