An official UP Diliman Unit Website *updated*

What’s with the UP Diliman Supply and Property Management Office?

First of all, the image that they’re using is an outright insult to UP’s Oblation! Frankly, this was done in bad taste!

Next, view the site and if you have Quicktime plug-in set to auto-play movies, you will see the creature dancing to a tune that makes my ears bleed!

Not only is the site archaic in design – c’mon, even for a non-web designer like me, I find this outright ugly, what more to those who design web sites for a living?! A student assistant from architecture, fine arts, lib sci or even from computer science can make better designs than this — so budget is not a reason for having such a grotesque website!

What makes it worse is that it is an official UP Diliman Unit website! What is happening in UP Diliman?

Que Horror!

Protected: It is a good idea!

Up until yesterday, I did not know that the System was considering setting up their own Computing Group. Frankly, I believe that this is a good idea. Why?

1. The UPD Computer Center (CC) is getting an unfair advantage in having to cater with both Diliman and System tasks. Whilst the CC is now under Diliman (administratively), it still enjoys a dual-personality in being the implementing arm of the System, thru the OVPD, so it gets funding from two sources.

IMHO, the System should have a full-time CIO or Vice President for Information and Communications Technology. S/He should be in-charge of everything ICT and not be just a sub-function of the Vice-President for Development. In turn, each CU should have its Vice-Chancellor for ICT separate from the CC Director. The VC for ICT should be in charge of policies and management whilst the Director should be in charge of operations.

2. System ICT services, specifically UPCAT and STFAP, are added tasks to the CC. This should be handled entirely by the System and led by someone chosen by the System. As it is, the System is held hostage by CC since the System has no capability at the moment. Imagine, a 300K bill for UPCAT processing?

3. System is subsidizing Diliman internet bandwidth, since System is connected to Diliman. This is unfair to the other CUs. If there is a separate Computing Group, it can support the bandwidth needed by the System (which I believe is lower than the bandwidth requirement of Diliman) and in effect, saves money for the System.

What the System Computing Group can do is to re-channel the Diliman bandwidth into smaller subscriptions for each CU so it connects to the System network. That way, the entire UP System has a private WAN. Imagine, each CU outside Diliman gets a 1Mbps DSL connection (at 6K/month) solely connecting it to the System. Inter-campus VoIP will be more reliable (again, managed by the System Computing Group and not Diliman, since Diliman has the biggest VoIP deployment already), video conferencing will be smoother as well since no other traffic will use it besides inter-campus communication.

4. System has no say as to who its wants to lead the CC since it is under Diliman. However, they need someone who they can rely on, who reports to them directly and who they can replace.

I am hoping that this materializes soon.

Quake causes ISP problems

Taiwan quake damages RP Internet links – INQ7.net:

THE 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan early Wednesday damaged the Philippines’ links to the Internet, telecommunications executives have said.

BayanTel spokesman John Rojo confirmed this and said he was not sure when normal services would resume.

No wonder I am getting problems connecting to some of the sites like the iTunes Store. Argh! I hope that everything will normalize soon. Need full bandwidth before Apple’s MacWorld keynote.

Edit: Tested the connection and got these. Not bad.

Technorati Tags: dsl

Lost Password…

I hate it when “tech support” thinks you are stupid. I recently asked for my password to be reset because I could not retrieve it from their ‘Lost Password’ service due to the fact that I have forgotten the e-mail address I used to register. I am sure that the e-mail address is still active but with the tons of mailboxes I have, I am not sure which one links to the site.

An email from “tech support” pointed me to their ‘Lost Password’ service. Argh! Doesn’t she know that I already tried checking it out and it is the reason why I sent them an e-mail directly? And to prove that it is me and not some other identity thief, I asked them to send it to the registered address.

Oh well…

Technorati Tags: tech support

And it continues…

Details

Well, it could have been better if students cannot login at all but this? It is an outright security breach and the University can be sued for this — the grades of students can be viewed by others! If this can happen with student accounts, I dread to submit the grades of my classes online for fear that somebody might tamper with it!

technorati tags:UPDiliman, CRS, security, students

Blogged with Flock

Flash-based websites?

The judge issued his decision after Target motioned to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed Feb. 7 that claimed that the corporation’s Web site was inaccessible to blind customers.

The Daily Californian

I applaud the Court for doing this and I hope that more and more governments will push for the outright banning of Flash-based website navigation. I am not visual impaired but I do not really like Flash-based websites. No, I am not entirely against Flash but it has its place – as a presentation tool but not to be used for website navigation! I hate it when I see a website that is only accessible if you have the Flash plug-in!

I use Flock and have installed the Flash-block plug-in! I was surprised to see that more and more online adverts are in Flash. It wouldn’t take long before e-mail spam will be in Flash, which will make it difficult for spamfilters to handle. As it is, image-based spam are starting to flood my mailbox but I am glad that my spam filter can handle it without problem.

technorati tags:flash, visual disability

Blogged with Flock

Commemorative Plates

I thought that these were declared illegal already.

3G!

My wife’s Siemens phone failed for the second time. As usual, we went to Semicon SM North – I insisted despite my wife telling me that we should bring it to Siemens in Ortigas. I said that Semicon should pay for the cost of time and transportation in bringing the phone there for repair. Unfortunately, that same smart-aleck lady technician was there to accommodate us. I’d rather not post some expletives here but it was really an experience! I swear that I could have slapped her face right there for being such an <beep>. My wife convinced me to bring her cellphone to Ortigas instead. For such a large company like Semicon, that lady (who actually is no lady at all!) technician does not deserve to be in your company!

Anyway, I planned on testing Smart’s 3G so I decided to buy my wife a new phone whilst waiting for her phone to be fixed (no, we have yet to go to Siemens). I was contemplating on either upgrading my phone and giving her my K750i or getting her a brand-new phone. Well, I decided to get her a brand new one instead (I’d wait it out til Siemens releases their HSDPA phone or Sony Ericsson beats them to it), a Sony Ericsson K600 3G-enabled phone. Believe me, it looks great next to her 15″ powerbook!

I could not wait to test Smart’s 3G so I called up their hotline and asked for the instructions on how to enable it on a prepaid SIM. All it took was a single SMS and that is it – thanks to OTA Configuration! Hehehe…

I am glad that Smart’s 3G is available in UP Diliman… on the way home, I lost the signal somewhere near Celebrity’s Sports Plaza and regained it before reaching McDonald’s Commonwealth. I tried viewing the live traffic camera feed until we reached our gate. Coolness, 3G at home! Not that I need it since I have broadband but then again, I’m glad that we are covered by Smart’s 3G.

I have decided to terminate my Globe line and return to Smart. I hate the way Globe is marketing their 3G services. Again, I do not know who devised their pricing plan but they will be losing a lot of their customers to Smart – specially road warriors!

So for today, my advice is to stay away from Semicon SM North! Get the K600/K608i inspite of its 1.3MP only non-autofocus camera (that is what the Canon Ixus is for) and its non-support for RealMedia (darn .rm video feed from ABS-CBN and GMA-7!), it is affordable and looks very good!

Technorati Tags: Mobile Phone

Corporations top pirate list!

Manila Bulletin Online:

Corporate end-users continue to be the largest base of bootlegged software in the Philippines — a major reason why the piracy rate in the country has remained at 71 percent for the last two years, an annual survey of software piracy has indicated.

It is a pity that local corporations do not know better! I mean, they should know that using pirated software is illegal. Unfortunately, these same people are stubborn enough to continue using them. Honestly, the Filipino’s ‘bahala na’ behaviour is obviously at work here. I wish that they grow up and start making an honest living.

Wait. Did the study name the largest corporation in the country? Yes, the Philippine government. I know for a fact that there are lots of government agencies using illegally acquired software. And to think they are supposed to be the ones leading the war against piracy. Shesh!

I think that we should do a citizen’s watch against software piracy and shame these agencies!

Technorati Tags: software piracy

RP software piracy rate stayed at 71% in 2005

RP software piracy rate stayed at 71% in 2005 – INQ7.net:

THE Philippine packaged software industry lost 76 million dollars to piracy in 2005 but piracy rates remained at 71 percent, a recent global survey by the International Data Corp. (IDC) and Business Software Alliance (BSA) showed.

The survey also said piracy rate was at 71 percent but losses due to software piracy reached 69 million dollars.

What else is new? The BSA should start raiding government agencies to set an example as to how serious they really are. Heck, you’d be surprised to find out that illegally acquired software proliferates government’s IT infrastructure. How do I know? Let us just say that I have my sources.

So I challenge the BSA to publicly humiliate a government agency and not just go after the small software/hardware vendors.

Technorati Tags: software piracy