Happy Christmas: Doesn’t time fly?
December 2007
By David Estcourt Hughes, Principal, Tripos IT.

It seems like just yesterday that we were discussing the contents of the December 2006 newsletter.  Now we are at it again.

A quick review of 2007

It has been a period of change for Trips IT.  It should have been a period of change for many of our clients as well, and for a number, this has been the case.

• Tripos moved to Voice over IP telephony for all outgoing calls in March. This has been a huge success, giving us increased flexibility and reduced costs with no obvious downside.  We will move to VoIP in as well over the Christmas break.

• Laptops outsold desktops for the first time in our business, and small printers became commodity items.  Some clients made bad moves with attempts to install domestic, single user, multi function devices on their business networks and needed to back track.

• Spam and malware proliferated.  The sheer quantity of this curse needed to be experienced to believe.  We equipped a new client with a spam and malware filter and Sophos anti virus with remarkable results.  One of the principals was heard to say he now must respond to all the e-mails he receives, whereas before, over 80% of his e-mails were junk.

• Vista came on stream – well, almost.  Most of our clients have stayed well away from this new operating system.  If all your applications and peripherals are totally Vista compatible, it may be worth trying, but pioneers can fly with scarred wings.

• MS Office 2007 came on stream – well almost.  The new file format is causing lots of grief, but the default file format can be set to the old standard.  Of course, we should all use .PDF for security.

• Servers and workstations have dropped in price.  Many who could not contemplate a server before can now look forward to all the advantages of a client/server setup in their business.  New desktop form factors allow for significant savings in desktop space, even if they limit expansibility somewhat.  The options are legion.

The lighter side

The Internet remains a source of much hilarity.  We sift out the best of the material we receive, solicited or otherwise, and use it sparingly.

This newsletter is not the place to provide numerous examples, but we hope you all had at least one good laugh from the Web this year.  If you didn’t, let us know and we will send you a worthwhile sample.  I will, however, include a little test for you to attempt.

Cover the answers below each question.  See how you rank.

Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally alert. If you don't use it, you lose it! Below is a very private way to gauge your loss or non-loss of intelligence.

Take the test presented here to determine if you're losing it or not. .

OK, relax, clear your mind and begin.

1. What do you put in a toaster?

Answer: 'bread.' If you said 'toast,' give up now and do something else.

Try not to hurt yourself. If you said, bread, go to Question 2.

2. Say 'silk' five times. Now spell 'silk.' What do cows drink?

Answer: Cows drink water. If you said 'milk,' don't attempt the next question. Your brain is over-stressed and may even overheat. Content yourself with reading a more appropriate literature such as Auto World. However, if you said 'water', proceed to question 3.

3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from?

Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said 'green bricks,' why the hell are you still reading these???

If you said 'glass,' go on to Question 4.

4. It's twenty years ago, and a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany (If you will recall, Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany.) Anyway, during the flight, two engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the engine fails before he can do so and the plane fatally crashes smack in the middle of 'no man's land' between East Germany and West Germany. Where would you bury the survivors? East Germany, West Germany, or no man's land'?

Answer: You don't bury survivors.

If you said ANYTHING else, you're a dunce and you must stop. If you said, 'You don't bury survivors', proceed to the next question.

5. Without using a calculator - You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales. In London, 17 people get on the bus. In Reading, six people get off the bus and nine people get on. In Swindon, two people get off and four get on. In Cardiff, 11 people get off and 16 people get on. In Swansea, three people get off and five people get on. In Carmathen, six people get off and three get on. You then arrive at Milford Haven.

What was the name of the bus driver?

Answer: Oh, for crying out loud!

Don't you remember your own name? It was YOU!!

Now pass this along to all your friends and pray they do better than you.

PS: 95% of people fail most of the questions!!

Wishing your a safe and happy Christmas from Tripos IT!

Principal, Tripos IT