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#BoardOfDirectors Mark C. Perry Elected Chairman of Segerstrom Center Board of Directors – Mark C. Perry Elected Chairman of Segerstrom Center Board of Directors Broadway WorldFull coverage http://bit.ly/2o8Xrko
— Muzaffaruddin Alvi (@Muzaffar1969) December 15, 2017
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#BoardOfDirectors Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. Appoints John Fichthorn to Board of Directors – Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. Appoints John Fichthorn to Board of Directors NasdaqFull coverage http://bit.ly/2j6mZJP
— Muzaffaruddin Alvi (@Muzaffar1969) December 15, 2017
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May 29, 2017 at 06:09PM
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May 29, 2017 at 06:09PM
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We occasionally get some sugarsnap peas from the polytunnel to the kitchen (if the kids don’t eat them in situ first), writes gardener Michael Kelly.
May 27, 2017 at 04:38PM
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May 13, 2017 at 06:12PM
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May 13, 2017 at 06:12PM
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It is, of course, appropriate to condemn those who have written the virus that has deliberately crippled the NHS and put lives at risk and I do so, unreservedly.
That said I think it wholly appropriate to ask three further questions. The first is why the NHS was at risk because so many of its units were running machines using Windows XP that has not been supported by Microsoft for years?
Second, it is fair to ask is why Microsoft can leave the world at risk by not supporting its software?
Third, it’s appropriate to ask what economic system can result in such a combination of circumstances arising?
The first question is easy to answer: it is a policy of deliberate austerity that has left the NHS denuded of sufficient funding to ensure that people are safe that has resulted in this situation arising. The blame can wholly appropriately be laid at the door of the last two governments. If appropriate funding for the NHS had been made available, and it had not been forced to operate at and beyond financial limits, this attack need not have had the impact it has.
Second, Microsoft deliberately left the world at risk in pursuit of relentless profit. Windows XP was a strong and stable operating system that was more than adequate for the vast majority of the world’s business (and NHS) needs. It was only deliberate technical and commercial obsolescence that left it unsupported when many users had no reason at all to update because it very successfully let them achieve all they wanted of IT. This vulnerability to attack was, then, deliberately made possible by a company refusing to support a product simply to extract revenues from those who had no need to pay it.
Third then this situation arises because we live in a political economy that grants corporations that are effective monopolies (as Microsoft and other such companies clearly are) the right to hold us to ransom by refusing to support perfectly useable product that we have purchased, which refusal does in turn lead us vulnerable to quite literal attack, which has a wholly foreseeable consequence. The cost is very obviously to us all. The benefit is equally obviously to a very few.
And let me be clear, this is not about profit maximisation. That can, even by its firmest enthusiasts only be justified when competitive environments prevail. That is not true in the market for IT operating systems. Sio this then is rent extraction and not profit maximisation. This is what the goal of modern multinational corporations is. Innovation is limited, and designed only to render obsolete systems that can be discarded when still useful to force customers to unnecessarily spend, in the process limiting choice, stifling real opportunity and ultimately imposing untold externalities on society at large.
Is this the direction in which we wish the world to continue to progress? I personally don’t think so. Regulation to control this abuse seems as essential as measures to prevent hacking.
In the meantime it seems we can’t run the NHS on Windows XP. Those who have made it do so must be held to account for that.
But we should also ask why we can’t do so. And that puts Microsoft firmly in the firing line.
After the criminals who, predictably, hacked it, of course.
May 13, 2017 at 05:41PM
from Richard Murphy
May 13, 2017 at 06:14PM
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Our smartphones make life so much easier, but they can also make it easier for hackers who want to steal financial information. Here’s what you need to know.
May 11, 2017 at 06:12PM
from Christine Gallup
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Rising food and energy costs send wholesale prices up 0.5 percent in April, highest in 3 months
May 11, 2017 at 06:10PM
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Claims for US jobless aid fall ; number of Americans collecting unemployment checks hits 29-year low
May 11, 2017 at 06:10PM
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Wholesale prices up 0.5 percent in April, highest in 3 months, reflecting increases in food and energy
May 11, 2017 at 06:10PM
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US claims for unemployment aid slide by 2,000 to 236,000; number collecting benefits hits lowest level since 1988
May 11, 2017 at 06:10PM
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More customers are struggling to pay off their balances
April 30, 2017 at 06:10PM
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And here I thought the Donald was going to take down Mexico. Trump goes after Canada on the lumber trade. CAD moved on the news. Fast forward a couple of days, Trump comes out Wednesday night and says we are staying in NAFTA, CAD moves back on the news.
The post I’m Yelling Timber! CAD’s Going Down! appeared first on ForexTV.
April 29, 2017 at 05:51PM
from CAD Editor
– EUR/USD Pares Gains as Core U.S. PCE Climbs to 2.0% Ahead of FOMC. – USD/CAD Climbs to Fresh 2017 High as Canada GDP Holds Flat in February. EUR/USD struggles to retain the advance following the larger-than-expected uptick in the Euro-Zone’s Consumer …
The post EUR/USD Pares Gains as Core U.S. PCE Climbs Ahead of FOMC Meeting appeared first on ForexTV.
April 29, 2017 at 05:51PM
from EUR Editor
Canonical’s announcement to ditch Unity and move back to Gnome Stack and Gnome Shell has put Ubuntu Gnome in the spotlight. Canonical won’t have to do any work in ‘going back to Gnome’ because Ubuntu Gnome has done all the needed legwork.
Jeremy Bicha, an Ubuntu Gnome developer, wrote in a blog post that “the development teams from both Ubuntu GNOME and Ubuntu Desktop will be merging resources and focusing on a single combined release, that provides the best of both GNOME and Ubuntu. We are currently liaising with the Canonical teams on how this will work out and more details will be announced in due course as we work out the specifics.”
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April 17, 2017 at 06:12PM
from Swapnil Bhartiya
