As someone who is currently working for the ATO I can say tough luck if you are an alternative OS user. Developing software in government or corporate environment is an incredibly expensive process and spending the extra money on supporting the very small percentage of users who don't use Window just cannot be justified by the people who approve the budgets. Obviously you have no idea of the cost involved in developing this sort of software. When I got my first serious development job I was literally shocked by the numbers that would appear on estimation spreadsheets to make what seemed relatively simple changes to the bank's software that I was working on. To support an extra web browser in a software project like this cost a fortune due to the development, reviewing and testing. Quite often the testing phase for projects like this can cost as much and even sometimes more than the actual development. Introducing testing for 2 extra platforms can blow the project costs out incredibly to only support a relatively small increase in user base. It is just never going to get approved by the bean counters, especially when the don't know anyone who doesn't at least have access to Windows.
I live in Queensland, Australia. Thousands of people a years die from skin cancer, in fact we have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. Only stupid people go out in the sun exposed here. Most people in their 50s or older who spenmt their childhood in the sun before the skin cancer campains of the 70s have had skin cancers cut out.
Lego and Mechano are my favorites I remember as a kid in the 70's. Lego these days is pretty crap as they come in very small packs that are made to build a stupid little space ship or some thing. In the 70's it came in a bucket where you had hundreds of the same type of block and you could make anything you could imagine.
Radio Shack electronic kits and chemistry sets were also cool but I never used to stray too much from the examples in the books. Lego and Mechano definately expand your mind to a greater extent.
They invented the fasttrck network and not the spyware infested Kazaa as we know it today. Skype is Spyware free and is also a fantastic piece of software.
I am in regular contact with a few of my friends overseas no that we all use Skype as we often talk whenever we see each other online. Before Skype we very rarely used the landline to chat.
Skype also just works. Doens't matter if you are behind NAT it just works without any port fowarding or configuration. Trying to get the audio option to work on MSN messanger is a nightmare and just not worth it if one or especially both of you are behind NAT.
I have always run a NAT router on my network and share whatever Internet connection I have had with my flatemates. None of them have ever even know that they have no incoming ports open, they surf the net and read their email perfectly happy and in complete igonrance. I would think that 99.99% of retail ISP customers would be completely clueless to it if they had no open ports available to them. I am a web developer and heavy net user and very rarely have a need to foward ports over to my machine, the average user just doesn't need it. If ISP were to disable all incoming ports and provide a web interface for users to open up the ports they need, I think they would find that less than 1% of their customers would ever use it.
Yes, when I used a common name on my Telstra cable account it was spammed continually, but since I have changed it to something obscure I don't get anymore spam at all.
I bought a Maxtor Calypso 120 gig about a month ago and the other day Windows would not boot. Reformatted the drive and there were 16k of bad sectors which were not there the first time I formatted it.
I have Cat5 running all over the house. Great for having a central DivX and MP3 server that you can watch from anywhere in the house. I have been struggling with a PC and TV out for a few years, but Windows is not ready for the longe room just yet. Since I put a modded Xbox under my TV, I have never looked back. Xbox Media Player is the best lounge room machine for playing DVD, MP3, net streaming radio without spending alot of money. Of course you can play games on it as well.
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As someone who is currently working for the ATO I can say tough luck if you are an alternative OS user. Developing software in government or corporate environment is an incredibly expensive process and spending the extra money on supporting the very small percentage of users who don't use Window just cannot be justified by the people who approve the budgets. Obviously you have no idea of the cost involved in developing this sort of software. When I got my first serious development job I was literally shocked by the numbers that would appear on estimation spreadsheets to make what seemed relatively simple changes to the bank's software that I was working on. To support an extra web browser in a software project like this cost a fortune due to the development, reviewing and testing. Quite often the testing phase for projects like this can cost as much and even sometimes more than the actual development. Introducing testing for 2 extra platforms can blow the project costs out incredibly to only support a relatively small increase in user base. It is just never going to get approved by the bean counters, especially when the don't know anyone who doesn't at least have access to Windows.
I am not saying anything about spending time outdoors, just stupid people who spend all day in the Queensland sun completely exposed.
I live in Queensland, Australia. Thousands of people a years die from skin cancer, in fact we have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. Only stupid people go out in the sun exposed here. Most people in their 50s or older who spenmt their childhood in the sun before the skin cancer campains of the 70s have had skin cancers cut out.
Lego and Mechano are my favorites I remember as a kid in the 70's. Lego these days is pretty crap as they come in very small packs that are made to build a stupid little space ship or some thing. In the 70's it came in a bucket where you had hundreds of the same type of block and you could make anything you could imagine. Radio Shack electronic kits and chemistry sets were also cool but I never used to stray too much from the examples in the books. Lego and Mechano definately expand your mind to a greater extent.
Skype is already free and works with many OSs and who you want to talk to doesn't have to be with BT. Seems pointless to me.
They invented the fasttrck network and not the spyware infested Kazaa as we know it today. Skype is Spyware free and is also a fantastic piece of software. I am in regular contact with a few of my friends overseas no that we all use Skype as we often talk whenever we see each other online. Before Skype we very rarely used the landline to chat. Skype also just works. Doens't matter if you are behind NAT it just works without any port fowarding or configuration. Trying to get the audio option to work on MSN messanger is a nightmare and just not worth it if one or especially both of you are behind NAT.
I have always run a NAT router on my network and share whatever Internet connection I have had with my flatemates. None of them have ever even know that they have no incoming ports open, they surf the net and read their email perfectly happy and in complete igonrance. I would think that 99.99% of retail ISP customers would be completely clueless to it if they had no open ports available to them. I am a web developer and heavy net user and very rarely have a need to foward ports over to my machine, the average user just doesn't need it. If ISP were to disable all incoming ports and provide a web interface for users to open up the ports they need, I think they would find that less than 1% of their customers would ever use it.
If you have a flash card for your Gameboy Advance you can use the fantastic program PogoShell and its built in text reader to read them in bed.
Yes, when I used a common name on my Telstra cable account it was spammed continually, but since I have changed it to something obscure I don't get anymore spam at all.
I bought a Maxtor Calypso 120 gig about a month ago and the other day Windows would not boot. Reformatted the drive and there were 16k of bad sectors which were not there the first time I formatted it.
I have Cat5 running all over the house. Great for having a central DivX and MP3 server that you can watch from anywhere in the house. I have been struggling with a PC and TV out for a few years, but Windows is not ready for the longe room just yet. Since I put a modded Xbox under my TV, I have never looked back. Xbox Media Player is the best lounge room machine for playing DVD, MP3, net streaming radio without spending alot of money. Of course you can play games on it as well.