Posts by Chika

FCC doubles 5GHz spectrum in prep for one-gigabit Wi-Fi

Re: FCC sez: All Your Hertz Are Belong to US

What you say?

Re: peanut butter and jelly

I can stomach either tomato or brown sauce, but not if you are going to call me Shirley.

Google asks April Fools: Want a job? Be our 'Pokemon Master'

Sounds like a load of pokeballs to me...

Artists install Monty Python silly walk signs in Norwegian town

Lemon curry?

GNOME 3.12: Pixel perfect ... but homeless

Re: What I think's weird

No, not just you. Go back far enough and some of those things were negatives on GNOME 3 too.

But then I still use KDE3. ;)

As WinXP death looms, Microsoft releases its operating system SOURCE CODE for free

Re: I have free copies of XP...

Sounds like that woman that sold mobile phones on eBay. Only she put a little rider in the small print, one that guaranteed that the successful buyer only got photos of the phones.

Nikki something or other...

The plot to kill Google cloud: We'll rename Windows Azure to MICROSOFT Azure

Why don't they just call it "Microsoft Hot Air"?

Re: Don't laugh

Trouble with that is that they already played that card when they named Vista's successor.

Re: Hey Satya, free tip..

True, except that Hotmail wasn't a brand that Microsoft came up with. It was a company that they took over. Then they fucked it over...

Re: Money well spent

Eh? Thought he was a dog...

Re: Attempting to give a damn...

ofla

The Reg's desert XP-ocalypse aversion plan revealed

Re: VLC Media Player

I'd be more inclined to use CCCP and Media Player Classic, but that depends on who is likely to use it and what they might be watching... ;)

Depends on the users. Classic shell adds a few bits and pieces on W7 that were on XP, especially on the explorer windows. I agree though - it's hardly a vital installation with W7.

It's 2014 and you can pwn a PC by opening a .RTF in Word, Outlook

Good code is good code, no matter how old it is. The term "bit rot" was debunked a long time ago. The trouble is that good code isn't that easy to come by.

Or if you prefer, there's the old adage that I recall from my programming days - there's no such thing as a finished product; just one that's in a high state of debug. :)

BOFH: On the PFY's Scottish estate, no one can hear you scream...

Wouldn't work.

Architects don't have any.

Whitehall and Microsoft thrashing out 1-year NHS WinXP lifeline

Re: A Travesty

Here's a quick resume of the problem here.

1. The NHS has to justify everything it spends our money on. To a very great extent, public services have to do that much, if only to make sure that they don't lose their future budgets, but the NHS is more high profile than, say, a local authority trying to maintain a rubbish collection or monitor a public health breach.

2. There has been, despite lip service to the contrary, a notable lock-in mentality with the Government with Microsoft operating environments over many years. This is sometimes due to point 3 below.

3. User ignorance of GNU/Linux (or any other operating environment, for that matter) is not an unusual occurrance.

4. Software and hardware companies will often provide systems that will not upgrade easily, if at all. In some cases this is due to ignorance, in other cases laziness, in yet others it is used as a way to push sales of new systems.

5. Corporates don't give a toss unless you are prepared to throw money at them, regardless of who you are. The only other way they tend to shift is when public humiliation could cause a serious dent in their cashflow, but that's less common since corporates are big enough to hide such things to a great extent.

6. People are too eager to jump from old to new systems because some marketing shill tells them to, either by promising improvement or threatening degradation. While they aren't always wrong, the motive is more likely to be monetary and often the resulting situation matching the marketing hype is a matter of coincidence.

Am I being too cynical here?

Google settles copyright suit with Viacom over YouTube vids

Consider that The Daily Show uses clips under the various fair use exceptions. No problem there except that Viacom have been known to issue take downs in the past of videos using clips by people that are there for critical or satirical purposes, two of the very reasons that protect the Jon Stewart show from the legal attentions of Fox and CNN.

Totally agreed.

Satisfy my scroll: El Reg gets claws on Windows 8.1 spring update

Actually, a steering wheel on a washing machine has already been done back in the 1940s.

They called it the VolksWagen. :)

Re: Windows 9?

That's rather a simplistic way of putting it, but I see a couple of flaws in this statement. The first is that nobody knows for certain what Windows 9 will have in it and when it is likely to come out. All we can do about that is wait and see.

The second, more likely problem is that Microsoft have proven themselves as too bloody minded about this whole thing and while it shouldn't be that much of a problem to set it up to run as it did all the way back when the first trial versions came out (e.g. the one where you could actually switch the system between desktop and TIFKAM and get on with your life, including the availability of the whole start menu as per Windows 7), Microsoft will avoid this for as long as possible purely because they cannot accept that they were wrong.

What I see here (I'll say more if and when I see it for myself) is yet more fudging around the main issue which is that Microsoft shot itself in the foot the moment they foisted Windows 8 upon the world. It isn't all bad, but Microsoft tried too hard to force the computing world to adopt their view when, firstly, they had no control over the market they wanted to take over and, secondly, the majority of users that were most likely to need Windows (the PC and laptop users, their numbers far higher than Windows tablet and smartphone users) didn't really want or need this change. Until Microsoft gets the message and admits its mistakes, Windows 8 will find it hard to shake its negative image.

New Flash vuln exploited (again). Adobe posts emergency fix (again)

Hangonamo...

The article states that users, including Linux users, need to be patched, yet the vuln is decribed as only applying if "a PC must be running Microsoft Windows XP; Windows 7 and Oracle Java 1.6; or Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010."

I've long held the suspicion that some "security patches" and other alerts are used purely to push users off products that companies no longer wish to support. I'm not saying that this is one such alert, but the above does strike me as a bit odd. Or have I misread?

Wii got it WRONG: How do you solve a problem like Nintendo?

"I am still, to this day, baffled as to how this did not save Sega from oblivion. The console was so far ahead of its time, clearly, even gamers didn't realise what they were missing out on."

The trouble was that by the time the Dreamcast was released, the damaged was already done by a string of releases that, at best, were fair and, at worst, were total garbage. Having been assaulted in short order by the 32X and Sega CD extensions for what the Merkans refer to as the Genesis followed quickly (by which I mean only a matter of months) by the Saturn, people were going off Sega.

I totally agree that the Dreamcast was a good machine but Sega had already stuffed themselves. A real shame too. And yes, I can see Nintendo going the exact same way.

Whitehall and Microsoft negotiate NHS Windows XP hacker survival plan

Re: Upgrade o Linux

To an extent I agree. However we need to be realistic here in that Wine does not provide a complete solution to this problem as not everything is supported.

Some parts of Windows may possibly never see complete support from Wine. Either way, porting from Windows XP to Linux/Wine is not a quick process. It may even take longer in some cases than Windows XP to Windows 7/8, though I have noticed a few advantages to both routes.

Friends don't do tech support for friends running Windows XP

Re: ...they can be persuaded to switch to a Mac

"Because every single alternative to Excel is crap."

When attempting to emulate crap, it isn't unusual for the result to look like crap.

Re: ...they can be persuaded to switch to a Mac

THANK YOU!!!

I forget now how many times I have said in these fora; Linux is not Ubuntu

As for upgrade cycles, yes. This can vary from distro to distro, though as an openSUSE user I normally expect the toys to be chucked about 18 months unless the version is earmarked for Evergreen support in which case it varies from 3 to 4 years (though the choice of version sometimes bugs the crap out of me!)

ISTR Ubuntu has a long term support setup for some versions too.

Re: But a big trusted partner like Microsoft....

I'd rephrase that.

"Anyone who thinks Redmond (or Cupertino, for that matter!) gives a rat's ass about the end-user once they have got their money is deluded."

In other words, Redmond and Cupertino are only interested in money. They develop things as a way to get money. The only reason why Microsoft apologised for Windows ME and the only reason why they developed Windows 7 so close to Vista was because they were losing money. The only reason why they are rethinking the approach they will take for Windows 9 is because Windows 8 isn't making them the kind of money they were hoping for. Apple are no different. These are American corporates. That's their nature.

Re: I've been helping friends (and businesses) upgrade from XP to ...

I'm so glad I found somebody for whom systemd has been a pain in the rear. It has been my biggest problem with openSUSE since the advent of version 12 and the latest version, 13.1, is so totally broken, especially with the changes to udev and other bits, that I'm now actively looking for alternative distros. Nice to hear that Slack is still about - haven't tried it since my early Linux days, and that was back when I was starting with Caldera!

To be honest, the timing of the whole systemd business couldn't be worse given that shifting users from WXP would have been a good way to expand the Linux user base. Using systems with major flaws in them such as systemd is not the way to go and while I have no problem using earlier, more stable versions (my preferred versions of openSUSE at time of writing, for example, would be 11.4 or 12.2 but both are coming to the end of their lives now) it is common to find that distros prefer you to keep up to date and provide little support for older versions.

In other words, Windows XP was something of an anomaly. The reasons may be different but the various Linux distros, especially the big ones, are just as rough on the user upgrade path as Microsoft or Apple (there are exceptions to this, though, where a distro prefers to go with an evolved path rather than a complete upgrade path - forget the distro names right now but they do exist).

Re: I've been helping friends (and businesses) upgrade from XP to ...

"My tagline is that Linux doesn't suck any worse than Windows, and they should give it a try."

What, you mean that Linux should try sucking like Windows? I certainly hope not!

Life support's ABOUT to be switched off, but XP's suddenly COOL again

Too right. They're too busy trying to flog the ludicrous "B-Max".

I've tried sudo on a few occasions but not only does it not work in all situations but it can be as big a security bug as having a system with a default root password if you know how to manipulate its configuration.

Re: @Chemist

Depends on where you are. I spend a lot of time at work on the network as it's a part of what I do but I don't necessarily venture outside the safety of the intranet and out onto the Internet which, of course, means navigating through the firewalls.

If you are talking of a small installation or a home setup, then yes, I'd agree that the distinction is probably pointless.

Windows 8.1 becomes world's fourth-most-popular desktop OS

Re: MS took that to heart and people still complain.

> No one is complaining about the security of Win8. What people complain about is the utterly broken interface

That is the security. If you can't get in, you will hardly be likely to store anything worth nicking!

Re: Wow, it's just skyrocketing!

Both are fast, but the extended front end on the Mk.II RS2000 sold it for me. If only I had the money and somewhere to keep it (you'd be mad to park something like that on the roads near me!)

Re: 8.1 and 8 should be grouped together

Yes, it is arguable that Windows 7 could possibly be accounted as a Windows Vista service pack, though there are some functional differences. But then if you really need to go down that route, you could say that Windows XP was a "service pack" for Windows 2000 Professional (If you have ever seen or played with a copy of Windows Neptune, you'd know why!)

Re: 8.1 and 8 should be grouped together

"If it was a "service pack" for 8, then Windows 98SE would also be classed as one - it isn't so it's not."

Actually, 98SE had a lot of changes under the bonnet, so it was often classified as a separate OS, hence the use of the phrase "Second Edition", so yes, I'd agree with that.

However Windows 8.1 is not really a new system as a lot of what is included are service and security patches along with a few bits and pieces to make it look different, mostly because Windows 8 was being shafted in the general marketplace. Regardless of how it installs, it all comes down to what is inside.

Spam drops as legit biz dumps mass email ads: Only the dodgy remain

"Only the dodgy remain"

Hmm... Looks at current email queue - Amazon, Google... yup. Can't argue with that!

Reading this headline? You and 9.47 million others

Why bother? They seem to do a good job at fucking themselves.

HP sticks thumb in Microsoft's eye, extends Windows 7 option for new machines

Re: um...

Actually, that reminds me of one of the biggest failures for Vista - the netbook.

And didn't Dell try Linux on their desktops also, once upon a time?

Re: You've touched on the reason why there's a problem

Actually, you're almost right. It's all down to what you want to use and how. If you think back to when Windows 7 first came out, Microsoft were trying to push its touchy-feely side but soon realised that the desktop was never really meant for that sort of thing. However, since the vast majority of Windows 7 installs ended up on desktop and laptop machines, who cared?

Windows 8, however, was a big shift away from the desktop in an attempt to try to control the tablet market in the same way as they had controlled the desktop market, using a similar tactic to the one that they used in the console market. The difference is that Microsoft didn't really benefit from the console market until the competition screwed up, at which point they could really push the XBOX 360 as far as they wanted.

Just as with the console market, there are two major competitors in the tablet market, neither of which have made an appreciable mistake as yet. Apple keep their tablet involvement apart from their desktop environment except where absolutely necessary and Android haven't really made a mark on the desktop as yet. Both are big successes and Microsoft have not found a way to discredit either or benefit from mistakes.

What this means is that Windows 8 has no real inroad into the tablet market and may never have, but you won't know for sure for some time. Meanwhile Microsoft, in their impatience and insistence that touch is the next big thing, have annoyed users for whom touch is of no real use. If they finally get the message with the next version, there may be a way to save the situation but Windows 8 was a gamble by Microsoft. My own view is that, just as with the netbook and the console, Microsoft got into the game far too late. This time, however, Microsoft are in danger of losing the farm.

Fine! We'll keep updating WinXP's malware sniffer after April, says Microsoft

Re: Choose a Linux distro wisely... @ llort_boy

On older machines like that, I'd be inclined to suggest that you avoid more resource hungry UIs like GNOME, KDE or Unity. A number of distros support xfce (http://www.xfce.org/) which is a perfectly usable UI which can include all the necessary bits that you might need to keep the average girlfriend up to date.

I personally use openSUSE which is updated regularly, though other distros are out there and will happily run xfce.

Re: *just* 14 more months to upgrade?

Must admit, I've never heard of this Apple Intel iPad.

But then again, you start plugging keyboards and such into a tablet, you lose the portability of a tablet which is one of the reasons for using a tablet in the first place. It's all down to what you use a device for. Laptops and desktops are general purpose machines, tablets and smartphones are specialist devices. While there are points at which they cross over in their functionality, their uses are geared towards what they do best and I would no sooner carry a desktop around to use for portable browsing than I would use a smartphone to run the majority of desktop applications. But that's a whole different gripe.

It just seems rather odd that this announcement comes so soon after HMG admitted that a number of its main departments admitted that they couldn't remove all their XP machines in time for the April deadline.

Or maybe I'm just paranoid?

(...the greater good...)

Sinclair’s 1984 big shot at business: The QL is 30 years old

Re: All to depressingly reminiscent ...

All I remember back then was the insistence in adverts for the ZX80 and the ZX81 (I forget if they did the same for the Speccy but I wouldn't be surprised) about how many ICs the machines had. (ICs. Now that really dates me!)

So yes, I can certainly believe that!

Re: Microdrives

"What was it about the British computer industry and its obsession with not using 90mm floppies like everybody else?"

As I recall it, the problem back then was that not everybody did use those 3.5" jobbies, mostly because more than one company was trying to come up with something to replace the last truly floppy floppy, the 5.25". Indeed Amstrad's all-in-one unit mentioned in the article used the 3" alternative and don't get me started on the various addons you could get for the BBC Micro at the time! All Uncle Clive was trying to do is what he always tried to do - invent stuff that could, given a chance, corner the market.

As we all know, however, he didn't in this case. The "microfloppy" eventually became the "microdrive", an endless loop that didn't really cut it, whether you were a QL user with built in drives or one of the few that added them to your Speccy. Someone tried a similar approach on the Beeb with a drive known as the "Floopy", though I never heard of anyone actually using one in anger.

But then hindsight is always 20/20.

Microsoft to RIP THE SHEETS off Windows 9 aka 'Threshold' in April

Re: Unnecessary Windows 8.1 Hate

I have. I don't like it. I'm back to W7. It works. End of.

Re: There's an interesting aspect to the comments so far

And that's how you got RISC OS.

I knew Acorn had the right of it!!!

Re: Hoax?

It's not April yet.

Mind you....

Re: If...

Certainly nobody really wants change forced on them, but I'd be interested to hear exactly where you get the "most companies" statistic from. For myself, I work in the public sector so I don't have an option to stay with XP.

Yes, I keep an eye on the gaming side of things too, but I notice a certain ambivalence where the OS is concerned. As long as it will run the latest and greatest hardware and support the games, they're happy. In a way, that's little different to the company types, but that's where the similarity ends.

Re: it all begins to sound

You might see the word "Apple" carved on the handle of the knife, but it quite certainly put there at Microsoft's own behest. Nobody forced them to attempt corporate suicide by throttling one of its core products in the name of greed.

There were other ways to try to move into the tablet market rather than trying to sacrifice Windows (or, at the very least, produce a product that was a conglomeration of parts from Windows 1, Bob, Me and Vista, all patched together then sold snake-oil style in the hopes that they could shaft the emerging market the way they shafted so many other markets from the microcomputer to the console).

I have a free space gesture for them. Not sure what command it maps to, though. Possibly something that needs a certain number...

Re: Save billions on marketing

You're right, but not necessarily for all the right reasons. Yes, the corporates are moving to Windows 7 from Windows XP, but not necessarily because they dislike Windows 8. What they actually dislike is the prospect of paying the overheads for upgrading the OS, possibly upgrading the hardware and certainly upgrading whatever software they use that refuses to work on the new OS. With so many scrambling to get everyone off XP before the support cutoff, the idea of going through it all again doesn't leave many feeling enthusiastic about it all.

In a way, this is one strength of Linux in that it is possible to evolve rather than have an explosive change that disrupts your user base. To an extent this is also what people liked about Windows XP in that they had a lengthy support run with few worries about the loss of compatibility when the occasional service pack came around. Vista, on the other hand, was too much of a leap and were it not for the age of XP and some of its supposed shortcomings, I suspect that W7 would have suffered a similar fate. It was only the fact that W7 was such a good release compared with Vista and that XP was being ousted that gave W7 its chance. What you had with W8.x was exactly the same explosive change that blighted Vista, the bullying sales tactics that saw Vista pull PC sales into the doldrums and a design that, I'll say yet again, harkened back to the days of Microsoft Bob.

So what if W9-or-whatever is merely a spruced up W7? We could do worse. As for allowing TIFKAM apps to run in a Windows Desktop environment, somebody owes me a new keyboard! I'd rather see the old gadgets come back - yes, let's face it, they were killed off because of TIFKAM. I know Microsoft insisted that they were afflicted by some sort of security flaw, but I can tell sales bullsh*t when I smell it!

Re: Is Windows trying to copy the StarTrek convention...

Oh noes, not agayne!

You can guarantee that someone will roll this tired cliché out each time we discuss Microsoft OS releases.