Posts by Pascal Monett

Nominet shakes up system for expiring .uk domains, just happens to choose one that will make it £millions. Again

Re: One way to spend the money

I can't agree with that since the previous owner let it drop, therefor there is no value to be had and certainly none to be transferred to him/it.

Twitter Qracks down on QAnon and its Qooky Qonspiracies

You can argue until you're blue in the face, it won't make any difference.

Either you're intelligent, or you're an adept of conspiracy theories.

A famous man once said : "Don't argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level and beat you with experience".

Re: Wait what?

Let's not confuse Christians with Roman Catholics.

Not all Christians are adepts of self-flagellation.

Capita's bespoke British Army recruiting IT cost military 25k applicants after switch-on

Re: it's time this ancient, monolithic, waterfall approach to IT projects are also put to rest

I'm sorry, what's the problem with waterfall ? Is it because it is a system that has given valuable results since the beginning of IT ?

Don't be mistaken, I'm pretty sure that if Capita had used today's super-trendy Agile approach, it would have produced the same amount of turd.

The problems start with the specifications : get that wrong and it doesn't matter how you code, you'll get garbage in the end.

The W3C steers the way the World Wide Web works. Yet it is reluctant to record crucial meetings – and its minutes are incomplete

What is this bullshit ?

You are at the top levels of an organization that defines how the Internet works, and you don't always record the minutes of your meetings ?

I don't care if you don't make them public, you record your meeting minutes. No questions, no exceptions, and those who don't like it can bow out and be replaced by some who do.

This is not a precious snowflake, personal privacy situation. This is a required functionality of meetings : the ability to know what was discussed and when and what the decision was.

If you want to keep those meetings private, that's a different story. But you record the damn minutes.

Networking boffins detect wide abuse of IPv4 addresses bought on secondary market

When you're looking for a chance to rip people off, configuring things "properly" is not your priority.

Germany bans Tesla from claiming its Autopilot software is potentially autonomous

About effing time

"A judge in Munich has ruled in favor of banning Tesla Germany from repeating misleading descriptions of its Autopilot software in adverts "

This misleading kind of declaration has already repeatedly killed people. Why has Musk not already reigned this in (okay, I know : money) ?

There is no such thing as an autonomous vehicle, and implying in any way that you are selling a car that is autonomous should land you in jail for manslaughter.

UK.gov admits it has not performed legally required data protection checks for COVID-19 tracing system

"No evidence of data being used unlawfully"

Because if we do it like Trump says and we don't look for evidence, then we can't find any, now can we ?

Southern Water to splash £50m on IT services to purify systems of planning, governance and internal controls

"the dumping of untreated effluent into beaches, rivers and streams"

A fine is great, but that should be a jailable offense.

And I'm not talking about sending the local chief nobody to jail, I'm talking about a CxO-level guy.

That would focus the attention of those who set the internal rules. it would incite them to lay down rules that shouldn't allow for that kind of thing. Then, if something like that did happen, they could then justifiably throw the local chief to the wolves.

But right now, I don't think the CxOs are that engaged in ensuring their companies do any ecological procedures that might have too much impact on the bottom line.

Here's why your Samsung Blu-ray player bricked itself: It downloaded an XML config file that broke the firmware

Re: Standard firmware practice ...

Yeah, but that's when you have standards.

Aggrieved ad tech types decry Google dominance in W3C standards – who writes the rules and for whom?

NoScript

As long as I have a browser that accepts the use of NoScript, Google can go and do whatever it wants at W3C. It can push all the proposals it wished for, it doesn't make any difference.

Ads need JavaScript, and NoScript kills that.

Long live NoScript.

Imagine surviving WW3, rebuilding computers, opening up GitHub's underground vault just to relive JavaScript

"preserving the world’s open source code for over 1,000 years"

Yes. Because, a thousand years from now, people will know to go to Svalbard and dig up a number of reels that hold code that was written by IT neanderthals.

Honestly, in a thousand years, if anyone wants to actually consult this code, they'll likely need to rebuild the tape readers from scratch.

Then they'll find out that the tape has decomposed beyond its ability to retain the data.

Well done everyone. Great idea to use magnetic tape instead of optical discs. At least optical would likely last longer and wouldn't be subject to any modification of the position of the magnetic North Pole.

NASA delays James Webb Space Telescope launch date by at least seven months

Neither you nor I are rocket scientists.

This is the one thing NASA is still good for : ensuring proper procedures and the safety of the equipment. If the engineers say a delay is necessary, then it is. We have no idea of all the things that have to go exactly right to ensure a good launch - and even then, it can all go boom in a millisecond.

On a separate point : Hubble is 30 years old already ?

Dear God. Thanks for the additional coating of age.

I wonder if I'll be able to read that about the James Webb one day.

Oh sure, we'll just make a tiny little change in every source file without letting anyone know. What could go wrong?

Re: Most Dangerous

Indeed. That thing should have had an admin password lock on it from the start.

Since Office 2010, I've worked with a few companies who actually removed it from the ribbon. You could, of course, plop it back in, but woe to the guy who tries that. I know of one who got hauled right up to the CEO's office. I don't think he tried that again.

Google gives Gmail's collab chops a good buffing to make it the 'home for work' while we're working from home

Meanwhile . . .

Google crams everything and the kitchen sink in Gmail, but leaves Return Receipts to the "professional" (aka paying) version.

Return receipts. I've been using that in Lotus Notes since 1995, and I'm supposed to believe that this is "professional" functionality ?

I do believe that return receipts are simply a part of internet email specifications since email was invented.

So how's about you make yourself useful and make return receipts available for everyone ?

Born in the USA: German-speaking users fail to take up SAP's acquired business apps

"convincing businesses currently running rival systems to make the leap to SAP"

What for ? There is no such thing as a cheap transition to another ERP. Once you have chosen a given provider, it quickly becomes so expensive that you are better off staying where you are.

And honestly, given the cost of SAP licensing, I would be of the opinion that I could just as well put the money into building my own ERP solution instead of paying SAP to make all the configuration changes of its base system into something I can use.

Finally done with all those Patch Tuesday updates? Think again! Here's 33 Cisco bug fixes, with five criticals

Re: 443 bugs

They would have waited for 444 in that case.

Companies toiling away the most on LibreOffice code complain ecosystem is 'beyond utterly broken'

I don't get it

Being a charity means you are not supposed to make a profit, it doesn't mean you can't have employees.

The International Red Cross is a charity, it has employees.

I don't get why TDF can't have employees because of its status as a charity.

Maybe there are different charity statuses ?

Report: CIA runs secret cyberwar with little oversight after Trump gave the OK, say US government officials

Trump is a paranoid powermonger

It is hardly surprising that he authorized the CIA to do something that even Dubya did not. Trump thinks that aggressiveness is a sign of strength, and he will seize any opportunity that allows him to feel strong.

The next US President is going to have a lot of work returning the USA to a functional democracy.

As internet governance meetings go virtual, compromise becomes harder to reach

"The lack of corridor diplomacy affects participants’ ability to network"

So, not being able to quietly negotiate a special deal on the side is hampering international diplomacy. What is needed is the possibility, in Skype, Zoom et al, to click on a participant and open a private chat with them. When in a private chat, no other users can hear the two until they're done.

What remains to decide is if the two can hear the others while they are chatting in private. Maybe a volume slider, so that they can be aware of the general goings-on.

In any case, this is a programming issue that should not be too difficult to solve.

Cornwall councillor suggests authority paid £2m for Oracle licences that no one used on contract originally worth £4m

"this is standard practice"

I'm sorry, since when is it "standard practice" to waste money ?

Oh, we're talking about government. UK government. In an IT project. Right.

Sorry to bother you. I'll just exit stage left.

Chinese mobile giant OPPO claims new 125W fast-charging spec will fully fuel your phone in 20 minutes

"you might not notice the fact that it isn't holding as much charge as it used to"

Um, if you have to recharge your phone twice a day instead of every evening, you're going to notice.

Of course, I'm exaggerating, but the point remains. I'm not criticizing the efforts either ; I think it is useful to research how to improve charging times, but not for phones, for cars. And it is also obvious that, as some people have already remarked, the best charging time must also not degrade the battery in a significant fashion. A 20% loss in charging capacity is very much significant.

So we are going to need more research on this subject, because when have all transitioned to battery-operated vehicles, it is imperative that the recharge does not take more than a few hours. Ideally, if you're on the move, a recharge in ten minutes would be grand, but again, what of the impact on battery life ?

It's no use telling me that I can recharge in ten seconds if I have to replace the battery every year. Especially with all the models that do not allow you to do that on your own.

USA ends Hong Kong's special treatment, crimping flow of tech to territory

Rather inevitable

As China asserts its domination over the island, it is obvious that the USA was going to adjust its policies.

Good to know that there are some parts of that failing government that are still working.

You're testing them wrong: Whiteboard coding interviews are 'anti-women psychological stress examinations'

Re: but this can't be true

Equal does not mean identical.

I don't know if it is true that all women have more trouble than men in coping with a whiteboard test, but after 30 years of marriage to the same woman, I can vouch for the fact that my wife does find it particularly difficult to deal with cold calls and other marketing types. She just can't brush them them off. She can't build up the nerve to cut the call short and hang up.

I don't have that kind of problem.

"the test is designed to make almost anyone fail"

While it's not a bad thing in itself to see if a candidate can hold up under pressure, from my personal experience as a candidate (numerous times) and as an interviewer (several times), I can vouch for the fact that the mere interview procedure is a stress test for everyone, so I fail to see the need to add to that.

Especially with a procedure that is apparently made to disqualify a candidate. If I'm looking for a programmer, I want to find one, not spend my time disqualifying the possibles. I wouldn't have done a whiteboard test anyway. I would bring a printed part of code and ask the candidate what is wrong. I find that a very good test procedure ; you can quickly see if the person knows what they're talking about or if they flounder totally.

Oh, and there will be something wrong in the code. I'm not doing psychological tests, I want to see if the person can find the mistake.

Pokémon Go players fined for breaking down-under COVID-19 lockdown rules

Crazy

As much as I find a single Pokemon player to not really be a problem, a 20+ KFC reunion in the middle of a pandemic is really pushing it.

It's like taking a stroll in a forest. Honestly, officer, apart from you, who do think I came in contact with ? You're the only other person around here, so you're the one putting me in danger.

Now Pokemon Go could be a problem if many players are congregating in the same place. If I understand the game, there are a limited amount of physical locations where those things can be found, so you're likely to see several people go to the same place, hopefully not at exactly the same time. But still, roving Pokemon Go players seem to me to be largely less of an issue than full-blown KFC parties.

BigQuery analytics goes multi-cloud: Use our service without moving your data, says Google – but there is no magic

Procter & Gamble

In 2019, it made over $67 billion in revenue.

I should hope that, with that kind of financial ability, a company can make Big Data work.

I don't see how this is going to translate to a company that only makes millions. Big Data is a toy for the grown-ups. Kindergarden-level shops that barely break a million can forget about it.

Burn baby burn, infosec inferno: Just 21% of security pros haven't considered quitting their current job

"The majority (64 per cent) claimed it was being forced to cope with fewer resources"

Don't worry though, as soon as the company gets hacked, security will be "it's #1 priority".

Singapore-sponsored finance blockchain ready to run international payments, say financial heavies

"adapt to post-plague conditions"

Yeah, about that. We're not post-plague yet, and it will be a while before we get there. Until we have a functional vaccine, we won't start getting there.

Now, from what I've heard, we're not that the vaccine will be efficient long-term. As long as we can do with one shot a year, just like the flu, then we're good. I'm guessing that Covid-19 will be integrated into the yearly flu vaccine that already does the rounds.

But until we get even there, there is no post-plague. We're in the plague.

Cornish drinkers catch a different kind of buzz as pub installs electric fence at bar

Re: what happens to the drunk

They will learn in a spectacularly painful fashion.

Fancy some fishy-chips? Just order one of these sensors: Research shines light on suspect component sources

"mainly from Chinese websites"

Well the solution appears to be simple : stop sourcing from Chinese websites.

You can't get the counterfeit stuff off ? Who cares ? Don't use their websites, and leave the Chinese to buy sub-par, inaccurate hardware.

One day, the Chinese themselves will be fed up with the situation, and that's when things will move.

In the mean time, just don't buy on Chinese websites.

It's handbags at dawn: America to hit France with 25% tariffs on luxuries over digital tax on US tech titans

My prayers are with you on that point

Microsoft Visual Studio gets .NET Core debugging – on WSL2

How exactly is a 2-year-old test still relevant ?

.Net Core has been updated since, I'm sure, so it would be nice to refer to a test that is current.

Or does this mean that testing .Net Core is something that people don't bother with ? There appears to be some enthusiasm for this tech, so I would find that rather surprising.

If at first you don't succeed... Rackspace files IPO papers to go public once again, hopefully with better timing

"Rackspace signed with cloud behemoth AWS"

Um, if Rackspace is using AWS for its cloud offering, what's the point of signing with Rackspace ?

Just sign up with AWS already. Less intermediaries means less expense.

Reporting live from Gartner pandemic watch: IT spending is shrinking by X this year, I mean Y

Wow, what insight

"Gartner has calculated IT spending will crash this year and experience a “swoop” recovery next "

Who could possibly have thought that this year's global pandemic might have an adverse impact on IT spending, and that next year things will start going again ?

You'd have to be a wizard to guess that.

Or you could have read the hundreds of blurbs coming from all those NYSE-listed companies that have been giving that excuse for their rather poor quarterly earnings, and perspectives for the future.

Honestly, what is the use of Gartner ? Could someone please explain why it still exists when it either just states the obvious or gets it completely wrong ?

When has Gartner actually made a bold prediction that panned out ?

Trump reveals US cyber-attack on Russian election-misdirection troll farms

"his own brilliance"

The only thing he is brilliant at is contradicting himself from one day to the next - sometimes not even that long.

He has absolutely no medium or long term thoughts. Not only is he incapable of playing chess, he can't even play checkers. A six-year old could beat him without trouble.

Trump is a reactionary. He only says things in reaction to something. At that point, he will say whatever comes to his warped mind, without any thought to his previous declarations on the subject.

Trump is a waste of air and a waste of time.

Linus Torvalds banishes masters, slaves and blacklists from the Linux kernel, starting now

Re: Say it with Love

Basic mistake : removing the words does not remove the crime.

It is not because you cannot express your hatred that you cannot hate.

Re: is this just round 1?

Probably.

There is no end as to what snowflakes can be offended by.

I would genuinely like to know what a black person thinks about the term "blacklist", if he/she knows what it applies to and if he/she feels anything when the term is used.

Personally, I think of blacklist when I use my mail and do not want to receive any more mail from a given address. I have never, ever associated that with any human being whatsoever.

Drupal drops first big upgrade in five years and looks forward by looking backwards

So Drupal is still relevant, at less than 5% of the market

Well it's a good thing that Drupal has captured governmental use, that way it can have only 1.6% of the market and still boldly claim twenty years from now that it is still relevant.

As long as governmental organizations keep working with it, that is, because apparently the day they decide to go elsewhere, Drupal is wiped out.

IBM job ad calls for 12 years’ experience with Kubernetes – which is six years old

Re: HR told me that he ticked all the boxes

If HR is happy with its boxes yet hires useless people, then one would imagine that HR should review its boxes.

Unfortunately, HR not being capable of actually evaluating people for the job (whatever the job), that would just amount to changing the order of the boxes.

An email banning our staff from using TikTok? Haha, funny story about that, we didn't mean it – Amazon

Right

"the US government believes the app, which has been downloaded more than a billion times worldwide, could be commandeered by the Chinese government to snoop on people "

Totally unacceptable. Only the NSA has the right to snoop on people.

Spotted the ISS in the sky yet? How about pulling out some spare kit and giving it a listen?

I watched the Win7 tutorial

It would have been nice if the guy had a bit of training in doing tutorials. As it is, it was as painful to watch as it was obviously painful for him to do.

On top of that, at no point did he explain why he had switched the RX options from PD 120 to ML240 when he stated that it was working.

I have been teaching people about Windows, Office, VBA and programming for over two decades and I can guarantee you that you quickly come to understand that anything you do without explaining why you do it is going to create confusion in the minds of the students.

I haven't gotten any image yet, because the ISS was not in range when I tried, but I will persevere.

TomTom bill bomb: Why am I being charged for infotainment? I sold my car last year, rages Reg reader

Re: I don't know what constitutes a lifetime in TomTom's eyes

I can answer that : for TomTom lifetime is until they drop support.

So basically ten years at best.

I had one of their older models, with 1GB of SDram. I got a mail a year ago saying that, because the hardware could not follow (ie not enough storage), they were dropping support and would no longer be updating the maps.

So I bought a Garmin.

Smile? Not bloody likely: Day 6 of wobbly services and still no hint to UK online bank's customers about what's actually wrong

Re: Ethical or not the service is dreadful

Ethics is very nice, but when your choice is between ethics and not losing your roof, I think ethics takes a back seat.

Re: Not Smiling

If you don't vote with your feet, then you'll never signal the Board that their casual attitude towards IT is not acceptable.

The ONLY way we customers will be heard is if we, as a group, walk when such unacceptable behavior is displayed.

Unless the Board sees a significant drop in accounts at every IT failure, IT will continue to just be what the CEO yells at when he "lost" a file again (by moving it to the wrong folder).

One would think that an online bank would have a bit more awareness of what being online entails, but it would seem not.

Re: I absolutely insist and demand...

No ! Don't do that !

The financial loss to El Reg will be devastating !

Microsoft to pull support for PHP: Version 8? Exterminate, more like...

So, chalk up another one for Borkzilla's product graveyard

Borkzilla is on a roll to kick stuff to the curb. And PHP, no less.

It looks like, if you're looking for a tool that will give you long-lasting support, anything with Borkzilla's name on it is what should start by writing off your list.

South Korea joins the ‘we’re going to be self-sufficient in more tech and then export bucketloads’ club

Every country cannot be self-sufficient in everything

But it is a good thing that more countries will become self-sufficient in more things. However, if there are more countries selling the same goods, prices will fall.

In the end, it just might mean less international transport of said goods since there will be less countries that need those goods.

On the other hand, more silicon fabs means more poisoning of underground aquifers, and that just can't be a good thing. I really hope that those countries will have a good grasp of controlling industrial pollution, else the health impact of their self-sufficiency will be ghastly.

Pandemic proves just the tonic for PC sales as shipments shoot upwards

"restocking their supplies back to near-normal levels"

And now that this pandemic spike is over, the PC industry can return to lamenting the slow death of the PC.

You know your industry is in trouble when it takes a global pandemic to temporarily reverse the trend.

Email seems lost in the post? You might be a Tsohost customer

Infomaniak is pretty solid for me. Based in Switzerland. Their helldesk is responsive and quick to act. I've never seen them make a mistake for me yet. When I contacted them to transfer my domain to them, they handled everything after requiring the proper authorizations. Everything went smoothly and it's been smooth sailing ever since.

Don't know about hosting a hundred domains in one go, but I think they shouldn't have a problem with it.