Posts by Pascal Monett

ESA salutes Galileo satellite system meeting aviation standards

"We improved [..] Galileo purely by retuning the software in the ground segment."

In other words, some programmer hacked the code to force the return of an acceptable result outside of any hardware control.

I'm not sure that I'm reassured.

Leaked email: Unit4 ERP system leaves some school staff with 'nil pay'

An inconvenience ?

So not getting your monthly salary is an inconvenience ?

Let me educate you on what an inconvenience is :

An inconvenience is when I go to the supermarket to get Appenzel for my cheese fondue and they don't have any.

An inconvenience is when I want to go to a traffic website and their cameras are down.

An inconvenience is when my alarm clock is set for 5:45 and my intestines wake up at 5:20.

THOSE are inconveniences.

Not getting paid at the end of the month is NOT an inconvenience, it's a bloody catastrophe.

It's hours talking to the bank, trying to avoid getting redlisted on credit bills, getting angry letters from another fucking administration threatening you because your monthly payment did not go through.

An inconvenience. Really.

I wish all those at the head of that county council would not get paid until this whole sorry mess is resolved.

THEN they might understand what the word inconvenience means.

UK biometrics boss bows out, bemoaning bureaucratic blunders

"at times frustrating"

Only at times ?

Let's face it : this whole thing was a facade, a fabrication to make people think that oversight was being implemented. You never had the full complement of staff to do your job ? You didn't have a job, you had a theatrical distraction for the masses.

Just watch V for Vendetta to know where we're going.

Then watch Idiocracy to put the final nail in the coffin of the future of Humanity.

Sorry, I'm a bit depressed at the moment . . .

Cory Doctorow has a plan to wipe away the enshittification of tech

Re: Would you not expect things to go wrong as well as right?

Good question. Just one thing : what exactly has gone right ?

Re: Root Cause

Totally agree.

The stock market needs to stop being the one-stop money-making machine for a few privileged people.

We need to relearn the term investment. An investment is you putting money in a company because you believe in it and want to participate in its future.

As such, anyone buying stock should be mandated by law to hold onto those stocks for ten years. If you don't believe the company will improve in ten year's time, you have no business buying its stock.

That will put to rest all the useless drama around the Dow Jones and build a society where Capitalism regains some amount of laurels, which it has utterly trashed these days.

As for CEO bonuses, that is not public money. If the shareholders are stupid enough to award them, it's their problem.

Re: Bog Zech?????

No, that was a nice spin on Big Tech having reached the bog zone.

I liked it.

Microsoft confirms Windows Server 2025 is on the way

Thanks for link.

Pretty much what I was expecting, a monstrosity that couldn't possibly fit in my tower :)

Impressive though.

"tops out at 6TB of physical memory"

I really would like to see a motherboard that can handle 6TB of DDRx RAM.

Cruise being investigated over car crash that dragged victim along the road

Re: set a precedent for what AI is allowed ingest and then spit out

While I totally agree with your general message, I would have preferred you say that it will set a precedent for what fleshbags are allowed to throw into their statistical analysis models.

AI systems are just obeying their programming. It's the humans in charge who are responsible for what goes in and what comes out.

"The system, nicknamed Vista"

Ooh. I sincerely hope that that will not bring bad luck to the whole thing.

Or maybe it will finally wash the name of its sour aftertaste ?

Native Chrome arrives fashionably late to the Windows on Arm party

Re: re : OS nobody cares about

Of course. Because the OS is all that matters.

Never mind that 95% of all business applications are on Windows, that's just a detail. Let's switch everyone over to Apple and world peace will ensue, right ?

Nope.

ICANN proposes creating .INTERNAL domain to do the same job as 192.168.x.x

Well that's in the article.

Take it up with the author.

"DNS, however, can't prevent internal use of ad hoc TLDs"

So basically, ICANN wants to make a standard out of something everyone can already do and some are doing it, but ICANN wants to put a specific name on it which will make everyone already doing it wonder if they should go through the hassle of changing and decide not to. But future network admins may buy into the "standard", except if that contradicts some business requirement, in which case they'll just go with whatever they need and it'll work anyway.

Did I get that right ?

That runaway datacenter power grab is the best news for net zero this century

Additional points for going with Thorium

Civilian, and safe, nuclear power production means Thorium. If we are to imagine a world where a datacenter is something that sits on or near a nuclear power plant, Thorium is the best bet.

Thorium reactors produce the least amount of radioactive waste, and doesn't last as long a PWRs. Additionally, you can take waste from PWRs and use it in a Thorium reactor, which has the potential to vastly reduce the amount of radioactive stuff we already have lying around.

Until we get fusion reactors (and that seems to be on its way now), Thorium is our best, safest bet.

And you don't need dozens of operators 24/7. You need one engineer with a beeper, who gets alerted when the reactor auto-shuts-down for some reason. Because the Thorium reactor cannot explode, nor melt down. When it gets too hot, the salt plug simply melts, the radioactive slurry is deposited in reservoirs and the whole reaction stops. After that, it's just a question of putting in a new salt plug, scooping the slurry back into the chamber and starting up again.

If datacenters could push for that design, that would be real progress.

Linus Torvalds flames Google kernel contributor over filesystem suggestion

THAT is Torvalds being shouty ?

I'm guessing that we don't have an exhaustive rendition here, but what I read in this article seems rather tame to me.

He's been in better form before.

The Land Before Linux: Let's talk about the Unix desktops

Thank you

Thank you for that link. What a video.

As a programmer, I have found proof of why I should be happy to program in LotusScript because dear God, writing to the metal is an awful experience.

I'm certain that I will be going back to this video, if only to remind myself that there are people out there who are vastly more intelligent than I am.

Re: the official kernel effectively only gets the changes that Linus permits

And, in this case, that is a Good Thing^TM

Microsoft sheds some light on Russian email heist – and how to learn from Redmond's mistakes

"Midnight Blizzard targeted other organisations"

Oh, so that's your excuse. You, a multi-trillion-dollar company, got targeted at the same time as other, insignificant entities, so it's not your fault ?

Really ?

How's about your internal network is an open invitation to attack ? Why was your test account able to create admin-level access and why was that server allowed admin-level access to production servers ?

Because I suppose that high-level corporate email servers (dare I say, Exchange ?) are production ?

I understand though. Some developer in your group (a "rogue developer" maybe ?) needed to test something, gave himself all the permissions (because really, security is for everyone else, I need to work here), and left the account as is.

And the developer is not necessarily the one to blame. No, the network administrator is. You want admin on a test server ? Fine. You want that test account to access production servers ? Why ? For how long ? To do what ? You get that window, then your access is shut down.

It's called security. It's difficult.

It's necessary.

Snow day in corporate world thanks to another frustrating Microsoft Teams outage

Re: if your net connection goes down, so do you

Or, if your provider's network goes down, so do you.

I can't help but be thankful for all this downtime because that means that, one day, some bright MBA spark might actually start spreading the gospel of "Cloud is bad for your reliability, in-house means you control things".

And we'll get back to in-house servers that don't need fat-fingered admins from another company to fuck things up. Because the wheel keeps turning.

Once upon a time, if your network was down, you and your clients were the only ones impacted. Today, we're all on the bandwagon of "we hope Borkzilla won't fuck up today because otherwise, we're toast".

And to think that the people who pushed for this earn at least 10 times the salary of the people who actually work . . .

Hubble telescope spots tiniest water-rich world in orbit

"settle the question of water worlds once and for all"

I remember a time where the question was : are there planets around other stars ?

Yes, there are. We have basically gone from wondering if other stars had planets, to knowing that they are extremely common and the exception would be a start without planets. I am confident that we will find out that there are water worlds around red dwarfs.

The problem I have with the current state of planetary detection is that we are not detecting Earth-like planets. A rocky planet that is twice Earth's diameter will have a bigger gravitational attraction that will not be without consequence (supposing we find a way to get there).

I would really like Science to be able to detect Earth-like worlds, rocky planets with water and a gravity well that is withing 10% to maybe 20% of Earth, in a goldilocks zone favorable for life. I guess the astrophysicists would as well.

Ah, what a time to be alive.

Google's AI-fueled IDE Project IDX tries to show you how your app runs on Android, iOS

Hoo boy

"IDX workspaces now can auto-detect network ports when applications need to make firewall adjustments. They also allow command-line tools, scripts, and utilities to be run in workspaces without local installation."

I sincerely hope they've nailed the security on that, because that sounds like a hacker's dream tool.

BOFH: Looks like you're writing an email. Fancy telling your colleague to #$%^ off?

Another one bites the dust

Ah, I have the feeling that "AI" is going to have a certain importance for BOFH this year.

Can't wait to find out how the bosses will be ground into paste . . .

The EU-US Trade and Tech Council sounds fancy but, really, what's the point?

"what's the point?"

Simples, the point is some people are going to polish their CVs for upward mobility.

This "Council" is just a network thing. If you know the right people, your future is assured.

That only works for mouthpieces who can't bring anything of value themselves, of course, which is a species that seems to be multiplying like cockroaches these days.

IBM talks up cost savings, including 'workforce rebalancing'

"workforce rebalancing"

So that's the new term these days at IBM ?

I wonder when IBM is going to be "rebalanced" to the dustbin of history.

'Cause I don't see it going anywhere else.

Tiny asteroid's earthly fireworks predicted with pinpoint accuracy by NASA

Given that large asteroids have already only been spotted after passing Earth, the question is not entirely without merit.

Given that we still can't do anything about it, one can only wonder if the question is worth asking . . .

Missed expectations, zero guidance: Tesla's 'great year' was anything but

"focus the team on the launch of the next-generation vehicle"

Why does that remind me of a certain Sinclair ?

Amazon Ring sounds death knell for surveillance as a service

Re: Police have always been able to ask for evidence without a warrant

They can always ask, but without a warrant, you can refuse without consequence.

It's just that Ring, apparently, has never refused a request before, with or without a warrant.

A warrant is not just a word, it is proof that the police has determined that specific data would help a specific case, and a judge has approved. Thus, a warrant has the force of law, you cannot refuse to hand over the data.

There can be no warrant for gratuitious surveillance without cause. That's called snooping, not police work.

Tech world won't have long to fall in line when EU signs off on AI Act

Agreed.

Regulating R&D that only exists in a lab and cannot be accessed by the general public ? Obviously not.

But you put your lab rat on the open market and I don't care what your excuse is, it needs to be under control.

What Microsoft's latest email breach says about this IT security heavyweight

"The attack was not the result of a vulnerability in Microsoft products or services"

Hmm, that is subject to discussion. You let a test ID get password spammed. That's a service, is it not ?

Because if there was no human who mistakenly clicked a link, then it's your products or procedures that are at fault.

And we all remember Borkzilla's zeal at renewing its own domain names, right ?

I hope there will be a bit more fallout on this, but hey, Windows is unavoidable, so . . .

Apple has botched 3D for decades. So good luck with the Vision Pro, Tim

Amiga had 3D capabilities ?

In that case, my trusty old 8086 also had 3D capabilities. And I remember seeing them with the one wireframe game I had at the time : Starglider.

Less than 80KB on the floppy, it's premise was that the dangerous radiation of the environment prevented you from just looking through a cockpit window. Yes, the world was limited and, when you reached the edge, you continued from the other side, but that was hardly an inconvenience.

It was a great game, an absolutely tiny one, and terrifically efficient and engaging.

If only I still had a working copy . . .

Huawei prepares to split from Android on consumer devices with HarmonyOS Next

"the platform could become a de facto standard behind the Great Firewall"

Oh but it will. And Beijing will be "working" hand-in-hand with Huawei to ensure that the HarmonyOS is a good pupil, ready to upload all the data Beijing requires to its surveillance servers.

There is an open-source version ? I would scour that with a fine-tooth comb to ensure that nothing pointed to Beijing's servers before trying that out.

The Post Office systems scandal demands a critical response

We need more articles like this one

Keep jabbing the finger at the sore until someone decides to fix things - and not just the code.

This kind of conversation is needed at a global level. Why do private companies like Fujitsu or Capita never seem to be held accountable for their shambolic performance ?

Why do they continue getting awarded new contracts ?

Yes, I know Fujitsu has declared not answering tenders until this matter is resolved, but that does not change the fact that, if it hadn't made this decision, somebody would have awarded Fujitsu a new contract. Who is that somebody and why is that person not under fire for continually awarding gobs of money to companies that do not actually provide a good service ?

I really do hope that public opinion is, for once, going to sit up and take notice, and demand action from the elected gobshites that surf as far away from trouble as they can.

Your hard-earned money is being wasted and the people in power don't care. It is high time you remind them that they work for you.

For a moment there, Lotus Notes appeared to do everything a company needed

Re: Have fun with the Exchange server that can't manage more than 500 accounts.

I'm happy that you have a nice mail product, but you are basically demonstrating why Notes did not take off like it deserved.

Can your open-source assembly also do document management, order processing, manage the company website and a thousand other data management things your company needs ?

I'm guessing not. It's not Notes. And if you try, you're likely to add a host of other open-source tools to your assembly.

Not saying it can't be done, but Notes does it all already.

The problem with Notes

Disclaimer : I am a certified Notes Consultant and Developer since 1996

From a development perspective, Notes/Domino had and still holds everything I need. You want an app that can be consulted from a smartphone and validate/decline a document in a Notes database ? I know how to do that. You want a monthly export into Excel of helpdesk statistics ? I can do that. You want an invoice system that prints to PDF ? I can manage that.

And it all works in Notes, with a Domino server.

Fuck Sharepoint. Fuck Outlook. I don't need five different Borkzilla products to solve the problem. I just need a Domino server and a Notes client.

Back in the day, I had the privilege of being party to some discussions at a company that wanted to replace their mainframe. They tendered publicly, and Borkzilla was one of the companies that responded. You want to know Borkzilla's proposal ? No less than 40 NT servers. Because, obviously, Borkzilla was already taking into account the fact that there would never be 40 NT servers functional at the same time.

Guess what ? The company went with two Solaris servers with Notes/Domino. Because, at that time, Domino was one of the very rare solutions that could work with a synchronized backup. In other words, if the main server fell over, the secondary would pick up the slack without anyone noticing.

Sharepoint, eat your heart out.

The only real problem Notes ever had is that manglement kept confusing Notes with a mail client. Yes, if you only need mail, go for Outlook. Have fun with the Exchange server that can't manage more than 500 accounts.

But if you want an integrated document management system that can deal with almost anything you can throw at it and then some, you need Notes.

Because Notes is not just mail. Mail is a side effect, a bonus. Notes manages your company data like almost nothing else.

But Lotus, then IBM, were incapable of making the Fortune 1000 understand that. So now, HCL has the pieces (and it's not doing so bad).

I would blame IBM, but it has already sunk so low that that would just be flogging a dead horse.

Zuckerberg wants to build artificial general intelligence with 350K Nvidia H100 GPUs

"super keen on more factories to churn out processors"

Um, no. You don't need more factories. You just need to wait until your order has been fulfilled.

We need to stop this "I want it NOW !" mentality.

Your needs are not strategic for the survival of the human race. You can wait until it's done.

HP's CEO spells it out: You're a 'bad investment' if you don't buy HP supplies

"third-party cartridges with reprogrammable chips"

The problem is not with 3rd party reprogrammable chips.

The problem is with the nutjobs that thought that joining an ink cartridge with a chip was a good idea in the first place.

It's ink. It doesn't need a chip.

Not unless you're a Nazi.

Businessman faces 20 years in prison over accusations of illicit chip exports to Russia

KAAAAHHHHNNN !

Sorry, couldn't resist.

What makes a hard error hard? Microsoft vet tells all

"the wobbly Windows of yesteryear"

Compared to the pile of shite that Windows is today.

Granted, the BSODs are much fewer are far between, but shoddy updates still fill the news channels.

Not so much where Linux is concerned.

I wonder if the stability of the architecture has anything to do with it ?

Fujitsu will not bid for UK.gov business until Post Office inquiry closes

"We welcome Fujitsu's decision to pause bidding"

Because we are totally incapable of not making them win the bid on our own.

IT consultant fined for daring to expose shoddy security

The higher court looked again, but forgot to ask the right questions.

I sincerely hope that the appeal will succeed, that Modern Solutions will be found guilty of negligence and fined for all court costs and an indemnity for abusing the hacker's good faith.

Well it certainly seems that security consultants in Germany will need a signed contract from their client giving them permission to do a security review of their website.

Given how Modern Solution reacted in a very Dark Ages way, I doubt that that would happen.

So the solution is triple the fines for companies who shoot the messenger, then get their databases hacked by some miscreant.

YouTube video lag wrongly blamed on its ad-blocking animus

Re: Lucky you.

I'm guessing you leave your computer on 24/7 and you're using Windows.

Like Trixr, I shut my PC down when I go to bed, and I only turn it back on when I intend to use it.

Maybe Firefox is not the problem here.

Junior techie had leverage, but didn’t appreciate the gravity of the situation

Obviously, to crane the thing up, he had to have it loaded correctly on the ground. That worked.

He just didn't load it correctly to get it back down.

I agree completely. This is the fault of management. An experienced person should have been present to ensure that the junior understood the requirements and pitfalls of the task.

It would seem logical to install a heavy equipment as low as possible - I know I certainly wouldn't have thought of getting it to the top of a rack, even when I was only 20. But the human mind is a curious thing, and who can say what criteria the junior had in mind for the task ? Maybe he was thinking that it would be more practical to plug something into the top rack, instead of crouching down to the bottom rack. It's an argument that is not without merit, but you have to discount the weight. Experience tells you to never discount the weight.

Not to mention that a 65kg 6kVA UPS must have a certain cost associated to it. An experienced engineer should definitely have been overseeing the operation.

As Broadcom nukes VMware's channel, the big winner is set to be Nutanix

So, the cutting has begun

And it's not with a surgeon in a clean room, it's with a butcher in a basement.

Thank you, Broadcom, you have fulfilled all our worst prophecies.

Alphabet CEO tells Googlers: More job cuts on the way

"they won’t be as deep as last year"

I'm sure those who do get cut will understand the difference . . .

WINE 9.0 improves ability to run 32-bit Windows apps on 64-bit-only xNix

Music to my ears

Right now, as a freelance programmer and consultant, I am tied to Windows. As a gamer, I get along fine with that, but knowing that there is future where I will be retired and able to enjoy top-notch performance without Redmond stupidity is a balm that soothes my nerves.

Keep up the good work, guys. I'll be joining the ranks soon enough.

Fujitsu gets $1B market cap haircut after TV disaster drama airs

Let's set things straight

Yes, Fujitsu has a share of responsibility, but let's keep it real. Given the shambles that UK government IT projects has been since, well, forever, I'm not convinced that putting Fujitsu at the pillory is an entirely justified approach.

UK Gov is entirely incapable of managing NHS, hardly any of its IT projects are on time and on budget (or even just choose one), so it follows that this project was a shambles from the start, like so many others.

The difference here, and the very unpleasant part, is that there are innocent people who actually lost their lives to a government IT project failure. Someone should indeed be held responsible, but I doubt that Fujitsu should be the only one to blame.

Google is changing how search results appear for EU citizens

"opting out of linking services could result in limited functionality"

Yes. I understand that, and I accept that.

What I want is the choice. Let me see what I get when you're not raping my personal life first. If that's not good enough, then I'll think about giving you more, but it will become my choice, my privilege.

My decision, not yours.

Asia beat US, EU in chip building because the West didn't invest, Intel CEO claims

The West didn't invest

And why that ?

Because The West was interested in having their chips made for less, so that their margins would be better.

So yeah, COVID has taught the industry a few lessons : greed is bad and don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Now to see how long it will take to forget that . . .