Posts by ElReg!comments!Pierre

Intel working to ‘leapfrog’ ARM and AMD designs, says CEO Lip-Bu Tan

Re: Surprised

They are rolling in revenue, profit is not as easy when the competition produces more for less. ARM is not even their biggest threat (let alone AMD). Someone here mentionned RISC-V which is yet to achieve its full potential. The architecture will, soon, and bein full open source there will be no coming back, at least for high-volume low-margin products. Sure, Intel and AMD will continue to compete on the market of personnal devices priced as family cars, but this market is shrinking. On the server side the big fight for CPUs is over -and has been for a while, on the personal device side Intel is almost entirely irrelevant except for hardcore gamers fans. My company-issued workstation is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 but it's only because Dell promised a usable life of almost 10 years (thus allowing the company to claim "green" creds) ; but it will be replaced in 3 years as usual, as my previous.company-issued machine which was guaranteed for 5 years -extended to 7 years, but got phased aout in little more than 2 years. And yet the massive NVIDIA GPU -not the intel Ultra 9- is the most valuable asset of my brand new current workstation, because "local LLM" (a dream well sold). Computing is now a comodity, low-price low-power chips are plentiful, and growing. Intel is on the path of IBM minicomputers of old, and the outcome is not looking good.

Researchers replace downloaded macOS apps with evil twins, Apple shrugs

a supply chain attack via npm, brew, or some other package manager.

As a tech lead in my org I often find that some devs (and, perhaps more worryingly, some managers who insited on having dev-like priviliges) fail to disallow access to npm etc from the rules in their AI tools. I have a strict crackdown policy on this when I stumble upon it, but I am pretty sure that some "clever" chap-ette-s manage to slip into the cracks because "the tool works better with it". With the pervasive introduction of AI tools in pretty much every workflow, and the apparent misplaced trust in such tools, supply chain attacks are indeed a pretty major concern of mine. Most people in my department are smart enough to either not manually pull random libraries from public repos or bear the consequences, however the smarts often doesn't extend to neuteuring the AI tools just enough so that they don't create a vuln while retaining their usefulness.

Court tosses Microsoft's appeal in pre-owned software licenses spat

Re: "Helping our customers move to the cloud improves productivity and security."

Yes it does ! First and foremost by offering 99.5 % uptime. Compared to the 99.999 % that we had on our in-house systems, you can see how the security improves : an attacker will be much less likely to be able to reach our systems (as will a legit user but let's not delve too much into that)

Re: inventing something for the first time in their existence

Now that is a bit unfair. As much as I dislike MS and especially their current approach to business (and by "current" I mean for roughly the last 25 years) they did sporadically come up with a few fun and interesting ideas -mostly released half-baked and unfit for production but still a lot of fun for tinkerers, sometimes unintentionnally.

Lessons from the VMwars – nothing virtual about the Broadcom vs Tesco slugfest

Re: "makes more money"

You're putting it backwards. Tesco is low-margin because it's their business model, a protracted lawsuit will not impact the margin, it will minutely impact the price of the eggs in aisle 3.

Godot says bye bye AI, bans vibe-coded contributions

Re: Never! Tell me it isn't so....

Well, Python and cucumber sort of read like plain english to a Dev - as opposed to, say, Lisp or C) but I would still not trust a randow passerby to review the code. Except perhaps directly outside the CS department at the local Uni ;)

Ctrl+Alt+Oops: FortiBleed criminal's logins stitch two gangs together

using SHA-256 with salt, which is vulnerable to brute-forcing.

While technically true, this statement is a bit misleading. PBKDF2 and the likes are ALSO vulnerable to brute-forcing, it is just more expensive to implement. Which is good as it cant put off would-be attackers -for a while.

On a related note one of the banks I deal with implemented a 2FA mechanism mandating their custom-build, proprietary smartphone App -which I suspect is as sturdy as a slice of swiss-cheese during a heatwave, and uses the same credentials as the website which requires the 2FA in the first place, so is really a one-device authent. As my oldish smartphone is not supported by the App, and I only use the service about twice a year, I asked if that could not be handled by the one-time codes leaflet that the very same bank sends me on a regular basis, the answer, pure and simple, was "We cannot do that sir, that would be too expensive. The one-time pad is reserved for very sensitive operations".

Now I can undestand the concern, but contrarily to the bespoke App the one-time pad would be virtually unbreakable (bar a well-timed physical attack of some kind, which would be tremendously more troublesome and expensive than "ho noes they switched to a slower algo, guess we might have to hire a few more GPUs").

Citrix now lets you run virtual desktops like a cost-conscious private equityeer

Re: We do use Citrix but...

You are a Microsoft Customer Success Manager and I claim my 5 pounds.

We do use Citrix but...

This seems like the same unholy idea that gets rised from the dead every now and then. If you have to re-image your old kit to run le thin-client-like OS and access a cloud desktop (with the retraining of users, relying on always on servers and stellar internet connexion etc) you're probably better off switching to a Linux distro or some similar solution.

(for reference in 2025 we had 3 multi-days outages due to Azure, bur MS insisted that the service was not down, just "degraded". Yes, a 2-hour response time for a real-time app is not at all down, it is our fault that we set up too short a timeout)

Although I must admit, this solution does eliminate the issue of RAM cost, as the network connection will become your bottleneck instead so you can use pretty much any old cheap silicon on the cloud side, it won't matter one bit. (this is mostly not true for APIs with heavy headless workloads and minimal requests and responses, but for full graphical desktops... )

Marketing demanded IT add website feature that was already working

Re: They definitely would have caught hell

Once the "need" is identified there's no coming back. The main application I support is multi-user by design but for a new user the "need" to be multiuser was identified. That was about 18 month ago, and I am still dragged into meetings to report on how our push to multi-user is going. It's funny the first few times but it gets old after a few month of weekly repetitions.

Gemini accused of 30,000-line code purge and fake recovery report

Re: Dont people use staging environments anymore?

Well to be fair the agent was working on a Dev env, but with instruction to push in Prod automatically if the build was successful, which is where the WTF lies.

Goodbye, Lunar Gateway: NASA ditches Moon station for Moon base

Re: Late 60's early 70's risks.. vs. now

In case of a radiation alert just light up a red one. Problem solved. Until the screamers evolve to cybertrucks manned by Optimus robots looking like little boys with a teddybear.

FBI director leaves open the possibility that it's buying location data again

From the answers...

it is just a "NO" on the technitalities. It is, or so I suppose, a resounding 'YES' in general. I note that none of the responses obtained are of the form on "we do not purchase this data unless explicitly allowed for this specific individual, with a warrant issued by an independant judge", which would be the correct answer (I think)

What I read instead is "we might or might not do it but we believe we are within the rules"

Age verification isn't sage verification when it's inside operating systems

Re: @Dan55 - At the risk of another 40 downvotes

"And how do you decide what they can watch or access without supervision on a device without parental controls?"

If you must know, whitelisting and they're not in the sudoers. I put the media /application they need and allow access only to websites I know to be safe. In my presence they are on my account (which has sudo).

Re: @Dan55 - At the risk of another 40 downvotes

(although, come to think of it, I wouldn't be adverse to the OPPOSITE application of this stupid law, "sorry honey, daddy is too old, this cartoon just cannot be accessed from his account" !)

Re: @Dan55 - At the risk of another 40 downvotes

I am a parent, I only run FOSS software (including the OS), and in some cases on open-source hardware, too, and I am absolutely NO OK with on-device age indication. I have root on the devices I give to my child, and I, only I decide what they can watch or access without supervision (i.e. from their own account). Without supervision this law makes no sense and is not needed; with supervision (i.e. from my account in my presence) it is useless and not needed.

BOFH: What physics defines as impossible, sales calls a challenge

Re: Hurd

Actually I had a Hurd system running at some point on an old machine but it was kind of a pain in the neither region to maintain, so when the machine died I did not repeat the experiment. I might try again at some point, especially if I can find a -relatively easy- way to make it run on RISC-V (which I 'm not sure is even possible without a tremendous deal of tinkery today)

Musk makes the Macrohard joke again

Well there is a case to be made for AI

Well-managed, perhaps involving bothe SLMs and LLMs in a well tought-out sequence, with both on-device and cloud-based solutions dependng on the need. We are seeing that currently at work. Trouble is, the initial investment to build a coherent workflow is decidedly not negligible in terms of meatware involvement, and it won't eliminate the need for meatware, just perhaps at some point ameliorate the TTM. We are not seeing the benefits right now in most use cases (although SOME benefits can be seen in fringe cases, but subject to extensive review by expert humans). I am currently experimenting with a combination of SLMs on very frugal machines with use of LLMs if needed (and SLM as judge afterwards) but that's still very hit-and-miss.

And it does need a continuous human supervision.

Re: In Principle,

You're entirely dismissing vapourware, which he is producing by the metric shitload (as I believe is the correct technical term), then ?

Microsoft Copilot now boarding your health information

You seem to be trying to have a middle finger erection, how can I help you with that ? (but don't act on my advice please)

Gatwick shuttle screen suffers pre-flight nerves

to be clear ....

I think this extremely disturbing. But this iis a well-documented fact.

Re: experience

And you don't run in an airport if your skin shade is a bit darker than #ffffff and you wish for continued existence.

That's a bit odd

There is no clear reason why such a device should run anything but assembly.... Then again a machine with 2G RAM, a main processor 1GHz and and a coprocessor 700 MHz goes for less than the price of the display...

Techie's one ring brought darkness by shorting a server

Re: "Steven" is lucky he's still alive

https://www.theknot.com/content/silicone-wedding-bands

No more accidents, and they can be chucked in the nearest bin should an emergency emerge. You just have to keep a secret stash of identical ones to avoid trouble back at home the next day. Mine is the one with the secret rubber-filled pocket, thanks.

Sword of Damocles hangs over UK military’s Ajax as minister says back it or scrap it

5 versions of Salesforce

Admittedly we are a pretty big org, but do we really need 5 differently customized versions of Salesforce ? Yet we do maintain and run them ... with a sixth in the works, designed to replace all 5, but as Randall would put it : https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/standards.png

Fast Pair, loose security: Bluetooth accessories open to silent hijack

Re: Couple Of Things To Think About.............

Roosters don't have teeth, blue or otherwise. Penguins, on the other hand... don't have any either. Now I'm confused. I may need some cheese for comfort. Grommit, go fetch me some, please.

Not too sure what the problem is about

Bluetooth protocol has always been about connecting anything to everything -it is in the spec, and the inspiration for the name. It has been made fun of even in mainstream shows like The Simpsons (the episode in which Bart cosplays as a secret agent and Lisa points out that his earbud uses the least secure tech of all times, that was like 20 years ago). The only real security built in bluetooth is that it doesn't work over a sufficient air gap. I do not own many bluetooth-enabled devices but (and perhaps because) I don't expect them to be any more secure than they were designed to be -which is not in the slightest.

Raspberry Pi 5 gets LLM smarts with AI HAT+ 2

If you don't need a GPU there are some RISC-V alternatives that may fill your particular gap. I jumped ships myself, so to speak (well I still do own and use Raspberry Pies -the older ones- , but mainly for legacy reasons)

Bleh

I can understand why it could appeal to some people, but it is exactly the kind of stuff that got me off the RasPi bandwagon and onto the RISC-V one. While I do own several of the Raspberry Foundation's finest, only a PiZero (1st gen) and a Pi2b see daily use, although I did use a Pi3 daily for work for a few years, a few years ago. Of my 2 Pi4 only the one built into my Pi400 has ever been powered on, and perhaps 10-15 times max. What made the Raspberry approach work for me (frugality and elegance, mainly) just isn't there anymore. I say good luck, farewell -just without me.

Micron breaks ground on humungous NY DRAM fab after beating bats and tree huggers

Re: Mass production in 2030

You can always trust the software industry to come up with new innovative ways to waste ressources.

Trump administration sets GPU export rules that put Chinese buyers at the back of the queue

Re: I'm confused on how...

To add insult to injury they could sink the ships as part of a war on narcotraffic ...

Windows 2000 rusts in peace by the sea

As a general rule I dont flick a button when not asked to, or at least with consent. One of the few tech rules that be appended with "in bed" as-is :D.

Sad day

The day I lost my trusted Windows 2000 install disk was a sad one indeed. Coincenditally, I have never owned a machine that was not fully Linux-compatible since then.

Except you can't

From the picture, and contrarily to the statements in the articles, it doesn't look like a touchscreen at all, the controls are the buttons around the sides of the screen, "graphically" linked to the on-screen text bubbles. Quite a common setup in Europe for older ticket booth and ATMs. Much more robust than touchscreens, and usable outdoors under the rain.

AI may be everywhere, but it's nowhere in recent productivity statistics

They’re firing people because of AI...

... and then three weeks later they hire a team in India because the labour is so much cheaper

Our management has been there done that, and is now walking the walk of shame back home. I am not very old in the company but my underlings are paid more than I am because the market price for good in-house devs has kinda soared in the last few years in our sector. And yet we do use GH Copilot.

Dell wants £10m+ from VMware if Tesco case goes against it

Re: OpenShift is no 5-minute migration.

It kind of is, actually. An org the size of Tesco should be able to complete the switch in a couple month if they mean it. Although not necessarily cheaper / safer than the alternative, depending on your use and scale.Which is why they do not really mean it, or so I suspect.

Banksy's Limitless limited by Windows Activation

Commercialization

I'm pretty sure Banksy is OK with selling art ; in fact the self-shredding one may or may not have been intentionnally incomplete, and did increase the resale value of the piece. One has to eat after all (and to pay for spray cans etc). What Baksy said about this exhibit is basically "not my circus, not my monkeys". So the Windows activation bork is most probably not an artistic twist, although it does fit pretty well. Poetic justice ?

Judge hints Vizio TV buyers may have rights to source code licensed under GPL

they can't ...

... unGPL the linux kernel though, can they ?

Canada ups its European Space Agency bet 10x with $376M

Re: Everything we do

"Would surely be interesting to see what might happen if the Yellowstone volcano REALLY came back to life again. At least to my knowledge, regarding the "usual / normal" 600000 years cycle, this beast seems to be more than overdue ..."

Done: it eructed as the Orangestone. Gaya has her ways

Blinded by the light: Tesla fixes glaringly bright Cybertruck headlights

Not a fan of the beast, but...

It's not as the Hummer was ever any better in any aspect -to the notable exception of gaz-guzzling, admittedly because the cybertruck guzzles another kind of energy.

No more 'Sanity Checks.' Inclusive language guide bans problematic tech terms

Re: Quite possibly

Wow. I won't use "greybox pentest" lightly ever again. Although at some point the lack of acceptable terms might lead us to using UUIDs for technichal terms, for fear of an outrage. That should give us ~10 years, before d7e909ab-62f2-4fa9-a23a-6fb79657d3c0 is deemed offensive in the context of 4b7a903e-962a-4f68-9dd4-230017a0c5a9

So much for watermarks: UnMarker tool nukes AI provenance tags

The Fourrier transform is not known to be particularly cheap in terms of computing power.

Musk and Trump take slap fight public as bromance ends

communication tactics

This is standard "Pro wrestling" tactic : both contestants needed to create the illusion of a close alliance to further their agendas. Now that is growing old and hampering their individual progress they must appear at odds, Musk to further his agenda in non-US-friendly countries (Starlink and Tesla come to mind) and Trump to reinforce his US-based support which is dwindling. Hence the very public bitch-slap match akin to a former "temmate" smashing a chair on his former ally in the middle of a wrestling ring. I believe it is called a "beef" in the Land of the Great Again, and it benefits both parties.

It also serves to mask the fact that they both worked together to pass measures that will durably harm their respective supporters : the Bidden did it all" excuse was wearing thin, they both needed a diversion.

Throwflame launches fire-spitting robo-dog from Hell

Re: Black Mirrorian horror...

Actually in a lot of places counterfires are the most efficient way to control wildfires. That includes savannah but also in some cases forests with well-maintained fire-cutting alleys.

Arianespace's Vega C delayed after gantry throws a tantrum

Although it should be noted that in the case of external combustion engines (steam, stirling etc), WD40, duct tape and bailing wire are all best left aside.

FabricScape: Microsoft warns of vuln in Service Fabric

Re: What?

"Such that you can delegate rights granularly and SUDO doesn't need root privileges."

Can you elaborate on that ? because that's someting *Nix has been doing for a few decades now, and that MS just figured they might try to emulate, like, last year or so. And they spectacularly failed.

Re: What?

"That's why users don't get execute privileges.

There's a reason 666 is the number of the beast"

666 is the number of the beast because it gives me the privilege to execute users who demand it. Or did I get that wrong all that time ?

BOFH: It's Friday, it's time to RTFM

Re: Intelligence?

In Unix systems of old there was an app for that : "wtf". On some *nix systems it is still installed by default although it tends to be more like a personnal dic than a shared one. Shared definitions these days seem to be "shared" on platforms such as Sharepoint because they have the uncontestable advantage of not being searchable in any meaningful way which allows every branch (and in many cases, every team) in the same organisation to have different definition for the same term / acronym. Sometimes several per team. We live in a wonderful world.

Salesperson's tech dream delivered by ill-equipped consultant who charged for the inevitable fix

Re: Not his fault surely

Well, the articles does state that the processing engine did not remove invalid mails aftr bouncing them, and thus re-processed old emails each time it ran, whic seems like a pretty major design flaw to me

Old-school editor Vim hits version 9 with faster scripting language

Re: Others preferred

"Personally, I prefer Geany or Scite, which resemble word processors rather than traditional programmers' editors."

I do use vim as my editor of choice on my desktop machines but I am open to discussion on that matter. The thing I like most about vim is being able to ssh to a remote server and get directory parsing, coloured syntax, advanced search, scripting, the whole lot. It helps tons when debugging undocumented legacy software. Try running Geany over ssh and tell me how it went ;)