NEWS
Open Office is struggling to keep the lights on Old mate Open Office could be discontinued. There's so few people contributing to the open source Office clone, that the remaining maintainers are concerned about their lack of ability to respond to security issues, let alone develop new features and improve the suite. Only about 6 volunteer programmers remain, committing updates. The Apache Software Foundation board is the custodian of Open Office and it seems like ending development is a likely outcome. LibreOffice, a fork of Open Office maintained by Oracle, still kicks on though. Discuss
PwC report explains the NDIS payment system's problems We've known that the government's implementation of the NDIS payment system was botched, but now an independent review has confirmed it. The review undertaken by PwC said that it wasn't a single fuck up that caused NDIS payments to be delayed for months, but a series of constant, smaller errors, rooted in incompetency, rushed implementation and under resourcing. Just another government IT implementation shitheap for the pile (insert toilet flushing noise here). Discuss
Adelaide wants some smartphone public transport ticket love Adelaide is starting a trial of smartphone payments for public transport. It wants a company to come along and conduct a three month trial on a small section of the network, according to a tender put out by SA’s Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. It joins NSW in doing a trial of the same thing, while Melbourne sits on its hands, content that we have a ticketing system at all. No details on when the actual trial will start, but the tender closes on October 4th if you wanna put your hand up. Discuss
COOL SHIT
ORWL, a tamper-proof computer for the paranoid You can have the most secure operating system, a tight network and even air gaps to make sure your computer isn't hacked. But if someone manages to get their physical hands on the computer, there's so much more they can do. Locking it up isn't even enough - computers can be opened. ORWL has made a computer they claim is tamper-proof and is designed around a threat model of "well what if someone just steals the computer?". The ORWL met its crowdfunding goal and looks really slick. There's actual hardware there, not just renders. Check it out if you've watched too much Mr. Robot. Discuss
Here endeth the sizzle (until tomorrow!) --Anthony
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