Have the 'Bankers' taken over the EA

D

dash300

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My two renewals recently popped through the door with the expected above inflation hike. I accept that. However I thought I would take the opportunity at renewal time to change the name of my little inboard tender which I use to get to the one of 4 riverside pubs I have access too without going through a lock (yes,heaven is just below Shepperton Lock) Spoke to Rotherham (where?) and checked the name was available. They informed me the name was available but the form would have to then be sent on to Reading who would charge me £7 !!!!

I thought well it would take a maximum of 5 seconds to change the name on the database. So with a little basic arithmetic that equates to a charge of £83 per minute or a tad over £5000 per hour.:eek:
 
dash300 said:
My two renewals recently popped through the door with the expected above inflation hike. I accept that. However I thought I would take the opportunity at renewal time to change the name of my little inboard tender which I use to get to the one of 4 riverside pubs I have access too without going through a lock (yes,heaven is just below Shepperton Lock) Spoke to Rotherham (where?) and checked the name was available. They informed me the name was available but the form would have to then be sent on to Reading who would charge me £7 !!!!

I thought well it would take a maximum of 5 seconds to change the name on the database. So with a little basic arithmetic that equates to a charge of £83 per minute or a tad over £5000 per hour.:eek:
Click to expand...

Hmmm...good luck in finding anyone (even in an off-shore data centre) who can carry out a transaction in 5 seconds :D

*Take your correspondence
*Read it and understand your request
*Access your records
*Find the relevat field(s)
*Complete the changes
*Close the file
* Complete whatever process is then required to communicate the same to you, possibly by post with associated costs of stationery & postage

£7 sounds to me like a reasonable cost
 
We programme two way radios botrh PMR and Marine using computor .
The bloke wanting it done wonders why we charge £20 odd quid for a few moments work.

We have around 30 different soft ware programmes on three different computors all running different software....one with Windows 3.1 and DOS :).
We have around dozen or so different connection leads which are used in different combinations to "talk" to radio.
Each radio system has a different set of frequencies plus a CTSS to programme in to make it talk to its system,
It takes 20 secs after pushing "enter" to put the stuff into radio,it takes 20 mins to work out how to do it.
 
Lightweights !

Sulley said:
Ah, Windows 3.1 those were the days. :)
DOS, still sometimes use it now :eek:
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MS-DOS goes back to 1980'ish when IBM sought OS providers for their early PC's. Microsoft bought QDOS and the story that is Microsoft and Bill Gates et al began!

However, long before that in the early 70's peeps like me were selling the first electronic calculators which were the true fore-runners of the PC revolution. I was a dealer for Diehl of Germany and selling machines like the Combitronic programmable that used sequential step by step arithmetic programming ( + - x / etc) and could hold a massive 100 steps in its memory ! At £3000 a pop I was selling one a week ! They subsequently gave us a plug in paper tape reader so that we could program unlimited steps - we thought that was bliss - and then they gave us an automatic square root key !!!!!
Some pics and history HERE Olivetti was also a key player.
 
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boatone said:
MS-DOS goes back to 1980'ish when IBM sought OS providers for their early PC's. Microsoft bought QDOS and the story that is Microsoft and Bill Gates et al began!

However, long before that in the early 70's peeps like me were selling the first electronic calculators which were the true fore-runners of the PC revolution. I was a dealer for Diehl of Germany and selling machines like the Combitronic programmable that used sequential step by step arithmetic programming ( + - x / etc) and could hold a massive 100 steps in its memory ! At £3000 a pop I was selling one a week ! They subsequently gave us a plug in paper tape reader so that we could program unlimited steps - we thought that was bliss - and then they gave us an automatic square root key !!!!!
Some pics and history HERE Olivetti was also a key player.
Click to expand...

Boatone, you have a couple of years on me ;)

I first started using the BBC micro at school and then moved on to programming 8 bit micros in Assembler. I do remember the cutting edge introduction of 16 bit micros and flash memory didn't even exist then, EEPROMs were cool and things were starting to move from DIL to SMD. Ah, those were the days.

That website link it's very interesting, oh no I really am a geek!!
 
Sulley said:
Boatone, you have a couple of years on me ;)
That website link it's very interesting, oh no I really am a geek!!
Click to expand...
AH, you are so kind - considerably more than 'a couple' of years , I fear !

My first 'portable' PC was a Tandy/RadioShack - about the size of a large sewing machine (and the sewing machine would have been lighter!) - with twin 5" floppy drives and something called VisiCalc - I bet Brayman remembers that :D
 
boatone said:
AH, you are so kind - considerably more than 'a couple' of years , I fear !

My first 'portable' PC was a Tandy/RadioShack - about the size of a large sewing machine (and the sewing machine would have been lighter!) - with twin 5" floppy drives and something called VisiCalc - I bet Brayman remembers that :D
Click to expand...

VisiCalc was Apple based originally, I never had anything to do with Apple and still don't.
 
Brayman said:
VisiCalc was Apple based originally, I never had anything to do with Apple and still don't.
Click to expand...

From Wikipedia:
VisiCalc was also released for the Atari 8-bit family, the Commodore PET, TRS-80 - which was my Tandy and the IBM PC.
Click to expand...
Clearly one of the first cross platform pieces of software so you didn't need to have anything to do with Apple :D (Don't think I was even aware of them then!)

(Posted from one of my Apple iMac 24" supersleek one pieces - a delight to turn on every morning :D )
 
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watson1959 said:
Hmmm...good luck in finding anyone (even in an off-shore data centre) who can carry out a transaction in 5 seconds :D

*Take your correspondence
*Read it and understand your request
*Access your records
*Find the relevat field(s)
*Complete the changes
*Close the file
* Complete whatever process is then required to communicate the same to you, possibly by post with associated costs of stationery & postage

£7 sounds to me like a reasonable cost
Click to expand...

You wouldn't happen to be my accountant would you:D.
I clearly can't see a bargain when I see it. However perhaps I might just spend that £7 in the bar.:)
 
What was it Bessimer said...Theres one etc etc

" a delight to turn on every morning "


AKA ....An overpriced gameboy with similar software available on any bog standard PC at a tiny tiny fraction of the price :)
 
Bray cruiser News...made on a Mac!

The Mac is so far advanced on crummy Windows based systems, I wouldn't go back, and thats after ten years running Windows networks.

Bear in mind the Windows interface was stolen from Apple, then the learned Gentleman from Thames and Kennet may have more to do with Macs than he originally :D:p
 
No Regrets said:
Bray cruiser News...made on a Mac!

The Mac is so far advanced on crummy Windows based systems, I wouldn't go back, and thats after ten years running Windows networks.

Bear in mind the Windows interface was stolen from Apple, then the learned Gentleman from Thames and Kennet may have more to do with Macs than he originally :D:p
Click to expand...

The rakes progress......Art skool ....Advertising......AppallingMac ......... need one say more.
 
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