Posts by Tim99

Affection for Excel spans generations, from Boomers to Zoomers

Re: How many Excel users does it take to format numbers?

February 29 1900

Re: When you need a spreadsheet...

"...where I am logged in on a local account (and not logged into anything MS or Google)" - Based on current performance, how long do you think it will be before MS make you log in to your online account to use your "local" spreadsheet?

Electric cars no more likely to flatten you than the noisy ones, study finds

Re: I'd have thought this would be obvious

A rubbish clock?

Re: "Safety Technologies"

My 7 year old VW Golf does. I was in a car park when a teenager ran out directly in front of me from behind a large SUV, I was travelling at about 10 km/hr. The car braked harder and faster than I probably could, and missed them.

Australia bans teens from social media, but nobody thinks it'll really work

It's a Five Eyes country - every online citizen can be tracked already...

As a citizen of both countries, I know that my team will win (or draw?).

Porsche panic in Russia as pricey status symbols forget how to car

But, but, but

I thought we were worried about "the Chinese" bricking these new fangled EVs?

Tech leaders fill $1T AI bubble, insist it doesn't exist

Tulips?

Irish Excel whiz sheets all over the competition in Vegas showdown

If this is approximately correct

I have posted this link before: Rob Easterway's 2019 talk to the Royal Institution. He postulates that many (most?) spreadsheets are wrong. I have certainly come across many. He'd found the information on the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group "Horror Stories" section.

Think of the poor sods who have been laid off in an organization because a distant bean-counter's main work tool indicated "too expensive".

MongoDB talks up its AI chops by talking down PostgreSQL

Pause for hysterical laughter

MongoDB and AI together, what could possibly go wrong? A new example of write-only data?

Soup king Campbell’s parts ways with IT VP after ‘3D-printed chicken’ remarks

It’s the egg, produced by something that wasn’t quite a 3D printer chicken?

Seven years later, Airbus is still trying to kick its Microsoft habit

Re: Regulatory Compliance

Acid free archive paper should be good for hundreds of years. Paper degradation became common in later Victorian times when large amounts of cheap sulfite paper became available for popular books (penny dreadfuls). Many 16th century artwork prints on rag paper by Durer, Cranach, and Baldung are in excellent condition with little degradation.

Microsoft's fix for slow File Explorer: load it before you need it

Re: reminds me of Windows prefetch

Yes, the replacement for my machine now requires an internet account with bluetooth/WiFi. I just want a cup of coffee...

Self-destructing thumb drive can brick itself and wipe your secret files away

Software? Yes…

This may be against "accepted wisdom", but I now use microSD cards in a reader for storage rather than thumb drives. In the past six years or so, I have never had a failure. Several thumb drives did bork themselves. I suspect that it might be because of the prevalence of microSD cards in video security and dashboard recorders, where continuous recording/rewriting is required? Thumb drives do indeed tend to be WO devices - Try booting and running a Raspberry Pi from a thumb drive compared to the microSD; it will run much hotter...

Linux admin hated downtime so much he schlepped a live UPS during office move

Re: Ok

Possibly: the TV head receiver, WiFi modem router, and a Pi backup server are also on the UPS. Running them all, the UPS runs for >150 minutes, more than long enough to record a program.

Ok

I have a headless Raspberry Pi 5 Lite TV recorder, thinned out so it only has what is needed. It is on a UPS and regularly goes for >200 days uptime. I do admit to a slight feeling of disappointment when I reboot it.

Memory boom-bust cycle booms again as Samsung reportedly jacks memory prices 60%

Re: Sliderule

I bought my Otis King in 1970, it still works: vintage calculators.com. Based on current UK wages it cost me the equivalent of ~£120, or >5p a week. I'm pretty certain that won't apply to my phone, which has almost completely replaced it...

Developer battled to write his own documentation, but lost the boss fight

Appropriate?

In the 1990s I wrote some software from scratch for a Federal Government initiative designed to help heritage organizations capture and manage their data. It was also taken up by State Governments - Often used by volunteers, one of its design imperatives was that it could be configured with different levels of functionality based on the experience of its users. I thought it was fairly simple and self-explanatory having only 5 main screens. I was wrong. Fortunately, a business partner, who had been a professional teacher wrote most of the manual; ~275 A4 pages long, but broken down in to sections with appropriate cross referencing, examples and screen shots.

My first reaction was that it was too complex, but users really liked it. The only problem (for us) was that a "small change" to the software required significant changes to the manual. Many customers did not have access to cheap printing, so we had to distribute them as insert sections to go in the original ring folder. As printing became more available, they were just distributed as MS Word or PDF files. Of course, these days updated versions are on a web server operated by the new owners. Lots of refinements, but still recognisable as a direct descendant after 30 years...

Rideshare giant moves 200 Macs out of the cloud, saves $2.4 million

Re: And people….

Ignoring the rest, it is a reasonable précis - A YouTube video of his IBM presentation is here.

He is now SVP & CIO at Cisco (like IBM, not necessarily near the top of my favourite companies) YouTube update 2023.

Re: And people….

The JNUC presentation by IBM CIO Fletcher Previn? Multiple links including: easytechsolver.com.

I had a close contact who was a very senior tech person at IBM who confirmed that the majority of people he worked with used Macs and Linux until a couple of years ago (when he retired) - He used mostly used macOS. The Windows users were generally those who supported customers' Windows based stuff...

Re: Multi-user?

Because: sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't; and when it is, it may be several distinct types (web, application, and database), and I have several other Pi5s which also alternate roles. Possibly, also, the servers I deployed when I was working cost somewhere between $thousands and $hundreds-of-thousands? I forget that I am old, and that the Pi5 is roughly 1,000th the price and 10,000 times more powerful than the DEC VAX that I wrote stuff for when it was a general SQL, file, and application server back in the 80s - Somehow it doesn't seem right...

Multi-user?

MacOS is a (heavily?) modified UNIX based system. I run my iMac with several different accounts, does anyone know if you can use multi GUI users on the same remote machine? Like I do with VNC on a Raspberry Pi5 "server".

You'll never guess what the most common passwords are. Oh, wait, yes you will

Netware

Back in the day, some standard Novell 68/86/2 systems expected a complex password changed every 40 days (Biblical?). Our users, like many others, solved that problem with Post-it notes on the screen. After they were told to stop it, they adapted by putting the Post-it under the keyboard...

Microsoft, Alphabet throw more cash on the AI bonfire

A Modest Proposal (Wikipedia)?

England's local government shake-up promises to be a massive tech headache

It worked so well before...

My late father was a senior local government officer who started work for his local council before WW2. Following the Redclife-Maud report and the Conservative's Local Government Act 1972, he came home from work one day and said he was (semi)retiring - He was in his 50s. I asked him why, and how that was going to go? He said that, at that time if there was, say, a query about local planning, the chief surveyor would pick up the phone, and ask to see him. Over afternoon tea and digestive biscuits (they were both officer war veterans, and knew that all important decisions needed to be made over tea and biscuits) they would look at the problem, and come up with a solution. So the total time and cost was a couple of minutes for a phone call, a 15 minute meeting; his secretary's time to make the tea; 4 biscuits, tea leaves, milk and sugar. My father would then write up the meeting and, if necessary, present it to the Council where it would almost certainly "pass on the nod".

After reorganization, he said it would go something like this: A lowly administrator in the planning officer would process the query, write it up, pass it up to their superior, who would then précis and rewrite it in longhand, it would then be typed up, go back to the superior, who would then put it in the internal mail for a senior officer in the planning department, who would perhaps edit it, before it was submitted to the committee; who would then pass it on to the equivalent of my father's department; who would delegate it to "some-one" to action it; it would then be written up again, typed; then back up the department for approval and then back to the planning department. My father reckoned that the 50 "person-minutes" or so that it would have taken before, would probably take several months for a final outcome.

My father said that his RAF war service would count towards his final pension (he may have had to make a personal contribution?). He spent the next 17 years doing a little bit of paid work, and quite a lot unpaid for local charities/clubs/not for profits; and of course, as it was a country area - barter: a quick VAT return for a meat joint, vegetables, and the odd bottle of spirits at Christmas.

Interestingly, when he met ex-colleagues at their Christmas "does" who were still working, they told him, that yes everything was much slower, and the number staff needed had increased dramatically: See the Second meaning of Parkinson's Law: Wikipedia.

Google says reports of a Gmail breach have been greatly exaggerated

MRDA?

Mandy Rice Davies Applies: Wikipedia.

New boss took charge of project code and sent two billion unwanted emails

I must stop posting to El Reg in my time zone ,when it is early in the morning BST. For a while I haven't been able to do/undo changes within the last 10 minutes for a post. The site only shows my stuff from (a few?) hours ago.

My Loadsamoney suggestion is probably not for the blue-blood types, as it seemed to be for one of Thatcher's new money Essex types? Having said that, I was a UK Scientific Civil Servant at the time, and most of the blue-bloods and Essex types that I met there were pretty bright.

"Loadsamoney" (Harry Enfield) - May not work for left pondians?

Apple's ultra-thin iPhone flops as foldable iPad hits a crease

Re: Wrong segment because margins

Had a 13 Mini (see posts above) would not go back to Touch ID (elderly fingers). The notch didn't bother me. YMMV.

See my post above? The Air is small/light enough to go in my trouser pocket, and is sufficiently "grippy" not to be at a particular risk of dropping.

Caveat: I've been carrying mobile phones around since the Ericsson EH238, Jane. As far as I can recall it was the only one that I've dropped (The aerial caught on my clothing) - It broke and the Telco swapped it out for a working one at minimal charge. Maybe that made me more careful...

Of my previous phones, the 12 & 13 Minis had a case that included a carrier for a credit and seniors cards, driving licence and a folded currency note. The air works fine with just a MagSafe card carrier that is just thick enough to protect the camera if the phone is laid flat - Although I normally detach it and put it another pocket when leaving the house. Being elderly, my hands fine-motor control is not as good as it was, but so far, I still haven't dropped it.

Re: Where's the MINI?!

Mrs Tim99 has inherited my 13 mini, replacing her previous inherited 12 mini. She uses it as a basic phone - also connected to her iPad in the house. The combination works well for her to send texts, FaceTime and email. I bought a 17 Air last month, mainly because a cataract operation didn’t go as well as I hoped. I don’t use a case for most of the time as it travels in my trouser-side pocket, but I did buy a bumper case which I have used a few times (it feels a bit slippery, and for a small thing appears quite heavy and bulky). The phone "feels nice" to handle without the case. Screen is very good. The camera and battery are both OK. Macro mode is so-so, and telephoto is "adequate" for my purposes. My iPad Pro works well enough for macro shots.

Lots of purchasers of the large 17 pro in the shop - almost all with the orange version (maybe the buyers "wanted others to know it was the top of the line"?). Its camera seemed excellent, but the phone felt heavy and a bit uncomfortable in the hand. I extended the tether and put one in my pocket to try (after checking with the salesperson!) - It felt like the extra weight was pulling my shorts down, the Air was fine.

Generally very pleased with the Air, and suspect that it *will* sell, after the first-adopter surge for the Pro has finished. Many of us don’t need the features of the Pro; and might well also buy the expected, cheaper, 17e.

Caveat: I may well be a fat, old (retired), rich, white man - normal expectations may not apply.

China?

Apparently poor sales do not apply to China (simply.com).

Excel is three sheets to the window on iOS as update borks everything

I posted this yesterday: Numbers & Pages (El Reg).

Microsoft puts Office Online Server on the chopping block

Numbers and Pages aren’t bad. Numbers has a few inconsistencies with Excel: No field locking (but you can have multiple tables on a sheet, and lock individual tables); the colours on conditional formatting don’t always match up; and the order/application of multiple rules can be different. Cell formulae are generally compatible, and I make a point of not using macros. These days I usually prototype with Numbers, and then export to Excel if it is needed in that format - typically takes a few minutes to tidy up. Still a lot faster for me than doing it in Excel.

Pages doesn’t like tables within tables, and the default fonts often won’t line up with what is du jour for Word. One thing to be aware of is that the Apple files are considerably larger, possibly because they contain within themselves everything needed to recreate them, zipping only gives a small size reduction.

Google porting all internal workloads to Arm, with help from GenAI

FTFY?

"Doing so will likely save money... Axion-powered machines deliver up to 65 percent better price-performance than x86 instances, and can be 60 percent more energy-efficient... the web giant will need fewer almost no x86 processors in years to come".

'Fax virus' panicked a manager and sparked job-killing Reply-All incident

A previous secretary of our retirement village had been taught to type on PMG telex machines. All of the village emails from him were, indeed, in UPPERCASE.

Re: Oh, the 1990s

I think Windows 3x had fax software. I wrote a couple of applications that sent faxes when some condition became true/false.

Apple goes all in on AI acceleration with M5 MacBook, iPad, and Vision Pros

Re: So in summary

I waited until the M3 to update from an Intel iMac. Yes, it is still very fast, particularly compiling, I don't see any reason to update for the foreseeable future, my only slight annoyance is it's the only kit we have that needs a lightening connector (keyboard + mouse).

I just preordered an M5 13" iPad to replace a previous model (I use it more than the iMac and my Raspberry Pi's).

Bose kills SoundTouch: Smart speakers go dumb in Feb

Re: BOSE

Passed it on - Much of it still working, but needs a new belt on cassette mechanism. Owner not happy that will be $1,300. When I passed it on (for free) everything was working, but told them that I couldn't help them after initial set up. I suspect that the service company is trying it on, as a new belt is ~$60. Overpriced - possibly/probably? At the time the complete set was ~$8,000 whereas the new price for my Linn/Naim stuff was ~$50,000?

Re: BOSE

Well I found the NAC of pairing stuff with my Linn LP12 - A few Snaps of the fingers and it worked. After a while I did have to take a NAP.

Caveat: Mrs Tim99 bought me one of the first neon switch LP12s in the early-mid 1970s. Spent 25 years buying stuff to match. Final systems based on upgraded LP12/Ittok/Asak/ 32s/NAP250 with assorted Naim power supplies and Sara speakers (Should have kept the Kans). Just got to where I wanted to be with it; then an RTA gave me hearing, brain, and coordination problems. Sold them all and bought a B&O all-in-one which was "OK". These days, hearing nearly completely shot, a pair of Apple HomePod Minis are fine.

Re: BOSE

Also, back in the day, when my hearing still worked: Bass Overwhelms Sound Experience...

Who gets a Mac at work? Here's how companies decide

I have a relative who has retired from IBM - he was responsible for significant parts of their infrastructure. The information is now about 4 years old but he said that the majority of people he saw at work had Apple laptops (and usually at home too), the next was Linux. The minority Windows users were a (distant?) third - mostly for people who were supporting Windows customers.

Space Shuttle war of words takes off as senator blasts 'woke Smithsonian'

Me too. Not so much sympathy for the fruit flies and various Alberts (rhesus monkeys) before Laika - Didn't do full orbit almost all died.

Before Laika, Dezik and Tsygan (Russian dogs) did, together, survive a suborbital trip - many of the subsequent Russian suborbital dogs also survived.

Some of us were adults who watched Apollo 11 - Feel *ancient* now...

BOFH: Recover a database from five years ago? It's as easy as flicking a switch

Re: Or just use the backup data?

I realized a long time ago that the metadata is as important as the data - I corresponded with PJ from Groklaw about it when a lot of emphasis was on FOSS. I, too, had seen projects that were put together over years with multiple bits of software cobbled together, often with a database storing everything.

It was fine to say that it was "Free" but if it relied on a mixture of Python, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, Linux/GNU, C, C++, Ruby, MS Excel, etc., etc., the chances of rebuilding it were very slim. If you had metadata "accurately" describing the data, and relevant design specs, it would be relatively easy to get something out; even if all you had was an SQL data dump and SQLite.

I wondered initially that this didn't happen because of time/budget constraints; but, now, suspect something more nefarious.

Re: 5 year old database?

I mentioned before that I still have R:Base 4.5 and all of its paperwork, manuals etc. I know I'll never use it again - I don't even run Windows anymore, but a previous version got me started as an independent contractor...

Techie found an error message so rude the CEO of IBM apologized for it

Re: Bah!

Thanks for making me feel my age - I saw it at the Strand Theatre when Linda Thorson was in it...

Dirty little Electron secret tanks macOS 26 performance

Re: Let's get back to some tried and trusted techniques

Tahoe is currently a little flaky. I have noticed several problems with Safari - Right-clicking on a link on a Mac which used to quickly open a new tab with the link-content either doesn't work, or is very slow - clicking the same link again quickly opens the tab (and obviously the first instance too). A change in function when downloading a zip file completely baffled me. It doesn't actually appear to save the file - it requires going to the download arrow in the URL bar, opening it and then choosing the box/up-arrow and choosing a save file location...

UK police caught slacking off by jamming their keyboards while working from home

Keyboard skills

I started typing in the 1960s - On a good day, I can use 2 fingers (and a thumb for the space bar) on the right hand, with an occasional second finger on the left. I sometimes worked with police officers just as they were installing computers - the average that I saw was an index finger with a 1-2 second gap between keys - They, like me, had started with a typewriter.

A typewriter was originally the person who operated the machine. As clerical work was usually done by men, and the machines were "technical" the majority of users were male. Many more women were employed in offices during WW1 to replace the absent men, so by the 1920's, typewriting was often considered "women's work". The (female) clerical staff that I worked with considered my efforts "hysterically funny/poor".

I suspect that somebody could set up a Raspberry Pi Zero loaded up with typical police reports, connect its serial port to the PC, have a couple of python scrips randomly choosing sentences, add a few errors and random delays between letters, with a number of gaps of a few minutes...