Alastair Revell
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Welcome to my web log (or 'blog' in the vernacular).
My intention is to use this blog to record my thoughts on various issues within
the IT Profession, on specific technical issues that
Revell Research Systems encounters that might be of interest to a wider
audience, and on applications of technology in general.
It's not quite a New Year's Resolution, but I hope to keep blog on a
regular basis - perhaps at least once or twice a week.
I would welcome feedback on the various postings and hearing from people about the topics I touch on.
Bletchley Park
I was pleased to hear recently that both IBM and PGP have between them made a grant
of £57,000 towards the upkeep of Bletchley
Park. The BBC
has reported that the “donation will help curate and restore exhibits at
the National
Museum of...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 23rd September '08
Do Young IT Professionals Deserve a Career Track?
I think one of the long term problems that faces the IT profession is how we train
new entrants to our profession. Established professions, such as law and surveying,
have long had well-defined routes that graduates can take to become...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 10th September '08
Microsoft: What does the future hold?
I suspect that at some point in the future, today may well be seen to be very significant!
Why? Simply because today was the first day that Microsoft moved forward without its
founder at the helm. (Bill Gates retired from Microsoft as an...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 30th June '08
Web Compliance? It is often simply unbelievable!
I can’t believe just how many web designers
claim that their web sites are compliant with the standards when they are demonstrably
not!
I’m talking in particular about the World
Wide Web (W3C) consortium’s standards for...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 31st May '08
A Contentious Lunchtime Thought?
I came across an interesting
article by Bruce Lawson on The
Web Standards Project web site about the UK Government Accessibility Consultation
that was held by the Cabinet
Office last November.
The consultation clearly aimed at looking at...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 18th March '08
EMail: The Beginning of the End?
I was interested to read Ben
Limberg's article on the BBC News web site this morning about how stressful email
is becoming. It highlighted for me that spam continues to grow and it reminded me
of my
earlier article on this blog about the need...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 7th March '08
Internet Attacks: It Won't Happen to Us...
The lack of understanding of IT-related security issues in many small-to-medium sized
businesses that I encounter as a management
and technology consultant often worries me.
There seems to be a mindset amongst senior managers (often at...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 11th February '08
Personal Details of 25M People Compromised by UK Government
I suspect the loss of 25 million child benefit records by HM Government in the United
Kingdom will have considerable, long-term ramifications.
I understand that the compromised data represents the details of all the recipients
of Child...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 20th November '07
Do You Have a Good Web Site?
What is the minimum for a good web site?
I am often asked to give an opinion on whether a web site is good or not. I normally start by assessing whether the web site complies with relevant law and technical standards, since these are easy and...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 5th November '07
Sweeping Spam under the Carpet
Unless I am greatly mistaken, there has been yet another surge in spam in the last
few weeks. Like many firms, Revell
Research Systems uses a fairly sophisticated anti-spam system, which generally
performs pretty well. It occasionally needs...
Alastair Revell, Revell Research Systems | 5th October '07