Posts by Homard

Rampaging gnu crashes Microsoft Store, hands out literature

Re: Wow

Couldn't agree more !

Family in bed and I've read all the comments on here on my new toy. How sad ?

GNU guys invading a store is not the way to go.

I love Linux and have used it for over a decade. The old Linux desktop had advanced features such as multiple views with easy access. Windows has never offered the same. Why is such a powerful feature not being touted ? I can do things at the command line that no other system can achieve. So massive power. But a modern Linux distro does my head in. Yes it installs fine but WTF with the UI ? Really don't like it.

Don't like Windows either. Don't like paying the security tax. But windows XP has outlasted anything else I can think of in terms of on going support.

Never used Apple kit so I can't comment. But a locked in environment is no go for me. So I won't be trying.

My Android mobile phone is great. This tablet is great. It works.

Windows 8 looks good for mobile devices too.

The bottom line is I no longer have time to spend fixing things that don't work. I have more pressing things. I expect things to work without further effort. Sorry if you consider me lazy.

Computers are a tool. Use whatever you want, or doesn't do your head in.

Seasons greetings to you all :-)

UK government says no to turbo e-bike

Re: @tapeworm - Govt can't keep the pace?

I agree with many of your points, particularly cyclists not obeying the rules of the road, not being visible , not having lights, etc. I class the people who fit in these categories as idiots, not cyclists.

Regarding insurance, I'm not sure you understand that real cyclists don't want to bump into you in the first place :-) !! One bump, even if it doesn't hurt you will write off a carbon fibre bike. The idiots without lights, etc as above that don't care won't get insurance. If I damage your car I'll pay for it, if I'm in the wrong.

To fit with your being a pedant, I pay vehicle tax (until recently known as road tax :-)) to allow me to use my car on the road. Whilst your comment is correct, since I am the sole driver of my car, when I'm using my bike, by simple logic I can't be using my car. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions ! Add to the argument that electric cars are road tax and London congestion charge exempt. Where do you want to go from here ? Riding my bike my 'carbon footprint' is lower than an electric car, and as I'm smaller on the road I cause less congestion. Can I have a rebate ? Perhaps that would cover the cost of the insurance you insist I should have ?

My wife and I are both sensible cyclists. Well maintained bikes and all the right gear. Between us 4 near misses in the last 2 weeks due to fuckwitted car drivers. Are you really sure you know where the issue lies ??

@tapeworm - Re: Govt can't keep the pace?

Most cyclists are sensible. Most own cars and pay road tax for them.

They choose instead to get some exercise, instead of getting FAT.

Cyclists have every bit as much right to be there as you do. Especially as they have paid road tax for cars they're not using.

In my experience it is retarded car drivers that make the cyclists riding environment dangerous. They think we move like snails, and also that they have right of way when the rules of the road say they don't. So they act like an impatient mentally retarded fuckwit. When challenged these car drivers express surprise at the cyclists annoyance ! Fortunately these drivers are fairly rare, but unfortunately they are out there.

Most cyclists can easily exceed the speeds quoted here for the electric bike. So, what purpose does the ban serve ?

Most road users are considerate to cyclists, and everything moves smoothly. Thank you to these people :-) !!

Lycra clad indeed. Jealous because you can't fit in any of the kit ?

Met Office wants better supercomputer to predict extreme weather

Re: Re: Helps if you actually forecast

Easy : smoke grey

Software bug fingered as cause of Aussie A330 plunge

Basic Airmanship

Matt, basic airmanship is to ensure the plane will fly. Pointing the nose at the sky, even with full power is not the way to do this. By flying at sensible attitude with sensible power should ensure the plane flies. Watch the altitude and you can get an idea if you've got it about right with the rate of sink or rise. Now the 'pilot' never knew that the idiot 'flying' the plane had the stick back due to averaging feedback. Good design ? **NOT** ! The deep stall that resulted is easy to understand. The pilots never understood this until too late. I am truly puzzled as to why. Training issue ?

Now back to the original article, 2 out of 3 voting of inputs should have voted the faulty unit out. Either it was intermittent, or more worryingly to me, another device agreed within tolerances. Starting to prefer Boeing as they let the pilots have control when needed, and certainly the(nose high) stick position would be more obvious.

There is far more need for focus on training over the automation in each plane. Airbus have had their share of issues. The air france crash at the paris airshow in the late 80's was due to both pilot error (rushed unfamiliar manouvre) and the avionics (switching to landing mode without sufficient pilot warning).

Enough to say FAIL. Hope this encourages the whole industry to look at the cockpit automation issue. It is supposed to increase safety. I ask is it ?

Mac Lion blindly accepts any LDAP password

Have to agree with you

A server should always authenticate the user, regardless.

Any other design, as the article shows is stupid, and insecure.

How many times has this happened in the past ? LOTS. Why has the lesson not been learnt ?

I can only say FAIL.

NOTW hack-hackage: Inside the personal data press mess

Free Speech

In this country we have a right to free speech. Many people fought and died for us to have this privilege.

The press have this right too.

If that right is used correctly, it protects us all (scandal, corruption and so on).

What the press has done is to interfere with a murder investigation, and invade the right to free speech by intercepting private communication.

Plod are supposed to be honest. Some clearly haven't been.

The press need reigning in. Plod need investigating. We clearly have some corrupt journalists and plod in this.

HEADS MUST ROLL. I am disgusted.

Only icon is FAIL for the current system.

Gordon Ramsay menaced by enormous TURKEY

Blue Ball ?

Must be mighty cold for those to go that colour !

Virgin Media frustrates customers with 'intermittent' routing blues

@Boris

This has been going on for 2 weeks for us.

Most of the time VM is ok for us, but last 2 weeks has been dreadful.

Tried calling customer services tonight but couldn't get through - engaged ! Cable TV is still working but some sites are inaccessible. Pretty crap, but maybe a wave of complaints ?

I just hope that this really is a fault. Seems to me this might be something else when 'internet banking' issues are listed. How many routers have been compromised ?

Facebook planking game claims its first victim

Already there

That would be the public toilets and local amenities. Which resemble caves as the lights are smashed.

So FAIL, but how is it fixed ?

Not asking you for an answer. I don't have one.

Plancks constant

Is the average number of braincells these twats have ?

I'll get me coat, but anyone who gets me maybe needs to get theirs too !

Guess you've never got your head really cold then ?

I can reliably inform you it can make you high as a kite ! However it has happened it isn't good.

Flame not for you, but vital warmth :-) !

White van men swipe British black bees

Look no further than the twat on the magners advert !

bet that's where you'll find them

TomTom sorry for giving customer driving data to cops

Well Said Field Marshall Von NoisyFart

Fully agree with you.

I am also mystified as to the reducing speed limits, and also the reducing quality of the roads. Why the fuck do we pay bloody road tax and fuel duty ?

Back to the article, I'm furious that the data that has been gathered has been sold on. But it was only a matter of time. Remember the road pricing row a few years back in the UK ? That would have done the same. This however is less direct, and the sell out is a disgrace.

The moral of the story is don't let the bastards gather precise GPS data on you. It will be used against you. Anonymised to device ID ? And when you do get pulled over, and your device ID becomes known ? Just great - we'd like to nick you for the last 40 traffic offences .....

All of us beware. Big brother really *IS* watching you, and you'd better keep this in mind ! Beats real police work don't it ?

Save the planet: Stop the Greens

More basic !

This article is at multiple levels.

Firstly it discusses globalisation as bad. I have to agree.

At the most basic level, people need full bellies, water, and a place to shit. If you don't have this society breaks down.

So, tractor engines have the cylinder block manufactured in Detroit (where else :-) ?), the head/valves in UK, and the injection/engine management system in Japan. All works well until something goes wrong. The Japan earthquake is an example.

This is why globalisation is bad. People will starve !

Globalisation is also good with trade agreements and cheaper goods. But when the chips are down this won't matter one iota.

Secondly this article discusses 'energy alternatives' and the 'greens'.

Now nuclear might be clean for those present now, someone has to deal with the legacy. Is this as bad as global warming ?

I use (and have to fight) the wind all the time and know how fickle it can be. So I agree with the arguments that windfarms are useless on that cold winter night. Given UK weather, do they pay ? I honestly don't know. If you're guaranteed wind (30 mins after lunch ?) they maybe have a higher service factor.

What truly frustrates me about all of this :-

Daughter : must be green (from school) - xbox on 24/7, laptop on 24/7 etc.

Thy must not use thy conveyance : fuel duty increases, and so do rail prices, so what alternative ? In general if you work in rural areas public transport is bollocks.

Leccy cars : great idea, not as green as claimed, and if everyone used them out go the lights !

Cycling : often a viable alternative transportation, but not free. Wear and tear costs have to be met. If an MP claims these it is fair IMHO (and good on the guy for doing it). Really good for getting fit !

Man's activities in general : if the 24 hour clock is the time since earth was created, we have been here mere minutes, and how much damage have we done ?

We need to work out what is actually 'green', and when we understand that, then we can really take meaningful action.

Hubble celebrates 21st with gorgeous galactic 'rose' snap

Early post then ?

I take it your post is delivered early given the nighttime collection ?

We get it delivered so late now it can be next to useless.

Not good but I understand the problems.

Santander blames Firefox 4 for website fail

@Dropped Tables (Ooops - did you back up beforehand ?)

I'm fully aware of the difficulties web developers face.

Most users have no problem with being tracked for legitimate reasons.

Neither cookies or session ids are the problem if used properly and legitimately. As you say they have their purpose.

But please understand that legitimate mechanisms can be used as attack vectors. It's a while back now I admit, but I seem to recall some browsers leaking cookies from users' machines. So people, including me block cookies not to mess up good sites, but to avoid being caught by the bad ones. With increases in e-commerce, I can't see this changing.

Back to FF, what I was trying to say is that some sites I've seen don't even tell you that they need cookies enabled. They just behave stupidly. As a developer I'm sure you'll agree this is unacceptable. This may or may not be the problem, but the differing user experience does suggest something user configurable - again I'm sure you'd agree to more than a whiff of this possibility ? I just used cookies as an example that came to mind at the time.

I really do apologise if I caused you any defolicification (hair loss). I ceased to suffer from that problem a long time ago when the 'egg' finally poked through !

Cookies ?

I have seen internet banking sites behave appallingly if cookies are not enabled. Worse, they don't always indicate that cookies not being enabled is the issue.

The user experience above does not strike me as consistent. Suggests it's something configurable, and given my past experience, it makes me think of cookies.

My 2p. Don't spend it all at once.

Japanese earthquake sparks nuclear emergency

@homer simpson

The fact that diesel backup is present is evidence of sensible design. The electric power has failed and the diesel backup has failed too. Extreme circumstances. Just how could the plant designers mitigate further with the technology of the day ?

Your water idea buys time, but without circulation and heat transfer you wont achieve stability. Your water just stays put and boils as though in a large kettle. You need circulation of that water to achieve cooling.

To get circulation of coolant needs pumps, and pumps need power. Electric - nope grid dead ? Steam - works but vulnerable to pipe failure. Diesel generation - works with local cables. Actually steam is generally preferred but with earthquake risk all change. Earthquake zones are probably better off taking backup diesel generated power than other sources.

YOU want cheap power, and you will always whine at the cost. Get the drift from here ???

Grrrrr @ the carbontards

Will someone please accept the fact that carbon is not a problem. Elemental carbon will sit there for millenia and do nothing.

Now carbon dioxide might be.

Now will the fucktard green 'scientific' and political lobby get their facts right ?

German Foreign Office kills desktop Linux, hugs Windows XP

Linux/OOO is just fine

We have been using tabbed browsing and multiple desktops for over a decade with GNU/Linux. These are easily the most productive features.

The dino$aur$ have only recently introduced tabbed browsing. Multiple desktops still a very long way away.

Seems redmond has a way to go. So just how is what redmond offers an improvement ?

It's just poo for retards !

So I'll take your m$ orifice, and raise you OOO. You won't be able to afford to raise. Go do a grotty little pie chart and work the problem out. Make sure you order your data or it won't work, and won't tell you why. Enough said. Better ? NOT

Britain takes delivery of first Nissan e-cars

Batteries - included ?

The price is too high.

The charging point is on the front of the car with a shitty little flap over it. How long will that stupid arrangement last with northern hemisphere winter salted roads coupled with humidity when a warm spell starts ? Not long ! The diesel engine rules in the salty marine environment for a reason.

Have you ever left your laptop in the garden (ok cold place) overnight in the winter, and then gone outside and used it in the morning ? It doesn't last long.

So you want to leave your lovely little leccy car inside (in your integral garage) to avoid this by keeping it warm ? What happens when the batteries do a 'nokia' ? A small battery going up is scary enough. Now think of the batteries in the leccy car, and I'm sure you'll be parking it as far away from your house as possible. So out in the cold it is.

Second hand value ? Especially with huge battery replacement cost ? How do you really gauge remaining charge cycle life so the value can sensibly be established ? Dealer takes the hit ?

Lots of very heavy cars and lorries still driving about. How much crash protection from the leccy car as it has to be light ? Do you really want chemical burns in the event of an accident ?

These cars are not zero emission. Do the math and bring back the horse and cart as it's more practical.

This car is a starting point but you'd be an idiot to buy one.

Cycle

Lazy bastard. Cycle if you're only commuting that distance and you care enough about the environment to buy one of these things at the stupid price tag.

In the winter, use your normal car.

I cycle a similar distance most days.

Simple.

BBC apologises for Top Gear outrage

@ Andy S

No sense of humour. Must be a German. There we go again with our national stereotypes !

I like Top Gear. Long may it continue. I am sick of the PC mob ruining humour. Top Gear isn't racist. If it was targetted at only one religion or faith, then perhaps that accusation is fair. But Top Gear target everything in as non PC a manner as possible. ANYTHING is fair game. How is that racist ?

Now a polite message to the PC mob to 'get a bloody life you sad limp wristed people'. I toned that down because you're all too feeble to accept anything stronger.

Humour is part of how we get along. Learn to dish it out. Learn to take it back. Through it learn about each other, instead of hatred and misunderstanding. How is that bad ?

One question. What does Speedy Gonzales think ?

Microsoft confirms code execution bug in Windows

cmd and powershell ??

Wow ! I'm shaking in my boots at the command line prowess at your disposal. NOT.

Try proper *nix command shells, and all the command line tools you have. You'll soon find the m$ environment sadly lacking.

One last one to try in m$ : get a command shell to fork/exec - easy as piss in *nix, and YES you do need to do it sometimes.

Back to the original article : web facing code that doesn't do basic bounds checking or use a sane variable type such as unsigned int ? Not very impressive at all. All I will say is I expected better, and the code checking tools they use can't be much good. Speaks volumes about the rest of the code.

The only icon is FAIL.

Android kernel leaks like a colander

Hey Jad !

Fond memories of BBC basic !

Ah those were the days, when computing was still in its 'frontier' days.

Your code must be considerably better than mine (brummy accent please) as I find the odd 'screwup' when I go back to my code after a while :-) ! Yes it works as tested, but this different situation could be handled better :-).

More beer please !!!!! Or is that the problem ? :-)

@Jad

One question, did they guy that wrote that code have access to manufacturers data on the SCSI interface for it, or was it reverse engineered ?

We are all learning and we do this by coding. Ever taken a look back at some of your earlier projects ? WTF was I doing :-) ???? Why did I do it that way ? You get the idea I'm sure !

Beer, as in free :-)

Penguin in the picture: top video editors for Linux fans

Have to take issue here ralphy girl

I love Linux, and the rich environment it gives.

I don't give a shit that m$ and propriety lock-in vendors have invented the latest whiz-bang useless toy. I want something that does what **I** want. I have to get work done too, and in my job Open Source tools make my job possible. Take those tools away and I can't do my job.

OK sometimes I have to develop tools to achieve what I need. But I am free to offer these to others under GPL. They can make my stuff better by contributing/commenting. How is this bad ?

Maybe Linux video editors don't meet your m$-centric requirements, but they are evolving, and meet many peoples needs. As it's on Linux, or cross-platform everyone benefits.

Beat that ! I'll drink a couple of large barrels while I wait for a sensible reply :-)

Die-hard bug bytes Linux kernel for second time

Sounds like a code fork BORK

All multideveloper code has forks all over the place.

Something has happened to allow this bug back in to the codebase. The question is what ? Across the board the fact that this is not a frequent issue indicates the codebase management tools are pretty good.

Sheesh I can't even manage my own projects properly ! Or maybe I just can't program very well.

Who am I to criticise ?

Intel snaps up McAfee in $7.68bn deal

Noooooooo

Your processor will be deleted by a sledgehammer.

OK - that would cause a shutdown !

Hmm what if you happily run a non m$ O/S on intel kit ? I mean the trustworthy Penguin ?

Dear user you are using an ext3 filesytem that is not windo$e shitware. Your system will be migrated to the null device (w7) to ensure you cannot make the most of it, by using it. The fact that you might own the system has never been considered.

Not sure I like this. For a start who is in bed with who ? And what if you want to do your own thing ? More proprietry lockdown bad news.

I've had good experience with intel hardware. Just don't understand how this is 'intel'igent.

Oh shit I don't know, but I am worried. WTF indeed.

Schmidt: Erase your identity to escape Google shame

The answer is

To have your computer post masses of harmless pointless idiotic crap, designed to create huge numbers of cross-references against your id.

With everyone doing it the old cross-reference table is going to get very big. Slow searches and drivvel search hits will be the result.

More disk space anyone ?

Unless you're a bloody sheila

Point made !

iPod meltdown strands Tokyo commuters

Probably because the trains run on time

In the UK if a train runs within a day of its scheduled time, doesn't break down, and actually gets you to your destination within a calendar month of when you intended then this is considered acceptable ! All this at rip-off cost ! Bonus.

Now for some reason beyond comprehension (of our train companies) the Japs and a few other nations have managed to make their public transport system work properly. Be nice if they found out how to do it too !

In all my time as a commuter I've never heard the old 'iPod explosion' excuse ! I've heard just about every other.

The flame is from an iPod showing its build quality, and **NOT** at you !

@AC : I happen to like this site !

This site has loads of useful articles on it, and I think they're pretty well written. I've made use of information posted on here (articles and comments on them) on many an occasion. Dug me out of the shit a few times :-) !

There's also a fair load of funny stuff. Essential for those of us that perform a job function where the only time any interest is shown in what we do (and the professionalism we undertake) is when things have gone titsup. A bit of light relief makes all the difference.

So please don't knock it. Enjoy it, and the freedom of expression given.

US starts charging for online visa-waiver

Maybe that's what they are trying to do ?

All that security costs money.

The EU is changing borders all the time, so just because you have an EU passport does not entitle you to entry. Just like antivirus with a moving target.

Not having a go at you Sir, but maybe there's reasons for these costs and staff attitude. Faced with an ever-more-difficult job I'd certainly get bad tempered at times. Wouldn't you ?

The current way things are puts me off visiting. Shame.

Google experimenting with spy drones, says German maker

The Technology To Counter This Threat Is Already Out There !

Enter the USB missile launcher.

There may be some other interesting encounters :-

Birds of prey attacking these things,

Domestic pets such as cats and dogs catching them if too low.

So when you google to a skyview and get an up close of 'Ginger' the tom you know that it's not quite tangoed, but almost certainly mangled. Could prove embarrasing if 'Ginger' takes the contraption inside as a gift for his human as cats do ! Doris from number 47 caught with the milkman, again, even though she shops at Waitrose !

Better get me annorak !

Proprietary software puts pacemaker users at risk

You Retard !

SIL3 = retard designed the plant ! If it was designed properly no SIL ratings would be needed. Are you involved in plant design ?

Time and again I at work I see more and more levels of paperwork and approval. Has it improved anything ? NO. All that happens is that the paperwork is considered a guarantee of a successful outcome. Not so in the real world.

Now go pick your spots, say night to mom, get in bed with her on your side, try not to wet it, and suck your thumb.

@fartface

Thank you so much for enlightening me ! You clearly know your stuff. Hmm. And you call me ignorant.

Clearly you need to think. Yes the bloody device *should* be a simple low power PIC based device. But we're talking about historic data retention, the means to extract that data and reconfiguration of the device. Also do we want to perhaps make the device able to recognise some of the more dangerous heart conditions that might occur ? Suddenly we have far more scope for complexity in the device. We also what you have what you are too stupid to consider : the host operating system and proprietry interface software of the tools used with the device. Next time use your brain !

Enough said, except you could quadruple your brain power with the simplest PIC available clocked back to 1Hz !

Keep My Ticker Ticking With Open Source !

Closed Source software is often questionable. It is so often poorly designed and has too much eye candy. It has a poor uptime record. I cite m$ in particular, but also aim my criticism at a lot of other Closed Source vendors. Another example is some of the commercial crapware used to interface with mobile phones - it just doesn't work.

Now while some Open Source software projects are in their early stages, an important, valuable and wide user base project such as this would receive enormous support and produce a quality product. OK maybe it doesn't have all the fancy features that someone I don't know dictates, but you can bet that it will do what I want : keep me alive and not let me down at the worst moment.

I will also point out that many Open Source coders are highly qualified, Engineers, Scientists, etc. These people are more in touch with reality than most !

So bring on Open Source and improve the product so more people survive. More, these coders will not ask for mega bucks. To know that they have improved the lot of others is enough. They give their effort for the benefit of all.

I do have ask the question why such an important device is so complex ? Or at least why the core part : the life preserving ticker driver is not isolated from the rest of the device such that it will keep going even if the rest fails ?

Microsoft should starve on radical penguin diet

Oh Joy !

So we have to put up with the travesty of windo$e 7 on mobile devices too ?

Oh **FUCK**

Enough said.

Dead Pink phone fallout hits Microsoft's top brass

billyboy

didn't have a clue. Obviously a clever and capable programmer. But an operating system ? They still haven't released one !

enough said !

@Jack - could not agree more !

m$ have completely lost the plot.

Since XP which I actually have come to like we have had nothing but shitware from m$. vista and windo$e 7 are total crap. Sure the screen is great with loads of eye candy, but you still have the rotten unstable, untested core of the pile of shit to deal with.

Bring back public flogging and put the entire bunch past and present m$ manangement and executives in the pit to be flogged. The only way the useless bunch of arrogant, ignorant retards are going to learn.

German net crippled by top level glitch

Das Reboot ?

Sadly that sank at the end of the film.

Perhaps reboot central (m$) will sink towards the end of the film (hopefully).

What this article shows is the importance of nameservers. I'm really surprised that the bad guys are not screwing the nameservers that much. Perhaps they are and the good guys are keeping them at bay ? Thanks are due if this is happening. Bet the core nameservers aren't m$.

Eye opener for everyone regardless.

Rogue McAfee update strikes police, hospitals and Intel

a$$hole$ !

This has caused massive grief at home (where I was stupid enough to go for mc-crappy on a cost constraint basis), and I have a doner machine to get svchost from. mc-crappy help was useless in resolving the problem they caused. a$$hole$ ! What about your single machine home user ? No internet without svchost so no way to fix. Brilliant. Thanks to el Reg and all the info posted I was able to fix the problem. Only possible as my main system is not windo$e.

What ever happened to testing ????? mc-crappy clearly don't do it !

Also you get an insight into how lazy and sloppy the mc-crappy code is. The machine that got screwed was told to update immediately prior to a scan, as was another machine in the house. One machine had been online already that day, and had already downloaded the problem update. IT DID NOT DOWNLOAD THE LATEST (FIXED) UPDATE WHEN INSTRUCTED ! Consequently it got turned into a useless brick. The other machine did update to the fixed version and was OK. This is inexcusable.

The consequence of svchost.exe missing was mc-crappy died completely. The affected system was screwed and completely insecure ! That wonderful m$ architecture shows it's true colours yet again. USE THIS SHIT AT YOUR PERIL (I don't by choice). Why the fuck critical system files like this are not truly READ-ONLY (as in like a ROM) is beyond me.

I need a pint to wash out the bad taste this has left behind.

Flame aimed at mc-crappy.

McAfee false positive bricks enterprise PCs worldwide

Yeah it's a Piece of shit !

Doug fully agree with you !

My wife's machine has died tonight of the same ailment. Might be able to get it back but really not hopeful !

What you really have is POS security/antivirus running on POS o/s. True recipe for disaster.

The lesson to be learnt ? Don't use m$ shitware in the first place for mission critical services. That way you don't have to rely on retards like mc-crappy to fuck things up even further for you !

Enough said.

China hits back at Google's uncensored Hong Kong servers

Enormous social change

China is undergoing this. Think about it - rice paddy farmer suddenly exposed to vast quantities of information. A bit like bringing diallup internet to hull.

This brings huge changes in personal values and percieved freedoms. Yes it will be really great to get there in the end.

But the Chinese authorities are charged with protecting the general population against all threats. I think they just don't know how to 'manage' this as it will truly alter their society.

The problem is that 'revolutions' like this cost blood. How does one keep this as low as possible ?

Linux kernel R&D worth over 1bn euros

If you're as good as you say you are ......

.......then contribute to Linux, and make it even better. We only have your word for it. Go on prove it, if you dare ;-).

If not, please write your own, in which case I will be only to happy to offer a demonstrably literate critique of your O/S, equal in quality to your own, using all the expletives you have bundled in ! As a point of principle, my comments *WILL* be negative to make a point to *YOU*, regardless of whether I like your O/S or not ;-).

I don't agree with you about the value of the Linux kernel. I think it is nothing short of a miracle that developers the world over have put this together and it is as wonderful as it is. Since the kernel is Open Source, and therefore free for all to use, with few restrictions, none of which are unreasonable, you could argue it has a 'value' of 0. **WRONG**. This just means it is given freely. What you fail to grasp is that this exercise has tried to demonstrate the value of the development effort that all the coders, testers, and coordinators have put in. I knew it was some huge sum, but had not really considered the magnitude. I think what it shows is just how much everyone who's contributed to the kernel and the software you can use on it has given to the world. THIS IS AN ENORMOUS GIFT ! And you criticise it ?

There are other benefits. That old PC that is not fast enough to run the latest Redmond offering can still be used with Linux elsewhere. This means old kit can be used for education in Third World countries for example. There is no O/S license fee to use the machine. And when the kids that have grown up with Linux become developers ? Rise of the Penguins ?

Your comment : "The whole *point* of a computer is that it is a near-infinitely flexible device. Why should end users forever be kept from getting the most from it?" - surely this does not add up ? In what way does Linux actively *STOP* you from doing what you want - other than user permissions, and hardware that has yet to be supported ? Neither of these are direct acts of user sabotage as the DRM brigade would have enforced. Some O/Ses include DRM features and the like to stop you from doing what you want. So again I disagree with you.

Like you I have seen some fine O/Ses and software come and go, and like you I have been saddened by their demise, especially when the stuff that comes along and becomes popular is far from what you want ! Here is something **I** **LIKE** and enjoy using. Thank you to everyone who has made GNU/LInux possible : kernel and surrounding software coders/testers.

Now be sensible and contribute to this effort. Help to make it better. Help to make it what you want. Everyone benefits. Far better than negativity towards such a wonderful free gift don't you think ?

Chip and PIN security busted

@brucewain

WTF ????

CVR is what ? TVR = ?

I guess you work in a bank as you can't talk straight.

As to chip and bin, if you use a credit card you are surely protected by the consumer credit act ?

So when they claim they are not liable, you claim you did not receive the goods. It then becomes the problem of the useless wanktards at your bank to recover the monies.

merchant bankers !

British government ignores MS browser fears

@boris

m$ created this situation. they did not adhere to standards. now it is back home to roost.

m$ get their come uppance. about time.

they can fix this issue, but it will cost lots of money they don't want to spend. so my bet is it stays unfixed.

uk government being labour - definite fail. here we go again with the strikes.

now grow up !

Mini-asteroid sneaks up on Earth

Donuts

and touch screens clearly don't go well together !

Rumour has it that the NASA kit is capable of detecting an object like this much further out.

Unfortunately a small piece of donut stuck to the screen prevented it from being spotted earlier as it obscured the view. Apparently the culprit is nearly as large as the metorite.

The shuttle and other spacecraft returning to Earth from orbit re-enter at a very shallow angle to slowly lose kinetic energy. A meteorite may come in vertically, in which case it has 100km of atmosphere to slow it down, which isn't much when compared to the 40000km the shuttle takes. The kinetic energy dissipation on impact may cause it and surrounding material to melt and splash large droplets of molten rock everywhere. Perhaps one of the reasons why you don't have large bits left behind ? Or maybe it's the souvenir hunters who got there first chipping pieces off ?

More beer please !