Re: Still runs well on 35 year old hardware
Oh, sorry... my brain outpaced my fingers. That's a 50MHz 68060.
892 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Nov 2007
"This is not the news Microsoft wanted to hear."
Microsoft DOES NOT CARE. You will be forced into WIndows 11, or perish. Resistance in futile, you will be assimilated. Your computer is not your own. Your data must be shared with us and our AI. You will own nothing of your individuality, and we will own you.
While this obviously takes it to a whole new level, I have seen similar problems with program installations with the "Launch (app name)" after installation (or updating) completes. In many cases, it leads to a running program which cannot interact with user-context activities, such as accessing a user's mapped drives or dragging and dropping from an Explorer window, etc. For my purposes, this has always been an annoyance, never considering under what user context the launched program was running.
Also, I though we blocked the ability to launch programs like CMD.EXE and COMMAND.COM from a browser back in the 1999 when people were using the file:// URI to break out of kiosks and similarly locked-down systems. Should we also shame Firefox for kicking security vulnerabilities old-school?
(I remember using this trick on billing and sales kiosks at ComCast and Sprint stores in the mall to do silly things.)
One of the first rants I had about Microsoft's new direction introduced with Vista was having to navigate a phone tree to use my computer. Thankfully, the Control Panel was left mostly alone, as were most of the useful control panel applets: desk.cpl, appwiz.cpl, ncpa.cpl, &c.
Created by hobbyists, killed by Corp.
Applies to so many things these days. Everything which was good and innovative must be changed or corrupted to be "new," again, because innovation does not reap increased profits quarter after quarter. We no longer have to be convinced to get into the wagon. We are already in the wagon and getting out is not an easy, or in most cases even a viable option.
A floppy emulator would be the best way to go if you just want a collection of ADFs on-hand. There are a number of tools to mount ADFs within Workbench, but none of which I am aware allow you to mount and boot. Your best bet for compatibility with OCS/ECS games of the era is Kickstart 1.3. No need to go any higher if you are not going to run Workbench.
Fair. A lot of people do not see this point. Simply put, I agreed to certain terms when I started using my $149 device. Primarily so I can watch media from my Plex servers, but then it really does not do that well, either. Why should I have to piss away the $149 because Roku wants me to conform to new terms? Will Roku compensate me for a value commensurate to the lost functionality? Is this warrantability issue, in that Roku sold me a device which, in exchange for my money, came with implicit guarantees?
I can understand, "Hey, we're dropping support for certain devices because we can't update the firmware of those devices to meet certain requirements." I cannot, however, grok, "Hey, agree to these new arbitration terms or get bent." Sure, we all agreed to that when we bought the devices, but at the same time we can revoke our consent to be abused by these companies and stop buying their shit.
This is the only "smart" device I have in my home, because of exactly this kind of shenanigans. I only have it as it came with my office to home office. Is it still usable as a TV and HDMI display? Yes. Is that what I bought? Thanks to Roku's capriciousness, no, it is not.
It seems like Roku misses the fact that not only is there competition that does not do this, but there are also plenty of hacks for these sticks. People do not like this shit. The ones that will tolerate it will become members of a dwindling customer base.
If there was justice in the world, shit like this would bankrupt a company. But far too many people are willing to trade minor conveniences for being abused.
Per the terms of the new Roku terms, I submitted a written opt-out notice for the new forced arbitration terms. My Roku TV is still unusable, stuck at the "accept" pop-up. Support chat told me that I can factory reset my TV, then be limited to HDMI and live TV. Not what I was expecting from my opt-out. I now have a "smart" TV, for which I paid $149, which has been lobotomized by Roku.
Now, take a second to think about this HDMI advert patent. Roku has no plans right now, but what about the future? The pause detection works by comparing frames of the stream. If they are the same, it assumes you have paused the video. What about static Desktops? If I do not use my third monitor for a period of time, showing the same Desktop image, will I suddenly get adverts? If I am using the Roku to display for an event, will it suddenly start playing an advert to the attendees?
How long will it take for the TV to start sampling the HDMI stream and uploading those snapshots to Roku, for more targeted advertising? How will that data be handled or retained? Who will have access to that data? Selected third-party partners?
No. This will not do at all.
Microsoft's take was that such add-ins "are often unstable and don't work cross-platform."
I must be missing something. What crossing of platforms does a COM add-in need? If the add-in works in Outlook 2019 or 2021 on Windows 11, and that is what you have in your environment, how much cross-platform does it need to be? And so what if developers have to make changes between versions of Office or Windows? That is what developers and vendors have to, and do, do. This feels to me like standard Microsoft: get developers using a particular interface, support it for years, then lock them out with new versions of the operating system or product which now duplicate functionality. "We're heading in this super cool new direction."
The least Microsoft could say is, the interface we include to manage COM Add-ins is the same wonky interface we have had for two decades, it is difficult for general end-users to understand to make sure add-ins are not disabled, and we disable add-ins on a whim. Or even, there are security problems with the COM model that we cannot, for whatever reason, fix.
As for web platforms saying the e-mail way of things is dead, I expect new technology to cast aspersions against incumbent technology, even if the reigning champion is proven, still widely used, and still widely liked. (Well, even if scammers, spammers, phishers, and fraudsters have put a huge dent in its reliability. You know, web services are not vulnerable to such things...)
Way back when, I worked for a boss who thought a little too much of himself. In the early days he was open to our ideas and was a seemingly congenial fella. Though I learned from others about some of his penchants and history for dishonesty toward vendors and customers. As time moved on, he became dismissive and sometimes just flat-out rude about our requests, and the dishonesty turned more inward against the company. We figured out that if we planted the seed in his mind about something we needed then forged a campaign of customer requests and complaints, within a few weeks he would bring up this amazing idea that absolutely needed to be implemented and in short order. Even though these are often last minute, we were always at the ready to get it done and put in the extra time if necessary. For the good of the company.
I see what you did there.
There is very little else I can add to this opinion piece. It hits right on the mark for me. I am not a passive user just watching TV while I do something else. I am active and moving with purpose. Having my time consumed is bad enough, but now you want to consume my attention. No. Pay for it? If the service offers something valuable, sure. There are plenty of streaming services which are ad-free and offer high quality content. But YouTube is not quality content in the sense that I am not as interested in the content maker as I am the actual content. YouTube is, or at least used to be, "broadcast yourself!" which is not a model which resonates with me as a content consumer.
He concluded: "I bet you can find insecure passwords in a lot of binaries if you set your mind to it. Just scan for the bytes 61 62 63 in any binary, and if you find it, you can get all excited: 'Hey, your binary contains the insecure password abc!'"
This was a completely dismissive and douchie thing to say. This is why we need Tom Smykowskis in the world.
My "ancient" multi-function laser from Samsung HP, which has seen "no love" since HP took over Samsung's business, is going to become useless on Windows at some point, or will it still carry on as it is?
It sounds like it will be killed off. Many of my old HPs (a LaserJet 4050, for instance,) still works on my systems on which it was installed back in 1809, but new loads of 22H2 do not have its driver. A couple of colleagues have had to rip printer drivers from previous Windows 10 releases to get them to work on newer machines.
This has the potential to turn Microsoft into a print gatekeeper. Microsoft will dictate which printers may be used by not allowing third-party drivers. That also means me e-waste as otherwise perfectly fine printers will get junked. Build your printer to our driver specs, which will likely have to be licensed, or piss off.
In other words, after the print spooler security vulnerability exposed a few years ago, Microsoft has tried desperately to fix it and just continued to muck things up and break functionality, security, and drivers. It cannot be fixed so it must be replaced.
To be fair, the print subsystem is something that I and many of my colleagues have agonized over for over a decade. This may not be such a bad thing... if it works.
I am surprised to see Opera ranking so high. Other than not being able to force it to play videos when not in focus, it is a rather powerful mobile browser. I expected Firefox to have a larger share than Opera, though not nearly as large as Chrome considering how it is wedged into Android base loads.
A really good outcome, and likely made things easier down the road. Having a manager who knows little about your job but has the power to tell you how to do it is beyond frustrating. But, having a (good) manager who has worked with you shoulder-to-shoulder in the trenches not only makes the job easier, but having someone like that sitting between you and upper-management or command staff is invaluable.
(I had to go back and qualify "manager" with "good," because some of them are arrogant asses who always think they can do things better because they were there once.)
Quite likely they don't quite know how they solved it. They applied various fixes recommended in the forum and may have clicked on something in the UI without noticing and the problem just quietly went away.
If I had a nickle for every time I just carpet-bomb a problem because fixing it is critical, leaving me with no clue which bomb actually solved it but, screw it, it works.
the last post from the OP is "solved it now" with no bloody indication of how they resolved it!!!
I was thinking of exactly that when I posted. Yeah, those are beyond enraging. Sometimes I pretend to have hope that maybe one of us mere mortals can figure it out like the OP and the dozens of following posts asking, "Dude, how'd you do it?! Please help us!" All written in such a way you can fell the agony and despair.
My favorite is the "Help" link that eventually takes you to the "community" where the same problem has been posted, numerous "me, too!" posts follow, and no solution ever provided, with several months or years between the posts.
Apparently people just like to complain about long-standing crippling features.
All I remember about 64bit XP is that it was weirdly buggy.
In what ways? The biggest problems I had running XP64 was drivers and some programs simply did not like the 64-bit environment, but compatibility mode often saved the day. For drivers, if I could not find XP64-native drivers (which was, surprisingly, not often,) I would use Server 2003 x64 drivers. 64-bit programs ran brilliantly, and I ran everything 64-bit I could get my hands on. Honestly one of my first pleasant experiences with desktop Windows.
I did this internally. I was running XP64 on my own systems as soon as I had a CPU capable of 64-bit, which was my first Core2Duo. XP-64 bit worked so well for me, that when customers were upgrading from XP to Windows 7, since it was usually a new computer or a fresh load (no upgrading x86 to x64,) I was pushing 7x64.
I did an install of Vista x64 once... it was more of a disaster than 32-bit Vista.
Why do we keep saying the 9x Windows are "DOS-based?" Once the 9x kernel boots, the Win32 system takes over and the DOS subsystem is elevated to a VM, providing a compatibility layer for 16-bit drivers when needed.
I foolishly sold my B2000 40MHz 68030, my A4000 with Warp Engine and Picasso IV, my A4000T PPC 603/060 and Cybervision 64, my A1200T/060
I had a WarpEngine 4040 and traded up to a CyberStorm MK-III, and I have the Picasso IV. Great stuff. I envy your former A4000T. Having gotten rid of things I later needed or wanted, I feel your pain. Really sad how much it would cost to replace those these days. But, I have, through thick and thin, held onto my C64, C128, and Amiga stuff, knowing that the relief selling it would bring would only be temporary, the pain would be long-lasting, and a better way was to be found.
"IS THAT A COMMODORE CBM?!" he gasps once more. "WITH THE DUAL FLOPPY DRIVE!!!"
*opens wallet with a heavy sigh*
Ackshually, I a number of years back I picked up a B128 with 8050 floppy. Need to get that all running for exhibit at some point.
You can try to float any Apple or Atari stuff. It will not float, but I have no problem with you trying, anyway. Makes great coral reef material. For the environment, of course.
The only thing Teams is bundled is the Microsoft 365 installer. As for the software packages themselves go, Teams and Office have completely different program directories and update methods. Office can be installed without Teams, and Teams can be installed on its own.
My experience is exactly the opposite, and I came here to post what the OP said. First, I find that I have to install Teams for Business separately from Office 365 Apps for Enterprise. Secondly, Teams functionality is included as part of our Office 365 for Business license (with an extra $8 or something if you want the user to allow dial-ins for the meetings.)
Now, get away from the forced Microsoft account logins for Windows 11 and later releases of Windows 10 -- that will make me happy. (I know the BypassNRO trick, but end users do not and it causes a good bit of havoc.)
Amber and Silver alerts are issued by a different agency which is not a division of the Governor's office. Take it up with them. I assume you have taken advantage of remedies which are available via official means which do not just include spleen venting on a UK website.
What it looks like is that the alert is blasted out to everyone in the state… which is exactly what happened in the current case. This problem needs to be addressed.
FWIW, I agree with you on the distribution scale. I have also received Amber alerts for south Florida while I live in north Florida. I would expect the alerts would be limited to the area from which the child was abducted and the areas through or to which the abductor may be traveling. Similarly with Silver alerts, but I suppose those old coots can be speedy and unpredictable.
Ron DeSatan
Woah, you said it twice. I guess you are serious and not just hurr durr. In any case, I was not aware of anyone working for FDEM who I would call incompetent. Everyone up there busts their asses and work as professionally as anyone I have ever know. Accidents happen, just that monumental accidents are noticed on a monumental scale. But, I am certain you have never made a mistake in your life, so you just have to take my word for it.
But, strangely to my mind, some people like it. I offer to turn it off for clients, and they say no, it's fine.
Most of my customers never realized it was there. I got a lot of calls asking how to turn it off because it would pop up when they just moved the mouse past. First thing I did was check that WeatherBug was not installed, and then, oh, that... thanks Microsoft.
Wait... if the current setting defaults to "off," then I would not need to change it. And if I do not change it, then the update will not preserve it, right? So, this statement makes no sense. It essentially says, "we'll turn it on by default, unless you've already turned it on."
Been using PrtScr and ALT-PrnScr and pasting into my preferred target for 23 years. See no reason to change now just to give Microsoft's pet tool more face time.
Reminds me of that little news and weather gadget that suddenly appeared in people's Windows 10 task bars. Microsoft says, "hey, with 1909 you get this neat little widget. Oh, no one wants to use it? Well, we'll just turn it on by default in this next cumulative update." Oh, and that little graphic that shows up in the search bar now. Yeah, people just love that shit.
I really like the DrayTek Vigors, which seem to not be commercially popular devices over this side of the world. I just had to replace my 2862 which was about four or five years old. Other than lacking support and this nasty security vuln, if the modem had not been damaged it might have lived here even longer. Of course, the replacement unit is faster and has better wireless.