Posts by Numpty

War of the workstations: How the lowest bidders shaped today's tech landscape

I certainly didn't expect to be reading about the Linn Rekursiv on my first day back at work. That was partially developed by a professor at Strathclyde University shortly before I did my CS degree there, and they still had a few prototype boards kicking around.

'This was bigger than GNOME and bigger than just this case.' GNOME Foundation exec director talks patent trolls and much, much more

Re: I'm just rebuilding my desktop ...

You know you can still use Ctrl+S to save your file, right...?

If you suddenly can't print to your HP Printer from your Mac, you're not alone: Code security cert snafu blamed

Re: AirPrint

Your average joe whose printer supports AirPrint of course... many older printers, including some affected by this error, don't.

Brave claims its mobe browser batt use bests whatever you're using. Why? Hint: It begins with A then D then V...

Re: sigh

You expressly allow it by visiting their site, and disallow it by not visiting their site.

Don't read this, Oracle... It's the rise of the open-source data strategies

Re: "...the only database in the planet..."

It's more specific. "Obviate" means to eliminate something undesirable.

Here's how we made a no-fuss RSS vulture app using trendy Electron

Re: I am disappoint

Here you go:

https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/23/acorn-brand-revived-to-sell-phones/

Game authors demand missing ZX Spectrum reboot royalties

Re: What?

Most, perhaps, but certainly not all... just need to look at how many games are "redistribution denied" in the World of Spectrum archive. Codemasters, Mastertronic and Elite spring to mind -- the former still very much in business, likewise the latter who also market retro Spectrum hardware and software of their own. (I presume Sega now own the rights to all the Mastertronic games, and I can't imagine they're especially keen to let randomers play them for free either.)

Oracle crushes Apiary's hope in slightly awkward email to customers

Re: Reading between the lines...

Yep. First day after the Sun deal closed, every member of staff on our Sun campus was told, in person by the local Oracle suits, "make no mistake, this is an acquisition, not a merger. Welcome to Oracle."

Debian Linux founder Ian Murdock dead at 42

Re: More details needed...

I'm sure his family and friends are asking all the questions that need to be asked right now. No need for a public investigation unless they don't get suitable answers.

Microsoft secure Azure Storage goes down WORLDWIDE

Xbox Cloud Storage is definitely down as well (and presumably related) -- http://support.xbox.com/en-GB/xbox-live-status

Author of '80s classic The Hobbit didn't know game was a hit

Re: Does anyone know the etimology of the word "Inglish"?

You can switch on "Verbatim" mode on the results page when that happens, then it'll only search for exactly what you typed...

Facebook quietly switches on facial recognition tech by default

Boo Hoo

If you don't want people to see your photos, don't put them on the internet.

Ellison's Oracle washes hands of OpenOffice

Nope, not obvious

Sun never did any such thing. The only things in StarOffice that weren't in OpenOffice.org were license-encumbered features like commercial fonts and dictionaries.

McNealy to Ellison: How to duck death by open source

Er...

Er, you obviously haven't heard how much Oracle are investing in SPARC, then...?

Illumos sporks OpenSolaris

What Java-based crap?

Exactly what "Java Based Crap" is present in OpenSolaris to be removed?

Twitter on a ZX Spectrum

I was taught by the guy who co-designed the Dragon 32...

One of my university lecturers (Duncan Smeed at Strathclyde) also worked on it...

Sinclair keyboards/Dragon 32

"It also has something you'd never expect to see on a Sinclair: a decent keyboard".

Eh? All Sinclairs from the 48K Spectrum+ onwards had that keyboard (or better).

Oh, and one of my lecturers at university co-designed the Dragon 32 :)

Blighty surrenders to Street View

Don't panic

They will remove or mask any image you ask them to, within reason. However, since their software blurs all faces and number plates automatically by default, who's going to know they're your kids anyway?

Open source boss quits Sun Oracle

That was never Sun's model

Sun's model was never to make money selling open source software support, though. It was to sell big SPARC iron, which it did very successfully until companies stopped buying SPARC iron. And they were too late to the x86 server party-- or in fact, they were too soon, but fatally decided to walk away just before everyone else turned up. And then they turned up again just as everyone else had already paired off and started making out in the kitchen.

Ubuntu 8.10 - All Hail new Network Manager

Nothing to do with Shuttleworth...

Mark Shuttleworth had nothing to do with most of the UI improvements you've mentioned. The network manager, device eject buttons etc. are all upstream changes that Ubuntu has just picked up in the usual way.

Sun tries to flex R&D muscle with homegrown package manager

Package manager? Nah, installer.

To be honest, I'd hardly call the new package manager the most interesting aspect of Indiana; there's nothing wrong with Sun's current SVR4 package management that a decent GUI wouldn't fix. The new installer, however, is wicked-- Solaris installations have never been for the faint-hearted, but now it only takes a handful of clicks.

Agree with your comment about Murdock, though, seems ridiculous that Sun have never produced a Live CD before.