Posts by Robert Grant

FYI: You do all know that America's tech giants, even Google, supply IT to the US military, right?

This is not a real controversy

Defence is necessary.

That's infotainment, that's infotainment: Android Automotive OS goes virtual with new reference platform

Re: Great....

Smart chap that Rob Grant.

Hundreds of forgotten corners of mega-corp websites fall into the hands of spammers and malware slingers

Re: How is this Azure's fault?

Very easy. You can only register domains with a subdomain prefix. So you can't register mydomain.azurewebsites.com, only mydomain.mytenant.azurewebsites.com. The fact it's a global namespace is shocking.

Go on, devs, have a Flutter on Linux desktop apps: Google and Canonical launch alpha SDK

So close

Flutter, designed primarily for cross-platform mobile applications, is a UI toolkit

Cool. Cool!

which uses the Dart language

Oh.

LibreOffice community protests at promotion of paid-for editions, board says: 'LibreOffice will always be free software'

For B2C, can they make the cloud version a subscription, and keep the desktop software free?

Open Source and free (as in doesn't cost any money) are entirely orthogonal. Software can be open source, but you have to pay to use it, or closed source but free to use. Literally nothing to do with each other.

Capita Consulting ditching more than a quarter of its workforce 45 days after consultations with consultants

A source told The Reg that Consulting was meant to gel with the other units, but claimed in reality it had become "another silo of people with their own relationships, it's not joined up." The source said multiple divisions still talk to the same customers at different times about the things they are trying to sell.

Why do companies never learn? Some exec charmed this through on how amazing it'd be, got a promotion to carry it out, and now can safely blame Covid, instead of their successor (or the minions). I get it's hard to know whose plan to follow sometimes, but this one seems pretty obviously doomed to be yet another silo.

AWS attempts to woo devs with new tool aimed at porting .NET applications to Linux

Is this a blog writing style? It's disconcerting.

UK space firms forced to adjust their models of how the universe works as they lose out on Copernicus contracts

Re: I GOT 1 wordz 4 all u traytowers!!!

Not spotting the joke, there, eh? Not even the IT and the IT? icon?

Nothing?

Re: I GOT 1 wordz 4 all u traytowers!!!

Not spotting the joke, there, eh?

Re: I GOT 1 wordz 4 all u traytowers!!!

We won, Get over IT.

Holy Guacamole! Researchers find Apache remote desktop software was silently pwnable for snooping on sessions

Re: So you're saying

But for attackers who exploited it, think of all that green!

UN warns of global e-waste wave as amount of gadgets dumped jumps 21% in 5 years

Someone's confused

The Americas produce the third largest amount of waste (13.1Mt) and second largest amount per capita (13.3kg) whereas Oceania comes second with 16.1kg per capita.

Consumer orgs ask world's competition watchdogs: Are you really going to let Google walk off with all Fitbit's data?

"User data available to Google has made it so valuable to advertisers that it faces only limited competition."

Speaking as a non-lawyer, I don't think that's anti-competitive, though. It's only if the position is abused.

One map to rule them all: UK's Ordnance Survey rolls out its Data Hub and the juicy API goodness that lies therein

Re: Could this become the official UK postcode and address database?

I wonder if postcodes.io might add this as a backend.

Stinker, emailer, trawler, spy: How an engineer stole top US chip designs, smuggled them to China to set up a rival fab

Re: Trolled?

I like that people mock spellcheckers using homophonic errors, which are pretty unlikely to occur.

UKCloud latest to sign Memorandum of Understanding with UK.gov ahead of cloud mega framework

Re: "fiduciary duty ... board's responsibility ... to maximise profit"

Businesses making money is a convenient myth for hiding sociopaths?

I think you're confusing that with your "anonymous" mask.

Oracle opens second Indian cloud region in bid to keep pace in make-or-break market

Re: Is Big Red on its way out?

Being the next mainframe isn't the worst thing in the world - they're still knocking around!

Poetry in lockdown: hiQ to Supremes / Please leave LinkedIn scrape ruling / well enough alone

What authorisation issues can exist for publicly accessible data? That literally means, "anyone is authorised". Not very murky or unclear.

Let's roll the 3d6 dice on today's security drama: Ah, 15, that's LG allegedly hacked, source code stolen by Maze ransomware gang

Yeah it's just a slogan.

Microsoft has a cure for data nuked by fat fingers if you're not afraid of the command line

What about just another Recycle Bin, inside the Recycle Bin?

It's now safe to turn off your computer shop: Microsoft to shutter its bricks-and-mortar retail locations worldwide

Re: Track record

That's apps, not content. And MS did pay lots of devs to do this to make sure the right apps were in place. But they don't have unlimited cash to prop up a tiny market.

I say this as someone who thought Windows Phone was great, and owned 3 of them.

Macs, iPhones, iPads to get encrypted DNS – how'd you like them Apples?

Re: Bias

No, they don't need to do that. Fanboi is just part of their lexicon. Finding fresh ways to troll Apple fanbois probably won't add any more readers.

GitHub redesign goes mobile-friendly – to chagrin of devs who shockingly do a lot of work on proper computers

Re: "Some feel that the redesign was rushed without any real consultation."

I don't think you know what DevOps is.

GitHub to replace master with main across its services

Re: "If there is no word for slavery, how can those you enslave fight against it?"

All this stuff is about ignoring context. I agree it's not hard to consider context, but then as has been constantly demonstrated, the context of the history of slavery is nothing to do with source control. So some people must find it hard.

Re: Master copy

This is silly. It's just, "how can anyone really, like, know anything, man?" You could critique the changes in exactly the same way - constantly bringing up the topic of slavery in contexts where it's never existed might well offend people who'd like to forget about it and feel normal. Why don't your reasons apply equally to supporting that perspective?

Re: Master copy

I'm not making a slippery slope argument; just an inconsistency one. If we want to abolish a few words that have ever been connected to historical bad events, rather than all of them, then it would be good to know why.

What's odd is you've memorised "slippery slope is bad" and "someone think of the children is bad", without noticing that the motivation behind this whole issue is very similar to the latter of those.

Re: the only ones they can master....

> Oh please explain how not changing things will end racism you massive brained genius!

The politician's syllogism, from Yes Minister:

We must do something!

This is something!

Therefore, we must do this!

Still alive and well, I see.

Re: Master copy

This sort of action reminds people of that etymology much more.

And - standard, never addressed point: where does it stop? Masterful? Masterpiece? Mastering a topic? These are all related to master the same way that Git's master is.

I don't particularly care, but the utter lack of brain used when people spout what you just did is pretty offensive.

Maze ransomware gang threatens to publish sensitive stolen data after US aerospace biz sensibly refuses to pay

No one likes ransomware criminals, but this article seems weirdly schoolchildish. They mixed up two companies' names? Ooooh!

Where's the critique of bad company security?

Eclipse Foundation releases Jakarta EE 9 preview, adopts AdoptOpenJDK

It shows a levelling in the interest in deploying microservices as part of moving Java applications to the cloud. People are becoming more pragmatic. If you have a Java monolith with a couple of thousand users, there is no business reason to re-architect that. Just lift and shift.”

Java is pretty heavyweight for microservices.

iPadOS 14: Apple's attempt to pry fondleslab from toddlers' mitts and make it more businesslike

Re: Samsung Galaxy Note

Why's the Note relevant? Isn't that a big phone?

Sure - I meant more macbooks and ipads.

This builds on business features added in iPadOS 13 which included support for USB memory sticks and other accessories

If Apple create some good IT governance tools, they'll will be in a really interesting situation vs Windows in the workplace.

The infamous AI gaydar study was repeated – and, no, code can't tell if you're straight or not just from your face

“Moreover, this entire line of thought is premised on the idea that there is value to be gained in working out why 'gay face' classifiers might work – value in further describing, defining and setting out the methodology for any tinpot dictator or bigot with a computer who might want to oppress queer people.”

Scientist doesn't like attempted reproducing of results of papers?

Hey NYPD, when you're done tear-gassing and running over protesters, can you tell us about your spy gear?

Re: Liar, she hit a traffic light

That's nothing. All those fires that appear wherever there are firefighters? Do me a flavour.

Big Tech on the hook for billions in back taxes after US Supreme Court rejects Altera stock options case hearing

Re: A small contribution to countries' Covid-19 costs...

Who cares why they did it? Everyone does everything for money. It's normal.

Re: A small contribution to countries' Covid-19 costs...

From the companies creating the tech that's allowed us to weather life in these times.

While eyes are fixed on Apple announcements, Microsoft's streaming service Mixer goes the way of the Windows Phone

It seems the hope was that by yanking those viewers out from under Twitch, Mixer would be able to kickstart its userbase.

When will MS stop trying silly business moves like this and just provide good, innovative services?

What's the Arm? First Apple laptop to ditch Intel will be 13.3" MacBook Pro, proclaims reliable soothsayer

Re: Shades of Yahoo!

Perhaps wearing a "typist" will dispel any thoughts that you create things.

Shades of Yahoo!

more of a workhorse for creatives and developers

I like how El Reg thinks development isn't creative.

Google isn't even trying to not be creepy: 'Continuous Match Mode' in Assistant will listen to everything until it's disabled

Re: GDPR

I think according to GDPR you have to be offered an opt-in. But I could be wrong.

Ex-director cops community service after 5,000-file deletion spree on company Dropbox

of which a dozen were female. One of those women received a prison sentence compared to 12 of the male criminals.

Who cares about this? What about their relatives heights; that's the characteristic I'm most interested in.

At Mozilla VPN stands for Vague Product News: Foundation reveals security product will launch eventually, with temporary pricing, in unspecified places

Increasingly, Mozilla feels like two organisations

A highly competent engineering organisation and a much more woolly brand management consultancy. And increasingly, we're only hearing from the latter.

Hey is trying a new take on email – but maker complains of 'outrageous' demands after Apple rejects iOS app

Apple Tax

They should just charge more for Apple if Apple is charging them more. List it as a line item: Software $99, Apple Tax $30

Electronic health records firm Epic Bristol bags £454m in UK deals as creaking care sector chases digital transformation

Re: another closed system with no upgrade path

A 2014 report

That's ancient, then. Epic has FHIR APIs now, which are fine.

'Boringly reliable': Red Hat architect thinks Kubernetes is 'mostly done' – but there are still plenty of bugs

This reads like an advert at times. Contrasting Kubernetes with Red Hat making sure things work with LDAP? Those are orthogonal.

We cross now live to Oracle. Mr Ellison, any thoughts? 'Autonomous self-driving computers eliminate human labor, eliminate human error'

We have taken a huge lead in the cloud ERP market, because our largest competitor SAP never rewrote their ERP applications for the cloud.

That is probably actually the case. We didn't make a good product, just the competition made a terrible one.

HTC breaks with tradition to push out 2 phones someone might actually want to buy

Re: 32mp selfie camera

Zooming and downsampling are both moderate cases for it, but I agree it's not a must have.

Splunk to junk masters and slaves once a committee figures out replacements

Re: Wouldn't it be much easier (and more accurate)

The US's number one export is a set of universally applicable, context-free bad words.