Readers’ comments
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Central cryptoheating
The negative consensus assessment of cryptocurrencies in last month’s issue ( see issue 324, p26) isn’t strong enough in my opinion. They are nearly useless as currencies because they do not have sufficient transaction capacity and the value is too volatile. As assets, they are a pure Ponzi scheme. Unlike gold, the energy consumption used to limit the supply of cryptocoin is not recoverable. By contrast, the so-called “fiat currencies” are backed by the tax-raising powers of the governments that issue them.
The farmer who uses biomethane to generate electricity for cryptomining isn’t being green. He is releasing just as much stored carbon into the atmosphere. Instead, he could sell the electricity to the grid, thereby substituting fossil carbon.
On the other hand, it’s increasingly green to switch from gas heating to electricity because an ever-increasing proportion of electricity is generated from renewable and nuclear energy, which do not release stored carbon. We could use cryptominers as domestic radiators. As long as we modulate the mining activity using a thermostat we use no more electricity than a simple electric heater. Admittedly, we could be greener still by using heat pumps, but these are very capital intensive and not practical for a majority of dwellings. John Hind
Brought to accounts
Your Windows 11 preview ( see issue 323, p26) filled me with dread because of a single comment: with Windows 11 you will no longer have a choice about signing in with a Microsoft account, rather than using a local account.
I recently retired and breathed a huge sigh of relief because I thought I was free from the mess that arises when you have multiple Office 365 accounts. Working from home, my desktop had the Office suite installed using a Microsoft Family subscription that dates back many years – somewhere along the way it seems that this became the “proper” Office 365 account into which I have to be permanently logged in. Through roles at a number of companies I had other Office 365 accounts for email, SharePoint and so on.
Microsoft doesn’t seem to have anticipated that multiple 365 accounts were going to be a thing. Work was an endless round of logging out and back in with different credentials. The climax came a few months ago when the credentials that allowed me to access email from one account via the web mail client ceased working with Outlook, and no amount of following the magical spells suggested in various forums solved the problem.
I thought retirement would make the problem go away – I tried to remove all traces of work Office 365 accounts and return to a simple life of just me and my one Microsoft account. Except now Microsoft Teams meetings don’t work. If I try to join a meeting, it tells me that I haven’t subscribed to Teams meetings and I should contact my admin or sign up for free access to Teams. Attempting either of these processes sends you in a circle of web pages ending back with Teams launching and telling you that… well, what I just said.
If Windows 11 insists that I use a Microsoft account to log in then I’m done here, and it’s Elementary Linux and LibreOffice. Paul Moorhead
Tragedy of errors
Barry Collins hit the nail on the head in his article lambasting cryptic error messages ( see issue 323, p22). To his observations I’d add a plea for user interface design that at least nods towards helping us poor saps.
Who hasn’t groaned in bewilderment at onscreen objects which are greyed-out and unavailable? This could be fixed with a mouse-over pop-up explaining the reason for unavailability and how to fix it. Don’t get me started on the multi-fingered gestures on touch devices: I’m told even the developers can’t recall all of these without writing a “cheat sheet”. Peter Hinch
Email endurance
We can all now easily switch bank accounts and phone providers and so on. This does not apply to an email address, though, based on my recent experience. For many years I’ve used one email address for most things and
dozens of companies, online services and people have it. A shorter, more personalised domain name became available and I thought it would be a good idea to switch my email address.
I knew it would take a bit of effort to change over, so had a fully charged phone for any verification SMS codes and put the kettle on.
The problems began quickly with having to navigate the cookie options on every website. Nearly every online system had a different procedure to change an email address – some easy, some not. Some simply did not allow a change. I still receive messages to my old email address, even though I changed it and the new one is shown on their system. I even had to deregister some hardware, create a new account and add them again to the new account.
The frustration grew when I received acknowledgements at my old address stating the new login information had been sent to the new address but no such information had been received. In several cases, I also had to send software registration keys to prove I was an authorised user before any changes could be made. After several days, I’m still following up on email responses.
Changing a main email address is not for the faint hearted! George Jopling
In the pay of the pub
Is Mr Honeyball in the pay of Sharp’s? He mentioned Doom Bar twice in last month’s “One Last Thing” ( see issue
324, p130), the second time adding “Doom Bar was excellent. As always.” Considering that the his column was giving an unnamed router manufacturer and Microsoft each a good slapping for being sloppy in enforcing digital signatures, this blatant piece of product placement for beer was surprising. Why didn’t the editor pick this up and at the very least insist that either the router be named and/or a caveat be added: “Other excellent ales are also available”? Maybe Jon’s next article could be nice to Microsoft and review some bad beers. There is a popular, but ghastly, US imitation of an excellent Czech beer that he could start with. Tony Squire
Editor-in-chief Tim Danton replies: Sadly my own contract with a certain Cornish brewer precludes me from mentioning any other ales. Joking aside, I suspect that Jon wishes that he was in the pay of Sharp’s…