Posts by Steve Davies 3

Meta promises UK it won't pilfer rivals' ad data to build Facebook Marketplace

Meta's promises????

And their track record especially regarding Whatsapp is not exactly reliable.

Zuck will do anything for money... much like Trump in thats respect.

Twitter Spaces groans under weight of Ron DeSantis and Elon Musk's egos

So much for Musk the tech genius...

His cozying up to MAGA and the rest of the Right Wing in the USA will not end well. There are even calls for him to be fired from Tesla.

The skills needed to run Twatter and Tesla are very different.

Something has gotta give... and soon.

Lenovo Thinkpad Z13 just has this certain Macbook Air about it...

Once you see what's under the hood of Windows

You become cynical of everything with an MS label on it. They FSCK around with things because they can and as far as I can see, for no good reason. One [cough][cough] patch to Server 2012 caused the whole MSCS estate to fail miserably. Two days on the phone to MS in Redmond from South Asia (the locals were total POS) and I finally got a fix and clustering worked again but... Why?

After more years than I can remember writing system level software for a Windows platform, it finally got the better of me in 2016 when I saw W10. WTF multiplied by 10x9.

That was it. I decided that it was time for this GOF (Grumpy Old Fart) to retire and kick MS into the dust of history.

Now I ONLY run Linux (AlmaLinux) and MacOS. Sanity restored.

The above OS's are not perfect but I can live with them. Long may that continue.

Red Hat releases RHEL 9.2 to customers, with buffet of rebuilds for the rest of us

Moving from CentOS to Alma was pretty painless.

and all of my Linux systems are now running Alma 9.1. I'll do the 9.2 upgrade in the next week or so. I'm not in any rush at the moment.

One issue that is more important to me is upgrading PHP from 7.4 to 8.1/8.2. References to 7.4 seem to be everywhere. Those issues are not the fault of the core OS.

I might just pull the plug and wipe the system clean, install 9.2 and PHP 8.2 and be done with it.

I have scripts that do all the work in setting up a WordPress server.

Modest Apple talks up these 'incredible' advances in iOS

Marketing Droid Speak - part 201

Emphasize one word in a presentation. People will concentrate on that and ignore most of the dross that goes along with it.

[see Icon]

Microsoft will upgrade Windows 10 21H2 users whether they like it or not

Time for a 'cease and desist'

lawyers letter to MS.

If people do not want their shitty/stinking updates isn't it their freedom of choice NOT to have them.

I hope this does happen. Then once and for all, we can legally determine who owns the PC. You, the person who paid for it OR Microsoft LLC.

Just say NO to MS and its forced updates.

But most of you do have a choice. (see ICON)

Autonomy founder Mike Lynch flown to US for HPE fraud trial

Don't forget:-

Twitter,

Amazon

Starbucks

IBM

Microsoft

Google

Apple

uncle tom cobbly and all.

The world of work is broken and it's Microsoft's fault

Re: they going to be sensible

Who exactly are you kidding? Of course they are not going to do anything that might removed even $1.00 from the bottom line

You'll [BZZ] like Intel’s [BZZ] NUC 13 Pro once the fan [BZZ] stops blowing

Re: Interesting idea...

And a Raspberry PI could do much the same job for most of us.. Smaller, lighter and easier on the wallet.

Russia tops national leagues in open source downloads

Re: Russia is trading witth everyone

They sort of have form with that.

When the USSR fell, I went in with some other brits to open a sales office. We found hundreds of US made computers waiting for spare parts.

They will get whatever they need by hook or by crook.

That said, some of that hardware will be used by Putin for his war effort (drones and missiles) which will be returned with vengeance.

Windows are for falling out of

in Russia.

That's why people don't want to open them for work.

Ok, I'll get me coat

Miffed Googlers meme on CEO's $226M pay award amid cost-cutting campaign

re: VCs

This is why Vulture Capitalists are bad news for any business that they cast their evil eyes on.

They come in promising the earth but all they do is asset strip and exit stage left leaving behind a company in tatters that is saddled with a shed load of debt.

Then they rinse and repeat again and again.

When it comes to Linux distros, one person's molehill is another's mountain

Re: preinstalled OEM image

In the past, I've had a numpty from just about the last man standing in the UK when it comes to a large electrical retailer tell me to my face...

"It is against the law to sell a PC without Windows."

I calmly point to the Mac section.

"What about those? They run the same Intel CPU as this thing here?"

His reply was:-

"They pay Microsoft a license before putting their own OS on it."

At that point, I walked out of the store with my friend who wanted a new computer. She's now in her mid 70's and is very happy with a Mac Mini.

Re: Windows

Windows? Ah yes... those pesky things that critics of Putin keep falling out of. Isn't the last count around 100 since March 2022?

Re: Windows is the UI isn't stable

IMHO, MacOS is a granite pillar by comparison.

I will NEVER EVER go back to Windows. (unless MS pays me at least £5,000,000 a year to do it)

Re: SNAP ---Grrrrr

SNAP is evil. It needs to go NOW!

The whole concept is even worst than SystemD and that is saying something.

Re: have an upvote for

XFCE.

Gnome has become a disaster. While not perfect, Gnome 2 was the best desktop since OSF/Motif.

Now I use XCFE. Like Edge on Windows being used to download another browser, Gnome is only there until I install/activate XFCE.

Re: distro fracturing is a NEGATIVE to widespread FOSS adoption,

For me it is the opposite.

We are all different people. We all have different likes and dislikes. Many of us are willing refugees from the one size fits all disaster that is Window 10/11.

Having a choice allows us to choose the best fit for our needs.

I, like many followed the crowd onto Ubuntu circa 2000 and something. I gave it a good shot but deep down, I knew that it was not for me.

This is probably due to my first encounter with Unix was Dec/Ultrix. Then OSF/1 and Digital Unix where I built large systems for credit card processing.

I started out with Slackware 1.1 simply because it came with a PC Magazine. That got me hooked but soon RedHat called and it fitted my experience and requirements perfectly.

Now I use Alma Linux everywhere.

Is it perfect? No way but it works for me and that is all that counts in the long run isn't it?

Chrome's HTTPS padlock heads to Google Graveyard

Why do the sensible thing?

When a complicated solution that 99% of users will not have a frigging clue about?

Yep that's the Google 'Do Evil at every opportunity' way.

Just say no to anything from Google, you know it makes sense.

Streaming apps – and maybe even Cloud PCs – coming to electric cars

Re: Pr0nHub

Unless... you happen to be in Utah (and a few more states very soon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XehepxLz8sY&pp=ygUDdHl0

I'm pretty sure that the so called 'Christian Right GQP' majority in one state will soon mandate that the only streaming to cars are sermons from the Evangelical Preachers who talk about the devil inside us in return for donations towards their next private Jet/Mega mansion/Yacht

Unlike your iPhone, Apple's batterygate controversy refuses to die

re: what leg Mr Gutman has to stand on.

It does not matter. He has taken a stand and like many politicians and union leaders... refuses to budge.

If he does lose then he'll be on the hook for ALL of El-Fruity's legal fees unlike the USA.

Where's the popcorn?

Intel to rebrand client chips once Meteor Lake splashes down

Fiddling while...

Intel burns.

Sorry Intel, you are in a downward spiral and as far as I'm concerned... you can crash and burn. I stopped buying Intel pre-Covid.

Dropbox drops 16% of staff, points finger at hard-up customers and AI

Who to trust with out files?

Google

MS

DropBox

IMHO, the ONLY thing DropBox has going for it is that isn't one of the other two (for the time being)

I certainly don't trust Google or Microsoft to not scan my data and send me targeted advertising as a result.

As I don't pay either Google or MS even one bent penny a year, the choice for me is pretty obvious but TBH, my need for any of these services these days is just about nudging 0.00000001.

As for AI being to blame... Time for a new CEO.

Another cloud provider runs to shelter from Microsoft's licensing practices

I wonder...?

If all those [cough][cough] licensing issues suddenly disappear if you move to Azure?

If so then that should be good enough for a few dozen class action lawsuits..

EU lawmakers fear general purpose AI like ChatGPT has already outsmarted regulators

Re: Regulators are not the smartest in the pond

If they are not so smart then why are most of them frigging Lawyers?

Come the revolution all those to be lined up against the wall first will be the Lawyers. Society had been hurt for decades by Lawyer Politicians

Appeals court backs Apple over Epic, which isn't as bad as you might think

Epic give aways in the offing?

Given the news about at least one SCOTUS Judge who has been on the [redacted] for 20+ years, I wonder if more of them might be tempted now that it has emerged that the Senate can do SFA about their grift.

The US legal system is broke beyond repair.

American private equity can't wait to gobble up Euro stalwart Software AG

Re: Vultures the lot of them

They will asset strip the company, sell off bits and then exit stage right leaving a shell with a few gazillion in Debt.

This is their Modus Operandi. We have seen it happen time after time after time over the years.

What about the customers?

They (silver Lake) simply don't care.

Like El Trumpo, all they care about is the green.

Central UK govt awards £12M+ contract to leave Google Workspace for Microsoft 365

Re: O365 isn’t radically better.

Au contraire...

O365 is radically WORSE

Frying Pan.... meet fire

Given the reliability this year of Orifice 365... I have to wonder just how big a brown envelope you can get these days.

Microsoft not a Teams player as admin center, 365 service suffer partial outage

Re: Using Outlook is a horror.

I guess someone should take a HAMMER to the horror that is lookout?

{You have to be of a certain age to get that joke}

SpaceX's second attempt at orbital Starship launch ends in fireball

Why all the cheering before the 10 second countdown?

Was there a streaker or something? To me cheering before ignition is bad karma.

Nine more US states join ad antitrust legal battle against Google

Re: What happened to the elected representatives?

They were mostly bought and paid for by big biz. Only a few in the US Congress are not beholden to big biz. Katie Porter is one of those.

Add to that that politicians in the USA are always searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in order to finance their stupidly corrupt and expensive re-election campaigns it is little wonder that most succumb to the geld laid down at their feet by businesses and lobbyists of all shapes and colours.

Even a senator recently elected for a 6-year term is already out raising money for this next campaign.

The sheer amount of money spent on electioneering in the USA each year would probably be more that the GDP of around 40% of the countries in the world. What a waste of $$$$

Meta's Zuckerberg paid $27M in 'other' compensation for 2022

Re: t'll be cheaper

only if they throw away the key and cut off all internet access.

Red Hat at 30: Biggest Linux company of them all still pushing to become cloud power

re: How does my favorite, best-laptop-of-all-time work when running Red Hat, hmmm?

Well...

Not exactly RedHat Linux but the next best thing, Alma Linux. Built from the RHEL Sources so close enough.

I have it running on a 2015 15in MacBook Pro. The only issue I had OOTB was with the trackpad. A bit of tweaking with the Gnome GUI and it is fine. OTOH, XFCE works properly OOTB...

I also have it running on a 2012 Mac Mini. This runs my website. Again no issues.

TBH, If I had to use a cloud service, I'd use RH/IBM rather than Google (slurp central), Microsoft (No thanks) or Amazon (Evil Empire).

The number of hack attacks my website gets from AWS hosted services (and AWS seem very reluctant to do anything to stop them) and MS Azure is crazy. Avoid at all costs.

While Twitter wants to sell its verification, Microsoft will do it for free on LinkedIn

Re: Microsoft -- Just say NO to everything that they want you to do

You know it makes sense.

America ain't exactly outlawing gas cars but it's steering hard into EVs

It won't be the SCOTUS

but the House of Repomen (Representatives)

If they can go after the Manhattan DA for spending a measly $500 of Federal Money in their legal attempts to take down their 'Dear Leader who never committed a crime in his life' (Donald Trump) and threaten to defund the FDA, the DOJ, FBI, DHS and uncle tom cobbly and all including the EPA then allI I can say is

WATCH THIS SPACE.

Then there are states that are actively passing laws to ban EV's (or make them so expensive to own that no one in their right mind would want to own one) then the battle is just beginning.

Ex-Twitter execs sue over $1M+ in unpaid legal expenses

Have an upvote

for "The Trump Playbook"

It is long past time that the defendants have to put into escrow the sum they are being sued for BEFORE the trial begins. It should be done by court order. Failure to do so sends the CEO to jail for contempt and the case is awarded to the plaintiffs by summary judgement.

But... the US legal system is an utter mess and wide open to abuse as demonstrated by Trump, Musk and especially Alex Jones.

Child hit by car among videos 'captured by Tesla vehicles, shared among staff'

And there there is servicing and spares

Tesla basically refuses to sell spares to customers. That means taking the cultmobile to their service centre where it can languish for weeks if not months because said spares are simply not available.

My local bodyshop refuses to even quote for even fixing a dent on a Tesla and they work on Ferrari's, Lamobo's and Posrsche's so are not a cheapo back street shop.

That says it all about the cult of Tesla.

I did try to like a Model 3 when I was last in the USA and had the chance to rent one. It was built like a Lada on a bad day. 1200 miles on the clock and there was rust already starting to appear because of the shoddy paint job. Sorry fanbois, they are not a Luxury Car. Adequate at best.

Microsoft stumps loyal fans by making OneDrive handle Outlook attachments

re: wish you hadn't kept so much stuff

Have you never heard about email archiving?

MS finally learning the laws of unintended consequences

Hey SatNad... Your left hand department (Outlook) needs to get chummy with the RightHand crew at One Drive.

TBH, I don't hold out much hope. MS is a lost cause as far as I'm concerned. I gave you the heave-ho in 2016 and never wanted to feel the pain and anguish of going back to Windows/Orifice 200.

Microsoft tells admins to autoreview your Autopatch alerts or autolose the service

oblig

You will obey

When you don't

Exterminate, Exterminate

{grandson has been watching old Dr Who episodes that feature Daleks while he gets over Chicken Pox}

In other news, a female colleague joked that 'Patch Tuesday' was the software version of a Period. An event that can muck you up for days, one that cannot be ignored and like a bad kebab, keeps on repeating.

Twitter scores legal hat trick with three cases filed against it in one day

Elon seems to be learning from his Master

when it comes to not paying bills. Stiff the small companies and hope that they can't afford to sue. Even if they do sue and win, make it next to impossible for them to collect even one penny.

All straight out of the Trump playbook.

MAGA == Make Attorneys Get Attorneys

Hey Siri, use this ultrasound attack to disarm a smart-home system

Finally...

A use for Siri.

Parts of UK booted offline as Virgin Media suffers massive broadband outage

Down to 'Vermin' eating the cables?

I'll get me coat... the moleskin one will do fine

China aims to pair J-20 stealth fighter with 'loyal wingman' battle drone

Re: Scrap a development because...

I guess that you have never worked on a project that ended up being scrapped because it was:-

- going down a box canyon

OR

- other developments elsewhere made the current plan redundant

or other reasons?

It takes a brave manager to admit that their baby was a POS given other factors and call a halt. Most managers would carry on regardless and look for an exit (aka another job) before the blatant waste of £££ came to light leaving the poor sods dong the work to carry the can.

In the battle between Microsoft and Google, LLM is the weapon too deadly to use

War between Google and MS?

One can only hope that it leads to the demise of both of them ASAP. MAD would also work.

This race to put a so-called AI system (has it passed the Turing Test?) into everything under the sun sucks big time.

If you get pissed at Amazon's 'we think that you might like' then standby for ALL your searches to be dominated by whatever GPT-n is told to say rather than give a real answer.

Hmmmm. OTOH, that could make a whole lot of Politicians even more surplus to requirements than they are. As they never answer the question put to them but give you the answer that they think that you want which invariably is nothing like what the questioner wanted.

Virgin Orbit lays off 85% of staff as funding deal falters

Re: Meaninglessly diluted and overrated brand anyway

I met the man when he was selling US Imports from his shop above a shop on Oxford St in the early 1970's. I still have one of the Grateful Dead albums I bought there.

Those were the days...

IMHO, he lost my respect when he sold out his record stores. Since then apart from a few transatlantic jollies, IMHO he has lived on his name.

I had my doubts about the viability of the latest Cornish Folly right from the start. Still, it is sad to see Newquay in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Today's old folks set to smash through longevity records

Re: Longevity in the US

Beer Korma is actually worse than many Tories on this matter.

Many of his predecessors will be turning in their collective graves at the thought of a Labor leader betraying the NHS which as we all know is the sole creation of the Labor Party.

Re: you can no longer get a job after 50 ?

In US terms, that equates to 'A greeter at Walmart"

Here? 'Stacking shelves at Tesco at 02:00 six days a week'

Psst! Infosec bigwigs: Wanna be head of security at HM Treasury for £50k?

Re: rouge state?

Gave me a laugh for a wet Friday when the alternative to reading this site is editing a 86,000 word manuscript that is as boring as hell.

Rouge : the stuff that goes on the cheeks of women in a certain profession.

Rogue : The word that you were looking for.