Posts by ludicrous_buffoon

VBScript nudged nearer to the grave with next big Windows 11 update

Damn, I won't be able to send anyone on Windows 11 that fun vbscript I wrote that asked a series of nonsensical questions using the multi choice dialogues, and depending on the answer used a media player control to play Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up. It could only be stopped by Task Manager.

If you want to play with it: http://soft.thran.uk/files/cool%20script.vbs

There is an underlying sadness here. It feels like Windows is becoming less something I recognise as it guts its quaint, ancient and characteristically Microsoft parts - to be replaced with horrors beyond even Active Desktop's comprehension.

Wing Commander III changed how the copy hotkey works in Windows 95

> The deal was that in return for taking responsibility for making sure that Windows 95 was compatible, you got to keep the software. Do a good job, and you could come back for more.

Do companies still offer fun incentives like this? I've only ever been in shops where it's just in exchange for straight pay. I've also never experienced this thing called a 'Christmas bonus'. It's a shame all these things appear to be relics of the 90s, along with Britpop and affordable housing.

Twitter spinout Bluesky ends invite-only phase and opens its doors to all comers

Re: You forgot something…

> The Register doesn't have an account

They do indeed: @[e-mail]

Maybe they need to be less quiet about it.

Google doubles minimum RAM and disk in 'Chromebook Plus' spec

Re: Nice, just one question

You can contact Google support? Are you personal friends with Larry?

UK courts award CGI £60M deal to keep ancient tech alive

mad CGI skillz

http://cps.gov.uk/cgi-bin/case_processor.pl

open vim, update the Perl `use` to v5.38, turn on warnings and remove barewords, £60m profit.

Google Chrome Privacy Sandbox open to all: Now websites can tap into your habits directly for ads

Re: Sneaky

How the web went from transferring hypertext to this is beyond me. I don't understand the need. Maybe I'm just getting older.

Windows File Explorer gets nostalgic speed boost thanks to one weird bug

Or get the manager of files

Explorers are too slow. I'm more of a File Manager myself: https://github.com/microsoft/winfile

As an aside, this one is blazing fast, if you don't mind living without a few features.

Farewell WordPad, we hardly knew ye

Isn't it already open source? I read that it used to be distributed as sample code with Windows SDKs.

Wait, found it: https://github.com/microsoft/VCSamples/tree/master/VC2010Samples/MFC/Visual%20C%2B%2B%202008%20Feature%20Pack/WordPad. Pre-ribbon and everything!

ICANN warns UN may sideline tech community from future internet governance

On that one

"The technical community is not part of civil society and it has never been"

I have a degree in social avoidance and spend nearly all of my spare time playing with computers. Nothing excites me more than playing with my soldering iron. When I discuss my technical passions with strangers they flee. They may have a point.

Version 5 of systemd-free Debian remix Devuan is here

Re: Being based off ...

Ah, time for some morning linguistics. 'of' is to do with possession IIRC, so "based upon" is where I reach mentally. Or we could say 'built atop' and make English classy again.

High severity vuln in WinRAR could allow code to run when files are opened

Need money to plug holes

This is what we get for ignoring their desperate pleas and never sending them the $29.99.

80% of execs regret calling employees back to the office

Re: unpopular opinion: no, WFH and WFO are not the same.

This would be my experience too. Aside from the isolation, I miss being in the same room as the same people trying to solve a problem together; I get more excited when I can read reactions immediately, or have ad-hoc whiteboard discussions. Or going out for lunch/drinks to discuss it further.

Not to mention I find having the work environment in my home environment to be quiet intrusive; when my work desk was in my bedroom, I found myself thinking of work even before bed. Not ideal. I miss having that feeling that I'm through the door, the home and the time is now mine. Mentally it is blurred with the workplace in the home.

Unfortunately, it seems the software field is entirely on the side of WFH now, so I am actually considering leaving the industry. We have an office and it is used once per week by one person who isn't in my team. I don't even have a key...

You're not seeing double – yet another UK copshop is confessing to a data leak

Blame Bill

This is the result of constantly making pointless changes to your user interface. It will only confuse some poor desk jockey further. They can't be bothered re-learning and re-training how to Excel because it will all be different in the next version anyway.

Then because your product has penetrated so deeply into the crucial parts of society, this eventually happens. I'm certain it wont be the last time.

Salesforce to face court over claims it knowingly assisted sex trafficking website

Hi I'm Mitch from SalesForce

Did you know that 99% of indentured sex work facilitators recommend us for easier liaison? Call today to hear how our software can help you manage those long client lists, while also analysing behaviours to ensure you never forget a lead.

Meta's data-hungry Threads skips over EU but lands in Britain

Meta: but... but... muh genuine business purposes!

Now Apple takes a bite out of encryption-bypassing 'spy clause' in UK internet law

Re: Proof of the UKs diminishing political structure ...

> We believe E2EE can be safely backdoored whilst keeping users' privacy

Politicians genuinely believe their laws (words on paper) can alter the nature of reality. It's still soothsaying and sorcery just this time in bespoke Saville Row tailoring.

Re: Proof of the UKs diminishing political structure ...

I have to wonder whether we've ever had a competent government that actually defended our freedom and served the people. We do have a history of pushback and Great Charters and suchlike in this country, but I would be surprised whether enough of our MPs know what is or what it meant ("it's just about Barons and entitlements hehehe..." read past the first few clauses you fanny).

Even Boris let this abomination of a bill slip through under his premiership, and he once claimed he'd rather eat an ID card than be issued one. I wonder what changed for him, or was his objection simply because the Other Party had suggested ID cards? Stopping it could've been the One Good Thing he did in office, if he really believed that.

I don't know what's going on, while I welcome the inevitable kicking coming at the next election, I wonder will the Other Party deliver for our online and civil freedom?

Intel to rebrand client chips once Meteor Lake splashes down

Re: Marketing: why do we need it again

No circle of hell is hot enough for the damage done to the English language from this class of wretches. The word salads they concoct rot worse every day.

Soon we'll have something like: Intel Core Super Wolf Blood Moon 7 XIII. And then the same people will join the call at Microsoft to decide the brand name for the Xbox Next One X Series Z.

Microsoft may stop bundling Teams with Office amid antitrust probe threat

Re: Saturation point reached.

If they wheeled out NetMeeting again, which followed standards and came with much less bloat and more or less the same feature set as Teams, I'd be a happy man.

Capita has 'evidence' customer data was stolen in digital burglary

Re: "spread out across a multitude of smaller entities"

The difficulty is that their employees, namely cabinet ministers, would be in the employ of Capita, or themselves have interests in it. Why else would all the contracts go to the one organisation? It's a lot of shady quid pro quo.

Sick of GNOME, Snap and Flatpak? You might like Linux Lite, but beware rough edges

Re: Snap free?

Your comment sparked an idea over at Red Hat. Systemd now has filesystem mounted package dependency management on the roadmap.

Ubuntu without the cruft

So it's Debian?

Russian developers blocked from contributing to FOSS tools

No one but El Reg for me.

Google taps Fastly to make cookie-free adtech FLEDGE fly

Re: Let's create the "I'm not interested in ads and don't want to be tracked" interest group.

I see the unfiltered web on my non-techie friends' phones and it is the substance of nightmares. Cookie 'consent'/Popups/Autoplaying videos/Ads strewn everywhere. Javascript SPAs for news websites. Everything 'appified' to enable even easier tracking through $PHONE_OS APIs rather than in a plain old browser.

We can't put the clock back, but we can pray for its collapse under its own weight and ensure we're at a safe distance when it finally caves in.

Won't be fooled again

> targeted ads

> privacy

Pick one.

Workers don't want these humanoid robots telling them to be happy

I wonder how well they swim in cement

I sincerely hope these are deployed to a construction yard where someone is filming. I've missed Robot Wars and this could become a fresh take on a tried idea.

Bing AI feels like ChatGPT stuffed into a suit – not the future

Re: Please.

> That requires learning, and many of them can't be bothered.

Conversely, it puts you ahead. Even just basic familiarity with the docs makes you feel like a wizard.

IDC gets even more pessimistic about PC sales

Did you get the memo?

We don't know because no one has reported the data. Hopefully some bright upstart will gather these TPS reports and actually use the right colour for the cover sheet this time.

Microsoft adds features to Windows 11 monthly – managing it is your problem

Dictatorship by suits

Any dissenters - i.e. developers and PMs with common sense and regard for the user - have long since left the building. Probably they couldn't bear another day's work because they saw what was coming.

This won't hurt a bit: Amazon now a US healthcare provider

OxyContin for when life isn't a win

It's already in America so why not take it to the next level? Hypertargeted Pharmaceutical Advertising. Drone delivered pills by PrimePharma Next Day, just need to buy at least $40 to qualify for free postage. Instant benzodiazepines with Amazon Dash Bezos' Benzo Button! The future our children dream of!

Mozilla says 80 percent of Google Play's app safety labels are inaccurate

My bank requires installation of not one, but TWO apps just to avail of mobile banking (the other is an authenticator which could be easily handled by any ready-existing OTP app). One of the required permissions was location.

Location seems an odd one for what should just be a ledger and some forms to let me check my balance and move my money, unless they're trying to recreate the 'so what were you doing today' conversations I used to have with bank clerks while they pattered away at the computers.

How many billions?

We asked to manage our data privacy, not have our perceptions of data privacy managed by PR hacks. Somehow that was misheard by the advertising corporations.

The clock is ticking on a possible US import ban for Apple Watch

Re: El' Reg loves alternative units of measure

That's just shear nonsense; you'll be fleeced before ewe know it!

Microsoft begs you not to ditch Edge on Google's own Chrome download page

Re: Cease and desist

Many of the post-Ballmer Windows decisions smack of hubris, so perhaps it is only a matter of time. Some of my non-IT acquaintances complain of how unusable modern desktops and the web have become. They just can't think of any viable alternative, and for them neither can I. Apple? Too dear. Chromebooks? You're having a laugh. Linux? Too complicated, unless I volunteer to become everyone's sysadmin in residence.

Would like to see alternatives come forward but I can't see any on the horizon. Maybe we need the old order to fall before they will come.

CONNECTED SERVICES AND TELEMETRY

"The trust of Microsoft"

Thanks, Redmond. I needed a laugh this morning.