* Posts by IGnatius T Foobar

643 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Aug 2008

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Dell EMC's PowerMax migration: Let's just swaaap out this jet engine mid-flight

IGnatius T Foobar

Wow?

Congratulations, EMC (or should we call them Storagezilla?) ... you've invented a feature NetApp has had since they introduced Clustered OnTAP 8.x some number of years ago.

Pointless US Congress net neutrality vote will take place tomorrow!

IGnatius T Foobar

Neutrality done the wrong way

The "net neutrality" debate is silly, and the fact that it's become politically partisan is downright stupid.

All you have to do is mandate that anyone who supplies last-mile connections, must offer those last-mile connections as unbundled elements. When they did this with DSL in 1996 it was wonderfully successful; if you didn't like your ISP you could switch to another one who had access to the same wires.

Do this for fibre and coax, and all problems are immediately solved. And no partisan bickering either -- both Congress and the President could easily get behind it.

And THIS is how you do it, Apple: Huawei shames Cupertino with under-glass sensor

IGnatius T Foobar

notches ... bah

Thanks to the abusive "leadership" of Apple, phones without notches will soon be about as common as phones with slide-out keyboards. Thanks, Apple.

Openreach consults on shift of 16 MEEELLION phone lines to VoIP by 2025

IGnatius T Foobar

"web tone"

It's time to start considering an Internet connection, rather than a phone line, to be the "typical" communications infrastructure found in homes and businesses. Ask any building manager -- would they rather connect their alarms and lifts to a bunch of dedicated analog lines, or to the building LAN? Sun Microsystems (RIP) figured this out 20 years ago. They said [http://java.sys-con.com/node/35818] that we need to move from a "dial tone" world to a "web tone" world.

Sun was right about a lot of things but they were either ahead of their time or didn't execute well (take your pick). Remember their "network computing" push? Well guess what, kids: we're there.

Apple MacBook butterfly keyboards 'defective', 'prone to fail' – lawsuit

IGnatius T Foobar

non-moving keys

I expect at some point Apple will begin producing computers with touch-sensitive keys that simply do not move at all. It will make the computer that much thinner, and it will be terrible, but the Apple fanbois will hail it as the greatest keyboard ever, and other manufacturers will ape it in their designs as well.

Open source XenServer project is go after crushing crowdcash call

IGnatius T Foobar

Citrix?

Citrix isn't really relevant here ... for all practical purposes, Xen is an Amazon product now.

Glibc 'abortion joke' diff tiff leaves Richard Stallman miffed

IGnatius T Foobar

Stallman

It's not hard for Stallman to get offended by something. In fact, the days that he's *not* offended by something are about as infrequent as the days he takes a shower.

Let's kick the tyres on Google's Android P... It's not an overheating wreck, but UX is tappy

IGnatius T Foobar

Google's devices have great appearance but absolute shit build quality

Agreed. I had to repair the microphone in my Nexus twice, the vibrate setting stopped working, and eventually I had to make all voice calls using the speakerphone. Battery life went to crap even after I replaced the battery.

For my latest upgrade I went back to Samsung and am much happier.

Industry whispers: Qualcomm mulls Arm server processor exit

IGnatius T Foobar

It's the software.

Where's the gigantic catalog of server software that runs on ARM? The reason no one wants ARM servers is the same reason no one wants Windows phones or (with the exception of us die hard penguinistas) Linux desktops. It's the software.

New York looks at California, drafts net neutrality legislation

IGnatius T Foobar

Wrong place

Neutrality doesn't belong at the federal *or* state level. It belongs at the central office level. Equal access to last mile networks would eliminate the cable and phone company monopolies. If a provider isn't "neutral" enough for you, you select another.

Two words: UNBUNDLED ELEMENTS. When last mile DSL was offered as an unbundled element, there was a wonderful diversity of carriers. We need the modern FTTH and DOCSIS plants offered as unbundled elements as well.

End of discussion.

Apple and The Notched One: It can't hide the X-sized iPhone let-down

IGnatius T Foobar

Commoditization is not going to be Apple's friend.

When a $250 midrange phone works just as well as an iPhone X, and doesn't have an obvious design flaw (the notch) masquerading as a feature, it doesn't bode well for Apple. Fanboism used to be a multiplier for Apple's sales, but at this point it's pretty much the only thing driving their sales at all. Smartphones are now a commodity item; you can buy them at lower prices and they still last 3-5 years.

Windows 10 April 2018 Update lands today... ish

IGnatius T Foobar

Where is the Cortana-free version?

I am looking for the version that doesn't have Cortana in it. Where can I get that one?

Penguins in a sandbox: Google nudges Linux apps toward Chrome OS

IGnatius T Foobar

Linux on ChromeOS on Linux

So now we can run Linux software on ChromeOS, which is Linux. Got it. I'm sure there's plenty of "value added" data slurping and snooping, but it's still better than having Richard Stallman screaming at us that he thinks we should call it "GNU/ChromeOS"

IBM turnover shrinks $28bn in 6 years but execs laugh all the way to the bank

IGnatius T Foobar

India Business Machines?

Weren't they some sort of old 20th Century technology company? I didn't know they were still around.

Red Hat sticks its storage software cap on Supermicro hardware

IGnatius T Foobar

Re: Why Gluster instead of Ceph?

Red Hat Storage Server is built around GlusterFS. Red Hat acquired the company that built Gluster quite some time ago. It's baked pretty hard into their infrastructure.

So this product is really just RHSS preinstalled on SuperMicro hardware. No big deal, I've got that exact combination all over my data centers and it works pretty well.

Facebook can't admit the truth, says data-slurp boffin Kogan

IGnatius T Foobar

Facebook insists on dictating the truth.

Facebook is not in the business of admitting the truth. Facebook is in the business of creating its own version of the truth through propaganda, through manipulating people, through crafting its "algorithm" to make people think the way Facebook wants them to think.

Facebook is toxic. Facebook is a cancer on the Internet and should be treated like one.

"The Internet interprets censorship as damage, and routes around it." --John Gilmore, 1993 [http://uncensored.citadel.org]

Microsoft Lean's in: Slimmed-down Windows 10 OS option spotted

IGnatius T Foobar

Why would they sell the OS users really want?

The purpose of an operating system is to load and run software and then get out of the way. Why would Microsoft actually deliver this? Their entire revenue model is built around forcing a bunch of add-ons that nobody asked for. That's why modern corporate desktops now have "Xbox Live" and "Microsoft Mixed Reality Viewer" and a bunch of "phone" apps that never get used. Are they *really* going to give us the barebone OS that most people would prefer?

Somehow I doubt this is going to actually be usable. It'll probably be locked down to Windows Store apps, and/or it will refuse to run web browsers other than Edge, and/or it'll require a usually-on connection to Microsoft's cloud (the old Chromebook trick).

Petty PETA rapped by judges over monkey selfie copyright stunt

IGnatius T Foobar

People Eating Tasty Animals

I would pay extra for products that are tested on PETA members.

Sysadmin unplugged wrong server, ran away, hoped nobody noticed

IGnatius T Foobar

plugs

In the developed world, power plugs are mounted at right-angles to the cable so that pulling the cable gently can identify the plug without disconnecting it

I understand that your intent is to declare the superiority of the UK power plug over the US power plug, and I might even agree with you, but in the "developed world" data centers use C13-C14 and C19-C20 connectors regardless of the locale and voltage. And those are never mounted at right angles.

BT pushes ahead with plans to switch off telephone network

IGnatius T Foobar

For how long, 30 minutes to tide you through a thunderstorm, or 4-5 days to carry you through a major problem like in Lancaster a couple of years ago?

I have Verizon FiOS, which is the most common FTTP service in the US. The ONT they give us has a battery backup which will keep the whole service running for a few minutes, to get you through a quick power dip; after that it switches to a mode that just keeps the POTS lines running. That mode is supposed to last for about 8 hours.

Now IBM turns redundo gun on its Digital Business Group

IGnatius T Foobar

India Business Machines?

Weren't they a 20th century technology company or something?

Facebook admits it does track non-users, for their own good

IGnatius T Foobar

Re: Big Hoodie

Yup. Blocking all of their domains at the network level is really the best way to make sure your computer isn't infected by the Facebook cancer. As long as you don't share a network with f*c*book users, it's best to block them at the router if you can.

Another alternative is to install a f*c*book blocking extension in your browser.

Pentagon sticks to its guns: Yep, we're going with a single cloud services provider

IGnatius T Foobar

The Fix Is In (tm)

When a request for bids is written this way, it almost always means that they've already decided which vendor they're going to select, and they're just "going through the motions" so that no one can accuse them of cronyism.

I certainly hope the selected vendor is not AWS. There's already enough animosity there.

New Galaxy un-smartphone can’t go online because Samsung's thought of the children

IGnatius T Foobar

Seen this before

So it's technically a smartphone, but in practice it can't do anything useful. Sounds like a Windows Phone.

Windows Admin Center: Vulture gets claws on browser-based server admin

IGnatius T Foobar

Slowly...

It's a browser based application that does the equivalent of managing a Unix machine over an SSH connection. Slowly but surely, like every other operating system, Windows is turning into Unix. They all do eventually.

Try our new driverless car software says Nvidia, as it suspends driverless car trials

IGnatius T Foobar

Won't someone please think of the children?

How many more people have to die before the world realizes that self driving cars are a bad idea?

IBMers in TSS: How WILL we support customers after these latest job cuts?

IGnatius T Foobar

India Business Machines?

IBM, as in India Business Machines? Weren't they some sort of 20th century technology company?

Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg has flunky tell UK MPs: Nope, he's sending someone else

IGnatius T Foobar

#DeleteFacebook

Facebook is too toxic, too big, and as a company too irresponsible (or just plain evil). It's time to take this monster down about a million pegs.

Slap visibility beacons on bikes so they can chat to auto autos, says trade body

IGnatius T Foobar

Haven't we seen this before?

We already have a set of roads where every possible interaction is already controlled and accounted for.

It's called a railway.

Fleeing Facebook app users realise what they agreed to in apps years ago – total slurpage

IGnatius T Foobar

We need to go back to the BBS scene

Back when people hung out on a large variety of online communities (or even BBSes before that) things were better; there was no evil Facebook monopoly looming over it all.

Heck, I've been running this one for the last 30 years, and the idea of uncensored free speech is now more relevant than ever: http://uncensored.citadel.org

Remember "the Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it"? Well, Facebook is damage of the worst kind.

Windows 10 to force you to use Edge, even if it isn't default browser

IGnatius T Foobar

The biggest lesson not learned...

You'd think that after that period of IE dominance, M$ would have learned that control of the browser does *not* give them control of the Internet. People still go out of their way to avoid using IE, Edge, Bing, and Cortana.

London Mayor calls for social networks and sharing economy to stop harming society

IGnatius T Foobar

Leadership fail

This is a leadership fail, pure and simple. London needs a more competent and inspirational leader.

Facebook suspends account of Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

IGnatius T Foobar

Facebook is toxic.

Facebook is toxic. Facebook destroys everything it touches. How many of you remember "the Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it" ? Facebook needs to be bypassed by pretty much the whole world.

Nest reveals the first truly connected home

IGnatius T Foobar
FAIL

Spy Cloud FAIL

"Alexa, please notify the Cloud Spying Service that I want to open my front door."

And of course, when your Internet connection goes down, your whole house stops working. Where are the community projects developing open standards for home automation that don't involve Amazon or Google or Apple slurping up all of the telemetry data from your "smart" home?

Airbus CIO: We dumped Microsoft Office not over cost but because Google G Suite looks sweet

IGnatius T Foobar
Linux

Can they both lose?

As a die hard penguinista I've traditionally cheered on any migration away from Microsoft, but now that Google is evil too, I don't know anymore. Can I hope they both lose?

Windows Mixed Reality: Windows Mobile deja vu?

IGnatius T Foobar
FAIL

Boring old Microsoft

Microsoft is the company that makes Windows and Office. We like them that way: boring and stodgy. They don't need to branch out, they don't need to take over the whole universe, they aren't going to kill Apple or Google at this point. We like the new non-threatening Microsoft better than the T-Rex of the 1990's.

Windows Mixed Reality is the hottest thing inside the Microsoft Stores that they keep building in malls right across the aisle from the Apple Stores, and it's so appropriate: the few people who wander into the store try it out, but no one ever buys anything there.

Tim Berners-Lee says regulation of the web may be needed

IGnatius T Foobar
Mushroom

Facebook is too big and must be shut down.

Remember when there were more than four web sites? I do, and those were good days. Facebook has become too powerful and it must be shut down. Facebook is like Microsoft in the late 1990's: an existential threat to everything that is not itself.

Less than half of paying ransomware targets get their files back

IGnatius T Foobar
Holmes

They deserve it.

I have ZERO sympathy for people who don't take backups. If your files were locked by ransomware and you didn't back them up, you deserve to lose them.

A smartphone recession is coming and animated poo emojis can't stop it

IGnatius T Foobar
Holmes

Market saturation happens.

Duh. Market saturation happens. Everyone who wants a smartphone now has one, and the technology has reached a point where a handset that is a few years old is still useful. We got to this point with personal computers more than a decade ago.

Apple's new 'spaceship' HQ brings the pane for unobservant workers

IGnatius T Foobar
FAIL

Apple FAIL

Hypocrites. Apple is one of those Silicon Valley companies that shouts and rants about the environment all the time, but instead of occupying *existing* unused space they build a giant headquarters out of new materials on new land. What was the environmental impact of this building?

News lobsters demand to be let back into the Facebook boiling pot

IGnatius T Foobar
Big Brother

Facebook is toxic.

Facebook is toxic. It destroys everything it touches. Facebook is an existential threat to everything except for itself. By this measure alone it is damaging the whole world and should either be shut down or regulated into oblivion.

Europe plans special tax for Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon

IGnatius T Foobar
Childcatcher

It's not enough

It's not enough. Abusive monopolies (or oligopolies) need to be taxed out of their monopoly positions.

Paul Allen's six-engined monster plane prepares for space deliveries

IGnatius T Foobar
Happy

Washington state engineering!

Paul Allen, from Washington ... oh boy, this aeroplane will be built by the same people that designed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge! And also Microsoft Bob! What could possibly go wrong?

Neil Young slams Google, after you log in to read his rant with Google or Facebook

IGnatius T Foobar
Facepalm

Neil Young is now Neil Old

Neil Young is now Neil Old. Dinosaurs need to get with the new model or be left behind.

Washington (no, not that one) to pass hardcore net neutrality law: All ISPs in state must obey

IGnatius T Foobar
FAIL

Policy FAIL

The mistake here is in making network neutrality a political issue. Pretty much everyone on both sides is wrong. An easy and permanent solution would be to prohibit last-mile carriers from offering any services on their wires. All they should be permitted to do is sell connectivity between the customer premise and the central office. At that point, any carrier who has the audacity to screw with the network can instantly be substituted with another carrier who offers a better policy. Doesn't matter anymore whether it's data, voice, or video.

Uncoincidentally, this is *exactly* how electricity is delivered in the United States. Provision and distribution are separated.

Cryptocurrencies kill people and may kill again, says Bill Gates

IGnatius T Foobar

Gates?

I'm not quite sure why anyone should care what Bill Gates thinks about cryptocurrency. Gates is not, and has never been, a visionary. This is the same guy who said that the Internet would never be a big deal.

Work continues on 5G, shame no one's sure what it's for yet

IGnatius T Foobar

Tractors

I see the point of being in this body, but John Deere ???? In my country, France, where you see a tractor, you're sure as heck to have no 3G whatsof*ckingever !

All the world is not France. Here in the US we have very good coverage in rural areas. John Deere uses the network to remotely disable tractors with modified firmware, to make sure the farmers aren't getting their tractors serviced by third parties.

Trump buries H-1B visa applicants in paperwork

IGnatius T Foobar
Thumb Up

End the H1-B program entirely.

I know the Reg editors lean left and like to bash Mr. Trump, but he's doing the right thing here. The H1-B program was supposed to provide workforce for openings that could not be filled, but we all know that the only thing it was actually used for was to replace American workers with indentured servants from offshore at a fraction of the cost. The whole program is corrupt and unnecessary and should be scrapped.

IT peeps, be warned: You'll soon be a museum exhibit

IGnatius T Foobar
Terminator

dystopia

Jeff Bezos envisions a future where he is the only person on the entire planet who has a job.

IBM Java CTO: Devs shouldn't have to learn Docker, K8s, 30 other things to deploy an app

IGnatius T Foobar
FAIL

devs shouldn't have to learn...

Also, devs shouldn't have to learn Java to deploy an app.

And increasingly ... they don't.

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