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 The big news of today was the government announcing it's intention to split up Telstra into retail and wholesale companies, basically whether Telstra likes it or not.
Although i've been fiercely critical of this government in terms of IT, mainly in relation to their planned idiotic internet-filtering policy, i've got to say that it's a welcome refreshment to see them show some cahunas and do something positively right, and i've got no problem in showing it.
Splitting Telstra up is something that should have been done more than a decade ago before they starting privatising it, and a result of the short-sightedness back then we've been paying a terrible price in terms of the quality of not only the services we've received, but more importantly in competition and prices in the telecommunications industry in general that we all give money to one way or another (unless you're a hobo with no mobile phone, in which case i doubt you'd be reading this on the internet (unless some person has handed you this article on printed form, and if you are reading this you can disregard my previous sentence)).
Where was I? Oh yeah, so well done on getting some policy decision right Senator Conroy, you better have the balls to follow it through.
Although I've got no sympathy for Telstra, the people I do feel sorry for in this whole mess is the mum-and-dad shareholders who've still got shares in Telstra. But in the end that's the game of the stockmarket, the whole country will not and should not suffer because of the unwise investment decisions of a minority of the populace.
In other geek news, this week has already seem me in some positively geek rage. Firstly it's aimed at the bloated piece of garbage that is iTunes. Version 9 was released recently, and apparently the new 'Home Sharing' feature does not like being firewalled at all, as it actively froze not only itself when I tried to open the program, but also half of Windows too until it could get access to the ports it wanted.
Of course I had to figure this out myself, as Apple doesn't seem to understand that some users running on Windows might actually have decent protection of their network connection. After disabling the firewall temporarily, I finally got into iTunes to turn off Home Sharing, so all is now well in the world.
I swear the minute something decent enough comes along for me to replace iTunes, i'll dump it in a heartbeat. I wish Songbird would hurry up and mature...
Other than that, on Monday I spend the majority of the day sorting out work's hosting issues, as the web-hosting company's (Jumba) server was hit by a strain of the Gumblar worm/virus, which subsequently meant a server rebuild and DNS changes.
So all in all it was a typical Monday morning where stuff that normally doesn't go wrong ends up going wrong 
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why did you even get an ipod anyway, apple sucks the proverbial, just get any other mp3 player and use limewire to download songs, thats what i do, except i dont have an mp3 player just my phone, but hey, i have to fill 8GB somehow right?
Date: 2009-09-16 02:21:19
Stop whining and get a Mac, Lucas.
By the way, you're right about the history of Telstra. (Yes, I still lurk around here on occasion.)
Date: 2009-09-16 05:06:42
@Rolando: I don't really use it much for the iPod anymore, and although i'll never publicly condone piracy, I am buying a lot more songs now through iTunes after they've gotten rid of the DRM.
@Nathan:
Date: 2009-09-16 08:57:49
BTW LOL at Adebayor... Satisfying my irrational hate of Arsenal
Date: 2009-09-16 17:48:27
Don't get me started on Adebayor, i've already vented on many a forum on that pathetic excuse for the football player and a person
Date: 2009-09-16 22:53:51
just letting you know 2 things:
1) if you're not a pirate you're the law (that comment will end up biting me in the ass down the track)
2) i've started using my blog again so read it
Date: 2009-09-18 02:21:57
1) I'm calling the AFP right now
2) cool, what's the address, i think i've lost it
Date: 2009-09-19 14:04:29
Good to hear that you love iTunes. Iam getting a Mac tomorrow and as you know I will need your support.Telstra is the case of too much interference by Gov.It is a bit of an irony that Telstra's dimise is a win for anothe foreign Gov: Singapore that is behind Optus.
Date: 2009-09-20 18:12:45
Contrary to a lot of public perception, there are a lot more than just two telcos in Australia. Splitting Telstra up creates a level playing field for all companies that retail phone and internet services to consumers, not just Optus.
I should start billing you for my time (just kidding).
Date: 2009-09-20 20:13:39
It's a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation with Senator Conroy right now.
I would love for him to lose his Senate seat at this upcoming election, and have a new Communications Minister installed who might not be so full of epic fail, but I'm also hoping for a nationwide swing to the ALP, both in the lower house so that Phil Weightman can win Bowman and finally kick Andrew Laming out, and so that Labor actually gains a majority in the Senate and can actually get some legislation through for once on their without having to convince Barnaby Joyce and Nick Xenophon.
However, in order for Stephen Conroy to lose his seat, that would probably need to entail a swing to the Coalition in the upper house. Don't know how you would feel about that, but personally, I want a government that can get things through without too much trouble, and that simply isn't happening at the moment.
Perhaps we should just let the government know how unhappy we are with the internet censorship bill, and ask that Conroy either change his policy on the matter, or that he be replaced by another Minister who actually has an idea of what he's doing.
Date: 2009-09-25 16:01:14
for once on their own terms*
Date: 2009-09-25 16:04:04
For a Government to control both houses is never a good thing, look at what happened last time around!
Conroy's an absolute idiot, but i do feel that he's towing the party line a bit, I guess it sucks for him that it's probably the most unpopular agenda of the current government.
Let's hope some common sense prevails and this censorship agenda doesn't go too much further with more of our money being wasted on it.
Date: 2009-09-25 21:59:03
I dunno, just because the Coalition took advantage of their Senate majority from 2004 onwards in order to advance their WorkChoices agenda doesn't necessarily mean that the government having a majority in the upper house is inherently a bad thing.
Of course, I'm betting the Great Firewall of Australia will be the first thing to be passed when the ALP get its Senate majority. I don't know how to feel.
I guess it's just up to us to voice our concern to the Government - I was tempted to protest-vote for the Coalition, but I really, really could never bring myself to vote for either Andrew Laming, or a Turnbull government in general.
Date: 2009-09-26 01:05:02
One thing that you'll learn soon enough, is that in the grand scheme of things, your vote doesn't really count for much unless it's part of a broader community sentiment (which is very rare, at least for myself)
I always lived in a safe Labor seat (the PM's own!), so whether I vote for Labor or not, it's not really going to make that much difference. In my lifetime (which is now almost 10 voting years) I've never had anything else but Labor representatives across all three levels of government.
Date: 2009-09-26 10:06:20
Well I wasn't planning on doing it just by myself, I was wanting others to boycott as well, but I'm not sure how pleased I would be with the alternative.
However, seeing as though Andrew Laming is holding on to Bowman by 15 votes, I think my vote does indeed count for a little more than it would elsewhere
Date: 2009-09-26 16:23:17